Vintage Airplane - Feb 1979

8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Feb 1979

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EAA'S AIRSPACE ACTION PLAN EAA'S AIRSPACE ACTION .PLAN EAA'S AIRSPACE ACTION PLANn


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Ph o to by Chris So rensen)

ditorialtaff

PublisherPaul H. PobereznyThe 1935 Kinner Sportwing of Glenn Pray, Tulsa, Okla-homa, at th e Tri City Airport Fl y-/n near Parsons, Kansas.The aircraft is the only one left of the eight that were built EditorThis exa mple was restored by M yro n Rupprecht. David GustafsonAssociate Editors: H . Glenn Buffington, Rob ert G . Elliott , AI Kelch ,Edward D . Williams, Byron (Fred) Frederi cksenReaders are encouraged to su bmit stories and photographs. Associate Editorships are assig nedto those writers who submi t five or more articles which are published in THE VINTAGE AIR PLANE durin g the current year. Associates receive a bound volume of THE VINTAGE AIR PLANE and a free one-year membership in the Division for their efforts. POLICY-O pini onsexpressed in articles are solely those of the au thors. Re sponsibi lity for accuracy in reportingrests en tirely with the contributor. Directors

ANTIQUE/CLASSIC Will iam J. Ehl en AI Kel chDIVISION Ro ut e 8 Box 506 7018 W. Bonniwe ll RoadOFFICERS Tampa , Florida 33618 Mequon , Wisconsin 53092Claude L. Gray , Jr. Morton W. LesterPRESIDENT 9635 Sy l via Aven ue Box 3747J. R. NIELANDER , JR . Nort hridge, Cali fornia 91324 Martinsville , Virginia 24 11 2P.O. BOX 2464 Dale A. Gustafson Ar thur R. MorganFT . LAUDERDALE, FL 33303 7724 Shady Hill Drive 3744 N. 51st BourevardIndianapolis, Indi ana 46274 Milwaukee, Wi sconsin 532 16VICE PRESIDENT Richard Wagne r M . C. " Kelly " Vie tsJACK WINTHROP P.O. Box 181 RR 1 Box 151RT . 1, BOX 111 Lyons, Wi sco nsin 53 148 Stil lw el l , Kansas 66085ALLEN, TX 75002 Advisors

John 5. Cope land Eugene MorrisSECRETARY 9' loanne Drive 24 Chande le DriveW. BRAD THOMAS, JR . Westborough Massachusells 1581 Hampshi re, Illinois 60140301 DODSON MILL ROAD Ronald Fri tz Dani el F. NeumanPILOT MOUNTAIN, NC 27041 1989 Wilson. NW 1521 Bern e Circle WGrand Rapids, Michigan 49504 Minneapolis, Minnesota 55421

Stan Gomo l l John R. Turgyan1042 90th Lane, NE 1530 Ku ser RoadTREASURERE. E. " BUCK" HILBERT Minneapolis, Minnesota 55434 Trenton, New Jersey 08619 8102 LEECH RD . Robert E Kessel Robert A. WhiteUN ION , IL 60180 445 Oakridge Drive Box 704Rochester, New York 14617 Zellwood, Florida 32798

THE VINTAGE AIRP LANE (ISSN 0091-6943) is owned exclusively by EAA Antique/Classic Division. Inc .,and is published monthly at Hales Corners, Wisconsin 53130. Second class Postage paid at HalesCorners Post Office, Hales Corners, Wisconsin 53130, and additional mail ing offices. Membershiprates for EAA Antique/Class ic Division, Inc., are $14.00 per 12 month period of which $10.00 is for thepublication of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE. Membersh ip is open to all who are Interested in aviation.

The VINT G AI!1PLANEOFFICIAL MAGAZINEEAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC

DIVISION INC.of THE EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

P.O. Box 229, Hales Corners, WI 53130Copyright Cl 1979 EAA Antique/Classic Division , Inc ., All Rights Reserved .

FEBRUARY 1979 VOLUME 7 NUMBER 2On The Cover . Steve Wittman stands beside Bonzo after winning still another race at Oshk0sh 78Photo by David Gustafso n.)

TABLE OF CONTENTSEM s Airspace Action Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 2A Pictorial History of the First Goodyear Trophy Race

by Byron (Fred) Fredericksen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4Vintage Album . . . . . . . .. . . . . 14The Long (And Unfinished ) Story of Stinson SR-5A NC 13848by C. R. Near . . . . .. .. 16Aeroplane Posters From The 1930's . . . 20The Restorer 's Corner by J. R. Nielander, Jr. .. . . . . .. 23Dr. Goodlad's Swift by Jim Monfague 25Letters To The Editor .. 26Calendar Of Events . .. ; . . . 26

EAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC DIVISION MEMBERSHIPo NON-EAA MEMBER - $20.00. Includes o ne year membership in the EAA An tique/

Cla ss ic Division, 12 monthly iss ues of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE ; one year membership in the Experimenta l Aircraft Association and sepa ra te membership ca rd s.SPORT AVIATION magazine not included .o EAA MEMBER - $14.00. Includes one year m embership in the EAA Antiq ue/ClassicDivision , 12 monthly iss ues of THE VINTAGE A IRPLANE AND MEMBERSHIP CARD.(Applicant must be current EAA member and mu st give EAA membership number .)

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PICTORIALHistory ofthe First

GOODrEARTrophy Race

By Byron Fred) Fredericksen3240 W Breezewood LaneNeenah, Wisconsin 5 956

Photo Provided by the Author)To some readers the following pages will offer lit

tle in terms of news concerning aviation history. Mostof the photographs contained herein were publishedover three decades ago by the magazines and newspapers of the day. All photos are courtesy of WilliamF Brennand and Kenneth D. Wilson.

