EDITORIALSTAFF

Publisher
Tom Poberezny
August1994 Vol.22,No.8
CONTENTS
1 Straight& Level/
Espie"Butch"Joyce
2 AlCNews/
Compiledby H.G.Frautschy
3 TheEAAFlightAdvisor
4 MysteryPlane/George Hardi e
6 ThePresentationBook/
H.G.Frautschy
8 TheVanDersarlBleriot/
BobMaxant
9 A Barnstormer'sDream/
JimBeisner
13 HarkingBacktotheChamp/
H.G.Frautschy
18 JackHill'sWacoUEC/
Norm Petersen
22 WhatOurMembersareRestoring/
NormPetersen
24 TypeClubNoteslNorm Petersen
25 PassittoBuck/
E.E. "Buck" Hilbert
28 WelcomeNewMembers
29 AlCCalendar
29 VintageTrader
Page8
Vice-President,
MarketingandCommunications
DickMatt
Editor-in-Chief
JackCox
Editor
HenryG.Frautschy
ManagingEditor
GoldaCox
ArtDirector
MikeDrucks
ComputerGraphicSpecialists
SaraHansen
OliviaL. Phillip JenniferLarsen
Advertising
Mary Jones
AssociateEditor
NormPetersen
FeatureWriters
GeorgeHardie,Jr. DennisParks
StaffPhotographers
JimKoepnick MikeSteineke
CarlSchuppel DonnaBushman
EditorialAssistant
IsabelleWiske
EAAANTIQUE/ CLASSIC DIVISION,INC.
OFFICERS
President Vice-President
Espie"Bulch"Joyce ArthurMorQan
604HighwaySt. W211 Nll863HilltopDr.
Modison.NC27025 Germantown.WI 53022
919/ 427-0216 414/628-2724
Secretary Treasurer
SieveNesse E.E."Buck"Hilbert
2009HighlandAve. P.O.Box424
AlbertLeo.MN56007 Union.IL60180
507/373-1674 815/923-4591
DIRECTORS
JohnBerendt RobertC."Bob"Brauer
7645EchoPointRd. 9345S.Hoyne
ConnonFalls.MN55009
Chicaw.IL 60620
507/263-2414 312/ 79-2105
GeneChase JohnS. Copeland
2159CorltonRd.
28-3Williomsbur8Ct.
Oshkosh.WI 54904 Shrewsbury.MA 1545
414/231-5002 508/842-7867
PhilCoulson GeorgeDaubner
28415SpringbrookDr. 2448LoughLone
Lawton.MI49065 Hartford.WI53027
616/ 624-6490 414/673-5885
CharlesHarris StanGomoll
7215East46thSt. 104290thLone. NE
Tulsa,OK 74145
MN55434
918/622-8400 61 /784-1172
DaleA.Gustalson JeannieHill
7724ShadyHill Dr. P.O.Box328
Indionapolis.IN46278 Harvord.IL60033
317/293-4430 815/943-7205
RobertliCkteig RobertD.'Bob"Lumley
1708BoyOoks r. 1265South 124th51.
AlbertLeo,MN56007 Brookfield,WI53005
507/373-2922 414/782-2633
GeneMorris GeorgeYork
115CSteveCourt.R.R.2 181 SlobodoAv.
Roanoke.lX76262 Monsfield.OH 44906
817/491-9110 419/529-4378
S.H.OWes"Schmid
2359LefeberAvenue
Wauwatosa.WI53213
414/771-1545
DIRECTOR EMERITUS
S.J.Wittman
7200S.E. 85thLone
Ocala.FL 32672
904/245-7768
ADVISORS
JoeDickey JimmyRollison
55OokeyAv. 640AlamoDr.
Lowrenceburg.IN47025 Vacaville.CA95688
812/ 537-9354 707/451-0411
DeanRichardson GeoffRobison
6701 ColonyDr. 1521 E.MacGregorDr.
Madison.WI53717 NewHoven.IN46774
608/833- 1291 219/493-4724
Page 13
Page 18
FRONT COVER ...Cliff Harkins, (A/C 21293) of Houston. TX is
enjoying the simple pleasures of flying his Champion 7FC Tri-
Traveler . Cliff's airplane was selected as the Contemporary
category Outstanding in Type - Champion award winner atEAA
Sun ' n Fun '94. EAA photo by Jim Koepnick. Shot with a Canon
EOS- 1equiped with an BO-200mm / f2.B lens. 1/500 at f5.6 on
Kodak Ektachrome Lumiere 100 film. Cessna 210 photo plane
pilotedbyBruceMoore.
BACK COVER. . Jack Hi ll's 1932 Waco UEC was one of the
beautiful biplanes atEAA Sun 'n Fun this pastspring. EAA photo
by Mike Steineke. Shot with a Canon EOS-1 equiped with anBo-
200mm/f2.Blens. 1/125atf13 onKodakEktachromeLumiere 100
film. Cessna210photoplanepilotedbyBruceMoore.
Copyright 1994 bytheEAAAntique/ClassicDivision Inc.Allrightsreserved.
VINTAGEAIRPLANE (ISSN 0091-6943) is published and owned exclusively by Ihe EMAntique/Classic Division. Inc. of the Experimental
Aircraft Association and is published monthlyat EMAviation Center. 3000 Poberezny Rd., P.O.Box 3086.Oshkosh,Wisconsin 54903-3086.
Second Class Postage paid at Oshkosh,Wisconsin 54901 and at additional mailing offices. The membership rate for EMAntique/Classic
Division.Inc.is$20.00forcurrentEMmembersfor 12monthperiodofwhich$12.00 isforthepublicationofVINTAGEAIRPLANE. Membership
isopentoallwhoareinterestedinaviation.
POSTMASTER:Send address changes to EMAntique/Classic Division.Inc.,P.O.Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086.FOREIGN AND APO
ADDRESSES- PleaseallowatleasttwomonthsfordeliveryofVINTAGEAIRPLANEtoforeignandAPOaddressesviasurtacemail.
ADVERTISING - Antique/Classic Division does not guarantee orendorse any product offered through the advertising. We invite constructive
criticism andwelcomeanyreportofinferiormerchandiseobtainedthroughouradvertisingsothatcorrectivemeasurescan betaken.
EDITORiAlPOLICY:Readersare encouragedto stories and photographs. Policyopinionsexpressed in articles are solely thoseofthe
authors. Responsibilityforaccuracyinreporting restsentirelywiththecontributor.Norenumeration ismade.
Materialshouklbesentto: VINTAGEAIRPLANE,P.O. Box3086, Oshkosh,WI54903-3086. Phone414/426-4800.
The words EM,ULTRALIGHT, FLY WITH THE FIRST TEAM,SPORT AVIATION and the logos of EM,EMINTERNATIONAL
CONVENTION,EAA ANTIQUE/ClASSIC DIVISION,INTERNATIONAL AEROBATIC CLUB,WARBIRDS OF AMERICA are registered
trademarks. THE EAASKY SHOPPEand logosofthe EAAAVIATION FOUNDATION and EAAULTRALIGHTCONVENTION aretrademarks
oftheaboveassociationsandtheirusebyanypersonotherthantheaboveassociationisstrictlyprohibited.
Since I reported that we would be ac-
quiring lapel pins to recognize those dif-
ferent individuals who have remained
with us for five, 10 and 15 years, I have
been asked about those who joined the
division 20 years ago. We will be issuing
pins for those fine folks as well. While
discussing this issue, the question came
up as to when the Antique/Classic Divi-
sion was formed. He re 's a bit of An-
tique/Cl assic history:
On Saturday, November 6,1971 , a
meeting was held in Hales Corners,
Wisconsin to consider the formation of
an antique and cl assic group within the
EAA for members whose interests fell
in this area of sport aviation. Sixteen
men from around the nation attended
thi s meet ing. From this meeting there
was a provisional Board of Directors se-
lected and also a provisional slate of Of-
ficers chosen. These people were:
Provisional Officers
President - Dave Jameson, Oshkosh, WI
Vice President - J. R. Nielander, Jr.,
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Secretary - Dick Wagner, Lyons, WI
Treasurer - Bill Dodd, Lake Zurich, IL
Provisional Directors
Richard "Dick" Austin - Greensboro, NC
Richard Baxter - Seattle, WA
Tony Blackstone - Enid, OK
Peter Bowers - Seattle, WA
Ray Brandly - Dayton, OH
Evander Britt - Lumberton, NC
Ron Fritz - Grand Rapids, MI
Wayne Fredline - Grand Rapids, MI
James C. Gorman - Mansfield, OH
STRAIGHT&LEVEL
by Espie "Butch" Joyce
Ken Hyde - Warrenton, VA
John C: Luebke - Naperville, IL
Harold Maloy - Oklahoma City, OK
Vince Mariani - Findlay, OH
Lee Parsons - Carrollton, OH
John Perry - Scottsbluff, NE
Nick Rezich - Rockford, IL
H. N. " Dusty" Rhodes - Santa Fe, NM
Robert Ring - East Kingston, NH
George E. Stubbs - Indianapolis, IN
Ed Wegner - Plymouth, WI
Landis West - Scottsbluff, NE
Dr. Bernard Yocke - Aurora, IL
George York - Mansfield, OH
These people were to serve as a for -
mation body until the first formal meet -
ing of the EAA Antique/Classic Divi-
sion at the Oshkosh Convention 1972.
The first annual business meet ing was
held November 18,1972. At this meet-
ing the first formal Officers and Direc-
tors were elected. Elected for the 1972-
1973 term were:
President - E. E. "Buck" Hilbert, Union, IL
Vice President - J. R. Nielander, Jr.,
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Secretary - Dick Wagner, Lyons, WI
Treasurer - Nick Rezich, Rockford, IL
So the first annual business meeting
of November 18, 1972 is considered the
formal formation date of the EAA An-
tique/Classic Division.
The EAA Oshkosh '94 Conventi on
this year will mark the start of my fourth
term as president of the Antique/Classic
Division. Thanks for everyone' s sup-
port.
I was clearing out some old boxes in
my hangar the ot he r day a nd came
across the mailer that I sent out on my
own to the membership in 1988, asking
for your vote to be president of the Di-
vision. This was the first time I had ever
tried to run for an office in this way, and
in reading this ma il er, I made some
statements in a political way. Let's see,
one was " I have always had an interest
in grass roots aviati on and have owned
several antique airplanes." Now, having
an interest in grass roots aviation in it-
self is not a very expensive interest, if
you keep it at just that.
Let me explain the part about having
owned seve ral ant ique airplanes. For
ma ny of you, what I have to say will
strike a responsive chord. I would al-
ways do whatever it took - second job,
sell my hunting dog, etc., - to raise the
moni es necessary to acquire whatever
airplane it was at that time I could not
remain alive without owning.
Then I would give this aircraft tender
loving care, fly and e njoy, a nd strut
around at fly-ins like I was somebody.
Finally the day would arrive; I would
check my bank account and other fac-
tors and decide that "no," the cockpit of
my Monocoupe was not large enough to
live in. Sadly, I would put them on the
market, always hoping that I had priced
them so high that no one in their right
mind would buy it for that price - but
someone always did. Believe me folks,
if I could have , the statement would
have said " owns several ant ique air-
planes." I would have kept every last
one of them.
Another statement back then was "to
keep the lines of communication open
from me mbers t o Headquarters , and
that I would like to see that people who
visit Oshkosh have a place to feel at
home in the Antique/Classic area of the
Convention." I fee l that the lines of
communicat ion have been good, and I
still wa nt to keep them open. Please
contact any of your Directors, Advisors
or me anytime; we are wi lling to talk to
the members about the many aspects of
the Division.
I must tell yo u that when I ran for
president of the Division, I thought that
I knew what was involved in this job. It
onl y took me six months and one an-
tique airplane to come out of the day-
dream. I do love to do this work for the
Di vison and plan on continuing for as
long as I'm able. Then at some point in
the future I will step aside and allow one
of the ma ny quali fie d individual s to
have the same pleas ure that I am now
enjoying. When I do that , maybe I'll
start looking for anothe r antique air-
plane. ..
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 1
compiledbyH.G.Frautschy
CUBFLY-INAT
PIONEERAIRPORT
A fly-in open to Piper Cubs will
take place at EAA' s Pioneer Airport,
part of the EAA Air Adventure Mu-
seum, the weekend of September 17-
18. This fly-in is specifically for Piper
Cubs only - if this particular event
proves to be a success, other "type spe-
cific" fly-ins may also be held.
The only other requirement is that
you must contact AntiquelClassic Di-
rector Bob Lumley at 4141782-2633
(evenings) for an invitation and direc-
tions on the proper methods to fly into
Pioneer Airport. We enjoy an excel-
lent working relationship with the
FAA Control Tower here at Wittman
Fi eld , and one of the reasons we are
able to do so is due to the fact that we
require pilots flying into Pioneer be
properly briefed. It's not difficult or
hard to remember, but there are a few
peculiarities to Pioneer that need to be
reviewed by the pilot before flying in.
We hope to see you and your Cub here
for the fly-in!
TIRESNEEDED
Mike T. Sarna, of Chicago's Mu-
seum of Science and Industry, sent a
note detailing a problem the museum
has in finding tires for two of the his-
toric aircraft they have on display.
For their Boeing 40 B-2, they need a
36" x 8" tire. The one they currently
have on the airplane is a U.S. Royal
1l01237k14, with a rim diameter of 22"
and a rim width of approximately 7-1/2".
