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VOL.
30, No. 7
JULY
2002
STRAIGHT
&
LEVELlButchJoyce
2
VAA
NEWS/H.G. Frautschy
4
MYSTERY PLANE/H.G. Frautschy
6
PAUL RINALDO
REDFERN
THE FIRST AVIATOR
TO
FLY SOLO
ACROSS
THE
CARIBBEAN
SEA/
Thomas
avage
&Ron
Shelton
10
JOHN MILLER RECALLS
AVIATION IN THE 1920s/John M. Miller
13 HE SAID SHE SAID/Ken Morris
17 NEW LINDBERGH EXHIBIT
MISSOURI
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY'S
EXPANDED
EXHIBITION
SHOWCASES
THE LIFE AND
LEGEND OF CHARLES A. LINDBERGH!
H.G.
Frautschy
21 PASS
IT
TO BUCK/Buck Hilbert
22 CALENDAR
28
CLASSIFIED
ADS
30
VAA MERCHANDISE
WWW VINTAGEAIRCRAFT ORG
http:///reader/full/WWW.VINTAGEAIRCRAFT.ORGhttp:///reader/full/WWW.VINTAGEAIRCRAFT.ORG
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STR IGHT
e LEVEL
Y
ESPIE
BUTCH
JOYCE
PRESIDENT, VINTAGE ASSOCIATION
E
AirVenture s
a
Comin
s I write
this there s about
a
month
to go before many of
us will gather
in
Oshkosh for
E
AirVenture. There's
plenty to
do as we get ready. Like many of
you, Norma and I will have to work
a little harder and get quite a bit ac
complished before we can take two
weeks off
to
work and
enjoy
E
AirVenture. We'll see you there
Let
me take just a
few
lines to ex
press my appreciation to those of
you who were able to contribute to
the
2002 V
Friends of the Red
Barn campaign.
Your
generosity will
enable
the V
to better serve V
members during the convention.
In the past, we've chosen to pro
vide services to
both members and
the genera l
public
that, for
what
ever reason, were needs
that
were
not being current
ly addressed.
Here's a prime example: the V
Tall
Pines Cafe. For
many
years
the
association has asked for a greater
level of food service
on the
south
end
of the airport, and unfortu
nately, the needs of our
members
and our
fellow
E
fly-in campers
of
the
field are
not present during
the
midday
and
often make
other
arrangements for their evening
meal. We
realize
that
may
very
well be a I chicken and egg"
syn
drome and
that
there
may
be
a
need for other meals, so we ll
closely
monitor
comments
to
re
fine
our operation.
V
Director
John
Berndt
is
the
chairman for
the
Tall Pines Cafe,
and
he ll be
operating it
entirely with volun
teer help. We
hope
the
Tall Pines
Cafe will become a morning gath
ering spot for members in much
the
same way the
Red
Barn's porch
is
on
the north end
of
our
area.
One
of the reasons the Red Barn
is
so popular can be
summed
up
in
one word-hospitality.
And
the
chairperson who personifies hospi
tality is V
Host/Activities
Chairman Jeannie Hill. Believe me,
that
short
title doesn t
completely
describe all of the
things
Jeannie
does. Like
many
of us, she wears a
bunch of different hats, organizing
the
V
picnic,
V information,
media
relations,
the V fly-out,
formation on this year's event.
On
a more serious note, I've no
ticed that we've seen an increase
in
the accident
rate
for tailwheel
equipped airplanes,
primarily
during
the
landing phase of flight.
t seems that
some folks have let
their feet fall asleep over the winter
months.
ll
of
us can
benefit from
a little dual instruction every year,
even when we feel we're
at the top
of our game. Little bad habits
can
creep into our flying, and having
an instructor along is cheaper insur
ance
than
paying
the
deductible
and increased rates
after
an acci
dent claim following a ground loop.
Also, be
sure
to keep your air
craft tied down when you re
hand-propping
an
aircraft.
Be
sure
your buddy
knows this, too. Sur
prisingly,
a number of accidents
that have occurred
due
to
inatten
tive hand
propping
occurred
when
a buddy of the owner was flying
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Y NEWS
COMPILED
BY
H.G.
FRAUTSCHY
EAA AIRVENTURE OSHKOSH
2002 HIGHLIGHTS
This is the
50th
gathering
of
EAA members for their annual
convention,
and EAA
AirVenture
promises
to
be
a
great
event,
with
plenty to
do and
see.
Each day
has its own special theme:
• Members '
50th
Celebrat ion
Day: Tuesday, July 23
• Countdown
to
Kitty Hawk Day:
Wednesday, July 24
. Sounds
of
Speed Day: Thursday,
July
25
• Recreational Aviation Day: Fri
day, July 26
• Salute to American Airpower
Weekend: Saturday, July 27
• Salute to American Airpower
Weekend: Sunday,
July
28
. Kids' Day:
Monday,
July 29
Each
day
is
chock-full
of
activi
ties and events, so be sure to see the
full schedule of events for each
day's
theme
at airventure org
You'll also find
each day
detailed in
your copy of
the
official
EAA
Air
Venture
Oshkosh
2002 program.
VAA
PICNIC
Tickets for
the
Wednesday,
July
24, annual VAA picnic held at
the
Nature
Center
will
be
available for
sale
at
the
Red Barn for 8.
Note
R W Buzz Kaplan
Just
as
this
issue was going
to
press,
we
learned of the death of one
of antique aviation's staunchest sup
porters, EAA President's Council
member
R.W . "Buzz" Kaplan. Buzz
was
killed in the crash of his recently
completed Curtiss Jenny. Mechanic
Brent Langer was critically injured in
the crash.
Buzz of course, has been an active
VAA member
and
vintage airplane
enthusiast for decades, often bring
ing some of the most unusual aircraft
we've ever seen
at an EAA
conven
tion, including the Savoia-Marchetti
S-56 amphibian and the Curtiss
Robin on floats, not to mention his
epic collaboration with Sam Johnson
to create a pair of Sikorsky S-38 am
phibions. Our deepest condolences
to his family and many friends .
ARE YOU FRIEND
OF
THE RED BARN?
If
so be sure to check in at the infor
mation desk at the
VAA
Red
Bam.
There,
we'll issue you your special name badge,
and we'll let you know what the sched
ule is for our tram tours of the
VAA
area.
We can also point out the location for
the
Ford Tri-Motor rides. If you have
any questions, feel free to
ask
for Theresa
VAA
MESSAGE CENTER
If you would like to leave a message
for
people you know who frequent the
VAA Red Barn, stop by the information
desk. You can write them a message in
our "notebook
on
a string,"
and
we'll
post their name on the marker board
so
they'll know there's a message waiting
for them. Sure, cellular phones
and
walkie-talkie radios are great, but some
times
nothing works bet
ter
than
a
hand-scribbled note!
LINDBERGH S
75th
ANNIVERSARY
This year we
commemorate the
75th anniversary
of
Charles
Lind
bergh's solo flight across the Atlantic.
We'll
have
a
special
celebration at
the VAA
Red
Barn, sponsored by His
toric Aviation. We'll remember
Lindbergh's epic flight
the
morning
of Friday, July 26. Check
in
at
the
Red Barn for
the
exact time.
FRONT
COVER The
roar of a radial, the
lines that are pure
1930 s
Art Deco the
Spartan Executive is a rare, highly sought
after aeronautical treasure. Ken and
Lorraine Morris bought their dream airplane
in
pretty rough shape, and have put
an
exceptional amount of work into the airplane
to bring it up to showplane condition. Photo
by Don Parsons, shot
on 100 ASA
Fuji slide
film. Photo plane flown by Lorraine Morris.
BACK COVER:
Freedom
Formation From
Sea to
Shining
Sea
is the title of this patriotic
http:///reader/full/www.airventure.orghttp:///reader/full/www.airventure.org
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FLY-OUT
The annual fly-out to Shawano
is
Saturday, July 27. The sign-up sheet
will be at
the
desk at
the
Red Barn,
and the briefing will be at 7 a.m. the
morning
of the fly-out. This year
the
meal
will
be
provided
at
the
Shawano airport, so there will be
no
need
to leave the
airfield
.
We re
hoping to have a good
turnout
this
year
to
make up
for the weather
cancellation last year. The commu
nity
of Shawano
is
a big supporter
of
VAA and puts forth a lot of effort
to sponsor this event. It does a great
job, and we hope you ll help
us
thank Shawano by joining
us.
CD WRITER
As more of
us
use
digital
photography
to capture our
memories
of spe
cial events, we're
caught by one
fact of life-those little Compact
Flash or Smart Media cards
don t
always hold all the pictures we'd
like to take.