It was my thought that many of the newspaperphotos are not the quality collectors wish for andmany of the magazines that carried these stories arenot handy reference items anymore . I consider magazines of the 1940's a prize whenever I find one now.Perhaps what I have compiled her will be somethinginteresting for air race fans of the midget era.These race planes are classics now, and some stillexist. Buster is in the air at the Smithsonian, Bonzois still active at Oshkosh and this month the Trade-APlane has a '49 Tony LeVier Cosmic Wind for sale.

Th e spirit of the golden age of ra cing was caught by Charles Hubbell in this painting own ed by ThompsonProducts, In c

Some of the others are gone along with their pilotswhile seeking the fastest time to the finish line . It isall past history now, there is not much one can add,however , it should not be forgotten .By the year 1947 air racing already had a forty yearbackground . Historians had recorded the world ' sfastest airplanes and pilots in their volumes . Thecritics were there also asking what good is air racing? , What does it prove? noting the crashes anddetails of same . The racing and record flights wassomething that had to be done. As long as man willmake things with wings , wheels, motors or sails , somebody is going to want to race and that means some

body is going to get hurt.Some of the critics' comments did need answers,especially right after WWII. It would be interestingand an education to see a list of the ex-military ironand pilots that destroyed themselves attempting newspeeds and records by modifying these powerfulfighters to a point where the best pilots in the worldcould not handle them in a tight turn or high speedstall. This was not so much the case with midgets.Right after the big war the National Air Raceswere on again . The famous Bendix R , the Timmerman Trophy, the Sohio and the most destruct ive ofall the Thompson R were held at Cleveland in 1947.


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APRIL 19505 NTSAIRIRAI lS 1947 GOODYEAR TROPHY RACE PRIZE WINNERS AND SPEEDS

Fastest HeatPlane Entrant Pilot (mph)Buster S. j. Wittman Bill Brennand 165.857Swee'Pea Air Race Corp. Paul Penrose 165.393Little Minnow LeVier Assoc. Herman Salman 159:109'Little Toni LeVier Assoc. Tony LeVier 157.851Loose Special Chester Loose Warren Siem 154.020Brown-Modified B. F. Robinson B. F. Robinson 144.185jeep W. F. Falck W. F. Falck 142.519'Fliteways Special Fliteways Inc. CharlesW Bing 141.052Californian E. F. Allenbaugh Dwight Dempster 143.430Francis-Angeli Spec. F. Angell Bill Taylor 134.351Deer Fly 1 Rodney Nimmo Mike Argandar 132.302Hurlburt Hurricane Caldwell Logan joe Smith 129:280

The Corsairs, the P-51's, 38' s 36's, 40's and so on wereclocked at speeds between 400 and 500 mph in contrast to pre-war speeds of 200 to 300 mph. And thefirst Allison jet Races produced even greater speedsbut they were not as exciting to watch as the big piston war bi rds.To encourage the design of the light plane theGoodyear Tire and Rubber Company in 1947 offereda three year trophy for midget race planes. Their design had to include an empty weight no less than 500pounds, have fixed gear and prop and be poweredwith no more than a 190 cu. in. engine. Some observers maintained these midget racers and the Goodyear event m ~ e the most sense.The engineering incorporated by the builders enabled them come up with speeds approaching 200

mph with 85 hp engines . These designs involvedstreamlining, low aspect ratio, and balanced engineswhich could and would some day be standard engineering on modern store bought airplanes. And themidget races were fun to watch as they flew a low 15lap 2.2 mile course right out where the crowd couldsee them. The Professional Race Pilots Associationwas on top of it all with their regulations and testing of the pilots and their airplanes. Art Chester wasPresident of the association at the first Goodyear Race.(There were accidents also with the midgets . Chesterwas killed in his famous Swee Pea 11 in a pylon raceat San Diego in 1949:)

Whenever the subject of air racing comes up sodoes the name Steve Wittman, builder of Chief Oshkosh , Bonzo , Buster (redesigned Chief Osh

kosh) among other designs. His racing protege, BillBrennand, flew in all three Goodyear events winningfirst place in 1947, fourth in 1948 and first in 1949'allin the number 20 Buster . The Goodyear race consisted of eight races, four elimination heats, two semifinals, one consolation race and then the final event.Brennand, Wittman, Buster and Bonzo were theones to beat in those days of midget racing.I wish to express my sincere thanks to Bill Brennand for the time spent during an interview and alook through the trunk and boxes of goodies fromwhich most of the photos herein were selected.For the past twenty odd years Bill has operated aflight school and aircraft sales business on the Brennand Airport just north of Oshkosh, Wisconsin.I was 15 years young in 1947, knew someday I wouldlearn to fly and have always felt fortunate that yearslater I was to have the two-time winner of the Goodyear Races as my teacher.

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Little Toni , piloted by Tony LeVier, was one of five light Sister ship of Litt le Toni was Herman Fish Salman'sracers built by LeVier and Associates in Southern California. Cosmic Wind .

Green and yellow Swee ' Pea , built by Art Chester, Banger Bill , built and flown by Bill F Robinson offlown by Paul Penrose, North Hollywood, California. Burbank, Ca lifornia .


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Winner Bill Brennand and Buster . Next year they would Loose Special , built by Chester Loose, flown by War-take fourth place and the year after return to once again ren Siem. Both from Davenport, Iowa.earn the top prize money and the Goodyear Trophy.

No. 7 was Fliteways Special built by Fliteways Inc.Rodney Minno s Pfttt flown by Mike Argandar, pf Milwaukee, Wisconsin, flown by Charles Bing, Lynch-Angeles, California . burg, Virginia.


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Winner of the consolation ra ce William F Falck of WarFrancis-Angeli Special Th e Whistler" flown by Bill Tay wick, New York with his Jeep was originally built bylor, Wichita, Kansas A rt Chester in 1932, rebui lt for the 47 Goodyear by Fa lck.