Another famous airplane on display
in the Museum is the Travel Air Model
R Mystery Ship, Texaco 13, flown by
Frank Hawks as he set a coast-to-coast
record in 1930. The tires needed for
this famous racer are 24" x 4". The
tires currently on the airplane were
made by Firestone, with a partial num-
ber of ???-581. They have a rim diam-
eter of 17"-112" with a rim width of 3-
112".
If you can help the museum with
their search for these tires, please con-
tact Mike T. Sarna at the Museum of
Science and Industry, 57th St. and Lake
Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60637. You
can call him at 312/684-1414, ext. 2295.
2 AUGUST 1994
CONTAMINATED
AVGAS
INCALIFORNIA
The FAA has informed EAA that
Chevron Oil Company delivered
100LL avgas contaminated with Jet A
fuel to a few airports in central Califor-
nia between May 18 and June 2. One
of the airports affected was the Wat-
sonville airport, where the annual f1y-
in was held over the Memorial Day
weekend. Other airports affected that
received contaminated fuel were
Sacramento Metro and Executive air-
ports, plus the airports in Oakl a nd,
Petaluma and Concord, CA.
We hasten to add that Chevron im-
mediately notified the FAA as soon as
the problem was discovered and , to
their credit, they took full responsibil-
ity for the refinery error. They have
also offered to "pay for any reasonable
expense associated with the inspection
andlor disassembly (of engines) in ac-
cordance with the mechanic's and man-
ufacturer's recommendations." On
June 23 the FAA issued four Priority
Letter Airworthiness Directives, one
each for Lycoming, Continental,
Franklin and Wright engi nes requiring
an inspection for internal damage of
engi nes certified for use of 80 octane
avgas, and (2) "a teardown and analyt-
ical inspection for detonation damage"
of engi nes certified for use of 91 or
higher octane avgas.
In the course of the investigation, a
list of aircraft that were sold the conta-
minated avgas was compiled from the
FBO' s involved, and they were con-
tacted both by the FAA and Chevron.
As many as 2,000 ai rcraft are thought
to have been affected, which is leadi ng
to a shortage of overhaul parts for the
engines damaged by the contaminated
fuel. Both Lycoming and Continental
have stepped up production to help fill
the demand.
SWIFfIN
SPACE
OK, so it was just part of a Swift,
but how many of us can say the same?
Astronaut Jay Apt is a good friend of
member Lew Fischer of Friendswood,
TX, who has owned Swift SIN 1125
for the past 40 years. When Apt asked
Lew if he could take something of his
aloft into orbit on the Space Shuttle,
Lew gave him the data plate to the
Swift, which now has more miles on it
and attained an even higher altitude
than one of Jack Nagle's SuperSwifts -
the data plate'S journey covered 4.5
million miles at an altitude of 130
miles while zipping along at 17,500
mph! The mission , by the way, was
flown by an all EAA crew - Astro-
nauts Hoot Gibson, Jay Apt and Curt
Brown are all sport aviation enthusi-
asts, and as many of you saw on televi-
sion and in the pages of Sport Avia-
tion, they even brought along and
displayed an "I EAA" bumper
sticker. The data plate was returned to
Lew with a commemorative plaque doc-
umenting its "flight" on the Space Shut-
tle. Congratulations to Lew and Jay.
OwenBillman
1917-1994
A frequent and enthusiastic con-
tributor to our monthly column, Mys-
tery Airplane, has passed away. Owen
Billman, aviation historian, WW II
veteran pilot, and airplane restorerl
builder died May 2, 1994 after surgery.
One of the founding members of the
Empire State Aerosciences Museum,
Owen was a well known and much
loved part of the aviation scene in up-
state New York.
As a historian, Owen was instru-
mental in finding a number of rare
aeronautical artifacts, including the
propeller of the Curtiss Silver Dart, a
rare engi ne and other bits and pieces
now on display at the Curtiss Mu-
seum in Hammondsport, NY. The
Ecker Flying boat now part of the
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum's
collection was also discovered due to
detective work done by Owen Bill-
man.
The aut hor of several articles, he
was also an outstanding artist with
both paint and pen. He was also an
accomplished pilot , and was privi-
leged to fly a wide variety of aircraft ,
from the P-38 he flew during the war
to Cole Palen's SPAD.
Our condolences to Owen's wife
Sara and the rest of his family and
friends. ...
A New Safety Program for Sport Aviation from fAA
The success and growth of sport avia-
tion activity has made it increasingly im-
portant to have an organized support
group for the first flight tests of home-
built aircraft and the early flights of vin-
tage aircraft restorations. Building on the
success of EAA's Technical Counselor
Program, EAA has announced the EAA
Flight Advisors Program as a means of
tapping into the huge resource of flight
experience among EAA members.
Simply stated, the Flight Advisor pro-
gram is aimed at providing service to
EAA members and helping to improve
sport aviation safety. One out of five
homebuilt accidents occurs on the first or
second flight and is all too frequently at-
tributable to pilot error rather than me-
chanical failure. Similar statistics are not
available for restorations, since the NTSB
computer is not programmed to recog-
nize a ground loop in a newly rebuilt
Waco UPF or a gear-up landing in a
freshly restored 1951 Bonanza as first
flight accidents.
Accidents in the early phases of flying
a new airplane of any kind generally
point to the same conclusion - inexperi-
ence or lack of currency in type. There
may be instances in which pilots simply
are not aware of the different handling
characteristics they will encounter, but
more often they simply choose to ignore
the obvious and hope everything will
turn out right.
The EAA Flight Advisor Program is
meant to be an alternative to such ac-
tions. The Advisor will supply the expe-
rience the pilot may be lacking and help
evaluate the individual's skills as related
to the airplane to be flown. The Flight
Advisor will be the mentor through the
entire first flight or transition process, be
it in a Kolb Firestar, Cessna 120, Glasair
III, Pietenpol or Bellanca Cruise master,
whether flown by a relatively new pilot
or one with years of experience.
The Advisor concept is not new, and
that's one of the things that makes it so
workable. A similar situation existed in
the early days of EAA when it became
obvious builders needed a local source
for answers to technical questions while
their aircraft projects were under con-
struction. To fill that need, the Technical
Counselor program was developed. The
Technical Counselor program is now
over 30 years old and utilizes a corps of
more than 700 volunteers, each of whom
is a recognized expert in aircraft con-
struction and systems.
EAA is building on the same concept
to introduce this new program. How-
ever, Flight Advisors will work strictly
with flight-oriented questions. In their
primary role, Flight Advisors will advise
and assist in making evaluations, but
they will not make final go/ no-go deci-
sions, and they will not do any flying.
The Flight Advisor will:
- help the pilot in evaluating his or her
current proficiency and skill level;
- assist in analyzing the airplane to be
flown and determine what skill levels are
required to fly it safely;
- compare the pilot's skill level and pro-
ficiency to that required by the airplane;
- aid in finding proper instruction, if
necessary;
- assist in planning the first several
flights of the airplane, utilizing pre-
planned schedules.
Evaluating skill levels without flying
with the prospective pilot isn't as hard as
it sounds. It is primarily a matter of ask-
ing the right questions and using a little
common sense. For instance, the prob-
lem is obvious if the pilot hasn't flown in
two years. It is also identifiable if he or
she has been flying regularly in a Cessna
152 but is preparing to launch into the air
with a Pitts Special or a Lancair.
An Advisor is selected and designated
because he or she has significant experi-
ence in a number of specific flight areas.
But, one Advisor won't deal with all
types of airplanes. It will depend on his
or her preference and background.
Because the Flight Advisor knows the
characteristics of the airplane about to be
flown, he will guide the builder / pilot's
self-evaluation accordingly. The Flight
Advisor will not tell the builder / pilot he
or she can or cannot fly the airplane.
However, by the time the evaluation of
the plane's flying characteristics as com-
pared to the pilot's skills is completed,
the builder /pilot should clearly see the
logical answer with no further input from
the Flight Advisor.
If the builder / pilot decides not to do
the first flights or needs further instruc-
tion, the Flight Advisor will help evalu-
ate appropriately qualified pilots to do
the test flying. He will also provide the
pilot with criteria for evaluating the
proper instructor and training aircraft so
the training received is appropriate for
the airplane to be flown.
As the Flight Advisor Program picks
up steam, EAA will publish more mate-
rial related to the flying of aircraft. The
existing EAA list of instructors, now pri-
marily oriented toward tailwheel check-
outs, will be expanded to include more
instructors with experience in homebuilt,
vintage or other sport aircraft.
What are the qualifications and duties
of a Flight Advisor? As we've men-
tioned, the Flight Advisor is just that ...
an advisor. He doesn't climb into the
cockpit to check out a pilot. The primary
qualifications of a Flight Advisor will be
an extensive flight background and a de-
sire to share experience with others. To-
tal hours are less important than the type
of hours.
Since no flying will be necessary, the
Flight Advisor applicant doesn't have to
be a current pilot. A medical isn't needed
to pass along experience. Considerable
flight experience lies within the EAA
membership, and a large percentage of it
belongs to those who no longer carry ac-
tive medicals.
A steering committee of experienced
EAA members provided much of the
groundwork for the Flight Advisor Pro-
gram: Norm Howell, Edwards F-16 test
pilot with wide experience in high per-
formance homebuilts; Ben Morrow, ultra-
light/light plane owner, instructor and
Technical Counselor; Greg Erikson, acci-
dent investigator for Lycoming, builder
and homebuilt expert; Budd Davisson,
aeronautical engineer, instructor and
well-known aviation writer and photog-
rapher; and Steve Krog, vintage airplane
restorer and instructor specializing in
taildragger transitions met in June. C. J.
Stevens, test pilot for the CAFE Founda-
tion, and George Daubner, of the An-
tique / Classic Board of Directors, will
participate in future committee work.
The committee clearly saw the prob-
lems it faces and the sQlutions needed.
EAAers all over the world have been go-
ing through the same basic process every
time a new airplane has been flown for
the first time. The challenges of a first
flight are forever unique to the first-time
test pilot.
The program is in place and the mo-
mentum is building. As experience dic-
tates, revisions to improve the services of
the Flight Advisor Program will be incor-
porated. This is the beginning of a new
era of capitalizing on EAA's greatest re-
source - the experience and expertise of
its members. ...
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3
MYSTERY PLANE
byGeorgeHardie
This unique design will cause some
head- scratching among the experts.
The photo was submitted by Robert F.
Pauley, Farmington Hills, MI. An-
swers will be published in the Novem -
ber 1994 iss ue of VINTA GE AIR-
PLANE. The deadline f or the answers
to this Mystery A irplane is September
25, 1994.
The May Mystery Plane had a f ew
replies f rom the many of our long time
members. It's the Dare Variable Cam-
ber Monoplane. Robert Pauley, who
gave us this month's Mystery, supplied
us with this extensive answer:
The Mystery Plane in the May 1994
issue of VINTAGE AIRPLANE was
the Dare vari abl e camber monopl ane
o r , t o be mo r e spe cific, th e second
confi gura ti on of Me lvin Da re's fir st
a tt e mpt a t developing hi s pa te nt e d
ideas on vari able camber.
Me lvin E. Da re was bo rn in 1888
and grew up in Kokomo, indiana. As
a youngster he was fascinated by the
fli ght of birds and closely followed the
efforts o f the Wri ghts, La ngley a nd
o th e r ea rl y av ia ti o n pi o nee r s as
ma nne d fli ght became a realit y. in
1910 Dare obtained hi s first job in avi -
ati on with the Heath Ae ri a l Ve hicl e
Company in Chi cago. After frugalliv-
ing a nd saving hi s money, Dare le ft
Heath and made an ext e nded trip to
Te xas to pursue his obsession with
bird fli ght. Hi s objective was to ob-
serve close-up the flyin g characteris-
tics of the huge condors that lived in
the Texas desert areas. Armed with a
ca mera and s ketchbook , Dare made
numerous drawings of the bird's wing
sha pes as the y took off, soared and
then landed near his hidden observa-
tion point. His sketches revealed that
these big, graceful condors would al-
te r the ir wing cambe r as they tra nsi-
tion e d from t a keoff o r landing to
steady, soa ring fli ght, a nd Dare con-
ceived hi s ideas for variabl e cambe r
from those observations. He eventu-
ally r e turn e d to Chicago to purs ue
and develop hi s ideas and later moved
to Buffa lo , Ne w Yo rk wh e r e he
worked at Curti ss on the Jenny train-
ers. In 1919 Dare moved to Muskegon
and later to Detroit, working for vari -
ous aircraft manufacturers and always
deve loping hi s ideas for vari able cam-
ber wings.
Dare was issued hi s first patent for
va ri a bl e camber wings whe n he was
living in Mus kego n - Pa t e nt No .
1,319,211 dated October 21, 1919. Af-
ter hi s move t o Detroit , by scrimping
a nd saving most of hi s earnings, a nd
with the help of some financi a l back-
ers, Dare was able to build an airpl ane
that incorporated his vari able camber
principl e a nd that a irpl a ne was com-
pleted in 1921.
The Dare va riabl e ca mber mono-
pl a ne was a two-place, open cockpit
des ign that ha d an all steel int e rnal
structure with an aluminum skin. The
powe rplant was a 4-cylinder 140 hp
Ge rman Benz engine . The airplane
had been built in a shop in Detroit by
Dare and a mechanic, Ed Jakobi , with
he lp from an engineer named Carns.