We
' re going
to
help
you with this dilemma by offer
ing to download your images and
burn
them
to
a
compact disc
CD), all for a nominal fee. Bring
your
digital
camera to
the
VAA
Red Barn,
and
see
how
easy it is
to savor your stay in Oshkosh.
RED
BARN
STORE
The VAA Red Barn store, chock
FRIENDS OF
THE
RED BARN HONOR ROLL
Our thanks
to
those listed for
their
generous support
of the
Vintage Aircraft Association s activities
and
programs during
EAA
AlrVenture Oshkosh.
Jaime P. Alexander • Council
Bluffs
IA
David K. Allen .
Elbert
CO
Lowell
T.
Baker Effingham IL
Lawrence A.
Bartell
Waukesha WI
David A.
Belcher Abington MA
Steve Bender
. . .
Roanoke
TX
Jesse
W. Black
III.
.
Maplewood
MN
Raymond
B. Bottom , Jr Hampton, VA
Robert
C. Brauer
. . . . . Chicago
IL
Jerry
A. Brown
. Greenwood , IN
Col
. Harvey S. Browne . . . Ferndale WA
Bruce
L. Campbell
.
Agu
i
la AZ
Peter
Chamberlain
. . . .
Beds
,
UK
David Clark . Plainfield IN
Geoffrey
E.
Clark MD . Portsmouth NH
Sydney B. Cohen . . . Wausau WI
Larry
Collins . . Lake City MI
Douglas J. Conciatu
Sterling
Heights,
MI
Jack Copeland
. . . Northborough MA
Michael J. Damone
'. Bloomfield Hlls, MI
Martin
A.
Ditmore
Las Cruces
NM
Francis
E.
Donahue . . . Wappingers Falls NY
William Dunn . . . . . . Liverpool NY
Doug
Ferguson . . . . .
New Market
NH
William Fie lds .
Hazard
, KY
Thomas G. Rock .
. . . . . . . . Rockville IN
Henry
G. Frautschy . . : . .
Oshkosh
WI
Ray
Fulwiler
.
. . . . . . . . . .
Algoma
WI
Timothy
M.
Gallagher
. .
Poplar Grove
IL
Richard
G
annotti
. .
Brookhaven
NY
Robert
L.
Graham . . . . . . . Chandler,
AZ
Arthur F Green . Palos Heights IL
Jennifer S. Ledman • Gaithersburg
MD
Jimmy Leeward • . • •
Ocala
FL
Earl F livingston Albuquerque NM
Russ
C.
R. Luigs . . Bandera, TX
Robert
D.
Lumley
• • •
Brookfield
WI
Robert Maher
•
.
N.
Augusta
SC
W. Saxon
Moore
Tulsa
OK
Frank
J. Moynahan • Clearwater FL
Eugene E.
Nabors
.
Berlin MI
William
E. Nelson
Juneau AK
Boynton L. Nissen Troy, MO
John and Anna Osborn
. . .
Kerrville
TX
Richard
and
Sue
Packe
r . .
Radnor
OH
William
E. Parent . . Redmond WA
George
Parry Ventura CA
John M. Patterson . Frankfort KY
John
M. Patterson. . Lexington
KY
Don E. Petty .
Saticoy CA
Allan L.
Plapp
. Poplar Bluff
MO
Louis S. Radwanick . . .
Virginia
Beach
VA
Theodore Reusch . Anaheim Hills CA
Dean Richardson
. . . . Stoughton
WI
Milton
Ruesch
. .
Medford
WI
Sally E. Ryan Mounds View MN
Shuji Saitoh Kita Ku Sapporo
Japan
Doug
Schiller
. Warrenville
IL
John A.
Schlie .
.
Cocoa
,
FL
S.H. O
Wes
Schmid
.
.
.
Wauwatosa
WI
William B. Scott . . . . . . Reno
NV
H. Burkley
Showe
. Columbus OH
Bob
Siegfri
ed
.
Downers Grove
IL
Charles
Starr
. . . Niceville
FL
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BY H G F R A U T S C H Y
APRIL 'S M Y S T E R Y P L A N E
COMMAND AIRE
Lymburn,
Princeton,
Minnesota;
and Jun Amendola,
Bellevue,
Washington.
structor
in the
Chicago area
named Dwight Morrow. (In 1942
the airport was
enlarged
and be
came
the
renowned
Naval
Air
Station-Glenview.)
While attending the annual
E
fly-in at Arlington, Washing
ton,
in
July 1991, I was surprised
and thrilled
to
see a restored
Command-Aire
arrive
(q u ietly
with
a
Wright
J-6-7
up
front.
Naturally, I
took
a half-dozen pic
tures
and have
enclosed
two
prints. The man on the left is
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owner/pilot Robert Locke of
Visalia,
California. Since then
I
have
not seen
Locke and
his
Command-Aire at any of the
Ar-
lington
events .
Cheers
Jim Stubner
Mercer Island, Washington
T H I S
M O N T H S
M Y S T E R Y
P L A N E
OMES
TO
US VIA
TH E C O L L E C T I O N
OF
P E T E R
B O W E R S ,
S E A T T L E ,
W A S H IN G TO N .
And from
Ed
Kastner, Elma, New
York
we have this addition:
It
is a Command-Aire Model 5C
3,
powered with
a
Curtiss
Challenger engine of
185
hp. It
was built in Little Rock, Arkansas,
by a company of the same name,
under
Approved Type
Certificate
SEND
YOUR
ANSWER
TO : EM,
VINTAGE
AIRPLANE
, P.O.
Box
3086,
OSHKOSH
,
WI
54903-3086 . YOUR
ANSWER NEEDS TO
BE
IN
NO LATER THAN AUGUST 15
FOR
IN-
CLUSION IN
THE
OCTOBER
2002 ISSUE OF
VINTAGE AIRPLANE .
You
CAN
ALSO
SEND YOUR RESPONSE
184, issued in Ju ly
of
1929.
The frame
visible
at
the rear
of
the rear cockpit raises a question
as
to
its purpose.
It
will be interesting
to see if
the
photo
had an
explana
tion
for it.
And Dick
Harden, Rickfie
ld,
Minnesota , also noticed a few de
tails:
Must be
getting
ready for a high
alti
tude
fl
igh
t .
Note
the
way
the
pilot
is
dressed with no
snow
on
the
ground. And
the extra hatch
structure around
the
rear cockpit
headrest.
We didn t get an explanation
as
to
the tubular frame's purpose, so
if
any
readers
can
fill
in
the
details,
we'll pass
them
along.
Our thanks
again
to Bruce Mi
ll
er
of Harahan
,
Louisiana,
for sharing this
photo
with
us.
VIA E-MAil . SEND YOUR ANSWER
TO
vin
t g
@
org
BE SURE TO INCLUDE BOTH
YOUR
NAME
AND
ADDRESS (ESPECIAllY YOUR
CITY AND STATE ) IN THE BODY OF YOUR
NOTE AND PUT
(MONTH)
MYSTERY
PLANE " IN THE SUBJECT LINE
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]
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olumbia
viator and
His Stinson
Detroiter
Remembered
Paul Rinaldo Redfern
The first aviator to
ly
solo acro
the
aribbean Sea
THOMAS SAVAGE AND RON SHELTON
P
aul Redfern is an aviator whose
short
career
is
hardly known
outside of the area in which he
lived
and
flew decades ago,
but
his
legacy is being kept alive though the
efforts of a group of South Carolina
aviators and the South Carolina State
Historical Society
At age
16 Redfern built and flew a
biplane-type glider
on
the
outskirts
of Columbia, South Carolina. In his
sophomore year industrial arts class
at Columbia High School, he built a
full-size biplane
without an
engine.
It created a local sensation when dis
played
at the University of
South
Redfern n his homebuilt biplane at the field of the Redfern Aviation Company
Carolina and resulted in
his not
graduating
the
following year
with
his
senior class.
Because of his After graduating from high school
flight. Gertrude
and
Paul
did not
demonstrated skills and talent
and
Paul Redfern earned his living
as an
have any children, and she never
re-
with his parents permission he left aviator. In addition to his small bi
married. She died
in
1981
and
is
the area upon the completion of his plane he acquired and flew a Curtiss
buried in Detroit.
second year in
high school
to
work
Jenny IN-4 and a de Havilland DH-
Paul Redfern attempted
to
fly
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same type of engine used
on
Lucky
Lindy s Spirit
St.
Louis.
