Vintage Airplane - Aug 1974

8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Aug 1974

1/24


2/24

(Photo by Ted Kaston)THE PRESIDENT S PAGEy E E Buck HilbertPresiden t Ant ique-Classic Division


3/24

~ f ~ ~ I b f A P l ~ f

VOLUME 2 NUMBER 8 AUGUST 974T BLE OF CONTENTS

How bout A Challenge? . Tom McCann . . . . . . . .. 4Reminiscing With Big Nick Nick Rezich . . . 61974 National Waco Fly-In Ray randly . . . . . .. .. 12The Meyers 145 Gar Williams . . . . . 14The Invincible Center-Wing s) . 20

ONTHECOVER . Tom McCann sNieuport 17. BACK COVER Bamboo omber.Photo by ed Koston Photo by ed Koston

EDITORIAL STAFFPublisher - Paul H Poberezny Ed itor - Jack CoxAssistant Ed itor - Gene Chase Ass istant Editor - Golda Cox


4/24

HOW BOUT CHALLENGEy Tom McCann EAA 36209/AC 54)251 Aero Drive 9, South

Naperville, Illinois 60540

Photo y Ted Koston)


5/24

Photo by ed Kaston)RIGHT: ockpit and machine gun installation details.

Well, that landing and the next two end ed up in groundloops. Since th en my average has improved somewhatThis project ha s taken about 41/2 years however

during that time I also rebuilt my J3 twice . the firstas a basket case and the second time when the wind blewit away.My son and I now have a Fokker Triplane half fin-ished say now, there might be a challe nge . . .

Photo by ed Kaston)BELOW: Naperville, Illinois, 1974 . or Western Front,1916?


6/24

THE HOW RD MODEL 8The Model 18, like the Howard factory, got off to a

bad start and the climbout was slow. When the first bidsfor CPTP and Army PT trainers were let, Howard'sBoard of Directors could not make up their minds whether

REMINISCING WITH IG NICKNick Rezich

4213 Centerville RdRockford Ilf 61102

down the ramp at 30 or 40 mph and being able to jump onthe binders without finding yourself on the nose.Throughout the design process Gordon kept mainte

nance and service in mind (something today 's engineersdon ' t do) . The 18 was a mechanic's dream and a builder'sdelight. About half way through the preliminary stressanalysis, the word came down that the prototype mustbe in the air within 30 days That took care of the pre


7/24

The first to burn the midnight oil was engineering.I can well remember coming to work in the mornings andfinding Gordon Israel asleep in his chair at a draftingtable. Mr. DeWeese would tell Gordon to go home andget some res t, but Gordon would stay on until he finishedwhat he was working on so he could release it to the shopfor construction.The first fuselage was built by the late Mike Babcoand Conrad Wayne in two days . The fuselage was finishedabout 3:30 P.M. and went to the paint shop for routinezinc chromate prime. The cleaning, painting and dryingwas sc hed uled as a three hour job . At about 5:00 P.M. Ireceived a phone call during a meeti ng from the paintshop foreman informing me that the primer would notdr y. I told him to give it another 30 minutes and it shouldbe O.K.Thirty minutes later he called again and said it wasstill wet. I left th e meeting and wh en I was 50 feet from thepaint booth, I go t the word - or should I say the smell?What I was smelling was not zinc chromate, but enamel.No wonder it wouldn't dr y' Tom Halidler, the painter,had grabbed a five gallon pail ou t of storage and did notcheck what it was. He opened it and it was yellow, so hedumped it into the pressure pot and started to spray.What he was spraying was road marking enamel that weused to paint the compass rose with at the airport. Need-less to say, I go t very ugl y with him it cost him a 30day suspension.This little boner cost us a whole day . The paint shopstripped the enamel, re-cleaned and re-etched the tubingand painted it that night in zinc chromate this timeso that it was ready for sub assembly the next morn-