As originally built, the controls to ac-
tivate the vari able camber wings were
located in the rear cockpit whil e the
front cockpit , norma lly occupi ed by
the pilot, had conventional controls as
a safety precaution.
Dare's va ri able cambe r inve nti on
was int e nded to repl ace the conve n-
tional elevators and ail erons by chang-
ing the ca mber of the wings in fli ght.
Moving the stick for e a nd aft wo uld
change the wing's camber and thus in-
crease or decrease the lift generated
by the wing, ca using the airpl a ne t o
ri se or descend with no change in the
attitude of the fuselage. Side-by-side
sti ck move me nt a lt e r e d th e wing' s
camber asymmetricall y to provi de lat-
eral control.
The first fli ght a tt e mpt was made
from Selfridge Fi e ld in Mt. Clemens,
Mi chi gan by a test pil ot named Mill s
in the spring of 1921. Unfo rtunate ly
the a irpl a ne was unde rpowe red a nd
ba r e ly got off the gro und, and a ft er
cl earing the airport's boundary fe nce,
cras h lande d in a fa rm fie ld a bo ut a
mil e from Se lfridge, tea ring off the
la nding ge a r and doing some minor
damage.
Dare
back to hi s shop to start the rebuilding
process. It was obvious that the air-
plane needed more power and, thanks
to one of Dare's financial backers,
Gar Wood, he was able to obtain a
400 hp Liberty V-12 engine that had
been used in one of Gar Wood' s rac-
ing speedboats. Fitted with the new
engine, a rebuilt and longer landing
gear and a French Lamblin " lobster
pot" coolant radi ator, the second ver-
sion of D a re's variable camber air-
plane was taken back to Selfridge for
anothe r flight attempt. That is the
configuration shown in the Myste ry
Plane photo in the May 1994 issue of
VINTAGE AIRPLANE.
On September 26,1921 a new test
pilot, Eddie Stinson, made a success-
ful fli ght in the Liberty powered " tin
can," as the Air Corps pilots at Self-
ridge had named it. For that fli ght
Stinson was in the front cockpit and
mechanic Ed lakobi was seated in the
rear cockpit operating the variable
camber wing controls. Stinson made
one short fli ght around the field but it
was obvious to him tha t having the
variable camber control s operated by
someone other than the pil ot was not
a practical arrangement and an invita-
tion to disaster. So it was back to the
shop again where the variable camber
control s were moved to the front cock-
pit.
Eddie Stinson made 10 flights in
the Dare airplane with that arrange-
ment. D are claims that Stinson
reached speeds of 186 mph with the
airplane, which is hi ghl y unlikely and
obvious ly a gross exagge r at ion by
Dare. It was noted by observers that
Stinson was very cautious when flying
the airplane, always making very flat,
skidding turns, giving the impression
that it suffered from a bad case of lat-
eral instability.
Following these test fli ghts, the air-
plane was taken back to Detroit and
Dare announced that he was making
plans to e nt er it in the 1922 Pulitzer
Air Race schedul ed to be held the fol-
lowing October. Eddie Stinson was
li st e d as the race pilot and th e air-
plane was assigned race number 57.
Dare's application was later disquali -
fi ed, perhaps due to the airplane's lat-
eral instability which would have pre-
sented problems when making pylon
turns on a race course.
Still pursuing hi s dream, Dare later
had another pil ot, Virgil Simmons,
test fly the airplane. That fli ght ended
in a crash and the airplane was dam-
aged beyond r e pa ir. That se tback,
plus Dar e's in a bilit y to ra ise addi -
tional money, caused him to decl are
bankruptcy and to clos e down hi s
small shop.
Undaunted, Dare continued to pur-
sue his variable camber ideas. He had
found new financial backe rs and by
1926 had started to build a new air-
plane with which to continue hi s ex-
periments. This time the airplane was
a two-pl ace, low wing cabin mono-
plane powered by a 65 hp 5-cylinder
Warner radial engine. The construc-
tion was similar to that of the original
airpl ane, using a steel tube st ructure
with aluminum skin. The inner two-
(Continued on page 29)
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5
The Judging
Presentation Book
Part of the Judging process at an EAA
fly-in involves the use by the judges of a
Presentation Book, put together by the
owner of the airplane being judged. Why
do they need a book filled with pictures,
since the complete airplane sits before
them in all its glory? The answers are
both obvious and not so clear, and in this
article I'll try and clear up any misconcep-
tions about the presentation book, as well
as give you pointers on how to put to-
gether a book that will make it easy for
the judges to give you full points for some-
thing you've worked long and hard on.
First , remember the short paragraph in
the Judging Standards Manual about the
book? Here's what it says:
G. Presentation Book
Proof of authenticity contained within
the Presentation Book should be judged
on details of the contents relative to the au-
thenticity of either a continuously main-
6 AUGUST 1994
by H.G. Frautschy
tained or restored aircraft and not on the
beauty or artistic quality of the book itself
Seems pretty simple at first glance, and
it really is. The Presentation Book's pur-
pose is to document the restoration
process, or if you have a very rare air-
plane it can trace the history of a continu-
ously maintained airframe throughout its
lifetime. It is also part of the airplane
project that would best be kept in mind
during the entire restoration process - it is
a lot easier to do as you work on the pro-
ject, rather than putting it all together the
night before a fly-in.
The restoration process can be classi-
fied as a series of segments. They don't
always foll ow the same sequence, so you
may have to adjust your book layout to
suit your particular application.
First, a general history of the aircraft
type may be in order, especially if the air-
plane is a rare type. It may not be neces-
sary to document the history of a Piper
Cub or a Champ in its entirety, but an An-
derson-Greenwood AG-14 could stand a
deeper historical treatment in the Presen-
tation Book, simply because it is not likely
the judges have seen too many of them in
their lifetime. The historical portion of
the Book should include photos, espe-
cially factory photos of the airplanes origi-
nal configuration, factory brochures and
any other documentation you'd like to in-
clude that can be used by the judges to
document details you've painstakingly in-
cluded in your restoration.
A word about factory brochures may
be in order at this point. If you are fortu-
nate enough to locate an original factory
brochure, you may wish to consider hav-
ing a color photocopy made and included
in your book, instead of the original.
Color copiers today are capable of out-
standing reproduction, and have really
advanced during the past few years.
Check with one of your local quick print-
ing shops to see if they provide this type
of service.
Since the color printing methods of the
past (or occasionally today, for that mat-
ter) normally didn' t render exact repro-
duction of the original colors, it 's not very
likely you can use the brochure to docu-
ment the paint colors. The only excep-
tions to this would be a factory supplied
"color chip. "
With the relative scarcity of original
brochures, you may wish to keep them
safely at home, away from the possibility
of damage or loss. Mount it between two
pieces of ultraviolet resistant glass, frame
it, and put the brochure on display in your
den or family room!
Often, one of the best ways to show
the original colors is to find a scrap of fab-
ric or metal still painted with the original
paint. Unless this airplane has never
been restored, original paint would be
hidden in an area not painted in the past,
or possibly painted over with a different
type of paint. Since it would have been
kept from the elements, they often are a
good indication of the true colors used
when the airplane was first built.
Of course, you don' t want to be fooled
by documenting the colors of a previous
restoration, so you need to know for cer-
tain if a plane had been restored in the
past. On my Aeronca Super Chief, for in-
stance, the airplane had been recovered
in the past, but there were still traces of
the original paint under the first layer of
paint on some of the sheet metal. I used a
weaker paint stripper to pull off only the
first layer, and then was able to peel off a
few larger chips of the original paint to
match the yell ow used on my airplane.
Those chips will be included in the Pre-
sentation Book when I finally finish the
restoration.
Color scheme documentation should
also be included in your historical section,
especially if your airplane was delivered
with a custom paint scheme. ]n the im-
mediate post - WW II era, not too many
airplanes were delivered with custom
paint jobs, but before the war , a large
number of airplanes were delivered with
paint color choices selected by the owner.
If you want to receive full points for your
work, the scheme must be documented in
some way - photos, factory drawings and
factory invoices call all be used to help
pin the colors down.
The next section of the history should
include the specific past of your particular
airplane. The first bill of sale, a list of
equipment, and any ot her factory docu-
mentat ion can all help pinpoint the exact
configuration of the airplane when it was
delivered. As menti oned before, photos
are invaluable documentation. You may
wish to capt ion each picture to highl ight
any subtle details you want the judges to
notice. Logbook entry copies may also be
appropriate, especially if any factory au-
thor ized work or modifications were
done.
The next section of the Presentation
Book covers the actual restoration of the
airframe and engine. You don' t want to
overwhelm the judges with this section,
but you need to be sure and show all of
the aspects of your restoration with a few
well chosen photos. Here are a couple of
hints.
First, if your talents lie in restoring but
not in photography, consider using one of
the automatic " point and shoot" 35mm
cameras. A camera that uses 35mm film
will give you a larger film surface to
record your image, instead of the Disc or
110 format. The smaller negatives of
these films may be fine for snapshots, but
not when you are trying to show as much
detail as you can.
Most of the newer automatic 35mm
cameras allow the flash to be used in most
lighting conditions. This is important,
"Remember that the
judges give points for work-
manship as well, and show-
ing off the work done in
hidden areas can aid your
final score. Thh hone
place where out of sight is
not out of mind."
since often I see photos that could have
been acceptable if only the background
light had not dominated the shot, and un-
derexposed the subject of the photo in the
foreground. If possible, try to use a flash.
Avoid a bright background and a dark
foreground - shooting a fuselage frame in
the garage while looking towards the
open garage door, for example, is sure to
produce disappointing results.
If your subject is in bright sunlight
with a hard shadow, go ahead and use the
flash to fill in the details in the shadows.
Even though you can see the details fine
when you look at the subject , the film
can' t compensate for the differences in
lighting. Think of the last time you took a
picture of someone with a baseball cap on
- remember how his face disappeared in
the shadow of the bill of the cap?
While you' re disassembling the air-
frame, invariably you'll want to shoot a
pict ure of a small detai l or fitting for fu-
ture reference, so you may wish to keep
that in mind when selecting the camera to
be used. A camera should be considered
part of your tool box, as much as a set of
socket wrenches or screwdrivers.
If you' d rat her not t ake t he photos
yourself, perhaps you have a photogra-
pher fr iend who is wi lling to shoot your
project as the work progresses. Often,
simply cover ing the cost of the fi lm and
processing, along with a ride or two in the
restored airplane is all the photographer
would want in return.
When you sit down to choose the pic-
tures to be included in the Presentation
Book, keep in mind what you are trying
to show the judges. Is it a sharp photo?
If not , don't include it - a fuzzy picture is
worse than no photo at all. Does it show
the part to be shown, without a lot of
background clutter or other parts tha t
tend to hide the component?
Since the details on the normally visi-
ble parts of the airplane can be seen by
the judges, it's not necessary to exten-
sively document those parts after installa-
tion, but you do want to be sure and show
pictures of the areas of the airplane that
cannot easily be seen by the judges. The
aft fuselage , for instance, or the control
stick area below the floorboards are two
examples. Remember that the judges
give points for workmanship as well , and
showing off the work done in hidden ar-
eas can aid your final score. This is one
place where out of sight is not out of
mind.
Included in your documentation of the
restoration can be copies of any factory
drawings or bl ueprints you need to docu-
ment the configuration of a part or instal-
lation. Reduced size photocopies can be
a great help in this regard.
How should all of this material be
arranged? As stated in the rule book,
judging is not to be infl uenced by "the
beauty or artistic quality of the book it-
self. " That doesn' t mean the book can be
haphazardly concocted. If the book is
composed of hard-to-read hand scribbled
notes and too many fuzzy , hard to deci-
pher photos, it's not likely the judges will
be able to find all of the details you may
have put in the airplane during restora-
tion. Remember, if your hidden work is
not documented, the judges cannot award
you full points for workmanship.
Neatly typed or hand printed cap-
tions and short, concise paragraphs de-
tailing the process will go a long way in
helping the judges see everything you
want them to look at. With the prolifer-
ation of personal computers, often the
written portion of the book can be
printed after being written on the com-
puter. Try to avoid the use of a draft or
light dot matrix type when printing - it
can be tough to read. The photos can be
contained in a photo album page, the
most popular of which seems to be the
so-called " magnetic" pages that use a
small series of mounting wax stripes to
hold the photos and a clear plastic over-
lay on t o t he page. A neat three ring
binder to hold it all toget her can help
make t he j udges job a bit easier, some-
'* thing they all wi ll appreciate.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7
The1911
VanDersarlBleriot
by Bob Maxant
Photos courtesy Dowling College
(Above) The unmistakable configuration
of the Bleriot design is shown in this
shot of the nose section of the VanDer-
sari machine. The construction and fly-
ing of t hi s aircraft was a remar kable
achievement for t wo Denver boys barely
into their teens!
Anoriginal and rare 1911 Bleriot
type monoplane is now on display at
Dowling Coll ege after havi ng been re-
stored by volunteer experts and st udents
at the nearby Bayport, NY Aerodrome.