Number 95 the Californian built by Ed F Allenbaugh,flown by Dwight Dempster both from No rth Hollywood , Hurlburt Hurricane" owned by Anna Logan and Mildred Ca l ifornia .Ca ldwell of Cleveland. Pilot was Eugene "Joe" Smith.>


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Owner-builder R S Hopkins o Reidsville, North Caro Harry Raack and E P Slim Honroth, on wing, almostlina stands beside his "Falcon Special which lost a wing lost their airplane when the wing failed in a pullout utin qualifying. C P Smith in cockpit bailed out in time. was landed safely.Owner-builder Harold Koehler spins the prop on his entryonly 1 have the engine develop serious trouble just afterthis photo was taken Pilot Bob Gaffney was on take-off Racing engines heat during taxiing, are towed by autoat the time but was not injured. mobile.

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Before final race the six fastest airplanes are brought by Last minute details are checked at starting linefor crowd inspection

Starter holds the red flag until everyone is ready rtFinalists taxi to sta rting lin e Chester talks t Paul Penrose in foreground


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Starter s flag comes down and the race begins. Wittman Special and a happy guy

Paul W Litchfield, Goodyear Board Chairman; Bill Bren-nand, Winning Pilot; E. J Thomas, Goodyear President;You make it or break it on turns like this . and Steve Wittman, Builder-Owner of the plane.


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Benny Howard, Chairman of the Goodyear Race Com Chief Counselor t the First Goodyear Trophy J


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Race committee members are congratulated for their workby Goodyear Board Chairman, P W. Litchfield. Left toright Art Chester, President o the Professional RacePilots Association, jacqueline Cochran, famous womanpilot, Mr. Litchfield and Benny Howard, Advisor to Don-ald Douglas of Douglas Aircraft.

Distinguished guests at the Goodyear Trophy Race din-ner included left to right: Governor Thomas}. Herberto Ohio, jacqueline Cochran, P. W Litchfield, Mrs . Litch-field, Sir Hubert Wilkin s, British Explorer, Mrs. NathanTwining, Lt General Nathan Twining, Fred C Crawford,President o the Air Foundation and Governor R F Gateso Indiana.

More distinguished guests (clockwise) E }. Thomas, Good-year President, Mrs. Mike Howard, Benny Howard,Brigadier General Buck Anderson, Commander o thejet Units that performed at the races, Mrs. Fred C Craw-ford, Harry A Bruno, Allen Lowe, Director o the PickHotels, Mrs. A C Chester, Art Chester, and Mrs. E }.Thomas.

(Photo Courtesy Kenneth D. Wi/son)Pilot Bob Porter flew Buster to third place in its lastrace at Dansville, New York on july 4 1954. S j . Witt-man retired the racer after this race and it is now part othe aircraft collection o the National Air and SpaceMuseum, Smithsonian Institution.


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Why did you ever start a project like that? son who could really instill love of old aircraft in a and Elaine Crider , in Phillipsburg, Kansas. There was


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I expect all aircraft restorers ask themselves thatquestion while they sit there in the shop, on an upturned box, drinking another cup of coffee and staring at that skeleton of a once-proud bird. I also expect the answer consists of many parts, events, andexperiences adding up over a period of years andculminating, at last, in the start of a project.

Looking back through the years, to f ind thereasons why I caught the "old airplane disease", Ifeel it must have started with exposure to the stickand paper models of the 30's and early 40's which really gave a Kansas farm boy a feel of the basics of aircraft construction.Then too, "Air Trails", "Flying Aces", and all theother adventure magazines of the time, did nothing

TheongAND UNFINISHED

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to decrease an interest in aircraft. Even, "Phineas Pinkham 's adventures must have had some influence

All this reading and daydreaming started to turn toreality when I had the opportunity to take flying lessons at a small field east of Mankato, Kansas with aninstructor named Verlie Heddon. Verlie was one per

student who could only afford an hour or two amonth in an Aeronca Chief.Days when the weather turned bad were spentaround an oil-burning heater in the office, learningthe fine art of hangar flying and tall-tale telling. If youdo not think of it as a fine art , you have never heardthe real pros tell tall flying tales. When it got so deepin the office that no one could stand it, or some outrageous story had just been told , we could retire tothe hangar-shop combination and assist Verlie withmaintenance work on the Chiefs and a Waco QDC,which was used for charter. Several times I havewished I had more photos of that field, but I have ahunch that the memories are much better than thephoto would be. How many of you remember a place

where there were 2 Wacos and 3 Travel-Airs sittingalong the fence, in various stages of disrepair, any ofwhich you could have purchased for 75 dollars?Any young airplane nut in those days could findsomeone who could help with studies for the CAAwritten tests and I was fortunate enough to meet Paul

no airport near Phillipsburg at that time, but a goodgrass area, near the Rodeo grounds, furnished a placeto land any of the light aircraft. If you ever wanted toinstill old airplane fever in a young enthusiast, all youhad to do was expose him to Paul Crider's stories offlying the Swallows , Eaglerocks, and even a ButlerBlackhawk. Conversation, then , certainly had nothingto do with radio procedure , EL1's Transponders orWho had the most radio equipment in their aircraft.

All of this enthusiasm was brought to an abrupthalt by a couple of years service in the U. S Navy,and the delay was then prolonged by college, marriage, children, and the associated need to earn a living. I had two things happen which really helped me

along with the old airplane hobby". The best thingthat could have happened to anyone happened tome , when I met and was fortunate enough to marry agirl who feels that old airplanes are a pretty goodhobby to have a husband involved in . The secondnot-so-pleasant happening was a recall to join Navy

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Fighter Squadron VF-884, for a tour of duty with thefleet off Korea. Two years of work on F4U-4's kept meup on round engines and gave me good experiencein maintenance.