According to
Aircraft Circulars, National Advisory
Committee
for
Aeronautics, prepared
by
the
Stinson Aircraft Corporation
and published in
Washington
in
1927, The Stinson Model
SM-1
was
the first monoplane of the illustrious
'Detro iter' series and successor to the
popular
SB-1
cabin biplanes. The first
SM-1
ever built won
the
1927 Ford
Air Tour,
flown by
Eddie
Stinson him
self. Thirty-six planes were reported
built in 1927, and many were used in
attempts to set
world
records .
Al
though comparatively large, the SM-1
performed and
handled well
and
could be
landed in the traditional
cow pasture. The factory price was
$12 ,
000 to 12,500
and included
such standard equipment
as
inertia
type engine starter, metal propeller,
wheel brakes
and
wings wired for
Gertrude Hildebrand
Redfern sitting and
Paul Redfern stand-
ing next to the
biplane
he
built and
flew as a high school
senior
die
Stinson tried to
persuade Redfern
that
two days of fly
ing
was
more than
a
man
could stand.
He
was unabl
e,
how
ever,
to convince
Redfern to
take
an-
other pilot with him.
Redfern had the Detroiter painted
green
and
yellow with white letter
ing. The author notes
that
green and
yellow are the colors of the Brazilian
flag .
On
both sides
of the
fuselage
just
behind the
engine
were
the
words Port of Brunswick.
In
bold
letters behind
the
wing's
trailing
edge was Brunswick
to
Brazil. In
large letters
on
the upper
and
lower
wing was the registration number
is
sued
by
the
U.S.
Department
of
Commerce, NX773.
Among those monitoring the
flight
nothing
was heard from any
one
by
the time Redfern's fuel would
have
been exhausted
by 4:30 p.m.
on
August 27.
By
that
time
the
fes
tive
atmosphere in
Rio de
janeiro,
where
the president of
Brazil
and
the movie star Clara
Bow
planned to
greet him, had ended
with
the
knowledge
that
he and his
plane
Redfern surfaced,
as
the captain and
crew of a ship, then docked in New
Orleans, reported their unexpected
encounter with him and his brightly
colored airplane.
This unexpected
encounter
took
place on August 26, 1927, at approx
imately 3:00 p.m.
and
lasted about
45
minutes. The ship was the Christ
ian Krogh, a Norwegian steamship.
t
was near
the island of
Trinidad
and
about 165 miles off
the
coast of
Venezuela.
Approaching the ship
from
the
north, Paul Redfern began
to circle
the ship at
a low altitude.
He
wrote a note
on
a piece of paper
asking
the
captain to point the ship
toward land, and
to
wave a flag or
handkerchief once
for
each 100
miles.
He
signed
the note.
(His fa
ther
later verified his
handwriting
and
signature.) He
put the
note in a
carton and dropped
it
toward
the
ship. Unfortunately it landed
in
the
ocean.
A
crewman
dived
into the
water
and
retrieved
the
carton. After
the captain read
the
note he had the
ship
turned
to
point
toward
Venezuela
and
blew the ship's whis
tle
two times.
Redfern lined his
plane up with the direction
of
the
ship, wagged
the
wings
of the
air
plane
in appreciation,
and began
flying away toward Venezuela.
When Redfern
did not
arrive
at
the
airfield
in
Rio de
janeiro
as
planned, a massive sea, land, and air
search took place and lasted for sev
eral days. After his
encounter
with
the
Norwegian ship became known,
there were successive expeditions to
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Jul 2002
10/36
was being held captive by an
Indian
tribe after he had fallen from the sky.
These
reports became
so
frequent
and persistent in various newspapers
and
on
the radio that the U.S. gov
ernment
became concerned and got
involved
in
the renewed
search for
Redfern. The Smithsonian Institution
sponsored one expedition. The last
expedition took place in 1938
when
Paul's parents contracted Theodore
Waldeck to search for their son and
his airplane. On April 28, 1938, a re
port was sent from
Georgetown,
British
Guyana,
with
the
headline
U.S.
Searching Party Reports Redfern
Dead. The
report
went
on to
say
that
the
Waldeck
group,
led by
Theodore Waldeck, an ex-World War
I
pilot
and his
author
wife,
Jo
who
had spent considerable time in the
Guyana
wilderness,
reported that
they
had found
the spot where the
aviator fell in Venezuela. Their report
was based on a statement by a native
who
said
that
he had seen Redfern's
plane
crash into some trees. The
Waldecks were
not
able to get to
the
spot
because of a
wetter-than-usual
season. The area in question was full
of sinkholes, poisonous snakes,
and
black widow spiders.
The
Waldecks
returned to
Columbia
to discuss
their findings with Dr. and Mrs. Red
fern. Although the Redferns initially
accepted the Waldecks' conclusion
that Paul
was dead, they later
changed their minds, believing
that
their only son had landed
else
where and that he was still
alive
.
They
had heard
from famed
pilot
A large number of
observers
and
supporters gathered to watch the
UJdeparture
of
the
Stinson
SM l
o
b from a runway
on
the beach at Sea
i Island, Georgia.
Redfern right) and a colleague
be-
side the Stinson SM l.
which
Redfern's wife
sought
to have
him
officially
declared
dead. Mrs.
Redfern was quoted as saying, I be
lieve
my husband
perished, as
did
many other ocean fliers. Also, she
said she believed that
the
scientific
expeditions by
trustworthy
agencies
have
proven
conclusively that
her
husband was
not
alive but had per
ished
at
sea.
In an article
published
in
Art o
Flight artist/author
Robert Carlin
states
that
in
1982
Gene
Lowe and
David Bell got together for the pur
pose of
locating the Stinson
Detroiter. Gene Lowe is identified as
a former World War
II
pilot who has
located a number of lost and wrecked
planes, including a Stinson Detroiter
SM-1 from
the Greenland
ice
cap
where it had been for 40 years. David
Bell is described as a successful au
thor
of a
number
of
aviation
books,
they were made because Angel was
known
for
his bombast,
especially
when he was trying to raise money,
and
because it seemed incredible
that Redfern actually had
managed
to reach Venezuela. Jimmy Angel is
best
remembered today
for discover
ing
the
highest waterfall
in the
world in Venezuela, which is named
for
him,
Angel Falls.
During their research, Lowe and Bell
found a map and crash location for
Redfern's airplane that had been devel
oped at
that
time by Henri Villard, a
consular official, in Caracas. Quoting
again from Robert
Carlin,
Villard
compared Angel's
data
with
that
of
Christian Krogh's crew and found an
immense amount of
commonality in
all of it. Lowe and Bell then located
Marie Angel. They were unable to talk
with Jimmy because he died in an air
plane crash in 1956. Marie talked about
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E
Chapter
242
to
Commemorate
the
75th
nniversary of
the Redfern Flight
August
25, 2002, will
be
the 75th
an
niversary of Paul
R Redfern s historic flight.
On
Saturday, August 24,
EAA
Chapter 242
will
host
a one-day aviation
event.
Amorning
ceremony is scheduled
to
remember and
honor Paul R. Redfern.
A
Stinson
Detroiter
SM-2 will
be
present.
Among the
honored
guests will be one of Paul Redfern s
nephews,
who currently lives with his wife in
Sumter, South Carolina. He was born shortly
after Paul s flight.
His
mother
named him
Paul
Redfern
Jennings after his uncle. Dur
ing the ceremony a 20-inch wingspan stick
and tissue model airplane of the Stinson
Detroiter
SM-1,
painted and
detailed to
look
exactly
like
the one Redfern
flew,
will be
ac
cepted from
master modeler
David
Smith of
Columbia . Bob Coble, mayor of Columbia,
and Dr. Miles Richards of the University of
South Carolina
History Department,
an
au
thority on
Paul
Redfern, will each deliver
remarks
. The owner
and
pilot of the Stinson
Detroiter
SM-2 will re-enact
Redfern s
take
off
in
1927, which will include a female
representing Gertrude
Redfern slipping into
the
cockpit for a final
embrace and
kiss. Af
ter a low pass
over
the airfield the pilot will
fly south until the airplane is out of sight.
The ceremony
will
then
conclude
with
the
dedication of a
plaque
stating that
Paul
Ri
naldo
Redfern was
the first aviator to solo
the Caribbean
Sea
, with a missing
man
fly
over of vintage aircraft and the dropping of a
wreath by
a
local aviator.
In addition to the 75th anniversary
remembrance, the theme of the event
will be the spirit of aviation adventure
and exploration. Several ladies
in avia
tion will participate, including one who
will make the first public flight
in
an
air
plane that she built. Prior to and after
the ceremony EAA Chapter 242 pilots
will volunteer their aircraft
and
their time
to implement the
Young
Eagles program.