ing . The experimentai assembly department consistedof Mike Molberg, Sludge Doyle, Frank Rezich, TedLinnert and Gordon Israel. For the next fiv e days thi sbunch worked 16 and 24 hour shifts 'without any breaks.When the ga ng was hungry, Gordon would give FrankRe zich ten bucks and send him over to " Monkey Faces ,a local gag and vomit shop, for a bag full of sandwichesand coffee . which were eaten whenever a man had thetime to take a bite or two. When they got into the 24 hourwork period, they slept in chairs, on the floor or whereverthey could for an hour or two . The corker came one nightwhen Frank Rezich fell asleep lying on a sawhorse. Everyone was taking bets as to when he was going to roll off.I went home about midnight and he was still on deadcenter . as far as I know he nev er rolled offAfter the tail group was fitted and all controls checkedout, the fu se la ge went back to the Paint Shop for fabriccoveri ng. While the fu se lage was being covered the stu ffhit the fan B. D. DeWeese and the Board of Directorsswi tched engines on Gordon. They said the 165 hp Warner was too expensive and that we would use the 125 hpWarner instead. Well" Gordon promptly told them in whatparticular part of their anatomies they could insert the125 Warne r The head banging ended with Gordon losing the contest.Using the small Warner meant all new performancefigures, new weight and balance in fact, everythingnew firewall forward and no place to chop any weightother than in the fini sh. The first set of wings were finished by now and the second set was already started, soit was too late to design or build a new lighter wing. Whenthe smoke cleared, Gordon jumped into his Dodge and

Photo Courtesy Nick Rezich)odel 8 with a NACA cowl.


8/24

headed for Andy Kluck's "Barn" where he could think inpeace and settle down with the aid of the spirits.In the meantime, Eli Newberger, Ted Linnert andWally French re-engineered the 18 to match the 125Warner. They made some changes in the Number 2 statictest airplane but left Number 1 alone . . . it was stillfull bore on the flight test plane. Harold Bates joined theexperimental group in charge of engine installation andth e airplane was fully assembled at the factory andchecked out, then the v rings were removed and the shipwas trucked to the airport for final assembly, taxi test,engine run, etc.While all this was going on, Eli and his gang wereworking round the clock building the "whiffle tree" forthe wing static testing, the drop test rig for the landinggear and working out some final figures before the firsttest flight. We still had about five days left to meet thedeadline and Walt Daiber was chomping at the bit to flythe 18. He had been running slow taxi tests, engine tests,etc., plus test flying the 15s. He had been given instructions from Gordon not to fly the plane until engineering released it.

Well, 01 Walt was nothing but a big kid who loved tofly. One afternoon after all the squawks had been workedoff, Walt asked to run some high speed, tail up tests onthe runway. Gordon said O.K but DON'T fly it, andto make sure he wouldn't, instructed the mechanics notto put the rear engine cowl on and one side panel. Waltjumped into the cockpit and my brother Frank crankedhim up. As Walt taxied out, he had the grin of the catthat just swallowed the canary yep you guessed it- when he got down to the west end of the east/westrunway, he opened up the throttle, up came the tail andabout 200 feet later the 18 was in the airWalt climbed it out at max angle, circled the field toabout 3,000 feet and proceeded to run some stall tests.After about 30 minutes of flying around doing steepturns, dives, etc., he returned to the field, made a per

had an enamel finish on the wings and stabilizer. Weused a process called "wipe-on" you finished the woodlike furniture - sealer, filler and color. This was supposed to be quicker and cheaper than the customarydope and fabric and did, indeed, result in a high glossfinish. As i t worked out, this was more time consuming,expensive and difficult to repair. The high gloss was theonly thing the method had going for it. This was laterchanged to a dope and fabric finish. The wood coveringwas applied with tacking strips in place of permanentlydriven nails such as in the 15. The leading edge was a onepiece, curved section that we formed ourselves with asteam forming jig. We also added check valves to th ebrake res erv oir cans to keep from bathing the pilots withhydraulic oil.