My search for a rebuildable antique began in earnest in 1966. I had always wanted to rebuild aTravel-Air "4000" and my search started with that aircraft in mind. I soon became aware that there is a lotto learn about old aircraft buying. "Buyer Beware"gets to be a watch-word in a hurry when you find the"Basket Case" and "Restorable Airplane" mean thesame to some owners.One day, I was sitting in the coffee shop at theOttumwa, Iowa Municipal Airport having a cup ofcoffee with Bob Taylor, president of the AntiqueAirplane Association, and was grumbling about the

difficulty of finding the aircraft I wanted, and Bobcame up with a good piece of advice: "Start rebuilding something, AJ-3, any old aircraft, but get started.Then you will have more contact, and will be able tofind what you want, and learn at the same time." Bobwas certainly correct. When you fix your mind on one

plane only, you pass up some rare aircraft.In September of 1968, I made a trip up to Dazey,North Dakota, where I had heard that Peter Bryn hadseveral old aircraft, stored in a barn. I had certainlyheard correctly When Mr. Bryn opened that barndoor, I felt like a kid in a candy store There was justwhat I had been looking for, a Travel-Air"4000" We started talking price and my "O ldAirplane Budget" would not stand the strain. Lookingback now I know Peter's asking price was more thanfair, but that is now hindsight. While we were lookingat the Travel-Air, I noticed a massive set of wingsleaning against one wall of the barn and asked aboutthem. Peter said they were from a Stinson SR SA andthe fuselage was outside in a machinery lot, and thatit also was for sale.

Only a crazy antique airplane nut would have fallen in love with that aircraft, but I sure was bitten bythe bug. In about 30 minutes, we had come to termsand Peter Bryn had my check. I didn't even imagine,at that time, that I had just opened a "can of worms'and to this day, I haven't gotten the lid back on thatcan

The filst problem was getting that fuselage and allthe parts back to my garage, 500 miles away. I wasfortunate that the company I work for had a truck,with a 40 foot flatbed trailer, in that area and I couldarrange to have the driver swing by and we couldload the plane in a couple of hours and be on ourway. The "couple of hours" stretched into two days,but we finally did get it all on and tied down, readyfor the trip.I was a little self-conscious about bringing theairplane, in that condition, into a nice neighborhood.The truck driver and I had a brillian idea; we wouldwait until after dark, about 8:30, and he would drivequietly up to my house, back up the drive, and wewould get unloaded before anyone found out. Didyou ever realize the amount of noise, confusion, and

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Re 3B4BBy C R Near

ox 6 7Hastings Nebraska 689 1

flashing lights that appear, when a 40 foot semitractor-trailer outf it drives into a quite, residentialneighborhood? We couldn't have attracted a largercrowd if we had hired the Blue Angeles to fly cover.Needless to say, we had many will ing hands. Toomany I think more damage was done to the aircraft

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from loading and unloading, without proper equipment and planning, than was ever done in all its yearsof flight operation and neglect.

The next evening, after the great moving event, Ifound myself perched on a stool in the garage, suffering from a bad case of "buyer's remorse ". All salestraining programs mention the existence of this disease, and I sure had it However , I was too involvedthen to back out. Already the "When are you goingto fly it?" and " You aren't really going to fly that , areyou?" questions were starting to be heard .

Probably the slowest part of any restoration mustbe the teardown of the aircraft, to determine damage,locate corrosion, and decide on what defective partsare worth saving for patterns. As I moved throughthis process, I made a point to photograph everythingwith Tri-X film, to keep a record , and I have beenamazed how often I have referred to those photos ,during the reassembly process. Drawings of the oldaircraft of the 20's and 30's seem to change with eachaircraft, and the best reference you have is the onesitting in front of you, no matter how rough it mayappear.If I were going to make up a list of rules to followfor restoration , number one would have to be , "d o n' tthrow anything away". Time and time again, you willdig into those old rotten wood parts and pieces oftubing to check hole spacings, covering locations ,and many other points of needed reference. It ishard to believe how much dirt, oil, and rotten woodyou can find in an old airplane. When I removed theleading edge of the wings, I was able to fill one andone-half 30 gallon trash cans with old mouse nestsIt took several weeks of working , in the evenings,to get the parts all removed from the fuselage,labeled , and stored. By the way, small price tags, 1" X2", with a string attached sure helps identify parts forfuture reference .When the parts were all removed , it was time toget down through all the surface primer, surface rust,and clean all the welds, so a thorough inspectionco uld be made to determine how much tubing wouldhave to be replaced. It was evident that some tubingwould have to be replaced , since some 4 feet of theaft end of the fuselage was co mpletely broken offI felt the best way to accomplish the cleaning ofthe tubing was sandblasting, but I was not about totrust my fuselage to a commercia l sandb aster Imade a co ntainer from a 5 gallon oil can, a funnel, a1/2" copper elbow, and 6 feet of old garden hose. Allof this with a discarded sandb lasting gu n , got mestarted . It didn ' t take long for me to find out an im

portant fact. You cannot, I repeat, CANNOT get alongwithout at least a 12-1/2 hp twin piston air compressor. After I corrected that situation, the cleaning wentquite well, using fine silica sand and 45 pounds of airpressure. This was a slow process, but did not damage the tubing, and cleaned small crevices better thanbeads. While cleaning the fuselage, I found that several pairs of soft, white cotton gloves keep fingerprints away from the cleaning tubing, and that anarc-welding helmet with only the coverplate in placemakes a cool helmet and protects your eyes, whilegiving much better vision than a conventionalsandblasting hood.As the cleaning of the tubing progressed at a slowpace, it was rather simple to check closely for internalcor rosion by tapping along the lower portions of eachtube with a small ball pien hammer. Checking eachtube after only 2 or 3 feet had been cleaned, enabledme to concentrate my attention much better than if Iwould have attempted to check the whole aircraft atone time.