Although hampered by one of the
worst wi nters in t he New York area, a
team of experienced aircraft restorers,
led by John Zale, Jackie Mineo and Russ
Moore, assisted by members of the Bay-
port Aerod rome Society as well as
Dowling students, began the project just
before Christmas and with heroic effort,
completed it in time so that it was hang-
ing in proud display during a recent
Transportation Symposium held at the
college. It is still currently on display
and available for public viewing.
According to restoration team leader
John Zale, the aircraft was designed by
aviation pioneer, Louis Bleriot , (1872-
1936) who is best remembered for his pi-
oneering 23-112 mile flight across the
Engli sh Channel in 1909, it is considered
to rank among the earliest successful air-
craft designs.
Jackie Mineo, another member of the
restoration team said that Bleriot engi-
neered and experimented with a number
of designs, sett ling on the Model XI
Monoplane with wheeled landing gear
and externally braced single wing. The
design proved worthy and was used
widely until World War 1. Russ Moore
added that Bleriot also helped design
the SPAD, considered by many to be
the finest fighter aircraft of the war.
All of the restoration work on the
airpla ne was done at Bayport Aero-
drome in hangar facilities donated by
the Bayport Aerodrome Society. The
aircraft, on loan from Joseph Gertler of
Riverhead, NY, was originally built by
two brothers, Frank and Jules VanDer-
sari, ca. 1911, from plans obtained from
(Continued on page 29)
(Right) Three of the principals of the lat-
est restoration of the VanDersarl Bleriot
were (I-r) Russ Moore, Jackie Mineo and
John Zale.
8 AUGUST 1994
IA Barnstormer's DreamI
TheWeaver
(Waco) 4
by Jim Beisner Ale 19587
About the time that we think a
part of aviation hi story is lost forever,
out of some old barn comes bits and
pieces that some avid restorer molds
into a beautiful aircraft.
Although this has happened a num-
ber of times in the past. never has the
barnstormer pilot attempted such a
project after an absence of more than
50 years.
Perhaps the name of the original air-
craft should be "weaver, " due to the
fact that it was built by the Weaver
Aircraft Co. of Lorain, Ohio. This
company was established by George
" Buck" Weaver of the Matty Laird
consortium. We've heard of Lloyd
Stearman, Jake Moellendick, Walter
Weber, Walter Beech, Billy Burke and
others that got their start with Laird,
but Buck Weaver was quite successful
as well. His Weaver Aircraft Company
to
Cij
gJ
:,,:
E ____....;;:_____ "'5
was renamed Advance Aircraft Com-
pany, and later Waco Aircraft Com-
pany, which became the world's largest
manufacturer of aircraft in the lat e
1920's.
What was the "Four" you ask? It
was the first multiple passenger carry-
ing, single engine aircraft. (It had seats
for three in the front cockpit.) Only
one example was ever built.
The only Waco Four built by th e
original company was built in 1921 with
surplus Curtiss Jenny parts (engine,
wheels and controls), and flown in
1921. .
Who flew it? After 3 hours and 20
minutes of dual instruction, Raymond
Vaughan began hauling passengers for
hire. This was the beginning of this
three year barnstorming career. His
flying career would, however, span
over half a century, and end with the
same aircraft that he started with -
"The Four."
In 1975 he was challenged to build a
new, or replica, model 4. With no blue-
prints, drawings or even a sketch avail-
able, he set forth to steam bend the
wood longerons. Many helpers volun-
teered, but how can you he lp with a
project that only Ray Vaughn knows
how to build? He cut ribs, spars, and
gussets at the Toledo Metcalf Airport.
10 AUGUST 1994
Ray tacked and glued at his Waldridge
shop (14,652 tacks!) until it took the
shape of an old biplane.
Why would anyone start such a pro-
ject after a 50+ year career in aviation?
Ray wasn't just anyone, nor was his ca-
reer mundane! A few years of barn-
storming would count for a career in it-
self. He also was the maintenance
person for the OX-5 powered craft.
This consisted of " fly-it-a-little - fix-it-
a-lot"! After the barnstorming, he de-
signed, built and breathed life into sev-
eral airports that are going strong yet
this day. Ray helped to build dirigibles
prior to World War II, including the
Akron and the Macon. As Chief Di-
rector of a large C.P.T. program, he
trained many pilots. He used 17 Waco
UPF-7s a nd a " passel" of Cubs in hi s
program. His record of support of the
war effort was impeccable. He then
continued as a fixed base operator after
the war.
So when did he finish the Waco 4?
Unfortunately, he didn 't . Ray had a
stoke in late 1990, and passed away in
November 1990. Prior to his death, he
had expressed his desire to have the
plane go to Troy, Ohio (the home of
Waco) and be completed. With the
help of many friends (dedicated Tro-
jans, it was purchased, transported to
Troy and made airworthy. This was a
case of a project that was 90% com-
pleted by the former owner, but 60%
yet to go by the new owners!
The OX-5 engine was assembled
from parts of several engines. (The
parts looked as though they had been
rescued from Sanford & Son's truck.)
With the help of Glen Courtwright,
Ken Hyde, Howard Emmert and oth-
ers, the old V -8 became a masterpiece!
Many parts had to fabricated, induding
the Bosch magneto drive gear box.
Does it start easy? You bet - in the
first pull! Does it run good? You bet -
on all eight cylinders, which contributes
to the 90 horsepower purr! (The finger
exhaust stacks sound more like a roar.)
How about the first flight of the
replica? Here are the particulars:
December 22,1993, the test pilot
was Bob Wagner. The le ngth of the
flight was once around the pattern, at
an altitude just above the treetops.
The airspeed was not too high - 55-60
mph. After replacing the propeller and
installing gap seals, the ' 4 ha s per-
formed smoothly throughout the
twenty hours of restrict ed flight time
required by the FAA. (Additional
hours would be required if a non-certi-
fied engine and/or propeller had been
used.)
(Above left) The barnstormer whose dream made the
Waco 4 possible, the late Ray Vaughn. He is holding
the radiator for the OX-5 engine.
(Above) Bill Long sits in the cockpit of the Weaver
Aircraft Company's Weaver (Waco) 4 during 1921.
(Right) The instrument panel of the '4 is as simple as
could be, including the water temperature gauge and
counter-clockwise reading non-sensitive altimeter.
(Below) Nearing completion, the Waco 4 's wing sec-
tion, a USA 27 airfoil, is clearly evident.
On the EAA "Walk-Me" prop card is a "Judge
Me" message. Instead of the traditional mark in
the box, the following message can be found:
"Judge me, YES, but judge me not for my var-
nish and paint; my wood or fabric; for I am more
than that! I am from a time before us ... of by-
gone days. I am the best that I could be in the
days of yesteryear. I was created by people of
great skill and insight. People that had a dream
of things that you now enjoy. I am the product
of an old barnstormer, built from memory of an
era that you can only imagine. I ask only that
you share in the dream that I represent.
VINTAGF AIRPI ANF 11
With the advent of runways,
in lieu of "Air-Fields," steer-
able tail skids are necessary.
1/ 8" Cable - ____
Fixed Pulley

Parallel Spring
(Maintains Cable
Tension)
Fixed Pulley
/
Jim Kessler
Rudder Control
Cable Attachment
\
''IN-4''
Rudder Bar
.........;---- Pivot
...... ..--- Tail Skid
STEERABLE TAIL SKID
(Top View)
How does it fly? Not easy! Un-
doubtedly most, if not all of the early
airplanes (pre-1920) were inherently
unstable. The pilots had nothing to
compare them to. Therefore, they must
have thought that all airplanes fly that
way. In flight, it constantly tries to do
its own thing. It is as if it has a mind of
its own. It is not hard to fly, but it does
require constant effort.
What does it do? On the ground, it
handles great. It taxis almost as easy as
a Cub. This is largely due to the steer-
able tail skid, (see the illustration on
the left) and the hydraulic brakes (both
non-original equipment). Take off and
landing characteristics are very good - it
likes to lift off at about 38 mph indi-
cated, and climb out at 55 or 60. Cruise
speed, at less than full power, is approx-
imately 70 mph. The landing character-
istics are excellent, and ground effect is
quite noticeable (it is also appreciated).
The glide ratio is not much more than
1:1 with no power. This can be ex-
tended with the addit ion of a few rpms
on the 101 inch propeller. A speed of
70 or 80 mph seems comfortable, and
can be judged by the sound of the 28
external support cables on the craft.
It is a majestic sight to see a Waco 4
in the sky, after an absence of 70 years.
It is like a dream come tr ue ... Ray
Vaughan's dream. ....
12 AUGUST 1994
Jim Koepnick +
," ..... tr' :- .. ::: :: ........ . :' .,v..; ,,:,,'.
, The Tri-Traveler main landin ear '-
across the Mississippi River, 30 mil es north of
St. Paul on the airport in Osceola, WI. By Feb-
ruary of 1955 the first producti on Champion
7EC was rolled out into the winter sun and af-
ter being test flown, it was sent off to its eager
new owner.
The 7EC was basicall y the same airpl ane
built by Aeronca a few years before, with a few
updat es a nd a new paint scheme. Powered
with a Continental C-90 with a full electrical
system, the airplane had a gross weight now of
1,450Ibs. It was still the lowest priced two-
place training airpl a ne made in the U.S.A.
They soon followed with an upholstered ver-
sion of the 7EC, the "Traveler Deluxe," which
had foam rubber seat cushions, fl oor carpeting,
spinner, metal prop, wheel pants and and ad-
vanced instrument panel with fli ght inst ru-
ments including attitude and directional gyros.
As of 1959, Champion reported in their annual
report that they held 45 percent of the training
market in the U.S. - but what they didn' t men-
tion was the competition. The mid 1950's saw
the introduction of the tricycle landing gear on
a large scale by the major lightplane producers,
Cessna and Piper.
Soon, training airplanes all started to have
the third wheel on the opposite end of the air-
plane, just behind the prop, and students and
flight schools were clamoring for the " new
style" of landing gear. Ground loops were
practically a thing of the past, and flight schools
found their customers asking for the new train-
ing ships, rather than the tailwheel equipped
airplanes they had on the line.
Champion saw the trend developing, and
worked to revise the 7EC into a product that
the FBO's could still afford, but one that had
the landing gear installation more to the liking
of some of the student pilot population. Intro-
duced in 1957, the 7FC Tri-Traveler would out
sell its conventional geared stable mate as the
tricycle gear became the standard. Basically
the same as the 7EC Champion, the Tri-Trav-
eler, despite its name, was intended for the
training market, and if it made a student more
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15
The distinctive profile of the Champ is still unmis-
takable in this shot of its descendant, the Cham-
pion 7FC Tri-Traveler.
comfortable to fly on a cross country,
that was added frosting on the cake.
Equipped with many of the same fea-
tures as the Traveler Deluxe, you could
also get one built with a set of gyro in-
struments and radio equipment. The
engineering on the tricycle gear was rel-
atively simple - the main landing gear
was moved aft of the e.G. , so the rear
landing gear mount was in line with the
back edge of the door frame. The en-
gine mount was beefed up to handle the
installation of a steerable nose wheel.
Just in case an over enthusiastic student
should over rotate the airplane on take-
off or landing, the original tailwheel
spring was left in place, sans tailwheel.
The Tri-Traveler sold well in the begin-
ning, but unfortunately for the company,
Champion' S share of the market quickly
eroded as Piper and Cessna's grip on
sales of training airplanes tightened. By
1963, they sold just 21 of the Tri-Travel-
ers.
Cliff Harkins (A/ C 21293) of Hous-
ton, TX was looking for something that
would be fun to fly, not just a traveling
machine. His previous two airplanes, a
Piper Warrior and then a Dakota, were
comfortable airplanes, but they lacked a
certain pizzazz. He was looking for
something he would enjoy flying, an air-
16 AUGUST 1994
plane that could take him back to his
early days of flying, if that was possible.
As a young man, Cliff had soloed in
1947, but like so many before and after
him, he found he couldn't afford to keep
flying. By 1975, as Cliff's involvement
with the real estate business world be-
gan to payoff, he found he could afford
to fly again . The Warrior and the
Dakota were OK, and they could be
useful in the business, but when he be-
gan to think about just Hying and having
fun, they didn' t seem right.
Resting in a pile of parts in New
Braunfels, TX (the home of " Wurst-
fest"!) were the components of 7FC-080,
an early Champion Tri-Traveler built in
Osceola during 1957. Cliff and his
friend, Ron Stegemoller, an expert A&P
who was also interested in the 7FC
struck a deal and the airplane was theirs.
As Cliff put it, "He did all the hard stuff,
I did all the work! "
The " hard stuff" and "work" con-
sisted of stripping the airplane down to
the bare tubular frame and cleaning up
parts and reinstalling them until a com-
plete airplane sat before their eyes.
O.K., that's a bit of an oversimplifica-
tion, but certainly that is the essence of
any restoration project, with varying de-
grees of research involved.
The fuselage was in excellent shape,
needed only a general clean up and then
a coating of epoxy primer. From there a
complete new set of wood formers was
added to the fuselage frame, and bit by
bit all of the fittings, including the control
sticks, and brake pedals, were cleaned
up, checked for wear and reinstalled.
The wing structure was a different
story. All four spars had various de-
grees of damage, and needed to be re-
placed. Aircraft quality spar blanks
were obtained and a set of new spars
were completed by the new owners.