Spectators will have the opportunity to
a plane fly
over
Venezuela's
Cuidad
Bolivar plaza. He
took note of
the
airplane's green and yellow
colors
and copied down
the number
NX773. He also
recalled
seeing a
thin line of black smoke trailing
back from the nose of
the
plane as
i t
turned
and
flew off toward the
southeast. Lowe
and
Bell referenced
a
book
published in 1942 by Denni
son
entitled
Devil Mountain that
includes
a
chapter about
his
en
counter with Redfern's airplane .
Robert Carlin painted what he
viewed as Redfern's last moments in
the air based
on the
information
in
Dennison's book.
The authors
are fa-
miliar
with
Lee Dennison's
documentation
about Paul Redfern
in the book
Devil
Mountain.
This
is
one of several documents
that
indi
cate Redfern flew over the Caribbean
Sea from Georgia to Venezuela. Also
important is the
information
pro
vided by Jimmy Angel, and later
verified independently by Marie An
gel to Robert Lowe and David Bell.
Carlin
writes
that
Lowe
and
Bell
have flown over the most likely crash
site numerous times. He describes the
jungle as very
formidable
with no
trails cutting through it.
He
states with
conviction that Redfern's airplane will
be found because Lowe and Bell will
see to that. They know it's there. An
interesting
postscript
is
that the
au
thors of this article recently learned
that Lowe and
Bell
are
pseudonyms
.
Robert Lowe is actually Robert Carlin,
who is now deceased. David Bell is ac
tually Dale Titler,
who
has extensive
produced a movie about him,
Too
Hot
To
Handle starring Clark Gable.
In 1969 a plaque was dedicated
at
Sea Island, Georgia,
and
placed adja
cent
to
the
beach
from which
Redfern took off
in
August 1927.
Gertrude
Redfern was
present and
participated in the dedication . A
Stinson Detroiter SM-2 flew over
head during
the ceremony.
In 1982 a plaque was dedicated at
Dreher
High School
in Columbia
stating that Redfern established
the
first commercial airfield
at
that loca
tion
and was lost attempting the
flight
to
Brazil.
Chapter 90S of the Experimental
Aircraft Association
at
St. Simons,
Georgia, was named for Redfern when
it
was
formed in 1988. The
service
provided to fliers stopping at the club's
airfield while on their way to the EM's
annual Sun 'n Fun Fly-In in Florida is
provided in Redfern's memory.
The South Carolina Educational Tele-
vision Corporation, commonly known
as
SCETV produced a video about him
in 1988 which has been shown yearly
during the month of August.
Russell Maxey, who
attended
high
school
with
Paul Redfern and con
sidered him a
personal
friend ,
authored
a book entitled
Airports
of
Columbia in
1988 that he dedicated
to Paul Redfern,
and
several pages
and
many
pictures are
devoted
to
the Redfern story.
On
August 24, 2002, a plaque will
be
dedicated at
Owens
Airfield
in
Columbia stating
that Paul R. Red
fern was the first aviator
to
solo the
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John Nill,rR,(alls
• •
•
Aviation in the 192 s
JOHN M.
MILLER
I
may be hard
to
believe but there was a time, less
than
a lifetime ago, when there were no
U.S.
flying
regulations (or even drivers' licenses in New
York .
Connecticut had some very restrictive aviation reg
ulations beginning in 1911,
but they
are mostly gone
now except for destructive taxes, of course.
When
I started flying
in
late 1923, at 18,
one
of my
great attractions
to
flying was
the
absolute freedom in
the
air. There were
no
aviation regulations
at
all.
We
were
free
as the birds.
Up
there aloft one was completely
alone-liberated. Without
radio
there
was
no
way
to
communicate for help, so it was imperative to be self-re
liant, or to
learn
how to
be. Flying
United States were Rand McNally state maps that showed
railroads (no roads), towns, and terrain such
as
mountains,
rivers and lakes. Those
that
were sold for aviation were
printed with red isogonal magnetiC lines, known airfields
(not airports in those days , and known elevations of
peaks
and various areas. I still have a mint condition Rand
Mc
Nally
Directory o Air Fields and amp Grounds
vintage
1923, which does
not
list a single airfield with a paved
runway in the United States. There were none. Brakeless,
tailskid-type airplanes and paved runways were
not
at all
compatible. The first paved runway I ever
saw
or landed
on was in 1929 at Miami, built
by
Pan American
Airways
for Fokker 3-Engine airplanes, which
was
the great adventure of the time.
had tail wheels. It is now MIA-Miami
The airplanes
were
almost all International. The first airplanes with
p
th,r,
aloft
WW I surplus types, mostly
the
Cur
nose wheels were the old Curtiss Pre
tissJN-4 or the StandardJ-1 biplanes
WW I pusher
biplanes.
Those nose
on,
w s
with
two
open cockpits.
They had
wheels were fixed,
not
steerable, and
no electrical systems, no radios, no
had a brake shoe
that
bore down on
lights,
no
flaps,
no
airspeed indica the tire, which was out in front of the
ompl,t.ly
alon.-
tors,
no
interphones,
no
engine
pilot, who was
out
in front of every
starters,
no
heaters,
no
navigation
thing
else,
in the cold wind.
lib,rat,d.
ystems,
no
fog-flying instruments,
About 1932 Waco provided a new
and no
wheel brakes, only a tail-
skid. The shock absorbers were simple rubber bungee
cords
that
produced great bounces if the landings
were
not
good
3-point.
The
altimeter had
a
single
hand, which made a partial circle
to
15 ,000 feet or so,
an altitude entirely unattainable by these
airplanes.
We would set them
to
ground level. Flying was practi
cally a continuous emergency!
There were
not
even carburetor heaters, so dead-en
gine landings were routine when the carburetor iced and
caste ring nose wheel on the Model N
cabin biplane, but pilots were very suspicious of it.
I t
was ahead of its time. The tailwheel
and
taildragger air
planes were directionally
unstable on the
ground, so
they
often
ground
looped, which means
to
reverse di
rection very violently and destructively. The early
tail dragger airplane's only braking was provided by
the
friction of
the
tailskid
on the
sod.
On
a paved surface
runway
there
was practically
no effective braking.
Without
brakes,
the
most effective directional control
http:///reader/full/ompl,t.lyhttp:///reader/full/ompl,t.ly
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large steerable nosewheel airplanes.
My fondest
memories
are of flying those old bi
planes
in the days before regulations .
There
was
complete freedom of the
air
and we all took advantage
of it. One sport that I enjoyed the most
on
a fine sum
mer day was to fly up
into
the scattered, fluffy clouds
and play around in them. It was both fun and valuable
practice. Instrument flying first started in 1926 by
Howard Stark and was barely beginning to be practiced
after the Lindbergh flight in 1927. By the time I was
flying for a living in 1928, it was very rare for any air
plane to be flown
on
instruments,
and
then
only by
the air mail pilots who had learned from Howard.
So
the clouds were sterile of airplanes.
In a Jenny devoid of instruments, I could fly through
the
clouds without losing control. But if the time re
quired to get out the other side was too long, I would get
into the classic spiral dive and plunge out of the bottom
in a turn opposite to what I had sensed, just
as
Howard
had described in his 1926 pamphlet. It was exhilarating
flight check for an ATP I was limited to
th
e turn and
bank indicator. (Eastern
Air
Lines old test.)
In the early 1920s, it was seriously proposed to have
the
army
regulate all
fl
ying. The flying
communit
y,
such as t
then
existed, squashed
that
idea,
and
so a
long period without regulations continued until
th
e
Air Commerce Act of 1926 went into effect in 1927.
Then licensing and flying regulations started coming
into
effect;
they
became
mandatory
in 1928. Barn
storming became difficult under the new regulations,
so it soon ended. .
The period from 1919 to 1929 was the barnstorming
era, flown mostly with
WW
I surplus aircraft, but with
some new production aircraft from 1926 to 1930. The
surplus aircraft were open biplanes, mostly 2-seat train
ers,
unfit
for
cross-country
passenger carrying in
commercial operations due to
their short
range, low
speed, low load capacity, and low safety record. Also the
war surplus or pre-war designed surplus engines did not
have a long life or the best reliability.
fun to plunge into the clouds, dive
through the
cloud valleys
and
canyons, circle the white peaks and
castles, and spin
down
through a
cloud to break out of the bottom. The
Jenny was perfectly docile in a spin
and would spin as
long
as I could
count, recovering
in
one turn. It was
fun to loop up
into the
bottom of a
cloud and come out of it on the back
side of the loop.
All such flying was valuable prac
tice in maneuvering, which became
instinctive. Later in the early military
fighter biplanes, I would practice in
verted
maneuvers
and
even flying
through clouds inverted, using a tum
indicator. Being up
there
was like
bouncing around on a big soft mat
If
you
wond.r.d
why th.
old tim.
pilots
oft.n
wort
thos. whit.
scarv.s,
it originat.d to wip.
th.
oil from
th.ir
fac.s and
goggl.s.