The airframe required in excess of 30 feet of newtubing to replace defective sections and areas I feltmight be questionable. The main thing in my mindwas to be certain that the "e qual to or better" rulewas never broken . As soon as all repairs were completed and checked, the airframe was given a spraycoat of epoxy primer and the appearance promptlyimproved.

Thi i same process of clean, sandblast, inspect, repair, and prime, was carried out on all the controlsurfaces and then everything but the fuselage and thewings were suspended from the garage ceiling, whileI too k stock of the situation and embarked on thenext step.

It became apparent to me that a ' X 24' garagewas not going to be large enough to continue thisproject. My wife and I discussed the problem, drewup a set of prints, and hired a contractor to tear upthe patio, pour footings, install a foundation, andpour a floor.When this work had been sched uled , we loadedup the family and too off for Oshkosh for the EAAFly-In. Upon our return, everything was completedjust as we had planned. In stead of working on theSR -5A that fall and winter, I extended the garageanother 20 feet and installed a heating system and avery good lighting system.

The shop had just been comp leted when my twosons decided I could assist them in restoring a 1956Triumph TR-3. Between our car restoration and thegarage construction, the Stinson took a back seat for

almost a year.The next phase, after I was able to get back on theSR-5, was to start replacing wood. Over half the for

mers were completely missing and those that wereleft were not even good enough for patterns. Le eBrown, from Independence , Mi sso ur i , not onlyloan ed me an old set to use for patterns, but hedrove clear up to Hastings one day to deliver them.Old airplane builders are a great class of peopleI used the o ld formers as patterns for new temporary formers which were cut out of 1/8 inch Masonite. These were clamped to the airframe and thenew stringers installed. By cutting , wedging, and theuse of many discouraging words , the final shape ofthe formers was arrived at, and they were then cutout of the correct plywood and varnished prior tofinal installation.This same procedure was followed for all woodwork. First a cardboard or paper pattern, then thefinal co nstruction in wood.

Due to my crowded shop situatio n, I tried toschedule woodwork and sandblasting work in thewarm months, and engine and welding work in coldmonths . This type of schedule also determined theselection of a covering material. My employment dictated that at any time, I might have to stop work fortwo or three weeks. Therefore , a search was startedfor a covering material which could adapt to theseconditions.I found that if you want to start a major debatewithin the "o ld airplane fraternity" all you have to dois say, " 1 am going to cover with . ", and standback After hearing good advicefor several years, Idecided that I was the one who had to coger the airplane and was going to have to make the decsionand live with it.By far, the best way to study the various materialsand techniques is to attend the EAA Convention atOshkosh and work in the covering workshops. Thisdoesn ' t mean you should just stand and watch, itmeans you should get in there and work all day longand really cover an aircraft. It sure beats learning onyour own, at your own expense.

After spending the better part of two Oshkoshtrips in the covering tents, it was finally decided thatRazorback fabric suited my working conditions betterthan any other . I also found that Sam Macre andRobilyn Henry of Razorback, were able to give moreaccurate information , and knew their product muchbetter than any of the other commerical supplier 'srepresentatives in attendance .

The fuselage and all control surfaces are now co18


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vered and I have certainly not regretted my choice ofcovering material. It is light weight, uses butyratedope for all finish coats, and is not subject to rot ordeterioration, when exposed to sunlight.

Acceptable doping and covering weather is nowover until spring, but the wings are sitting there wait-ing for me. Most of the ribs have to be rebuilt using5/16 X 5/16" square tubing which had to be speciallymanufactured, but they should be finished by nextspring.

In drawing this first chapter of an old Stinson's 4 Do all of the work yourself, if at all possible.rebuilder to a close, I would like to conclude with a Paying someone else may be faster, but then it reallyfew hints for the person who is contemplating a re- isn ' t your airplane anymore, is it?building project:1. Join a type club for the aircraft you are restor-ing. 5. Shut off the TV and START2 Purchase good tools and be sure they are largeenough.

3 Become acquainted with an AI who likes oldaircraft and wants to see them restored.

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EROpl NE POST RS fROM T ~ E 1 9 ~ O s

Article number one, poster number one,Lindbergh's Lockheed - Sir iusBy Lionel a lisbury7 Harper RoadBrampton OntarioCanada L6W 2W3

Several weeks ago, my fifteen-year-old son, David ,came home- with some real treasures. He had beengiven a total of eighteen airplane posters, all of themin excellent condition, printed in black and white,and each with a dynamic photo of aircraft that wereeither from the late 1920's or the early 1930's. Theyhad exciting titles too - Captain Frank Hawk 'sNorthrop-Gamma - The Texaco Sky Chief , theNew Stinson Reliant , the New 15 PassengerCurtiss-Wright Condor Transport .

We spread them out on the floor for a better look.The posters were all printed on a fairly stiff card, eachwas 19 1 across by 11 high, each had a photo thatcove red all of the front, and on the back, each hadthree-view line drawings of the aeroplane and a description and specifications. The back of the postershad been published by the Borden Company limitedof Toronto , Canada. When you bought a 16 ouncecan of Borden 's Chocolate Flavored Malted Milk, youwould find a paper band pasted around the outside

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TANK FILLER

GASOLINE

BATTERY / \COMPASS )

RADIO TRANSt.4ITTER6 TO 900 METERS

I I - - - - ~ - - :

2S - POUND ANCHOR WATER RUDDERINTO

WRIGHT C.YC.LONE ENGINE680 H.P. AT 2100 R.P. M.