Fortunately, the wing ribs were in good
shape, as were the wing tanks. The 7FC
has a a fuel capacity of 26 gallons, which
Cliff points out will give a you a five
hour endurance. That's about 3 hours
longer than he normally likes to sit in
the airplane, so the extra gas is just
added peace of mind to him.
The windshield that came with the
airplane was in great condition, but the
side windows needed to be replaced
with new transparencies, and the inte-
rior was completely refurbished with an
Airtex interior kit, including new seat
cushions, headliner and baggage com-
partment.
Cliff was also quick to point out the
level of craftsmanship evident in the
VI NTAGE AIRPLANE 17
Jim Koepnick +
covering work done by Ron Stegemoller
- it is hard to find any hint of a blemish
in the Poly Fiber Aerothane finish. The
fa bri c on t he wing was attached in t he
same way the originals were built - P-K
screws through a fa bric t ape and the
wing covering, fini shed off with a pinked
edge t ape. The si mpl e color scheme is
not the standard layout for the Tri-Trav-
eler, but it does effectively highli ght the
classic lines of the Champ's descendant.
With the proj ect came a set of rather
rough wheel pants for the mains, but
Ro n a nd Cliff wer e a bl e to se t the m
straight with a hammer and dolly, not to
menti on a few other bodywork skill s.
The nosewheel fender, designed primar-
ily to keep mud and other muck off the
fuselage, is the only fiberglass part in the
restoration.
Another nice part of the restoration
involved the engine. The C90-12 that
came wi th the project had onl y 350 hours
on it sin ce a maj or ove rha ul , a nd it
checked out fine. It did need a new set
of gaskets and rubber seals, since they
had dried out while in storage. The only
work that needed to be done up front in-
volved reworking the baffl es, and re-
newing the various hoses and other rub-
ber compone nt s. The a irpl a ne ca me
equipped with a damaged wooden prop,
but Cli ff found a McCauley Met-L-Prop
of the correct size and had it readied for
fli ght.
On e of the a dde d be ne fit s o f th e
7FC's Continental C90-12 engine is the
full electri cal sys te m. Champi on air-
pl anes are started while sitting inside the
cockpit and pull ing a handl e to engage
the Delco starter. Cl iff also has install ed
a coupl e of radios on board - a Narco
transponde r , Apoll o lor an and TKM
MXll communi cations radi o. He also
ca rri es a handhe ld radi o fo r back up .
Along with an overhead cabi n speaker,
it has a full intercom installed so cockpit
communications can be done easily.
A new instrument panel was fa bri -
cated, and a new electric turn coordina-
tor was install ed, along with the other
required fli ght instrument s. Cli ff was
not happy about leaving the previously
install ed venturi s on the fuselage - he' d
rathe r have the speed, a nd since he
didn' t pl an on usi ng a vacuum turn and
bank with his 7FC, having the turn coor-
dinator as an electric unit didn't bother
him in the slightest.
Soon it was time to assemble the Tri-
Trave le r. Ron a nd Cliff ha d the li ft
struts rebuilt, and they also replaced the
tail brace wires with brand new ones.
"Anything that could be critical we
did replace with new stock," said Cliff.
With a cruise of about 90 to 95 mph,
Cliff says that fl ying the Tri-Traveler is
very relaxing - he must enj oy it - he flew
the 7FC all the way to Lakeland fro m
Houst on, foll owing a wea the r front ,
burning a thrifty 5.2 gallons per hour of
avgas . He's also had the a irpl a ne t o
EAA OSHKOSH, and both trips have
proven to be fruit ful , winning awards in
the Contemporary category's inaugural
yea r. A t E AA OSHKOSH '93, Cli ff
was awarded the Cont emporary Out-
standing in Type - Champion award, and
at Sun n' Fun '94, Cliff toted home the
Best Fabric Single trophy.
Cli ff sees now hi s choice fo r an air-
pl a ne that was fun to fl y and offe red
many of the ame niti es that he enjoyed
with hi s Warr ior and Dakota was also
one he could fee l nostalgia in as well -
it's a Contemporary that sti ll reminds
him of "the good old days." *'
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Retired airline pilot, Jack Hill, brought his friend and fellow pi-
lot, Jean Cunningham of Emerson, NJ, along to Sun "n Fun.
The two pilots were quite amazed at the interest shown in the
pretty cabin Waco.
18 AUGUST 1994
I e unmistakable sound of a Continental 220 engine rat-
tled past my ears at Sun 'n Fun '94 as I was investigating a
couple of nicely restored J-3 Cubs on the flightline. I turned
to see a cabin Waco taxi into a parking line just a short dis-
tance away. The 220 engine sped up for just an instant and
then died away to nothing as the pilot pulled the mixture con-
trol.
The mental image of the Waco immediately spelled UEC,
a combination of the distinct round tail, the "rear window" in
the fuselage and the somewhat stubby, squared off nose sec-
tion. My first experience with the UEC Waco came about at
the Le Sueur, Minnesota airport, way back in June of 1954,
when I stopped to admire the late Ed Frost's Waco UEC
parked next to his Fleet biplane. Forty years have since
passed, however, the heart still skips a few beats when a
Waco UEC taxies by.
Our subject for this story is a 1932 Waco UEC, N13050,
SIN 3678, which left the Waco factory in Troy, Ohio, on Sep-
tember 23, 1932, and was delivered to H. C. Lippiatt in Bur-
bank, California. The present owner, who brought the pretty
~ i k Steineke ...
(Above) With its unique rear windows in the
fuselage and original 1932 paint scheme,
Jack Hill ' s Waco UEC poses in the Florida
sunshine at Sun 'n Fun. This was the last
word i n high speed transportation com-
pared to the Model A Ford and the very first
V-B, its ground based contemporary in the
early 1930' s.
+
(Right) Exact replicas of the original wheel
c
fenders as supplied by Waco in 1932 were
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hand built by Wayne Hayes during the .2l
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restoration of the airplane. Jack Hill says Cl.
they help keep the airplane clean when E
o
moving on wet or muddy ground. z
by Norm Petersen
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19
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(Above) Jack Hill leans down to keep an
eye on the photo plane as he pulls the
Waco in for a close-up shot. The combi-
nation of a slow turning Continental en-
gine and a wooden propeller makes for a
very softly muffled feel and sound - a
unique characteristic of the Waco UEC,
long endeared by pilots of the marque.
(Left) With the Waco approaching head
on, we can see the throw over control
wheel is on Jack' s side and the tailwheel
is having trouble staying in line! The
large skylight really brightens up the
cabin.
UEC to Lakeland, FL, is Jack J. Hill, Jr.
(EAA 219748, A/C 8059) of Closter,
NJ. Jack, who grew up in Rocky Mount,
NC, soloed a J-3 Cub at age 16 in 1948
and earned a Private license in 1949. In
1956 he signed on with Uni ted Air
Lines, flying the next 36 years for the
airline and accummul ating some 30,000
hours in his logbook.
When t he "age 60 retirement " rul e
caught up to him, Jack decided it was
time to have some fun flying, so he pur-
chased the Waco UEC from none other
than Waco expert Wayne Hayes (EAA
124382, A/C 3882) of Mount Vernon,
Ohio. (Way ne Hayes has owned a
YKS-7 Waco cabin since 1971 and has
flown it 4,000 hours! His home airport
at Wynkoop is the site of the National
Waco Club Fly-In each June.)
Our subject Waco UEC had spent
over twenty years in Beverly, Massachu-
20 AUGUST 1994
setts, where John Nelson (EAA 10358,
A/C 9235) had used the airframe as a
teaching aid in his aviation classes.
(John had purchased the Waco UEC as
a basket case in the early sixties in
Rhode Island.) In addition, John had re-
stored the unique rear windows on the
UEC fuselage which had been removed
by a previous owner. John is an avid
airplane aficionado, having been an A
& P, lA, aod Mechanic Examiner for
"many moons" and was recently the re-
cipient of a 50-Year Mechanic Award
from the FAA.
Wayne Hayes bought the UEC pro-
ject from John Nelson and hauled the
parts and pieces to his base at Rob-
binsville , NJ, which is also home to a
well known aviation personality (and
true gentleman), Steve Pitcairn (EAA
109260, A/C 4080). The rebuild of the
Waco wings was well along with new
ribs on the original spars when Wayne
moved his operation to Mt. Vernon,
Ohio; the Waco UEC making yet an-
other trip by trailer and truck! Nearly
a.1I the pieces of the neat old cabin Waco
were ready for assembly when Wayne
suffered a bunch of medical problems
that put him out of action for a spell. It
hurt to see the Waco so close - but yet
so far from completion. About this time
Jack Hill came along, so he sold the air-
plane to Jack and once again, the Waco
was loaded on a truck and hauled to
John Shue's shop in York, PA. John
Shue (EAA 73049) proceeded with the
assembly details and when everything
was ready, he called in the FAA inspec-
tor for licensing and a new Certificate of
Airworthiness. The old girl passed with
flying colors! (It has been said that
N13050 has more miles on a truck than
in the air - at least in the past 30 years!)
A happy Jack Hill climbed aboard
the Waco about two years ago and has
been enjoying the solid feel of two wings
ever since. At Sun 'n Fun '94, Jack had
flown the bird some 56 hours and was
enjoying every minute. The Continen-
tal W-670 engine of 220 hp was running
very strong with almost no leaks. Jack
likes the toe brakes that have replaced
the old Johnson Bar installation and he
feels they are a definite safety item.
The panel sports a nav-comm radio,
transponder and G PS plus an electric
starter and generator installation - a
must for safe travel in the 1990' s.
Waco built forty of the UEC model
(ATC 467) and at present , there are
eight remaining on the U. S. register.
The UEC featured a streamlined strut
between the wings (tension and com-
pression) rather than a series of stream-
lined wires. The empty weight was 1750
lbs. and gross was 2700 Ibs. Maximum
speed was listed at 133 mph with normal
cruise at 116 mph and landing at 49
mph. The factory new price in 1932 was
listed as $5985.
Jack Hill related how he stopped at
his old home town of Rocky Mount, NC
on the way to Sun 'n Fun. While there,
he called an 80-year-old man on the
phone who promptly came out to the
airport to give his Waco UEC a very
close inspection. He inspected the
Waco from nose to tail, remarking about
the Heywood Air Starter that he had on
his machine years ago. The elderly
man was impressed with the quality of
workmanship on the airplane. This
same 80-year-old man was hopping pas-
sengers way back in the summer of 1940
with a Waco UEC. Jack Hill had his
very first airplane ride with this gentle-
man that particular summer at the age
of eight years. Apparently the desire to
have a Waco UEC of his own was in-
stilled in the young Jack Hill on that
summer day - 54 years ago! Isn't avia-
tion history fascinating? ...
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The classic silhouette of a Waco UEC is one that is long remembered by Waco aficianados, the rounded tail, the rear fuse-
.0;
lage windows, the aileron slave struts and the substantial landing gear. This is antique flying at its very best.
U5
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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 21
c
John Hartman'sStinsonV-77(AT-19)
This pretty photo of Stinson V-77, (EAA 53043, A/C 910) , of Mack, Col-
WHATOUR.MEMBERSARERESTORING
-------------------------------------------------------byNorrnPetersen
the big "gull-wing" Stinson even has the
crankcase of the Lycoming R-680 en-
gine done in matching yellow! John re-
lates how the airplane came off the line
in 1943 as an AT-19, was sold to the
RCAF for IFR training and was shipped
to India where it sat in the crate. It was
shipped back to the U.S. after the war
and was modified to a V-77. It sat at
Burley, Idaho for 18 years until Lon
Woodward bought it and stored it for
two years at Provo, Utah. John bought
the airplane from Lon six years ago
and spent the next five years restoring
the Stinson from the ground up. The
first flight after 26 years was February
12,1994. John, who is 70 years young,
says the big Stinson is fun to fly and
rock solid in the air. It had 470 hours
total time engine and airframe at the
time of rebuild. There are 123 V-77 re-
NI5JH, SIN 77-452, was sent in by long- orado. Nicely finished off in a yellow maining on the U. S. register and four
time EAA member, John Hartman paint scheme with brown and red trim, AT-19s.
Fred Ludtke'sMonocoupe110Special
Ripping through the sky with the smoke
system on is a Clipwing Monocoupe 110
Special, N2064, SIN A748, flown by veteran
airshow performer, Freddie Ludtke (EAA
46948, A /C 13053) of Freeland, Washing-
ton. Named the "Spirit of Dynamite," the
Monocoupe features a 165 hp Warner en-
gine with fully inverted fuel and oil systems
and airshow smoke. Complete with a Stan-
dard Airworthiness Certificate, the Mono-
coupe is used for aerobatic instruction as
well as airshow work. Normal climb is 2000
fpm, cruise is 150 mph and dives can be
made at over 200 mph. The full story on
this "hot rod" is related in the March 1990
SPORT AVIATION. Full information on
the airplane, which Fred plans on selling, is
available at 206-331-5811.
HansAllenbach'sFairchild
UC-61A"Argus"
Pictured over the beautiful landscape of
Switzerland is Fairchild UC-61A " Argus," reg-
istered HB-EMI , owned by Hans Allenbach
(EAA 348518, A /C 16531) and his son, Peter, of
Deitingen, Switzerland. The Fairchild served in
the British RAF from 1943 to 1946 before going
on the Swiss register as HB-EMI. Hans has
owned the Fairchild for many years, restoring it
in the 1960's and again in the 1990's. It is pow-
ered with a 165 hp Warner and features a steer-
able Maule tailwheel and added struts from the
main gear to the fuselage under the cabin - a re-
quirement of the Swiss FAA for certification in
their country. This author was at the Grenchen
Airshow in Switzerland in June and observed
this particul ar Fairchild on the ground and in.
the air. It is indeed, a very nice airplane!