The whole 18 program went well until the airplanesand the summer heat met in Georgia, Oklahoma andTexas. The operators complained that the airplanewould not perform or climb in the 90 degree temperatures .Gordon was well aware of this situation and explainedto the sales people that you couldn't build an airplanethat was designed for 165 hp and fly it with 125 hp andexpect anything other than a pig.

t wasn't long before the sales came to a grindinghalt. C. W. "Slim" Frietag, our vice president of sales,an old-time pilot with many hours, finally convinced B.D. De Weese and the Board of Directors of the need toinstall the 165 hp engine if we were to survive . thenit was back to the head banging contest Gordon wantedthe original 165 Warner and the Board and B D. wanteda 165 Kinner because, again, it was cheaper. Gordon cameout of the contest with the larger lumps - a Kinner engine was purchased and work began immediately onthe new installation. This program was a carbon copy ofthe 18 as Gordon had originally planned it. Sales wantedthe plane yesterday, so it was back to working all hoursof the day and night.Summer had also arrived in Chicago and the annual


9/24

Photo Courtesy Nick Rezich)The Model 18 Final Assembly crew In the center is MikeMolberg , the Foreman who brought the wreckage of Mr .Mulligan back to Chicago To his left is my brother Frankwho is with Rockwell International , working on the 81bomber program.

you kill yourself, but you have no right to kill anyoneon the ground." He ended his speech by telling me theairplane and myself were grounded and to be in his officeMonday promptly at 9: A.M.

Now don ' t get any goofy ideas here sure it was a

For the next six months Howard Aircraft, the 18 andthe CAA went through hell. We modified, we changedand the more we spun the 18, the more it shook. Againwe were back to working all night and all day designing,building and assemblying new fixes. About the time we


10/24

By now 01 B. D. De Weese was impossible to live with .H e kept pushing Gordon until he up and quit and went towork for Grumman Aircraft. To replace Gordon as chiefe ngin ee r, B. D. hired Bill Peerfield from Stinson. Billknew B. D. from hi s Stinson days and could get alongwith him. He walked into a real mess, however, and bythe time he got a ll the loose ends tied together and siftedout what had been done and wh a t had to be fini shedanother month had slipped by.After rev iewing a ll th e data and motion pictures, itwas decided that the airplane nee ded a large r stabil ize rflipper and fin . Also, th e tail had to be raise d to kept itout of the wing's d ow nw ash . A new ta il group was builtand a new fuselage from the rear cockpit aft was built.BELlEVE -YOU-ME, th e re s t of this is tru e: The newtail was covered and painted in the fa ctory. Th e bare aftfus elage was primed and all was trucked to the airportfor the sw itch. At 7:00 A.M. Mike Babco cut the old fu selage off a t th e cockpit and weld ed th e new section inplace, using saw horses for a jig. By 9:00 A.M. 1 squirtedthe welds with zinc chromate and my broth er Frank and"S ludge" Doyle s tarted hangi ng stringe rs, cabl es, etc.,in place.

Now, B. D. was on th e scene all th e while as well asBill Peerfi eld . B. D. ke pt handing the tail wheel to"S ludge" and kept telling him to install it. After aboutthe fifth attempt, "Sludge" went over and got a big chunkof wood a nd se t it on end. H e then grabbed B. D. by th elap els and sat him on it and told him to keep his hand s offthe pa rts and sit there a nd be qu iet until the work wasfini shed' You could have hea rd a pin drop' Work nowproceeded on the new fu se lage and by 3:00 P.M. 1was slipping the cov er on and while 1 was d oping it, th e othershu n g th e tail group . 1 put th e fu se la ge throu gh silver andwe were ready to roll it out for test flight wh e n B. D.said hi s first wo rd s sin ce "Sludge" sat him on th e wood.He asked that we paint the fuselage in color so it wouldn'tlook like a repa ir job. Rather than argue, 1 sprayed twocross coats of blue dope on it and we pu shed it out at 6:00

ard Aircraft . that is how I got involv ed in AAA racing.Let me break away from the 18 to tell yo u a s tory