DOOR FOR ACCESS TOLUGGAGE SPACE

TRANSPARENTSLIDING HATCHES

EARTH INDUCTOR COMPASSGENERATING UNIT

METAL

VENTURIENGINE COWL

\

RADIO RECEIVER20 TO 1050 METERS

I MAPS, ETC NR 211

METAl FLOAT DIVIDEDWATER-TIGHT COMPARTIIAENTS

which could be sent in for another of these Marvelous Pictures . We could not help but marvel at thegentility of a time when you could put a coupon onthe outside of a product.The promotion must have been quite successful.The first poster had a list of a total of fourteen pictures in the series. A fifteenth was added later and illustrated the Sikorsky Clipper Ship of the Ai r . Itappears that this was not sufficient for the demand,so a second series was brought out. There were ten

FUEL TANKS IN BOTH FLOATSTOTAL 300 GALLONS

posters in the second series but an examination ofthe second list reveals that on ly four new posterswere added. The rest were repeats and a renumbering of pictures from th first group. In all, 19'photos of aircraft were published by the BordenCompany, we're missing only one from the completeset, only one had slight tears, and the balance hadweathered some forty odd years of storage, in fineshape.

My initial contact with the Borden Company in To-

LOOP FOR RADIO DIRECTION FINDER600-t.4ILE RANt;E

COL. LINDBERGH'SLOCKHEED SIRIUS

SEAPLANE

AfRO DICES T . NE W YORK

ronto gave rise to some surprise on their part, thatthe company had never been involved in a promotionof this nature. In fact, even the address on the posterwas strange. At first, no one could recall the YardleyHouse address. Some inquiries of older members ofthe staff revealed that in the 1930's, the company ' shead office had been on Spadina Road in Toronto.Apparently, Yardley House had been used for extraoffice space for awhile, because it was near the mainoffices of the company. Yardley House had been

2

used for that purpose from 1932 to 1938, and this wasDESCRIPTION OF LOCKHEED SIRIUSSpecifications: Span , 42 feet 10 in ches. Length over


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my first indication of the age of the posters. Mr . DaleTulloch, the Manager of Industry and GovernmentRelations for the Borden Company very kindly has extended the permission of the company to reprint theposters in The VINTAGE AIRPLANE, but was unable toobtain any further background information on theseries . To my knowledge, this collection of posters isthe only one know to exist, from the Borden collection.These posters were a gift from Heather Inch ofBrampton. Her father , Glenn , was the original collector of the series, and he was able to pin-point thedate the series came out as 1936. He recalls being ateen-ager at the time, living in the town of Alliston ,Ontario, near the Camp Borden Air Base. The localyoung men of the town were naturally very interestedin airplanes, but it appears that the product you hadto buy to get the posters was pretty expensive incomparison to the money they had available. Collecting a full set was quite a chore. Some of the fellowswould go together to buy a can of the malted milk sothey could get a poster.The poster reproduced here is the first one of thefirst series . The line drawing of the side view of the

Sirius" is full size from the back of the poster. Thedescription reproduced is also taken from the back ofthe item.NEXT MONTH - Po ster number tw o of se ries numberon e - The New 15 Pa ss eng er Curti ss Wright CondorTransport.

all, 27 feet 6 inches. Height overall, 9 feet 2 inches.Wing area (including ailerons ) , 275 square feet.Motor , Wright Cyclone 680 horsepower at 2100rpm. Power loading 8.8 3 pounds per horsepower.Wing loadings, 21.8 pounds per square foot. Weight2,978 pounds. Gross weights, 4,600 pounds. Withpontoons and extra equipment 6,000 pounds.

Perfonnance: High speed , 175 miles per hour. Cruising speed, 145 miles per hour . Rate of climb , 1,200feet per minute . Service ceiling , 20,000 feet. Radius,2,000 miles . Gasoline capacity 225 gallons, plus special 300 gallon in pontoons.The f u s e ~ a g e is monocoque. The fuselage is woodlaminated and glued, covered with glued plywood.Ailerons and tail surfaces are conventional, plywoodcovered. The wings are conventional low wing. Airfoil section is Clark Y. Covering is of plywood.Equipment includes Hamilton-Standard propeller , Ec-lipse electric starter. N .A.C.A . cowling . Standard instruments are provided . Also rate-of-climb and icewarning indicators .Cockpits are tandem . Controls are dual.

Ha l Showerman of 62 17 Ca nob ie Ave nue Whittier Ca li -forni a, sent in these two shots of a Fleet 2, NC775V whichhe soloed in 1935 . Hal reports he has oth er photos he swi lli ng to send in. We hope he wi ll . . we hope otherswi ll also.

How to Get Free C o m p l c t ~ Set of Aeroplane P 1Cbns, DN,r.... and 0..1 LOCKHEED-SIRIUS 8 BOEING BONIIEIl It BOEING PUaSUJT c.o. of Bordca'1


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THE RESTORER S CORNERBy} R. Nielander Jr

Perhaps some of you noticed my absence from thispage for the past couple of months. I sincerely apologize for not being here, but my employer on my otheroccupation (the one which pays me), Pan AmericanWorld Airways, saw fit to provide me with the training necessary to put me in the left seat of the world'slargest and most un-antique airliner, the Boeing 747.I just couldn't turn down the opportunity . I spent overtwo months in training (ground school, simulator andaircraft) in order to qualify to command the QueenMary of the Skies . I am again back to the normal routine (or rut, depending on how you look at it) , so itshould be business as usual from now on.