Flying during that period was lim
ited mainly to flight instruction, sport
flying, local passenger hopping, and
itinerant barnstorming. The latter was
my forte and very successful with a new
production, excellent airplane designed
specifically for barnstorming, the New
Standard
D-25
.
t
was
a 5-place open
bi
plane with the latest engine, the Wright
J-5 of
225
hp (the same type as used by
Lindbergh on his famous trans-Atlantic
flight, which of course temporarily
stimulated barnstorming).
The year 1927
was
the busiest barn
storming period. That was also the
most
lucrative year for
the
famous
Gates Flying Circus. But at the end of
the
season the new regulations and
inspection system grounded all of
tress. When pulling out of a dive with one of those faster
fighters, the wingtips made vortex trails of visible vapor.
their war surplus planes and put the Gates Circus out of
business. They had carried at least a quarter of a million
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Jul 2002
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they were used in
the
newly designed biplanes of various
makes, such
as
the Waco Swallow Eaglerock, American Ea
gle, Travel Air 2000,
and
others. Walter Beech and Lloyd
Stearman were associated in
the
production of
the
Travel
Air
2000. The 8-cylinder, 90-hp, water-cooled
V-8
OX-5 en
gines
had
exposed valve rocker arms
that
were
not
even
covered by cowling. They were lubricated between flights
by means of an ordinary squirt type oilcan.
You
had to stick
its spout into the little oil holes in each of the rocker arms
and
give it a
shot of
oil. Thus, a lot of surplus oil would
blow back into the faces of the pilot and passengers in
the
open cockpits.
f you
wondered why
the
old time pilots often
wore
those white scarves, it originated to wipe the oil from their
faces and goggles. The original OX-5 90-hp engines had a
single magneto but the later ones, the OXX-6 rated at 110
hp
,
had
dual magnetos. There were fewer of those.
When
the single magneto failed (and it often happened) there was
a dead engine landing to be made in a hurry, either a rather
happy
occurrence or a disaster. Beginning in about 1926,
some new engine designs, including
the
Warner
and
Kin
ner, began to appear mounted on the nose of those biplanes
and later
on the cabin types.
The era of open-cockpit biplanes powered by the 90-hp
OX-5
engines engendered a new air show sport,
the
popu
lar
OX-5
races. The engines had to be unmodified, and the
I
don
't
know,
Howard. Maybe
if we'd used Poly-Fiber we'd
only
change allowed in the airplane itself was a cover for
the
front cockpit to reduce drag
and
removal of
the
front
windshield. The pilots would fly
the
races with a light load
of fuel
and no
passenger. I even saw some take
the
front
seat cushions out
to
reduce weight However, I know that
when
the airplanes were flown
at high
speed, the wings
were at a very low angle of attack, thereby flying at low
LID
ratio with high drag. I won a
few
of those races by secretly
loading heavy sandbags in
the
covered front cockpit of a
Travel
Air
2000
and
flight testing to get
the
right load for
maximum speed. The wings
then
flew at higher
LI
angle
of attack
and the
fuselage was pOinted better
into the
air
stream. t would take longer
to
take off, but I would later
gain on my competition and win. I was challenged as hav
ing souped-up the engine, but the losers never did find out
about
the
heavy sandbags. They didn t know mu
ch
about
aerodynamics, if anything. I could have used a passenger
for weight, but the cockpit would be
open
and create un
wanted drag. I had a snap-on cover for the cockpit.
As
I remember,
the
first production cabin airplane was
the
Stinson cabin biplane with
the
early Wright J-4 radial
engine of 200 hp. t was of typical welded steel tube fuse
lage and wood wing construction
and
fabric covered. One
of those was used by Howard Stark to fly
the
mail,
and
in
which he
developed
the method of
using
the turn and
bank indicator to recover from
the
often fatal spiral dives
and to safely fly in fog. Fairchild produced a very successful
cabin
monoplane
with a radial engine and Robertson Air
craft, in St. Louis, put a 3-place cabin monoplane on the
market, the Robin, with an
OX
-5 engine. The company and
its design were later acquired by Curtiss-Wright,
and
they
installed a 165
hp
Wright radial engine in
the
Robin. That
was
the
plane used by "Wrong Way" Corrigan for his re
markable flight to Ireland. They were some of the first
U.S
.
cabin airplanes built in any quantity.
Lockheed developed
their outstanding
all-wood Vega
and the Orion, which
were
used
for record
round
the
world and trans-Atlantic flights, the latter by Lindbergh, for
many long distance exploration flights. Bellanca built a fine
cabin airplane that was flown nonstop
to
Germany by
Clarence Chamberlain,
and
Clyde Pangborn flew
one in
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15/36
have done some flying for a
local aircraft broker in the
past.
Then
one
day
several
years ago, I got a call asking
me to come over and teach
KEN MORRIS
myself how to fly this Spartan so I
could demonstrate it for prospective
buyers. I was so excited
that
I
didn't
want to wait
for the
telephone
checkout" from the owner.
The telephone
arguably the coolest airplane ever built.
Any uncertainty was immediately
relieved
once airborne.
It
flew as
good as it looked I'd like to say it re
quired massive
male strength and
skill to
handle,
but except for the
ground visibility being poor (there
is
Lorraine
and
Ken Morris Spartan Executive owners from
Poplar Grove Illinois.
checkout con-
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Here s a shot you don t
see
very often; the landing gear is in transit as Ken cruises
in
the art deco flying sculpture.
but I have
another
Spartan for you
to pick up in Texas/' said the broker.
"No kidding," I said. The owner
had decided it
was
more
than
he
needed
to
deal
with,
and I was
to
bring
it
up
here
where the broker
could clean it
up
and sell it. t
needed it...bad. It was Father's Day
weekend 2000,
and
I thought
my
dad
might
enjoy
an
adventure. So
we
met in Dallas
and
flew to Amar
illo via Southwest Airlines.
When
we
got
there, four
hours
late because
of
thunderstorms in
Dallas, it was ready
to
go. Fuel, oil,
and about 65 pounds of radios that
were
so
old they couldn't spell VOR.
was new, and
it
had less than 100
hours
on
it since a major overhaul.
Unfortunately, that was in 1980.
Armed
with
a
handheld
VHF
transceiver and a portable GPS, Dad
and
I blasted off chasing daylight.
Other than the mouse
nests
and
spent
sunflower
seeds flying into
my face, the takeoff was unevent
ful.
Climbing
on top of the haze,
wearing Texas clothing (cutoffs and
a T-shirt), I
immediately became
aware of the standard lapse rate, es-
pecially since
the
large 4-inch main
air
vent
between
the
rudder pedals
had no shut-off. This great ventila
tion
system
was
soon
augmented
been
oil
on the right
side
of the
windshield,
but
for some unex
plained reason it
seemed
to start
flowing with great enthusiasm. Even
though
a little oil looks worse
than
it really
is,
we figured we'd rather be
safe than sorry. (Now we think
of
this.) When a big hole over Newton,
Kansas,
opened
up, we thought we
should investigate and warm up.
Slight left crosswind, wing down,
left
main,
right
main,
left aileron,
more, more, tail down, full aileron,
just a little
right
brake, where the
hell
is it? Grab. Left brake. Grab.
Tailwheel shimmy. Grab, shimmy,
grab, shimmy, grab. Stop. That was
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17/36
(/)
z
g
a:
it
z
8
After restoration, the panel's
new
equipment blends
neatly
with the beautifully exe
cuted interior done by Lorraine, who has a particular affinity for aircraft upholstery.
There
it
sat,
the
stepchild it was, proud
as ever. Not a drop
of
oil
on
the ramp!
(That
scared me.) After fuel
ing
(it liked gas),
we
were
off.
I t
was a
per-
fect
morning to fly,
not
a
ripple en route. In
spite of all its quirks, we
realized it flew remark-
In Amarillo, Texas, Gene Morris cleans
the wind-
ably straight.
shield of the Spartan before he and son
Ken
ferry I
figured
I
might
as
the airplane to northern Illinois .
were suspect.
Not to
mention that
I
didn't
even know if
it
had
any
in
terior lighting!
Whoever ends up with this was
really going to have their hands full.
"What a piece of . ."
The
next
leg was less everything.
Less long, less
high,
less cold, less
mouse
stuff, less oil. Dusk and as
phalt met in Centerville, Iowa. Less
well
go to
my
house
first and park
it
in the
yard for a
"photo
op. "
After all,
there's
no way
Lorraine, my
wife
and
fellow airline pilot, would even
consider such a monster. Especially
with
the work necessary, and her
beloved Bonanza would have
to
go.