about "Sludge" Doyle. "S ludge" was th e ma s ter mechanic on about five different race cars and he would be inth e pits at Soldier's Field, the Amphitheat er or RacewayPark se tting up th e eng ines for the drivers eve ry racenight that he wasn't working at Ho wa rd . 01 "S ludge"liked his libation and 1 mean REALLY liked it. Hewould get th e cars running, then walk ,across th e trackto the bar, fill up , walk back and sit on a hay ba le listening to th e engines as th ey ran. Whe n he would hea r a sickalto, he would give 'em two fin ge rs up or one finge rdown, th en hea d for that bar across the track. Well , thefirs t couple of trips across, he would look for traffic ,but after that he would just walk right through the traffic On e ni g ht at Racewa y Park, he was sitting on a bal eof hay in the first corner wh e n the whole bunch camecharging throu gh , mis sin g " Sludge" and the bale byinches. Going down the backstretch Wally Zale and Tony" Flipper" Bette nhau se n s hortened th e tra ck in numberthree turn by knocking the bales over and as they camedown into the numb er one turn, "S ludge" go t off the balejust as Wally sa wed off the "Flipper" a nd he wentthrough the ba le As th ey all pa ssed, "S ludge" walkedacross th e track again and into the bar. This guy usedto do this all the time and never rece ived a scratch . Hewas a lege nd around the Chicago tracks.My boss, George Ly o ns, was also a car builder infact , th ey called him I build 'em Ly ons". He sugges tedwe u se th e sa me kind of vibration damper for the Kinner installa tion on the 18 as use d on th e Offies . "S ludge",George and Bill Burns built a mount with a n Offy d am pe r and we hu ng th e Kinner in it and tried it. It workedThe new 18 passed th e spin te sts with flying colors andreceived its CAA certificate.

J do n ' t recall how many we built before the war brokeout, but it wasn't many . Wh en th e war came along, theArmy and Navy didn ' t want the airplane so we shut downthe production of the 18 and built the Fairchild PT-23 on


11/24

or copied and Benny s freighters never got off the ground- which is too bad because the air freight business isstill twenty years behind.Till next month . watch that bottom rudder in theturn. It will kill you. It's better to bank and yank thanto stomp and yank.

- Big Nick

(Photo Cour:9SY Nick Rezich)The first Howard Model 18 - at the factory test hangar.

(Photo Courtesy Nick Rezich)The Howard experimental crew during the development of the Model 18.Left to right: Frank Rezich, AssistantForeman, Assembly; Mike Molberg,Foreman, Assembly; Gordon Israel,Chief Engineer; Eli Newberger,Engineer; Ted Linnert, Engineer;and Walter French, Engineer.


12/24

(Ph oto y David Austin)Dick Austin 's Waco ARE.

1974 N TION L WACOFLY-INBeautiful Wacos from the far North, the deep South,

the West Coast and the East Coast gathered at Hamilton Airport for the annual National Waco Fly-In. Thisgathering of Wacos a total of thirty-one, was most impressive inasmuch as thirteen were making their firstappearance. A seven-plane formation surprised thelocal popu lation with a sneak attack late Friday after

byRay Brandly, PresidentNational Waco Club2650 West Alex.-Bellb rook Rd.Dayton, Ohio 45459five Custom models and seven Standards, i ncludingthe oldest cabin in existence today, a 1931 QDC flown bySlim Johansson.