During my absence our editor , Dave Gustafson,and our publisher, Paul Poberezny, brought to yourattention our need for more articles to be published.I, too, want to ask you to send us the stories of yourrestorations, your experiences while flying antiquesor classics, as well as stories of historical significanceabout aircraft or the people who built or flew them.With this thought in mind, I think that it might be appropriate for me to repeat what I call my short cou rsein writing for publication as it first appeared in theFebruary, 1976 issue of Th e Vintage Airplane

Writing for publication is easy. Just tell the storyin your own words exactly as it happened. Don't worryabout punctuation, misspelled words or grammar.Most of the time your natural instincts in these matterswill be correct. For the few times that you may makea mistake, your editor will assume the role of yourEnglish teacher and make corrections.What is most important in writing for publicationis the mechanics, not the grammar or punctuation.If you write for publication and do not LIse a typewriter, it is best to use lined Vz x 11 notebook ortablet paper and to write only on every other line. Ifyou do type, you should set your typewriter to type 54characters per line and double or triple space yourlines .Whether you type or write longhand, there area few more procedures which are considered practicewhen writing for publication. First, you should starttyping or writing you story in the middle of the firstpage so that the top half can be used for titling, yourbyline, and for editor 's notes . The title which you giveto the story and your name should be all that appears

on the upper half of this first page . Second, youshould use one side of the paper only. Third, youshould number the top of each page and also restateyour title so that if the editor should happen to mixyour story with other papers on his desk, he will nothave any trouble identifying the individual pages andputting you story back together. (Editors are notoriousfor having large piles of papers on their desks.) Fourth,at the bottom of each page except the last one, youshould write more or continued to let the editorknow that the page he holds is not the last one in casethey have become separated. Fifth, at the bottom of thelast page of your story you should write end or -30-as it is done in the newspaper world to let your editorknow that he has the whole story and has not lost anyof it.Well, that wasn 't as hard as you thought it wouldbe, wat it? Just a few simple rules of mechanics andlayout , and you are a professional writer already.The only other points of importance concerningstories for publication have to do with the submissionof photographs with the stories. All photographs intended to be used along with the context of the articleshould be glossy prints . These prints can be almostany size, but generally editors like to get 5 x 7 orlarger photographs. However , clarity and sharpnessof detail are most important and should never be sacrificed just to increase size . For color a 35 millimetertransparency is' not too small as long as it is sharp .Now with the completion of this short course inmagazine writing your editor will expect to be delugedwith pictures and stories of your experiences and yourrestorations. Please don't let him down.

In accordance with the Division By-Laws, as amended , the terms of two officers and four directors willexpire at the 1979'EAA Antique/Classic Division AnnualBusiness Meeting to be held on August 4, 1979; at Oshkosh , Wisconsin, during the 27th EAA InternationalFly-In Convention. Those offices which will expireare: VICE-PRES IDENTTREASURERDIRECTORS (FOUR)

Nominations for these offices shall be made onofficial nomination forms obtainable from the headquarters of the Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc.,P.O. Box 229; Hales Corners, Wisconsin 53130. Thenominating petition shall include a recent photographof the cadidate and shall contain a brief resume of hisbackground and experience. Candidates must havebeen members of the Antique/Classic Division in goodstanding for the previous two consecutive years. Eachpetition requires a minimum of ten 10) signatures ofEAA Antique/Classic Division members in good standing with their Division membership number and expiration date.Nominating petitions must be submitted to theChairman of the Nominating Committee , EAA Antique /Classic Division, c/o EAA Headquarters no later thenMarch 7, 1979: Voting instructions and procedureswill be published in a later issue of Th e Vintage Air-plane.

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Dear DavidEnclosed are a few photos that I think you might findinteresting. The aircraft as you ll no doubt recognizeis a DH87 and has recently been rebuilt by the RoyalNewcastle Aero Club . This aeroplane is basically a 978total rebuild as the original wreckage that I hoped touse as a basis was found on close examination to becompletely unusable.It is a spectacular machine and it draws crowdswherever it appears. As you know the 87 was firstproduced in England in 1936, the design was well be-fore its time.My particular machine runs on 80 avgas, burns 6 gal-lons per hour at a cruising speed of 95 knots carrying2 passengers and about 25 pounds of luggage. Tankcapacity is 30 gallons plus an oil tank that takes 3 gal-lons so it has a safe range of approximately 500miles.

We have also added to the Olde Bowral Airfield col-lection a Sopwith Pup and it will be my pleasure tosend you some photographs of this just as soon aswe take them-probably within the next week or so.Cheers and best wishes,Neil CotteePACIFIC FILM LABORATORIES PLY LIMITED298 Railway ParadeCarlton NSWP O. Box 292Hurstville NSW 2220, Australia

Among the arrivals midweek at this year'sOshkosh Fly-In, was a nice looking, but unobtrusive


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Dr. Goodlad s SwiftStory a nd h otosBy Jim Moniague3360 KlondikeLake Elmo, Minneso ta 55 42

Swift, owned by Dr. Bill Goodlad, of St. Paul, Minnesota. A close inspection will reveal a Continental10-360 engine, where the old C-125 once resided, aneat interior, Buckaroo wing tips and a polished exterior. The real unusual thing about Doc's airplane,however, is the fact that it exists at all ; for on July 8,1971, after an engine failure at altitude, N80613 wasforce landed in Minnesota's north woods.

The retrieval adventure alone could fil l pages .Doc, his partners and friends, dismantled the craft,and with the aid of a Department of ConservationATV, brought the remains out to civilization . Thewreckage was trailered to New Brighton, Minnesota,and surveyed. The entire tail group and rear half ofthe fuselage was junk. The right wing and all the control surfaces were damaged . Just about every part ofthe plane had at least some damage. Friendssuggested the Swift be scrapped. Doc, however, wasdetermined to rebuild the plane, he had formerlyowned another Swift and sold it, and always regrettedit. At this time, three partners owned the plane andthey slowly began the rebuilding. While removing therocker covers from the C-125, the cause of the enginefailure was discovered: a broken rocker arm The engine had popped and caught before quitting, then finally quit completely, probably due to carburetor ice,brought on by the broken rocker arm. The singlemost fortunate item aiding the rebuilding, was theacquisition of another damaged Swift, N11HR, whichhad made a forced landing in 1970, while returningfrom the Oshkosh Convention.