22 AUGUST 1994
GeorgeFlynt'sTemco
SwiftGC-IB
Theproud ownerofthismuchmod-
ified "Swift," N2362B,SIN 3662,isre-
tired airline Ca pt a in George Flynt
(EAA156555) ofSummit,MS. Built
byTemco in 1948, theSwiftwas first
owned byMark Full er ,Ma rks, MS,
whosold it toa fo rmer Navy fighter
pilot,C. D.Russell ,ofClarksdale, MS,
onJune7,1950. George Fl ynt bought
the Swift from C. D. Russell ' sestate
on Se pt e mber29,1988. Be ing th e
thirdowner ofthi s "Mississippi air-
pl ane," George install ed a new Ly-
coming AEIO-360-AIDengine and
Hart zell aerobat ic prop,newinstru-
mentsandpanel,cont rolsticks, Cessna
150 sea ts, J ack Nage l ca no py and
Clevelandwheelsand brakes. In addi-
tion,Georgeadded t he spar mod for
highergrossweight ,electricfuelboost
pump,12volt electri chydrauli cdri ve
motor and elect ri c t rim (designed by
Nagel). He nowhasjustover18 hours
onthe airpl ane and reportsa crui seof
145 mph a t 24 squ a re at 3000 feet.
Normaltakeoffsare made in800feet.
Beingan ex-cropduster,Georgeen-
j oys putting th e mod i fi ed Swi ft
throughitspaces.
LarryMiller'sCessnaUO
Deli vered to the Cessna dea le r Cessna120,N76826,SIN 11258,hasbeen
(BarnaAir,Inc.) in Tuscaloosa, AL,on an Alabamareside ntall its life. The
November 11 ,1946, thi sver yprett y ori ginalowner had it for 32 yea rs. In
1978, itwas restoredby two newowners
and the pr ese nt owner, Larr yMill er
(EAA451796) ofPratt vill e,AL,pur-
chasedthelittletwo- placerfromthemin
Septemberof1993. Larryreportst he
120has2100 hours ontheai rframeand
about760 hoursontheC-85engi nesi nce
major. Theonl ydeviati onsfromorigi-
nalare theSTC' ddorsalfi n,a ValCom
radioand abuiltin Int ercom. A tota l
deli ght to fl y,the Cessna is flownfor
pl eas ur e byLarrywhosaysat every
small airportlanding,someonecomes up
and want sto buythe air pl ane. How-
ever,Larryhas atwo-year-old grandson
whowill oneday gethi schance atflyi ng
theCessna, soitisnotfor sale.
These"before"and"after" photos
ofLuscombe8E,N22004,SIN 854,re-
veal atremendousamountofrestora-
tionwork. CharlesWilkins,Jr. (EAA
414450, A /C 19427)ofSugarLand,
TX,is the proudowner. The8E was
involvedin a taxiwaycollisionwith an
Aeronca Chiefon October 25, 1958.
CharlesWilkin'sLuscombe8E
Followinga fuelstarvationaccidentin
1965,the Luscombe wasagain rebuilt
to itspresentstat e and the firstfli ght
took pl a ce on J anua r y 14, 1993.
Equipped with a Contine nt a lC-85-
12F engine, the Luscombe has won
twoawardsatregionalfly-insandhas
logged about130hourssince rebuild.
It s port s a KT-76A trans ponde r ,
Mode C,TKMcommand a Garmin
GPS-5S. A fuelflow meter hasbeen
added topreventa reccurenceofthe
1965 accident! Verycoolthinking!
Congratulations toCharlesWilkins,
Jr. and hi ssharplooking Luscombe
8E.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23
Notes
From the National Ryan Club- Bill
Hodges,NewsletterEditor
"SAFETY - it comes in many and
various styles. We have addressed this
general subject before in its different
forms. What to do when starting (i.e.
hand propping) your engine and you
are the only knowledgeable one
around. Using Dick Cutler's method of
tying the tailwheel down is good. But if
you use a person who is a casual ac-
quaintance or even unknown to you to
sit in the cockpit to handle the throttle
and brakes, be sure they are thoroughly
checked out in the starting procedure
and the cockpit. Make sure they know
which direction to move the throttle
and to keep the stick full back, and the
feet on the brakes. Remember that just
because a person is on the airport does
not mean he is a qualified airplane op-
erator."
(Ed. Note: The above paragraph per-
tains not only to pilots of Ryan air-
planes, but to pilots of all aircraft requir-
ing hand propping. Every year, with
clock-like regularity, the horror stories
come to the surface and we lose more
valuable airplanes - to say nothing of the
terrified people involved. The old adage
is: An ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure!)
TexasChapterAAANewsletter-
Penny& Tom Richards,editors
A very nice article on the 14-year
restoration of a Stinson 108-3 by Clyde
and Elaine Boggus completed in 1993
was followed by a sequel from May of
1994 relating additional experiences:
"Difficulties with crosswind takeoffs
and landings plagued and intimidated
me untill finally determined the prob-
lem was the Scott 3200 tailwheel. The
unit had been reworked with new bush-
ings and parts, except for part no. 21, a
pin which should restrain the spring,
part no. 18. Back in the past life of
N6915M a #4 machine scr ew was
adapted to retain the spring and I found
the screw to be in good conditon. I had
a good assortment of #4 screws so 1
e lected not to order part no. 21 for
$5.00 (Univair) or $25.00 (Aircraft
24 AUGUST 1994
byNorm Petersen
Spruce & Specialty). Those prices
seemed high! Back to our story - I se-
cured, restrained, the spring with a #3
bolt modified to suit the occasion and
the tailwheel then performed posi-
tively. Confidence in crosswind opera-
tions then slowly improved. There was
no more free castoring and weather-
vaning.
"The first annual inspection was
completed in April 1994. Accumulated
time was 85 hours and 138 landings.
Mark Burke, lA, performed a very
thorough inspection and looked at
everything! 1 appreciated this take-
nothing-for-granted approach. Mark's
inquisitiveness and thoroughness lo-
cated the cause of an irritating noise
which had persisted since the first pre-
flight. An aileron cable in the right
wing was threaded on the wrong side of
the bracket anchoring the flap spring.
A sharp pocket knife provided access
to the area and allowed a simple cor-
rection. Finally locating and correcting
this problem was the highlight of the
annual inspection! Removal of the rear
headliner then enabled easy access for
retensioning the cable.
"New Slick magnetos and harnesses
were installed rather than comply with
an AD note to replace magnets and
coils in the Bendix magnetos. Perfor-
mance increase was minimal. And es-
thetics may have improved. The Slick
mags are just a tad purtier!
N6915M is back at work serving as
an instrument trainer. Stability of the
Stinson is good and learning to use the
instruments is an enjoyable challenge."
InternationalCessna120/140 Associa-
tion - Bill Rhoades, Editor
"Aircraft Interiors Flame Retardant
Requirement - from the FAA. A Mal-
function or Defect Report received
from a repair station certified for burn
test brought to our attention the need
for clarification of the requirements.
The summarized report follows: During
the rebuilding of a Piper P A-18 Super
Cub, it was determined that a new
headliner was required. After receipt
of the new headliner from a popular
aviation supplier, the burn certification
on the material could not be certified.
The manufacturer provided a state-
ment that 'the material was manufac-
tured to meet or exceed the flame and
mildew specifications of FAR Section
25.853(b).'
" First of all, any authorized state-
ment of material burn certification
must come from an FAA burn certified
repair station operating under FAR
Part 145 of other FAA approval , such
as a manufacturer under a TSO or
PMA. The operation specifications of
a burn certified repair station must con-
tain a ' Limited Rating for Specialized
Services,' the specific service autho-
rized, and the specifications to be used.
A burn certification must include the
name and certificate number of the re-
pair station or other FAA-approved
source that performed the required
tests. Traceability of approved testing
must be maintained all the way to the
end product, in this case the headliner.
"The second point concerning this
report is that FAR Part 25 deals with
' Airworthiness Standards: Transport
Category Airplanes.' Obviously, this
regulation does not apply to a Piper
PA-18 airplane. FAR Part 23 is enti-
tled, ' Airworthiness Standards: Nor-
mal, Utility, Acrobatic, and Commuter
Category Airplanes.' This regulation
does apply to a large number of general
aviation airplanes, however, it does not
apply to the P A-18. It should be men-
tioned that both of these regulations
contain very rigorous requirements for
certification of materials used in air-
plane interiors and are more stringent
that the requirements for this airplane.
"The Piper PA-18 airplane was origi-
nally certified under 'Civil Air Regula-
tions 3' (CAR 3). CAR 3 is contained
in the 'Civil Aeronautics Manual3'
(CAM 3). Therefore, the requirements
of airplane interiors found in CAM 3,
Section 3.388 apply to the Piper PA-18
airp lane. FAA approved materials
which meet or exceed the requirement
found in CAM 3 state that if smoking is
to be permitted, the material used must
be flame-resistant; if smoking is to be
permitted, then a 'No Smoking' placard
must be installed and the material used
must be flash-resistant."
AmericanBonanzaSocietyNewsletter
- PatricRowley,Editor
TheJuly1994editionofthis really
splendidpublication featuresa leading
columnentitled,"President ' s Com-
ments," written byJohn Kilbourneand
containing the following news ofa
soberingnature:
" Thelongfamous ABS/ ASF Bo-
nanza/BaronPilotProficiency Program
(BPPP)wasdiscontinuedeffectiveMay
21,1994. TheABS BoardofDirectors
atitsmeetingon May20-21 decided to
ceaseflight trainingoperationscon-
ductedbyABSbecauseofsubstantial
liabilityexposureandthepossibleloss
oftheSocietyitself.
"Inourlitigioussocietytoday, peo-
plearenotgenerallyinclined toaccept
misfortuneswhich befall them as their
own responsibilityor"fate,"butlook
tosomeoneelse tocarry theblame.
This resultsin the high numberoflaw-
suitswith which we areall toofamiliar.
Someofthese lawsuits resultin astro-
nomicaldamages . Anyonesuchsuit
could resultin an awardofdamages
which couldconsumealloftheassetsof
theSocietyand theAirSafetyFounda-
tion,includingitsbuildings.
"Moreover,wherea boardofdirec-
torsis closelyinvolvedwithdecisions
affectinga matter,plaintiffscan argue
thattheso-called"corporateveil"could
bepiercedand thatdirectorsthem-
selvesshouldbeliable. Severalofthe
currentdirectorshave beenadvised by
theirowncounsel toeitherceaseflight
trainingorresign from theboard.
"Severaleminentlyqualifiedpersons
whohadearlierconsideredjoiningyour
ABS Boardhaveelectednottodoso
for thesamereason.
"TheSocietyitselfonatleasttwo
occasionswas advised by itscounselin
Wichitathat therewas noeffectiveway
to preventpossibleliabilityfor the
flight trainingoperations.
...Aspresident ,Iassurethatthis
decisionwas not takenwithoutagreat
dealofsoulsearching,withoutthebest
possibleoutsideadviceandwithoutall
boardmembers beingheard and all
views beingconsidered. Nonetheless,
whenall thefactswereon thetable,it
camedown tothecontinuedexistence
ofyourSocietyandlookingfor alterna-
tivewaysoftrainingweighed against
thecontinuationoftheBPPP.
"Theboardwill continuewhereverit
can tosupportexcellentflight training
for membersoftheABS. Wewould
welcomeanysuggestionsas tohowthat
can bestbeaccomplished."
(Ed. note: One wonders how many
lives have been saved and how many
fine airplanes are still flying today be-
cause of the extremely diligent and dedi-
cated efforts of the BPPP instructors
over these many years. The more hours
they spent preventing accidents, the
more the liability exposure - a true
"Catch 22"situation. N.A.P.)
InternationalCessna170
Association,Inc.-
VelvetFackeldey,editor
FLAP FLAPby Randy Martin. "I
discovered a problem on my l70A,
N9059A,SIN 18818,which Ithinkwar-
rantsbringingto theattentionofthe
members.
"Duringa preflightfollowinga se-
verestorm,Idiscoveredonlymy right
flap would extend. Investigationdis-
closed the left flap controlsystemca-
ble,PIN 0510105-11, as brokenatthe
cableballswedge assemblywherethe
cableconnectstothe flap assembly,
PIN0523228. Thecableshowed noevi-
denceofcorrosion and further investi-
gationofthe right flap assemblydis-
closedthecablehadalso fai ledsome
time in the past , because a screw
swedge ball assembly had been in-
stalled.
"Ihave owned theaircraftfor 10
yearsand thescrewswedge ball assem-
blywasnotinstalledduringthisperiod.
"Whatconcernsme is whatwould
happenifoneflap cablefailed during
takeofforlandingwith flaps extended.
Theaffectedflap would immediately
fair with thewing,thuscausingan im-
balancecondition. Idon't know ifthe
aileronswouldcompensatefor thedif-
ference. Atany rate, I recommenda
onetimeinspectionofthe flap cableas-
sembly."
