vintage airplane - apr 2012

8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Apr 2012

1/44


2/44

Remember, We’re Better Together!

www.auaonline.com

Aviation insurance with the EAA Vintage Program offers:

Lower premiums with payment options Additional coverages Flexibility on the use of your aircraft Experienced agentsOn-line quote request available AUA is licensed in all states

The best is affordable. Give AUA a call – it’s FREE!

Fly with the pros… fly with AUA Inc.

800-727-3823

AUA is Vintage Aircraft Association approved. To become a member of VAA call 800-843-3612

Our L-4 was based in the US During WWII from 1943 to 1945. We bought

it early this year and have enjoyed every minute of it. The stearman was built

in 1942 during WWII and we have owned it since 1975.

Owning and operating antique aircraft has been a part of our family for 3

generations going back to 1963 when my father Tom bought a Piper Tri-

pacer. Our family has owned aircraft ever since. Our aviation roots run

deep in this family, and that is why we choose AUA as our agency. They

have a long distinguished record of service with the types of aircraft we

operate, and understand our problems and concerns.

— Mark Henley

The Henley’s Mark,Tanner, and Johnathan

■ Mark is an ATP and has beena pilot since 1976

■ Tanner is a student pilot whoflies every chance she gets

■ Jonathan is 18 and has beena private pilot for one year

a n s A U !


3/44

2 Straight and Level Inspection time by Geoff Robison

3 News

5 21,000-514-2,625 Volunteers make EAA AirVenture fun by Steve Krog

6 VAA Board Appoints New Advisors

8 C3B Stearman Yet another Ron Alexander project by Budd Davisson

14 On Flying an Icon by Rich Davidson

15 The Triple Tree Aerodrome Fly -in Featuring phenomenal “fun, fellowship and hospitality” by Sparky Barnes Sargent

21 Light Plane Heritage Lessons from the Hawker Cygnet by Bob Whittier

29 The Vintage Mechanic Splicing a wood wing spar by Robert G. Lock

34 The Vintage Instructor Aborted takeoffs by Steve Krog, CFI

36 Mystery Plane by H.G. Frautschy

38 Classifieds

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 1

A I R P L A N E A P R I LC O N T E N T S

S T A F FEAA Publisher Rod HightowerDirector of EAA Publications J. Mac McClellanExecutive Director/Editor H.G. FrautschyBusiness Manager Kathleen WitmanSenior Art Director Olivia P. Trabbold

Advertising:Manager/Domestic, Sue AndersonTel: 920-426-6127 Fax: 920-426-4828

Partner Relationship Manager, Heidi HammTel: 920-426-6565 Email: [email protected]

Independent Business Relationship Representative, Larry PhillipTel: 920-410-2916 Email: [email protected]

Business Relations and Classified Advertising Coordinator, Trevor JanzTel: 920-426-6809 Email: [email protected]

C O V E R S

Vol. 40, No. 4 2012

FRONT COVER: One of the most r ecognizable logos fr om the Golden Age of aviation is the

Western Air Express ar twork as featur ed on the side of Ron Alexander’s Stear man C3B.

Read more about the r estoration of this big biplane in Budd Davisson’s ar ticle star ting on

page 8. EAA photo by Chris Miller , Stear man C3B being fl own by Rich Davidson.

BACK COVER: From the EAA ar chives comes this illustration ar twork from the Cur tiss Aer o-

plane and Motor Company of Hammondspor t, New York. The color ful illustration depicting a

Curtiss Jenny in a countr y setting is par t of an br ochure about the company and its air craft.

8

For missing or replacement magazines, or

any other membership-related questions, please call

EAA Member Services at 800- JOIN-EAA (564-6322).

15


4/44

As I write this on the 14 of

March, the temperature

here in northeast Indiana

reached 86 degrees. Oh,

how I have longed for the days

ahead that are certain to provide us

with soft warm breezes through theopen hangar door, along with re-

duced gas and electric bills that go

along with that March fantasy. Like

many of you in the northern half

of the United States, we have actu-

ally experienced a very mild win-

ter here in northeast Indiana, but

we are really looking forward to the

springtime, and some premium fly-

ing time. I will be all set to go once

I get the C-170 annualed and a BFR

entry in the logbook.With spring’s arrival it’s critically

important to again remind every-

one to perform an extensive pre-

flight inspection of your aircraft

prior to that first breakfast run. If

you’re like me, your aircraft will

lay idle in the hangar for months

throughout the winter, and it is

clearly susceptible to those fuzzy

little four-legged visitors nesting in

the most remote areas of your air-

frame. Taildraggers are particularlyvulnerable to these little critters,

so you have to get in there and do

a thorough inspection including

the tail cone, the wings, under the

floorboards, and behind the panel.