It was at this point that I became involved in therestoration of N80613. None of the owners had an A& P ticket , and I did , so I became the advisor and inspector for the project. By the fall of 1974, the variousparts were brought out to the Lake Elmo Airport andfinal assembly was begun. All the "little things tookseveral months to accomplish and it was early 1975before all the pieces were together and the paperwork completed. The first flight was uneventful andthe owners began enjoying the fruits of all theirlabor.

Doc eventually became the sole owner of N80613and after a year or so, he contracted a bad case of"b ig engine-it is , so he started scouting everycrashed Cessna 337 for miles around. Finally, he located an 10-360 Continental, for a reasonable price ,and the plane was out of service again for fivemonths , while we installed the big engine . Another"first flight and Doc had his long-wished for dream

come true, a Swift that performed just s good s itlooked.

Today, Doc has an airplane that will perform withanything being manufactured and he has a classic toboot. Was it all worth it? The big smile on his facewhen that question is asked is answer enough .

5

Letters Classifieds


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December 3,1978Mr. David Gustafson:In response to your letter to me dated June9, 1978. I have my Monocoupe torn down nowfor complete rebuild or restoration and a't present am reworking the wing. I am taking pictures of the project as I go and should havesome to furnish you in the future . In themeantime if you know of anyone or sourcethat may have one or two Warner 145 cylinderassemblies that I can purchase for my Monocoupe engine please let me know .Sincerely,Walter J. Driggers3849 Neptune Dr., S.E.SI. Petersburg, Florida 33705

Dear Dave,Your story on the Curtiss Robin was a good

job of research, except for a few items.I know you were a very young boy whenCurtiss Robins were produced. Even some ofJos . Juptner's thinking is not kosher. But anyhow, first off, ATC's were issued for CurtissRobin's equipped with first , the Curtiss OX5,Hisso 150, Curtiss Challenger and Wrig'htR540 165 hp J6-5 5 cyl.

You mention that Corrigan 's Robin had a J5in it, not so A Curtiss Robin never had a

Wright J5 installed, not even in Corrigan 'sship. Of course, it may have been a misprint ; aJ5 is a 9 cyl. 220 hp.I saw Corrigan ' s Robin when he camethrough Chicago years ago, and had a chanceto speak with him . He was quite i;l clever fellow , a heck of a good mechanic , welder, andpilot.He originally was a welder for Ryan on Ml sHe welded up almost all of lindbergH 's NYf:>job . That's where he got the inspiration to dothe same thing himself at that time though hedid not know how to fly.As time went on , he did learn to fly andsome years later he bought an OX5 Robin andchose a five cyl. Wright R540 for his oceanflight as the Wright was the most reliable ofall the engines legal in a Robin. He could notafford a new one so he bought a used oneand overhauled it himself; in fact, he knew thebug ' s in the early Wrighl. If you see his engine , the whole engine is an early Wright 540except 1 cyl. breaking at the cyl. flange.He took his Robin home and cut the fuselage in half. Welded up a fuel tank to give himcapacity , put it in, and welded the fuselagesback up around the tank.He flew the Robin to SI. Louis non-stop tocheck himself on his navigation. He also tooka quick course in celestial navigation.

When he got to New York and applied for a Cessna UC-781T-50 rudder - excellent condition, readypermit from the Department of Commerce , to cover. Gilbert K. Hausler, '6546 W. Devonshire Ave .,they told him he was nuts to try to fly the Phoenix, Arizona 85033. 602/846-2016.ocean in an airplanewith a 160 hp engine andwas refused. There was a fellow who tried itwith a 90 hp Monocoupe : he made fish food. Wanted : ' 3-D, 35mm slide projector or viewer. Con

But Corrigan was not to be defeated. He tact David Gustafson , EAA Headquarters, Box 229;hung around for a few more days til the Hales Corners, WI 53130 414/425,4860 .weather over the pond was favorable , boughta load of gas , took off , and the rest is history.He not only made it but landed at the air WACO UPF-7 T-Shirts . Blue polylcotton with WACOport where he intended . Some navigation with and logo. 5, M, L, X-L. 6 .00. USAAC, 6 Rooseve lta magnetic compass. Dr., Newtown, CT 06470.When he landed, he knew he had to have ananswer for the authorities. He told them hiscompass swung 180 on him. 1941 Stinson 10-1 restoration project, wings ready forYou can bet your boots he knew exactly cover, 90 hp Franklin disassembled for O.H. Goodwhere he was going. winter prpject. $1,800 or best offer. (216) 823-8298.But Dave , his airplane had a 5 cyl. J6-5 installed. In fact , speaking of Dohn 's, the KeyBros., of Miss. , held and broke the world endurance record with a Curtiss Rob in with aWright J6-5. This was before Forest O'Brienand Dale Jackson. alendar Of EventsSo much for Robin History.Regards , JUN 23 - The 22nd Annual Merced West Coast Antique Fly-In. An

Mike Kezick tiques and Homebuilts welcome. Early Bird Reception Friday, Jun e 1.For further information contact: Fly-In Committee, P.O. Box 2312,Merced, CA 95340 or F. M. McRae, Fly-In Director, Telephone (209)529'3894.

AI Wheeler 72 Bishop Pine Lane, EI Sobrante, Californiasent in this nice shot of a Barkley-Grow NC78388 , se rialnumber 7 Are there any left out there?

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N243 BOwner: Donald H. Barth, 3, Pekin, IIlil ois 6 5541949 Temco Swift With 45 hp Continental engine.It also has been fitted with an aero/matic prop. Paintingscheme is that o a British Spitfire flown by famed Doug-las Batter in WW II


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Vintage Airplane - Feb 1979

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