Oh
well, I'd
get
a
picture anyway
.
Shimmy, grab, shimmy, grab,
shimmy, grab, stop. "What a piece
of..."
one
hand on
the
yoke, one hand on
the
radio .. .oops,
out
of hands. Radio
in the lap. I could still hear.
"Cleared
to
land, Runway 25."
"Roger (whoever he is)."
Left
main,
right main,
STAY
OFF THE DARN BRAKES,
keep
the
tail up,
aileron, that
's it, hold
the
tail
up
.
"Spartan 836, say parking."
Hold it up,
no
brakes, just hold it.
"Spartan 836, Rockford."
Hold
i t
up, more aileron.
"Spartan 836, how do you read?"
Slowly fly
the
tail down, that's it.
"Spartan 836, Rockford."
Shimmy,
grab, shimmy, grab,
grab, "Darn," stop.
"Spartan
836, Rockford, say
parking."
Luckily, the radio had fallen out
of reach during
the landing,
and I
was able
to
calm down before I spoke
to the
tower.
In spite of it all, I knew Dad and I
had a
good time.
I
hoped whoever
bought it would give it a good home.
It
deserved
the
best
because
it
was
way
ahead
of its
time and
a real
treasure.
Maybe I could take Lorraine for a
ride someday. I hoped she wouldn 't
fall for this
thing.
t would be too
much work, too
much money,
too
much time, just... too
much. I t did
look good in
the
yard,
though
.
Close to
a dream is
better than
never having dreamed ... Be happy
with
what
you
have ... The grass is
always
greener. .. (Who comes up
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Jul 2002
18/36
She
Said
By LORRAINE
MORRIS
n
June
2000,
my
friend, Janet,
and
1
participated
in
the
Air
Race Classic, an all women's
cross-country air race.
We
were
having
a blast, zooming across the
country, when a local aircraft broker
asked my husband, Ken, to bring a
Spartan Executive from Texas
to
Illi
nois for the broker to sell. Ken took
his dad with him, and they went on
their own adventure.
[ should
have
known something
was going to hap
pen, because
when the two
of them
get together, look out Looking back,
1
believe they were
conspiring
against me.
We
kept in
touch
with cellphones
and traded
stories of our adventures
each evening.
Ken was always refer
ring
to this Spartan
in such
glowing
terms as, "What a piece of..." Well,
that is just Ken's way of saying
the
air
plane was going to need some work.
1 was
thinking
that 1 was happy
that
he got to
fly
a Spartan again.
He
was
hired by the broker to demon
strate
another
Executive
the
previous
year,
but
it sold so fast
he didn't
get
to
fly
it much. He has always drooled
over Executives, so it was great
that
he could
fly another
one. When the
race was finished, Ken
and janet's
husband,
Scott,
flew
out
to Massa
chusetts in
our
(read my) Bonanza
to
pick us up.
The whole
way
home, Ken kept
dropping hints
about the
Spartan.
o
g
t
z
o
0
to Rockford to "see" the airplane. He
was right; it needed a lot of work. But
he was also right in
that
it was all stuff
we
could
do
(I thought).
The
next
thing
1 knew, he had pulled it out. He
said I
could
see it better in the
sun
light.
(Yeah )
"Hey," he said,
"want
to
go
for
a
ride in it?"
(He
was really
working
it )
So
we piled in
and
away
we went. "Boy,
Lorraine,
you look
great in the airplane." Did I
mention
he is a
major schmoozer
when he
wants something?
While
we
were out flying, he
landed at our
house.
(We live on
Poplar Grove airpor t in
northern
Illi
nois.) "Let's
put
it in
the
hangar,"
he
said,
"just to
see if it will fit."
Good
grief So,
we put it
in
the hangar,
and
yes, it fit. Right
about now,
I
could
see
that he
was
hooked.
Bad.
He
said
we could do
our own little
pre-buy while
we
had
it
in
the
hangar,
out of
the sun. So, we took
off
panels ,
went through the
logs,
and
realized that
we
were
going to
have
a
lot
of work ahead of us if we
were crazy enough to
buy
it. The air
Ken, on the
other
hand, has always
wanted a big
round
engine for his
very own. I could see his eyes light
up
when
he
looked
at the
Spartan. Sev
eral times his lower lip stuck
out
(kind
of like a pout)
when
he said, "Please?
Can
we
get it?"
So
we
had
"the
talk." I
was a little concerned that
the
Spartan
would
not
get
used
as
much
as our
Bonanza, and
that
our ability to just
get in
and
go would be drastically
re-
duced. I was also giving up
my
baby,
the
plane I
had
spent months looking
for, and
that
was going to be
tough.
Ken assured me that I would get
checked out completely in the Spar
tan, and
that
I would be able to get in
and
go whenever I
wanted,
just like
with
the
Bonanza.
He also kept say
ing, "Besides,
you
will look soooooo
coooool
in it "
(That's
right,
he
ap
pealed
to my
vanity.)
So, we bought it.
We
sold my Bo-
nanza.
We sold my Cessna
150
taildragger. We sold just about every
thing
to get a
dumb
airplane. How
much sense
does that make? You
should
have seen the big smile
on
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Jul 2002
19/36
NEW LINDBERGH EXHIBITION
Missouri
Historical
Society s
expanded exhibition
showcases the life and legend
of
Charles A. Lindbergh
harles
A.
Lindbergh's
time
in
St. Louis,
Missouri, might have
been
brief,
but
his
impact
on
the
city's
fame
and
aeronauti
cal
glory
has
been
unparalleled.
The
Spirit
o
St. Louis
gave
the
city
the
type
of positive
name recognition that would make
any public relations staff giddy with
the results.
Seventy-five years after
the
flight
took place, the man
who put
it all
together
is
still
the
subject of books,
articles , and intense
scrutiny.
Charles
A.
Lindbergh's life was a fas
cinating and sometimes wearisome
journey,
as
he fought to keep his pri
vate
life
out
of
the headlines
yet
recognized that the fame he ab
horred could also be used to further
the causes for which he felt a pas
sion. In the early days after his solo
flight across the Atlantic, furthering
the
cause of
aviation
was his main
goal, but by the end of his life, fight
ing
for
environmental
causes
became a true passion.
Since 1962, the Missouri Histori-
H.G.
FRAUTSCHY
cal Society has owned a sister ship to
the
Spirit
o st
Louis This ship
was
formerly owned by Tallmantz Avia
tion and
was
one
of
the
airplanes
used during the filming of
the
1957
movie The Spirit o
St.
Louis starring
Jimmy
Stewart.
The airplane
was
originally a Ryan B-1, SIN 153, but
Tallmantz modified it
to
serve as
one
of
the
movie airplanes. I t was
later purchased by
the
Friends of the
Missouri Historical Society
and
pre
sented to the society in 1963.
Displayed
at
the world's fair in
New York in 1965,
the
replica was
flown over the city of St. Louis in
1967. Placed on display in 1975
in
the
terminal at Lambert Interna
tional
airport,
it was removed in
1998
and
restored
by
Langa Air
in
East Alton, Illinois,
with
support
from
the
Society,
Save-A-Connie
Inc., and Trans World Airlines.
The newly expanded Missouri
History Museum
now
has space to
accommodate
the
airplane,
so
it
now hangs in the atrium of the So
ciety's Emerson Center.
Shortly
after
his epic flight,
Charles
Lindbergh
lent the society
the constantly growing collection
of
trophies, medals,
and
gifts show
ered
upon him
as he
and
his flight
were
celebrated
around
the
world.
Later, Lindbergh and his
bride,
Anne, donated the collection, by
then
numbering almost
15,000
items. For many years,
the
bulk
of
the
collection was not available for
public viewing, but with the com
pletion of
the new Emerson
Center,
there
is
now
expanded
space for exhibits.
We visited the new building and
were intrigued by
the
variety of arti
facts
on
exhibit. From "Lindbergh's
Trunk" (which, by the way,
is
not
actually
located
within the
main
Lindbergh exhibit but retains its
place in
the
permanent
exhibit
"Seeking St. Louis," located
on the
second
floor of
the Emerson Cen
t e r be sure
to
see it, too )
to
a
sealskin kayak
presented
to
the
Lindberghs
on
their
trek
through
the frozen north, the artifacts are
spellbinding.
While
it's
certainly
best seen
in
person, here are a few photographic
highlights
of
the exhibition:
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Jul 2002
20/36
After a short exhibit of artifacts and photographs of Lind
bergh s
childhood
and
the beginning of
his
aviation
career, visitors to the exhibition come to this case where
the set
of
flying togs worn
by
Lindbergh on his trans-At
lantic flight are hanging.