The program included movies at the airport and refreshments at Ramondo's on Friday evening with the an nual banquet and presentations followed by more movieson Sa t urday ev e n ing. Fea tured guests were Mrs. Tex


13/24

W COS

AT


14/24

;.,Golden Oldie of the Month

THE MEYERS 45byGar W Williams9 S. 135 Aero Dr., Rt 1Naperville, Illinois 60540

(Meyers Aircraft Company Photo)NX-34358, the prototype for the Meyers 145 series. Powered by a 125 Continental.and it was launched. Launched and barely flying; even I,a new private pilot, recognized the problem . Running outof options, with trees and runway end rapidly approaching, the Meyers pilot pulled the power and allowed theship to drift off the runway. Watch out, Aeronca 11ACThe still flying, out of control MAC-145, instantly sent aparked Chief to the classic happy hunting grounds. Afterthe emotion of the moment cleared, it was amazing to see


15/24

The second prototype (N-34359) was really the pre-production prototype and was much closer in detail to thefirst production aircraft, N-34360, Serial Number 203.Notice the changes in the fuselage - the canopy was lowerand much more streamlined . The fin and rudder havechanged shape with more area and in general the airplanelooks cleaner in design.

Shortly after production began, l Meyers made asignificant design change which helped alleviate a lossof directional control during take off and landing. This

Meyers Aircraft Company Photo)NX-34359, the second prototype Meyers 145 - Serialumber 202.

like the last. Of particular interest is that this airplaneis still alive and well - an attractive Alumigrip white andgold paint job highlights the beauty - and is part of theTullahoma Bunch .Over the years that have expired since the last 145

cleared the runway at Tecumseh many modificationshave been applied to the original design. Engine changes,


16/24

Photo by v Payette)The Meyers ircraft Company at Tecumseh, Michigan.This was a Meyers OTW reunion in 1969.

Aeromatic installed at the factory. This was an attemptto alleviate the problems associated with a fixed pitchpropeller on an airplane that really required a controllable prop. When properly maintained and operated, thisprop did approach the model solution but apparently didnot satisfy all the owners for most have removed theAeromatic in favor of a metal cruise prop.

The detail design features for the MAC-145 are mosteasily described by the following quotations from the

attached to the center section wing fittings with specially machined aircraft bolts (.747 diameter). The lowermountings of the tail cone are attached to the rear of thecenter section provides structural support for the landinggear, cabin, tail cone and stub-wing.3. Cabin Section - Main support tubes made from4130 chrome molybdenum steel tubing. Cabin noise levelis reduced with aid of fiber-glass insulation throughoutthe cabin and mufflers in the engine exhaust system.


17/24

FU L SYST MThe fuel system consists of two main inboard tanks

16 gallons each) and two outboard auxiliary tanks (8.5gallons each) located in the center wing section. Eachtank should be used independently of the others and controlled by the two selector valves located on the cabinfloor. The selector handle points to the tank in use. Whenusing the main tanks the auxiliary tank selector valvemust be in the OFF position; correspondingly, the maintank selector valve must be in the OFF position whenusing the auxiliary tanks. The purpose of this procedureis to prevent the flow of gas from a full tank to an emptyone. Quick drain plugs are provided at the low points ofeach tank to enable daily flight inspection for water.

L NDING GE RThe landing gear is conventional 4130 steel-weldedconstruction (no heat-treated parts) with oleo (oil andspring) action. The main gear oleo strut carries 8 ounces

of S.A.E. No . 10 motor oil. The down lock mechanismconsists of two knees on each gear which break pastcenter. As an added measure of safety, hydraulic pressure should be exerted after the gear has been lowered,and at all times before taxiing.

FLIGHT CONTROLSThe ailerons and elevator are controlled by pu sh-pulltubes; the flaps and rudder are cable-controlled. The rud

der is restricted when the gear is up, while the elevatoris restricted when the flaps are up. This makes the airplane spin-resistant in the dean condition. Full ruddercontrol can be obtained at any time by lowering the landing gear; full elevator control is obtained by loweringflap to anyone of the three positions. t is recommendedthat the first notch of flap be used for take-off to utilizefull elevator control.