Taylorcraft Owner'sClub-
BruceBixlerII,editor
"Overthepastfew yearsatnumer-
ousFly-Ins,etc. I have noticeda num-
berofpost-warBC-12Dwingswith the
three-piecestampedribsthathavebeen
rib-stitched insteadofthe wireclips be-
ing used. Thewholeideaoft he three-
piecestampedrib was togetawayfrom
theslow processofrib-stitchingand rib
fabrication tospeedup production in
1946. Thefabricclipis theon ly ap-
proved methodofcoveringa three-
piecestamped ribonaT-Craftwing.
An FAAman,awareofthe twotypes
ofTaylorcraft ribs,couldgroundan air-
planefor an unapproved method of
cover. MostFAAfieldinspectorsdon't
knowaTaylorcraftfrom aChrisCraft
sothisprobablywon't happen. I've
seena lotofBmodelswith a built-up
rib wingononesideandastamped rib
wingon theother,no problem as long
as thecorrectmethodofattachmentis
usedandeachwinghas 15 ribs."
THEBEECH EAGLE- publishedby
thenew"TwinBeech18" Divisionof
theStaggerwingMuseumFoundation-
EnricoBottieri,editor
" Dr ip Drip Drip! Almostfrom
dayoneofthe introductionof"Radial"
round engineswe havebee nseeking
betterways tostopunsightlyoi lleaks,
Weevenjokeabout theenginesbeing
externall ylubricated. Thiswas true
yearsagoas therockerboxeswereex-
posedandexternallylubricatedwithoil
andgrease.
" Even good tighte nginesofvery
low timemaybe pronetooilseepage
overtime. We arealmostcertainwe
knowwherethe leakscomefrom and
why. We areworkingon fixing oneof
themostprominentculprits,theengine
oilshutoffvalve. Meanwhile,oneman
hascomeup with afix for collectingall
thatugly blackstuff. His nameis John
C. Alden."
"DearEnrico: Thankyou for your
call on 1/13/94 regardingmydesireto
introduceyourreadersto theFAAap-
proved"RORS"system (RockerOil
RecoverySystem). Regrettably(this
system is) overforty yearstoolate for
themanywho havesufferedtheresults
ofaccumul ated rockeroil performing
its wearyandoftencatastrophicmis-
sion. The informationwill hopefully
impartupon theso-called"NewGener-
ation"ofradialengineoperatorsthe
importanceand now themeansofdeal-
ingwith therockeroildilemma,thereby
protectingthe powerplantsoftheir
nowadaysexpensiveflying machines.
"It has been theotherestablished
usersofradialenginessuch as AgOp-
erators,a lotofT-6(owners)and one
of your own Beech subscribers in
Fresno,CA,thathavebeenthebulkof
my customerstodate,andall by virtue
ofthesystemsellingitself. It is inter-
estingthatmanyoftheseusers havere-
spondedwith thesamequestion: Why
hasn' t thisdevice thatfunctions sowell
beendonebefore??? Iguessitsnot
toosurprisingwhen you stoptothink
aboutit; Asaviation alongwith other
highly regulatedandcontrolledindus-
triesseemtostimulatethe"Attitudeof
acceptingand livingwith theStatus
Quo" and in thiscaseevenold P& W
wasn'timmune.
"TheSTCfor this system has an
AML(ApprovedModel List) thatcov-
erstheBeech17 Staggerwingand the
18seriesandall theirex-militarymod-
els;alsothe Lockheedmodels, 10-A,
lO-E Electrasand the model5Vegas.
Enclosedis a photosheetthatyoucan
useasyouseefit."
Sincerely,
JohnC. Alden(408-373-7135) ...
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25
P_1\_SS_IT _ Q J ~
An information exchange column with input from our readers.
A few days ago I was talking to H.G.,
our friendly editor, about our airplanes
and what an owner can actually do as far
as maintenance is concerned.
The limitations are spelled out in the
29 paragraphs of FAR part 43, Ap-
pendix A and are further amplified by
Advisory Circular 43-12A. This Advi-
sory Circular states very firmly that if a
function doesn't appear on the list , you
can' t do it. Itis pretty specific, but basi-
cally it boils down to common sense. If
whatever you are contemplating doing
affects the airworthiness of the airplane,
you can't!
In other words, if you want to take off
a wing, or change an engine or work on
instruments, or remove the propeller or
anything that would render the airplane
unairworthy, you ain' t supposed to touch
it. Get a certified technician or an A&P
to do the job and sign it off.
Furthermore, you must be the owner,
have at least a Private Pilot certificate"
and you must do the work personally and
approve the airplane for return to ser-
vice. In other words, you make a log-
book entry. You do the work by the
book, too.
Again , the items you can do for the
airplane you own are listed in the 29
paragraphs of that Appendix A. There
are preventive maintenance items you
can easily accomplish which are fairly
common and easy to do.
You can change tires, add hydraulic
fluid to the brakes and shock struts, re-
place shock cords, service shock struts,
replace safety wire and cotter keys, (see
the last issue of VINTAGE AIR-
PLANE) change the engine oil, lube
things, do simple fabric repairs, repair
upholstery, seat belts, remove and re-
place seats, troubleshoot electrical sys-
tems, replace light bulbs and fuses, re-
flectors, and landing lights. You can also
remove, clean, check and replace spark
plugs, replace any hoses and connections
except hydraulic (meaning hydraulic sys-
tems such as the gear retraction system,
not the brakes), replace prefabricated
fuel lines, clean and replace fuel and oil
strainer or fi lter elements, replace and/or
service your batteries. You can also
byBuckHilbert
(EAA21,Ale 5)
P.O. Box424
Union,IL60180
check your chip detector if you have one,
and even replace side windows if you
don' t get involved with disassembling the
airplane structurally.
These are some of the items you can
accomplish to save yourself a dollar or
two on labor. Of course, if you've a
friendly maintenance person, either an
A&P or a Designated Aircraft Mainte-
nance Inspector who will allow you to
work under supervision, then you really
have it made. Itis not uncommon to
help on an annual or repair or rebuild.
The most important factor here, of
course, is to do it by " The Book" or
Books as the case may be. Get out that
service manual, the parts manual can re-
ally be a big help by showing exploded
views on the component or parts you are
working on. Get yourself a copy of FAR
43, EAA has them in their list of publica-
tions and also Appendix A, and be sure
and take to advice of your A&P or AI.
Over to you,
f'(
"EIBuckoHilberto" andthe1942NicaraguanAirForce.
26AUGUST1994
WELCOME NEWMEMBERS
On this page you'll see the latest additions to the ranks of the EAA Antique/Clas-
sic Division. Whether you're joining for the first time, or are coming back, we
welcome you, and we'd especially like to welcome those of you who are joining us
with your interest in Contemporary class aircraft. Welcome one and all!
John DeanAcker Tomah,WI
WilliamS. Allison Braidwood,IL
Jack R. Archibald Kalispell ,MT
Joseph A. Biesel Louisville,KY
BertH. Blanton PoncaCity,OK
Marvin F.Bond LeRoy,MI
RobertA. Bostelmann GreenLake,WI
JohnH. Boyd Lockport,NY
Willi amF. Braddock Decatur,AL
TimBrooks Davison,MI
AdrianBrouwer lolaPark,TX
RobertA. Brown Marietta,GA
TimothyJ.Brown NewBrighton,PA
DonaldR. Burton Midlothian,VA
DennisC.Call away Athens,MI
LonCarlson Johnstown,CO
David Celi e Osceola,IN
JackChumney Hanahan,SC
LelandCli fford Sabattus,ME
EdwardR.Collins San Diego,CA
Lowell VictorCurtis DesMoines,IA
C.J .Dahms The Hauge,Netherlands
Robert E. Davidson Placerville,CA
Danilo De-Maria Bellinzona,Switzerland
Terrence A. Dolan Twin Falls,10
DuaneN. Dunkley BakersMill ,NY
EricEdwards Canada
John Eickmeier Malinta,OH
TomEllis Providence, KY
Lyle K.Enderud BellaCoola,BC,Canada
JeffreyA. Evans LosAngeles,CA
Paul A. Faeth FortWayne,IN
Ronald E.Fandler Gresham,WI
Gerald Farrell DanaPoint,CA
JamesW.Farriss NLawrence, OH
Jack W.Ferns Concord,NH
RobertM.Fitzgerald ColoradoSprings,CO
DavidM.Forshaw
Hertford,Hertfordshire,England
Clyde R.Fox StPetersburg, FL
Keiji Gotou Sapporo,Japan
Edward A.Grant Stamford,CT
DaveR. Grisham Mesa,AZ
StephenHamisko Wallingford,CT
Charl esW.Hampton Worthington,OH
ThomasM. Hampton Charlotte,NC
W.J.Hanley Dubuque,IA
JoanHarmon Mountainview,CA
JamesO.Harrison Memphis,TN
GregA. Heckman Dixon,IL
JohnS. Held Cincinnati,OH
AlanB. Hendershot Columbia,NJ
David Hubbard Dexter,MI
David IUi es Fosston,MN
ChrisA.Jacobsen Arvada,CO
DouglasM.James Edina,MN
RodJohannsen Richardson,TX
AlbertA.Johnson Minnetonka, MN
Robert Johnston Foresthill ,CA
James H. Jones Payson,AZ
RobertH.Jones Ashland, OH
Judge HowardR. Kaufman Naples, FL
FredM.Key Bedford,TX
Charles A. Kordowski Palmetto,GA
JosephA. Kowalski Chicago,IL
RobertA. Kromer SanAntonio,TX
SteveLamb BigBearCity,CA
WarrenT.Leber,Jr. Mechanicsville,VA
CharlesL. Levsen
John A. Lewis
Martin Libhart
CarlLi ebig
W. E.Little
CraigJ .Lovell
Ben Mason
WalterE. McClory
EarlMcCollom
Douglas D. McDowall
Donahue,IA
Rockvill e, MD
Wichita, KS
Eagle Ri ver,WI
LehighAcres,FL
Madison,WI
Effingham,IL
Delaware,OH
ValleyCenter,KS
North LittleRock,AR
Martin E.Mcintire
LawrenceR.Meyer
John Miller
RogerL. Miller
John R. Moore
ThomasF. Moore
RobertJ. Morris
CarenNewell
RussNewhouse
RussNewhouse
David Nutt
GeorgeO'Nei l
LelandOliphant
Harley William Parker
Randall W. Parks
DavidG. Paulley
RonC. Peeples
Larry L. Philyaw
Ronald Raduenz
CharlesRedshaw
EdwardC. Rice III
David Roberts
KennethG.Salinger,Jr.
PaulScholz
RichardL. Schreiber
EdwardD.Segen
Russell W.Sheets
LeoF. Sheridan
LesterShowers
RichardS. Sider
CraigSinclair
G. A. Siader
Richard P. Smith
ThomasA. Sparr
LarrySquarcia
JamesN.Stamos
Darcy Steele
Stephen N. Stompanato
JohnC. Sullivan
AdolphR.Svec
Charles H.Swartz,Jr.
KimG.Sweet
Debra LeeTaylor
DennisM.Temple
Delaware,OH
Guilford,IN
Eli zabeth,CO
Middletown,OH
Northbrook, IL
Clinton,NY
Arlington,VA
Lakehead,CA
Brighton,MI
Brighton,MI
Jackson,MS
Bloomington,IL
Penn Vall ey,CA
Milwaukee,WI
Batavia, IL
Osage,Wy
Belleville, MI
Pontiac,IL
Watertown,WI
Bellevue,WA
Beaufort ,SC
Roscoe,IL
Milwaukee,WI
Dayton,OH
Romeo,MI
Trumbull,CT
Delaware,OH
Ostrander,OH
Bridgeville,DE
AnnArbor,MI
N Hampton,NH
Langl ey, WA
GraviosMills, MO
StPeters, MO
Cupertino,CA
Burnsville,MN
Petoskey, MI
Schaumburg,IL
Lee,NH
Marengo, IL
Houston,TX
Bella Vista, AR
Whitewater,WI
Saskatoon,Saskatchewan,Canada
CharlesTorbett
BillTrent
David Valdez
CarlS. VanOrden
DavidC. Von Brock
TomWanner
BonnyWarner
Sycamore,IL
Alpharetta,GA
Southlake,TX
Emporia,KS
Tucson,AZ
Mount,MN
Byron,CA
MEMBERSHIP
INFORMATION
EAA
Membership in the Experimental Aircraft
Association, Inc. is $35for one year, including 12
issues of SPORT AVIATION. Family membership
is available for an additional $10 annually. Junior
Membership (under 19years of age) is available
at $20 annually. All major credit cards accepted
for membership.
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Current EAA members may join the Antique/
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EAA Membership, VINTAGE AIRPLANE mag-
azine and one year membership in the EAA
Antique/Classic Division is available for $30per
year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not included).
lAC
Current EAA members may join the Intemational
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AEROBATICS magazine for an additional $30
per year.
EAA Membership, SPORT AEROBATICS
magazine and one year membership in the lAC
Division is available for $40 per year (SPORT
AVIATION magazine not included).
WARBIRDS
Current EAA members may join the EAA
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year.
EAA Membership, WARBIRDS magazine and
one year membership in the Waroirds Division is
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EAA AVIATION CENTER
P.O.BOX 3086
OSHKOSH, WI54903-3086
PHONE (414) 426-4800
FAX (414) 426-4873
OFFICE HOURS:
8:15-5:00 MON.-FRI.