In
the background is a cutaway
section
of
the cockpit
of
the
Spirit of
St.
Louis
complete
with a simulated instrument panel and the rubber life raft
lying
on
the stringers aft
of
Lindbergh's wicker seat. Stu
dents and staff
from Parks College
of
St. Louis University
built the cockpit section.
Thousands
of
objects and commemorative gifts were
created and given to Lindbergh. A sampling
of
the jewel
encrusted models, engraved plates, and medals struck
just
for the occasion are on display. (Below) Some gifts
have an interesting history, such as the pair
of
German
silver terrestrial and celestial globes, circa
1700,
which
were
sent
to Lindbergh
by
William Randolph Hearst.
Hearst tried to
persuade Lindbergh
to
star
in a movie
with Hearst s mistress, Marion Davies. Lindbergh tact
fully refused, and
in
passing conversation he mentioned
how impressed he was with the two globes pictured. The
next day, the globes were sent to Lindbergh. While he
ap-
preciated
the gesture,
Lindbergh
didn t
take the
bait,
and
the globes
be
came part of the Missouri
Historical Society's nearly
15,000-object Lindbergh
collection.
The
other
objects in
the photo are a gold jewel
box presented to him by
the city
of
St. Louis and a
silver and rhinestone
model
of
the Spirit made
by
Agnini Singer, Jewel
ers, of Chicago.
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Jul 2002
21/36
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Jul 2002
22/36
The
magnificent globe of the Earth was a wedding present
presented
to
Charles and
Anne
Lindbergh by B. Franklin
Ma-
honey, owner of
Ryan
Airlines when i t built the
Spirit
o st
Louis
In
the background are a series of display cases with
artifacts
given
to
Lindbergh during his national tour during
the late summer and early fall of 1927.
v ~
-
;
~
Aspects of Lindbergh's later life are also detailed in the
exhibition including
the
controversy surrounding Lind-
bergh
for
his
isolationist
views prior to
World War I
I
Arti facts from his America First movement and phono-
graph recordings of his speeches are on display.
Hanging in the
atrium
of
the Mac-
De
r
mott
Grand Hall
of
the new Emerson
Center at the ex-
panded Missouri
Historical Society is
this replica
of
the
Spirit
of St.
Louis
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Jul 2002
23/36
P SS IT TO
BUCK
BY E.E.
"BUCK" HILBERT,
EAA 21
VAA 5
P O
Box
424,
UNION,
IL
60180
The National
Museum
of
Naval viation
THIS YE R
DOROTHY
A DI DROVE
TO
Sun
n Fun . It
gave
us a chance to visit our
in-laws and outlaws and every wind
sock along the way. We took 10 days
just driving a circuitous route.
One of the greatest attractions we
revisited was the National Museum of
Naval Aviation at Pensacola, Florida.
For those of you who have not been
there
for
several years, and for those
who have yet
to
see
the place, I could
n t
recommend a more pleasant and
enlightening visit.
The improvements since our last
visit back in 1986 are next to unbe
lievabl
e.
The displays,
the
pristine
restored aircraft, and artifacts from
Period artifacts can do a lot to enhance the
presentation
of
an
aircraft
on
display. This
WWI era
poster
is displayed along with a
Curt iss IN-4, covered and painted on one
side so the public can see the wooden
structure beneath.
World
War
I through the present may
not be of interest to all of our mem
bership,
but
this
is
one of the finest
museums I've visited in years. Really,
there
is
something for everyone. Our
EAA AirVenture Museum is the best of
the best, of course, and the Museum
of Flight at Seattle's Boeing Field might
be a close second, but this one
is Navy,
Marine,
and
Coast
Guard, and
in
cludes some of the airplanes I
was so
much in love with when I was a young
boy, some I saw in World War II and
Korea,
and, of course, the latest
in
jets
as
well
as
some real oddballs no one
has ever seen.
I was so impressed that after about 20
minutes of
ogling
I
had to
present
myself
to Capt.
Bob
Rasmussen.
He
heads up
this wonderful facility, and he really
is
something
else.
An accomplished sculp
tor, painter, and administrator, you'll
find his work all through the museum.
who had volunteered many years
be
fore to help restore a gondola from
one of the blimps. He stayed on and
is
now a senior member of the restora
tion staff. We had a delightful "inside"
tour
and an even
better tour
of the
outside displays.
There were
so
many airplanes I'
ve
known and loved, most dating from
my first desires to
fly.
I can't begin to
describe all of them. There were Navy,
Marine, and Coast Guard airplanes of
every type and size . Take a look at the
pictures, and put this
one on
your
Places to
See
list.
Over to you,
The NC-4, the first
to cross the
Atlantic
in
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Jul 2002
24/36
FLY-IN CALENDAR
The following list
ofcoming
events is
fur
nished to our readers as a matter of
information only and does not constitute ap
proval, sponsorship, involvement,
control
or
direction
of
any event fly-in, seminars, fly
market,
etc.) listed. Please
send
the
informa
tion to EAA, Att: Vintage
Airplane,
P.O. Box
3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Informa
tion
should be received four months prior to
the event date.
JULY 20-21-Dayton,
OH-1st Eastern
Region Nat'l Aviation Heritage
Invitational cOinciding with 2002
Dayton
Air
Show. Co-sponsored by
Rolls-Royce North America, NASM,
Nat
'l Aviation Hall of Fame and Reno
Air
Racing Assn. No more
than
50 air
craft are selected for each Invitational.
Applications are
due by
June 15. For
details
on
eligibility and judging crite
ria, entry application, etc. contact
Ann
, 703-621-2839
JULY 21-Burlington, WI-10th Annual
Group
Ercoupe Flight Into AirVenture.
Wheels up at noon . Everyone welcome
to join. Info: 715-842-7814
JULY 24-0shkosh, WI-VAA Picnic at
AirVenture. Nature
Center
Pavilion,
6
8 p.m., Tram at VAA Red Barn begin
ning at 5 p.m. Type Clubs may reserve
tables. Info: Theresa 920-426-6110 or
JULY
26-0shkosh, WI-Moth Club
Dinner at EAA AirVenture 2002. At the
JULY
20-Cooperstown, NY- K23) Old
Pioneer Inn, Oshkosh, bar opens at
Airplane Fly-In & Breakfast Sponsored
6:30 p.m., Dinner at 7:30 p.m.
by EAA
Ch
. 1070. 7:30am- Noon, rain Directions distributed during Friday
or shine. Adults 4.00, Child ren under
morning s Moth Forum. RSVP to Steve
12 3.50. Pilots of 1962 or older air
Betzler at [email protected] or fax:
craft eat
free!
Info: 607-547-2526
262-538-0715
JULY
20-Alamosa CO-San Luis
AUGUST 4-Qlleen
City,
MO-15th
Valley Regional Airport Air
Show and
Annual Watermelon Fly-In. Applegate
Fly-In. Features classic warbirds
Airport. Info: 660-766-2644
(WWII), acrobatic exhibitions, cur
AUGUST 9-11-Alliance, OH-Ohio
rent
military aircraft,
experimental
Aeronca Aviators Fly-In and Breakfast.
aircraft, and homebuilts.
Pancake
Alliance-Barber Airport (201) . Info: 216
Breakfast. Event free
to
public.
Info
:
932-3475 or bwmatz
@y
ahoo.com or
719-852-9860.
www.oaafly-in.com
EAA Celebrates
a
Century of
Powered
Flight
with
the most
exciting
and most
loved
aircraft designs of the century!
Q: Looking for a fun way to support
EM programs, plan your
month
and enjoy some
EAA FLY-IN
SCHEDULE
2002
NORl IWEST
EM
RY IN
www.nweaa.org
July
1() 14, Arlington,
WA
EM
AlRVENTURE
0SII 0SIf
www.airventure .
org
July 23-29,
Oshkosh,
WI
EM GOUlEN
WEST
REGIONAl RY IN
www·gwfly-in.org
September 6-8,
Yuba
County
Airport
(MRV)
fAA
M11 .EAS1EJIN
RY IN
419447-1773 (telefax)
September 6-8,
Marion,
OH
VIRGINIA S lIIE fAA RY
IN
www.vaeaa.org
September 7-8, Dinwiddie
County
Airport
EM EAST COAST
RY IN
www.
eastcoastflyin.org
September 13·15,
Toughkenamon, PA
EM
sot/I1IWBT
R£GIONAI.
RY IN
www.swrfl·com
September 27·28, Abilene, TX
fAA
SOUIIIEAST R£GIOIW..