SPECIFIC TIONSSpan . . . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 30 ft .Length . . . . . .. . 21 ft. 10 in .Height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 6 ft.Gross Weight 32 Gals. . . . . .. . . . .. . . 1910 lbs.Gross Weight 49 Gals . . .. . . . . . . .. . . .. 19101bs.Useful Load .. .. . . . .. . . . . .. . . : .. 600 lbs.Baggage . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. 120 lbs.Max. Speed, Sea Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 166 mphCruising Speed, Sea Level . . .. . 150 mph. plusAltitude Cruising Speed . . . . . . . . 162 mphLanding Speed 45 Flaps) . . .. . . . . . . . 45 mphService Ceiling . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 18,000 ft .Rate of Oimb . . . . . . . 960 fpmTake Off Run, Sea Level . . . . . . . . . 600 ft.Landing Run . .. . .. . . .. .. .. . . 575 ft.Max. Range 4 Hrs. (with 30 min. reserve) 600 milesMax. Range With Auxiliary Tanks .. . . . . . . 1000 milesFuel Consumption . . . . . . . . 7.5 Gals. Per Hr.


18/24

(J. B. Gregg Photo)Crunch! A previous owner smashed up N-34374, February 1967.

Steady as she goes!

(Gar Williams Photo)F.ebruary 14 1966. he authorbrings his "prize" homefor rebuild.


19/24

ELOVED HISTORI NbyB. H. Carmichael34795 Camino Capis trano

Capistrano Beach, California 92624

Books for Buffs

oEo

::s::00.J::)

from HISTORIC AVIATIONo Amph ibian Th e St ory of Th eLoeni ng Bip lanebyGrover Loening

Complete history of the " flyingshoehorns." Photos so good,text so detailed and the book awork of art . You'll have to have itfor your library. 10" x 10", 250photos.o Water Flying by Franklin T. Kurt

: ' If you own a float plane or are just interested inIII water flying you will want this book . It 's the firstZ all-inclusive book about flying boats, float planes,and amphibians. Covers operating techniquesand history of seaplanes. It is masterfully writtenby a former Grumman engineer from a lifetime oftesting, designing and instruct ing in water craft.100 photos, 15 drawings. $8_95o The Ford Air Tours 1925-1931by Leslie Forden: A complete story in text andIII photos of the seven cross Z country "Reliability Tours" Profusely illustrated, incorporatingmuch collateral material and aninteresting " whatever happened to .. . ?" section in theback relating capsule historiesof Tour participants. A must forthe enthusiasts reference lib $11 .00rary. BV2 x 11 .

o They Call Me Mr_Alrshowby Bill SweetMore than an autobiography ofMr. Sweet, this book is a livelyaccount of Bill Sweet's association with the greats of the airshow circuit from the 20's on.The book is exciting , informative and in places riotouslyhumorous. Once you start reading you won't be able to put itdown.o Cessna GuidebookMitch Mayborn and Bob PickettComplete like predecessor Stearman Guidebook.Contains photos of every single engine modelbuilt through the Airmaster series and WWBobcat, three view drawings of the most signific

Nco

$9.95


20/24

'The InvincibleCenter-Wing(s)

byJim Hall (EAA 25198)1588 Gleasman RoadRockford, Illinois 61103

All Photos Courtesy of the Author

The 3 seat Center-Wing, powered by a 125 hp LeBlondradial and superbly finished . The plane was test flown onwheels and skis at Manitowoc Airport,


21/24

SPECIFICATIONS OF THE INVINCIBLE CENTER-WINGOUR PLACE AIRPLANE

Span . . .. . . 40 ft. 0 in.Length . . .. . . 25 ft. 7 in .Height . .. .. . . . . . . .. . 7 ft. 3 in.Top Speed . . .. .. . . . .. . .. 142 mphCruising Speed .. 120 mphLanding Speed . . . . . . 42 mphRate of Climb . . . . .. 1,000 fpmAirfoil .. .. . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . NACM-15Wmg Area. . .. . .. . . . . . . . .. 228 sq. ft.Engine .. .. . . . Curtiss Challenger 170 hpGasoline Capacity . . . 60 GallonsOil Capacity . .. 5 GallonsRange . . . . .. 700 Miles