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MEMBERSHIP DUES TO EAA AND
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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27
Jeff Welles San LuisObispo,CA
PeterR. Whyte Subiaco,NSW,Australia
ChrisWilcox Canajoharie,NY
C. Young Markyate,SI. Albans,England
Patricia Zander Glenview,IL
The following list of coming events is furnished to our
readers as a matter of information only and does not con-
stitute approval, sponsorship, involvement, control or
direction of any event (jIy-in, seminars, fly market, etc.)
listed. Please send the information to EAA, All: Golda
Cox, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903 -3086.
Information should be received four months prior to the
AUGUST 20 - INDIANAPOLIS,
IN - Fly- I n/Drive-In/Pancake Break-
fast. Hendricks County Aviation Asso-
ciation (HCAA). Speedway Airport, 5
mi les NW of Indianapolis International
Airport. David Clark, 317/839-4500.
FAX 317/838-9637.
AUGUST 20-21 - GADSDEN, AL
- WW I Aerodrome ' 94. For more in-
formation, call 205/878-7310.
AUGUST 26-28 - SUSSEX, NJ -
22nd Annual Sussex Airshow. Gates
open at 8, airshow at 1:30pm. Call
201/875-7337 for information.
SEPTEMBER 3 - MARION, IN-
Marion Municipal Airport. 4th Annual
Fly-In/Cruise-In Breakfast. Call
317/664-2588 for info.
SEPTEMBER 3-4 - PROSSER, WA
- EAA chapter 391 11th Annual Prosser
Labor Day Fly-In. Food, Flying, tours,
raffl e and more. Camping on the field.
For more info call Thompson Aircraft
at 509/786-1034.
SEPTEMBER 3-5 - TECHAHAPI,
CA - Sailplane Homebuilders Assn'!
Vint age Sailplane Convention/ Work-
shop. Call 603/248-8805.
SEPTEMBER 4 - WAYNES-
VILLE, OH - EAA Chapter 284 Tail-
dragger Fly-In. 513/780-6343.
SEPTEMBER 8-11 - PAGOSA
SPRINGS, CO - Bellanca-Champion
Club International Convention .
414/783-6559.
SEPTEMBER 10-11- HICKORY,
NC - EAA Chapter 731 9th Annual
Fly-In. 704/328-5807 or 704/396-7032.
SEPTEMBER 10-11- HOBBS, NM
- CAF New Mexico Wing Fly-In and
Open House. Breakfast and lunch Sat-
urday. For accomodations and ground
transportation info , contact Brad
Woody, 505/392-6660, or write P.O.
Box 1260, Hobbs, NM 88240.
SEPTEMBER 10-11- SCHENEC-
TADY, NY - Northeast Flight '94 Air-
show. Call the Empire State Aero-
sciences Museum for more information,
518/399-5217.
SEPTEMBER 10-11- MARION,
OH 29TH MERFI - EAA Regional
Fly-ln. Call 513/849-9455.
SEPTEMBER 7-11 - GALES-
BURG, IL - Galesburg Municipal air-
port. 23rd National Stearman Fly-In.
28 AUGUST 1994
event date.
Contact: Tom Lowe, 823 Ki ngston
Lane, Crystal Lake, I L 60014. Phone
815/459-6873.
SEPTE MBE R 16-18 - ARAPA-
HOE, NE - Antique Airplane Fly- In .
Call 308/962-5240 for more info.
SEPTEMBE R 16-18 - FORT
WORTH, TX - All iance Airport. The
All American Sport Aviation Fly-In,
sponsored by EAA Chapter 34. A wide
variety of aviation act ivities are
planned. Call 817/572-1205 for more
information.
SEPTEMBER 17-18 - ROCK
FALLS, IL - 8th Annual North Central
EAA " Old Fashioned" Fly- In. Pan-
cake breakfast on Sunday. Ca ll
708/513-0641.
SEPTEMBER 22-24 - EXETER,
CA - 12th Annual West Coast Travel
Air Fly-In. Largest annual gathering of
vintage Travel Airs on the west coast.
Good food, flying events, world famous
auction and more. For info call
evenings: Jerry ImpeJlezzeri , 408/356-
3407.
SEPTEMBER 23-24 - MOCKS-
VILLE, NC - TARA FIELD - 9th An-
nual Anything That Flies Fly-In. Early
arrival party and fun flying 23rd. 24th
Big Day. Events, awards, USO style
Big Band party Saturday night. Prize
for best 1940's war years costume. CL T
sectional, 2100 x 80, apt info 122.9, auto
fuel, land north, if possible. Private f1y-
in operation and attendance is at your
own risk. Info 704/284-2161 or 704/284-
2107.
SEPTEMBER 23-24 - BARTLES-
VILLE, OK - Frank Phillips Field. 37th
Annual Tulsa Regional Fly-in. For info
call Charlie Harris, 918-622-8400.
SEPTEMBER 23-24 - NORTH LAS
VEGAS, NV - Sixth Annual western
Waco Assoc. Reunion. Largest Waco
gathering in the western U.S. Contact
Jon Aldrich, 209/962-6]21 for more
info.
SEPTEMBER 24 - RANGER, TX -
EAA Chapter 956 3rd Annual Classic
Antique Fly-In/Lunch. 817/647-5308
SEPTEMBER 24-25 - ZANES-
VILLE, OH - John's Landing Airfield.
3rd Annual Fall Fly-In. Sponsored by
EAA AntiquelClassic Chapter 22 of
Ohio. Antique/c lassics welcomed.
Food - Friends - Fun. For information
call Virgi nia at 614/453-6889.
SEPTEMBER 24-25 - BINGHAM,
ME - 25t h Annual Gadabout Gaddis
airs how and fly-in. Pilot contests,
Booths, Displays, Demonstrations and
lots of food. Contact Maine White Wa-
ter at 207/672-48]4 for more informa-
tion.
SEPTEMBE R 29-0CTOBER 2-
CHURCHVILLE, MD - Harford
County Airport (OW3). 19th Annual
Convention Fly-In of the International
Cessna 120/140 Association. Contact:
Howdy McCann, Jr. , 2432 Plesantville
Road, Fall ston, MD 21047. 410/877-
7774. Lodging, Sheraton Inn Aberdeen
1/800/346-3612.
OCTOBER 1-2 - POTTSVILLE,
PA - Schuylkill County airport. Sixth
annual Eastcoast Bellanca/Champion
social/education and service clinic. Call
Tom Witmer, 717/544-9311 or Ellie
Thoens at 908/542-5599 for more infor-
mation.
OCTOBER 1-2 - SUSSEX, NJ - Sus-
sex Airport. Quad chapter Fly-In, Flea
Market sponsored by EAA A/C Chap-
ter 7, EAA Chapters 238, 73 and 891.
Forums on welding, mag timing, Pieten-
pol and Heath construction. For info
call Herb Daniel 201/875-7983 or Paul
Styger at Sussex airport , 201/702-9719.
OCTOBER 9 - TOMAH, WI -
Bloyer Field. EAA Chapter 935 5th
annual Fly-In breakfast. Call John
Brady at 608/372-3125.
OCTOBER 12-17 - TULLAHOMA,
TN - 1994 Staggerwing - Travel Air-
Twin Beech Convention, sponsored by
the Staggerwing Museum Foundation.
Howard, Spartans and Twin Bonanzas
are also welcome. Membership in the
Staggerwing Museum required - for
more information, call 615/455-1974.
Pre-registration by Oct. 1 is also re-
quired.
OCTOBER 21-23 - AUGUSTA ,
GA DANIEL FIELD - Boshears
Memorial Fly-In. Phone 706/736-9512
NOVEMBER 10-13 - MESA, AZ-
1994 Copperstate Regional EAA Fly-
In. Williams Gateway Airport. 1-
800/283-6372, Fax 602/827-0727.
NOTE: NEW DATE AND LOCA-
TION! ...
MYSTERY PLANE (Continued from page 5)
thirds of each wing pa ne l in corpo -
r a t ed the va riabl e ca mbe r fe ature
(known as the quadron Dare variabl e
camber airfoil) whil e the oute r one-
third of the wing was a fi xe d pa ne l
with a Cla rk-Y a irfoil. Again , as a
sa fe ty fea tur e, th e airpl a ne was
equipped with conventional ail erons
and elevators. The span was 31 feet ,
fo ur inches; the le ngth was 23 feet ,
zero inches; and the gross weight was
2,776 po unds. The airpl ane carri ed
the experimental registration X3844.
The tes t pilot for the new airpl ane
was Lt. Slygh W. Brown, an ex-Self-
ridge Field pilot who had resigned from
the Air Corps to pursue a caree r as a
civilian test pilot. As with the first air-
plane, Brown's first attempts at flight
proved that this new design was grossly
underpowered, so it was trucked back
to the shop for a new engine.
The new powerplant was a 110 hp
French Anzani lO-cylinder radi al, and
with the additional powe r avail abl e,
Brown successfull y fl ew the new air-
pl ane in the spring of 1929. All test
fli ghts were conducted at Scull y Field
a t Ha rpe r Ave nue and Ei ght Mil e
Road jus t north of De tr o it. In th e
months that followed Brown carri ed
on an ext e nsive fli ght tes t progra m,
demonstrating the airpl ane' s mane u-
verabilit y and sa fe ty. Dare was over-
joyed with the success and progress be-
ing made with the new airpl ane. Hi s
ideas abo ut bird fli ght and va riabl e
camber were being proven with these
fli ght tests and he proudl y announced
th a t he had bee n gr a nt e d a second
patent on variabl e camber (Patent No.
1,720,667 issued Jul y 16, 1929).
Dare claime d that hi s a irplane
could takeoff in 70 feet from a stand-
ing start , that its minimum speed un-
de r compl e t e control was a low 28
mph, and that its maximum speed was
135 mph. This speed range of almost
five to o ne was re ma rka ble, if true,
a nd Dare, e ve r th e optimi st , mad e
pl a ns to e nt er hi s airplane in the up-
coming Gugge nhe im Safe Aircraft
competiti on.
On a Wedn es day, Jul y 17, 1929,
Da re had made a rrangeme nts for a
press show to de monstrat e the ne w
airplane and to announce hi s accep-
t a nce into th e Gugge nhe im e ve nt.
VanDersarlBleriot
France. The brothers, who lived near
Denver, CO, were in their earl y teens,
and they taught themselves all that they
could learn about lift, horsepower, aero-
dynamics and aircraft design - all at a
time when the amount of knowl edge
available was extremely limited.
The brothers experimented with glid-
ers and Fr ank eve n went al oft in one,
much to hi s regret, since it crashed. He
was all o f 12 yea rs of age ! Having
learned of t hi s, their mother sent to a
The VanDersarl Bleriot, as it exists today. Now owned by Joseph Gertler of River-
head, NY, the ai rplane remained with the VanDersarl brot hers for the rest of thei r
lives. During the early 1970' s, the airplane was restored by t he Frank and John Van-
Dersarl.
Present at Scull y Field that day were
about 75 friends, reporters, photogra-
phers and stockholders in Dare's cor-
porati on, all eager to see the airpl ane
fl y. Brown had made numerous fli ghts
that day to demonstrate the airplane's
pe rformance capabilities. At about 7
PM, o n the airpl a ne's 114th fli ght ,
Brown and Dare took off on the last
schedul ed fli ght of the day. As they
fl ew across the airport at about 70 feet
in altitude, a hinge on the left wing's
vari a bl e ca mbe r mecha ni sm fail ed.
Almos t immedi a t e ly th e le ft wing
broke off and the airplane sideslipped
into the ground. Dare, then 41 years
o ld , and Brown, 43 ye ars o ld , we r e
both kill ed in the crash. Thus came to
a n end the Dare Aircraft Compa ny
a nd Melvin Dar e ' s dreams for va ri -
able camber wings that would revolu-
tioni ze aircraft design. - Robert Pauley
Other ans wers were received from
Lynn Towns, Brooklyn, MI; Charley
Hayes, Park Forest, IL; Robert Wynne,
Mercer Island, WA; Ted Wales, West-
wood, MA; and John Un de rwood,
Glendale, CA. ....
(Continued f rom page 8)
relative in France for all that could be
obt ained on " Fl ying Machines." The
brothers had the information and plans
translated and proceeded to fabricate
the aircraft form avail abl e wood , wire
and fittings. They even built their own
four- cylinder, air- cool ed e ngine t o
power the aircraft! It woul d be a mi s-
ta ke to think of Frank and Jul es Va n-
Dersa rl as tinkerers, as the building of
thi s airpl ane a nd a n e ngine effici ent
enough to fly it was certainl y a very re-
markabl e accomplishment for two teens
in 1911! And remember, after accom-
plished all that , t hey taught themselves
to fl y!
The Bl eri ot is beauti full y displ ayed,
hanging from the glass-domed ceiling in
Dowling College's atrium-like conserva-
tory in Bayport, Long Island. Also avai l-
able for viewing is a full y restored 1914
Wood Mobil ett e automobile, on loa n
from J . Parker Wi ckham of Mattituck
Airbase. According to Professor Mary
Ann Turney, Dowling's Coordinator of
Fli ght Tr aining, the aircr aft will be
avail able for public viewing for several
months. For furthe r information, call
Dowling Coll ege a t 516/244-3324 or
516/589-6100. ....
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 29
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If you're like many EAA members, you save
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