RY IN
www.ser{i.org
October 4·6, Evergreen, L
COPPEIISTA1E
fAA
RY IN
www.copperstate .org
October
1() 13,
Phoenix,
AZ
TYPE CLUB DINNERS AT A1RVENlURE
2002
Wednesd
ay
July
24 2002
Vintage Aircraft Association, Nature
Center
Pavilion,
6:00
pm,
Cost
$8.
Tickets should
be
purchased
thedayspriortodinnerat VAA
Headquarters/Red Barn. Trams from the
Red
BarntoNatureCenterbeginat
5:00
pm.
Th u
rsday
Jul
y 25 2002
Ercoupe OwnersClub, Hilton Garden Inn (north
side
of
Wittman Reid), 6 pm social hour, 7
pm roastturkey
or
potroastdinner. 20/per
son before 7/18. Reservations to J.M.
Abrahams,
4214 Aeur Dr., Suite 11, Des
Moines, IA
50321.
After
7/18, 25/person.
Seaplane Pilots Association corn
roast,
885
Ripple
Ave.,
4:3().8 pm. Noparkingavailable.
Buy
tickets
at SPAdisplaybooth.
Friday. July
26 2002
Bellanc&Champion,HiltonGardenInn,
6:30
pm.
A
private
room has been reserved. A Guest
of
Honor
willbe
announced
soon.Ticketsare
$25
each
and
early
purchase is highly
rec
ommended
.
Reservations at szegor@bellan
ca-championclub.com
or
518-731-6800
Eastern Cessna
190/195
Association,
Rn
'n
Feather,
Winneconne,
WI,
6
pm.
Reservations 44().777-4025. Limit 40
peo
ple. Cost is $25. Someone will
be at the
table in
theType
ClubTentWed.-Fri.,
1-2
pm
takingcareoflast
minutechanges
and
tofill
cancellations. If
you
can
provide
a
ride
to
Winneconne, please
stopby
the
t
ent
and
let
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:///reader/full/www.oaafly-in.comhttp:///reader/full/www.nweaa.orghttp:///reader/full/www.airventure.orghttp:///reader/full/www.airventure.orghttp:///reader/full/www.airventure.orghttp:///reader/full/www%E7%A7%B7fly-in.orghttp:///reader/full/www.vaeaa.orghttp:///reader/full/www.eastcoastflyin.orghttp:///reader/full/www.eastcoastflyin.orghttp:///reader/full/www.eastcoastflyin.orghttp://www.xn--swrflm-mg0p/http:///reader/full/www.ser%7Bi.orghttp:///reader/full/www.copperstate.orghttp:///reader/full/www.copperstate.orghttp:///reader/full/www.copperstate.orghttp:///reader/full/www.copperstate.orghttp:///reader/full/www.copperstate.orghttp:///reader/full/ca-championclub.commailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:///reader/full/www.oaafly-in.comhttp:///reader/full/www.nweaa.orghttp:///reader/full/www.airventure.orghttp:///reader/full/www%E7%A7%B7fly-in.orghttp:///reader/full/www.vaeaa.orghttp:///reader/full/www.eastcoastflyin.orghttp://www.xn--swrflm-mg0p/http:///reader/full/www.ser%7Bi.orghttp:///reader/full/www.copperstate.orghttp:///reader/full/ca-championclub.com
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Jul 2002
25/36
UGUST100Tou
ghkenamon,
PA-EAA
Ch.
240,
28th Annual Fly-In/Drive-
In
Pancake
Breakfast.
8:00 a.m.
New
Garden Airport (N57) .
Young
Eagles '
Rally. Admission free. Info: 215-761-3191
UGUST
Aubum,
IN-Hoosier
Warbird Fly-In/Orive-In
and
Airplane
Auction. Oekalb County Airport.
Pancake/Sausage Breakfast. Info: 574
457-5924 or [email protected]
UGUST
17-Cooperstown, NY- K23)
Old Airplane Fly-In Breakfast
Sponsored by
EAA
Ch. 1070. 7:30
a.m.-Noon, rain or shine. Adults $4.00,
Children under 12 $3.50. Pilots of
1962 or older aircraft eat
free
Info:
607-547-2526
UGUST
17-Sp
earfish
SD-EAA
Ch
.
806 19th Annual Fly-In, Black Hills
Airport/Clyde Ice Field. Unicorn
122.80. Aircraft judging displays .
Camping under the wing for early
birds who fly in
on
Friday. Sat.
Breakfast served by Civil
Air
Patrol.
FAA
seminar.
SO
Aviation Hall of
Fame Induction Ceremonies 7:30
pm
Sat. Info: 605-642-0277 or
c21golay@mato .
com
UGUST
IS-Brookfield,
WI-VAA
Ch .
11 18th Annual Vintage Aircraft
Display and
Ice
Cream Social. Capitol
Airport. Noon-5 p.m. Includes Midwest
Antique Airplane Club
's monthly fly
in. Control-line radio controlled
models on display. Info: 262-781-8132
or 414-962-2428
UGUST
23-25-Mattoon
, IL-6th
Annual MTO Luscombe Fly-In.
Luscombe judging awards, forums
banquet. $50 cash to Luscombe
that
flies farthest to attend. Info: 217
234-8720, [email protected] or
217
253-3934
UGUST 23-25-Sussex,
NJ
Sussex
Airshow. Top performers.
All
types of
aircraft
on
display. Info 973-875-7337
or
www.sussexairportinc.com
UGUST 24-Janesville-Beloit WI-EAA
Ch. 60 Fly-In
Pig
Roast. Beloit Airport
(44C).
11
a.m.-2 p.m. Info: 608-365
1925 or
members. tripod.
com
UGUST
24-Cr
ested Butte,
CO Ch.
881
CB
Falcons Fly-In. Mountain flying
seminars,
FAA
Wings program, Young
Eagles flights. Crested Butte Avion
Airport
(3V6)
(OC02),
Elev.
8980 ft.
MSL.
Info: 800-663-5374 or
SEPTEMBER
7-Cadillac,
MI
-
EAA
Ch .
678 Fly-In/Orive-In Breakfast. Wexford
County Airport. 7:30-11 a.m. Info:
231-779-8113
SEPTEMBER S Mt.
Morris
,
IL-Ogle
County Pilots Assn. EAA Ch . 682
Fly-In Breakfast at Ogle
County
Airport
(C5S)(Barnette Field). 7-12 noon. Info:
815-732-7268.
SEPTEMBER
12-1S-R
eno , NV 4th
Annual Western Region Invitational.
Co-sponsored by Rolls-Royce North
America,
NASM,
Nat'l Aviation Hall of
Fame
and
Reno
Air
Racing Assn. No
more
than
50 aircraft are selected for
each Invitational. For details
on
eligi
bility
and
judging criteria, entry appli
cation, etc. contact Ann, 703-621-2839
SEPTEMBER B lS Watertown, W I-
2002 Midwest Stinson Reunion.
(RYV).
Info: 630-904-6964
SEPTEMBER 14-Holl
ywood, MD-EAA
Ch . 478 Fly-In, Open House, Young
Eagles
Rally, and
Pancake Breakfast.
Captain Walter Francis Duke Regional
Airport (2W6). Info: 301-866-9502
SEPTEMBER 14-Palmyra
WI- 88C) Fly
In Lunch,
noon-2
p.m . Info
:
630-904-6964
SEPTEMBER
14-Andover
,
NJ
Andover-Aeroflex Airport (12N).
EAA
Vintage
Chapter
7 annual Old
Fashioned Fly-In. 10
AM-4 PM
, (rain
date Sunday, Sept. 15). Antique, clas
sic and
contemporary
aircraft. Food,
prizes, Pilots' Choice and People's
Choice Awards. Everyone is welcome
so fly-in, drive-in or walk-in for a fun
day. Info:www.vintage-aircraft-7.org or
Bill
Moore, popmoore@webtv, 908
236-6619 or Lou Okrent,
LOAF
973-548-3067
SEPTEMBER 4 Andover NJ-VAA
Ch .
7 Annual Old-Fashioned Fly-In at
Andover-Aeroflex Airport (12N). 10
am-4 pm. Hosting a full range of
antique, classic,
and
contemporary air
craft. Food, prizes, Pilots' Choice
Peoples' Choice Awards. Fly-in, drive
in, or walk-in for a fun day. (Rain date
Sunday, 9/15.) Info: 908-236-6619.
SEPTEMBER 14-1S-R
ock Falls
IL -
North
Central
EAA
Old Fashioned
Fly-In
at
the Whiteside
County
Airport (SQI
).
Best
Country
Pancake
Breakfast 9/15. Forums, workshops,
fly-market, camping, air rally, awards,
food exhibitors. Info: 6