The third aircraft built was the one that captured theheart of the writer. (NOTE: The aircraft are describedin a sequence of one, two, and three, while original factory photographs indicate that the craft were built simultaneously.) This last Invincible was the cleanest, raciestof the three aircraft built. I t too was of mid-wing design,but it was a three place aircraft powered by a 125 hp LeBlond :adial. Finishing touches on this ship were justfantash.c. From close examination of company photographs It would dearly have been a trophy winner at any0y-m. The name "Invincible" was even carefully letteredIn gold leaf on the fuselage sides: All this in 1929.Extensive test flying of this airplane was done at Manitowoc during the winter of 1929. Tests were conducted onboth skis and wheels. A Manitowoc pilot by the name ofMr. C. Klackner was lucky enough to have been the "kid

at the fence" during the days of the Invincible Aircraftt ~ t flights. He recently described the day the completetaIl was sawed off of the open cockpit two seater. An entirely different tail assembly was then welded in place.This completely explained some very puzzling factoryphotos.

Having been born and raised in Manitowoc, I have always had more than a passing interest in the Invinciblestory. I can remember my mother telling me of the timeshe watched an Invincible airplane being loaded from thefa.c tory directly onto a railroad flatcar. Factory data in?ICated that the airplanes left Manitowoc "by air". ThenIt was remembered that the rail line did pass the Invincible factory in 1929. The rails also were adjacent to theManit.owoc airport (as they are to this day). It appears thatev.en m 1929 it was easier to ship by rail (even only threemIles) than to drag an airplane th rough the streets of"downtown"!

The late Mr. Florian Stradal was the treasurer of theInvincibl e in 1929. During th e 1973 Christmas Holidays, he related that the three place airplane was soldto a young man in Kentucky. A few years later the craftwas destroyed in a fatal crash while e ngaged in aerobatics.While it is obvious that the Invincible designs wereadvanced for th eir day, the three aircraft describedwere the only ones built. This can plainly be attributedto the fact that while the "Inv incible" may have beeninvincible, the eco nomy wasn't! Fortunately, the metalfurniture business has endured and th e Invincibl e rollson .

The man behind the Invincible in 1929 was the lateMr. John Schuette . He not only ramrodded th e entireLEFT. Front view of the full cantilever tapered wing two place Invincible. Note the early balloon tires.


22/24

enterprise, but actu ally tes t ew th e airpla nes alo ng withMr. Earl Beach and Mr. Bill Williams.Apparently, th e aircraft were to be marketed th rough

existing me tal furniture represe nt a ti ves . P e rh a ps th eentire story is quite aptly summ ed up in the follow ing,taken from a letter add ressed to Mr. Schu e tte a nd written by Mr . Ch a rles K. Wa lter, a manufac tu rer's rep resentative of th e In vincibl e, th en and now . " May be I' mwrong , but it seems to me th a t ye rs th en were a different breed than th e techni cians w ho man today's computer controlled pl a nes, bu t th at may be a n un fair com parison because today's techn ology dema nd s a di ffere nttype .But the truths th at yes te rday's pilots di scovered , andthe practices of sa fe flig ht th at th ey evolv ed th roug htrial a nd so metim es fa tal error se rved to es tabli sh thebasi c ground rul es th a t gove rn av ia tio n today . And inour wa y, we we re a part of th at pio neer ing e ftort, yo uperhaps fa r more tha n mos t of u s .The smell of burn ed hi gh octane fuel, minglin g withthe fres h air of a cri sp a utumn day, th e thrill of th e take-

off and th e fe eling that yo u we re trul y lord of a ll yo u sur-veyed , different from ordinary mortals wh o we re ea rthbound, these days are gon e now , but th ey pe rsis t in memory and always will. Tha nk yo u aga in for bringi ng th emback to me. Date: Oc tober 19, 1969 - Chamblee, Ge orgia .Mr. John Sc hu e tt e Jr . is pr ese ntl y running th e [n-vincibl e fac tory. Throug h hi s g racio ll s efforts and th oseof Mr. Wilm er La d wig, Tool a nd Di e Departm ent, th eav ia tion hi story of thi s compan y has been revealed. Mr.Sc hu e tte Jr. neve r res um ed building aircra ft , but sincehe did so lo in a Cub and later ow n and y a WW II Timmtrain er, he mu st trul y be con sid ered a chip off th e oldbl ockA fter digging in to such an inte res ting story one hopesto find fac tory drawings or so mething to help res urrectan Inv in cible. Unfo rtun ate ly, no such draw in gs exis t.S till. . Mr. Kl ackn er vaguely rcall s a fourth airplaneIt was gray in color . . . May be in a ba rn . . . Somewh e re .Orop testing the landing gear of the four place in theInvincible loft


23/24

1974 N TION L WACO FLY IN ... BELOVED HiSTORI N .(ContinuedfromPage 12) (Continued from Page 19)19391940194019401940194119411941194119411942194219421941

AREUPF-7UPF-7UPF-7UPF-7UPF-7HPF-7UPF-7UPF-7UPF-7UPF-7UPF-7UPF-7VKS-7F

NC20953NC700PFNC29353NC29945NC30122NC30165NC32065NC32083N02084NC32091C32168N02193N09717NC31653

Rich ard Austin , Gree nsboro,NC

Mike Ci ro ne, l ew isv ille,OhioCla rke Hubba rd , H ous tu n,TX

Jo h n Sk in ne r, Gra nd Ridge ,I lBob Wagner , Day to n , Oh ioJo h nSh ue, York, PADo nSc h mitz, Day ton , Oh ioDick Wag ner , lyons , WI e l Cra wf ord , Ha rvard , IIPor te r lee , Wes tmin ster, MDMike Pa ngia , Wa s h ing ton ,D.CVictor In g ram , Ba d Axe , MlG eo rge Ge rspa che r,Ce nterv ille, OhioVin ce Mariani, Fi ndlay , Ohio

So integ ra tedwith the pas t,presentand futureofaviation is he thatoneC n envisionMr. Ha tfield dropping offto sleep a fteroneofhis 12-hour work days. As he levelsoff at cruise altitude, th e wond erful old ships that thundered out ofBurbank ontheir way togree tth edaw nove rKansas w hea t fi eld s com e in to forma tion. Was p s andHornets s training foraltitud e, Ham-Stand ard prop disksglinting like qui cks ilve r in the moonlight , polished pl ywoo d, fabric, and a luminum , sleek and coolin the ni ghtair, onwa rd they roa r. Vega , AirEx press, Siriu s, Ga mm a,Laird , Wed d e ll-Williams, Mulligan , G am m a, Altair,Orion, H- l, Seversky. The gloriou s a irmen who liftedth e hea rts of the na tion in the terrible yea rs of the grea tdepr ession assembl e about him.Pos t, Turner,Lindbergh,Hawks, Doolittle, Wedd ell, Howard , Tomlinson , Kingsford-Smith ,Mantz, Hu ghesand Cochran.As our so ns thund er out from " th e g ree n hills of ea rth" to mee t th eir des tin y in th e s ta rs, th ey will goknowing from wh ence th ey came and of tha t gallantd an" w hich cam e before them through the work of thisdedicated man.Belovedhis to rian,we saluteyou .

CL SSIFIEDSFOR SALE - Antiqu ePiper J-5A Cruiser, 1940, FOR SALE - 1941 PorterfieldCP-65 ,708 SMOH,3-place, fancy paint, freshOH and license, leo 46 STOH , licensed to Nov. '74. Don Straughn ,pard interior, $4600. Draws crowds whereve r 4N685 Brookside East, St. Charles, Ill. 60174.it goes. Oa ssicFairchild 24R '46. Fresh lice nse, Ph.312-584-3124.beautiful paint and interio r.Aeroma tic prop.Runs perfectly. $8900 includes load' of extrasplus2 engi nes. Photosand detail info upon reques t. L. jennings, 2280 Aloma Ave., Winter


24/24

Vintage Airplane - Aug 1974

Documents

Transcript of Vintage Airplane - Aug 1974