Pull the inspection plates and use a

mirror and flashlight to get a good

look all around. If you see an un-

usual stain on your headliner that

you can’t account for, you better

look into it! These critters can leave

behind very caustic materials that

over time will cause serious corro-

sion issues on your airframe. Even

if you have never seen any mice in

your hangar, it is always a very good

idea to set traps to keep their pop-

ulation to a minimum. Rock that

wing and sump a little more fuel

than normal to make certain you

have no contaminants in your fuel

system. Be sure to pop open the en-

gine baffles and check for nesting

materials. I could go on and on, but

you get the idea here. Be thorough

in your inspection prior to that first

flight, and don’t get in a hurry. It is

a real disconcerting feeling when

one of these critters tries to run up

your pant leg on your initial takeoff

run. Trust me, I know the feeling!The Monocoupe restoration con-

tinues with recent focus on strip-

ping and refinishing the numerous

metal parts and pieces that have to

be reinstalled on the airframe. We

are on track to having the 32-foot

one-piece wing reinstalled on the

airframe in mid-April during the

first spring work party in Oshkosh.

The ominous concept of user fees

continues to haunt certain operations

within the GA community. Even if

it doesn’t directly affect our personal

operations, we certainly don’t want

that camel to get his nose under the

tent flap! A $100 per flight user fee for

turbine-powered aircraft operating in

controlled airspace. Really?

We actually fought the good fightand were able to yet again get user

fees removed from the heavily nego-

tiated FAA funding bill that finally

emerged from the House and Sen-

ate and, after passage, was sent to

the executive branch for the presi-

dent’s signature. Now, where is the

sensibility in signing the reauthori-

zation bill and then submitting the

fiscal 2013 budget calling for this

new type of GA user fee, with the

supposed intent of reducing the def-icit? Thank goodness we continue

to witness a continuously growing

level of bipartisan opposition to any

user fees by the Congressional GA

Caucus (now 195 members strong).

Because of their efforts I am pretty

confident now that any attempts at

creating any new user fees on the

GA community will very likely fail.

If you were one those who chose to

speak out to your representatives

in the U.S. Congress on the issue ofuser fees, I thank you for your ef-

forts, but let’s all continue to fight

this good worthwhile fight. Please

consider engaging your congressio-

nal representatives on this pesky

initiative, and solicit their support

of no new user fees.

Just a reminder to all of our val-

ued Vintage volunteers that our

first spring work party is scheduled

for April 13, 14, and 15. Come join

2 APRIL 2012

continued on page 38

Geoff Robison

president, VAA

STRAIGHT & LEVEL

Inspection time

It is a r eal

disconcer ting feeling

when one of these

critters tries to r un up

your pant leg on your

initial takeof f run.


5/44

VAA NEWS

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3

AD Mandates Aeronca (Rogers) Sedan Wing Inspection

The FAA recently issued Airwor-thiness Directive AD 2012-04-10 re-

quiring owners of the Aeronca 15AC

Sedan to have initial inspections of

the exposed trailing edges on both

the upper and lower main spar cap

angles on both wings. The inspec-

tions are looking for signs of cracks,

intergranular exfoliation, and cor-

rosion. While a wing failure has not

occurred in any of the approximately

255 Sedans on the FAA registration

rolls, corrosion in the structure ofa few Sedans was discovered and

prompted the FAA to issue the AD.

The first inspection must be ac-

complished within 25 hours time-in-

service (TIS) after April 17, 2012 (the

effective date of the AD), or within

the next six months after that date.

If the wing has been repaired within

the past 10 years, different inspec-

tion intervals come into effect.

If significant corrosion is found,

the wing must be repaired by re-placement of the spar cap angles,

and no splicing of those compo-

nents is allowed.

If the initial inspection does not

reveal cracks, intergranular exfolia-

tion, and corrosion, a more in-depth

inspection must be accomplished

within 12 months after April 17,

2012. The installation of inspection

panels and associated doubler plates

is needed to accomplish a visual in-

spection of the entire length of thespar. The inspection and installa-

tion of the panels and plates must

be done in accordance with Burl’s

Aircraft LLC Mandatory Service Bul-

letin No. 15AC06-08-10, dated June

8, 2010; Burl’s Aircraft LLC Manda-

tory Service Bulletin No. 15AC06-08-

10, Amendment A, dated June 23,

2010; or Burl’s Aircraft LLC Manda-

tory Service Bulletin No. 15AC06-

08-10, Amendment B, dated June

23, 2010, Rev. Original, September

15, 2011; and FAA Advisory Circular

(AC) 43.13 - 1B, Change 1, Chapter

6. (The aircraft is known to the FAAas the Burl A. Rogers 15AC Sedan,

since Burl’s Aircraft is the owner of

the type certificate previously held

by William Brad Mitchell, who had

acquired the TC from Aeronca, the

original manufacturer.)

You’ll note the identification

number of the three versions of the

Burl’s bulletin is the same; only the

revision letter changes. Rogers ad-

vised us that the inspection method

is identical in all three of the refer-ences. Some changes to inspection

intervals and additional language re-

quired by the FAA were added in sub-

sequent revisions. Service Bulletin

No. 15AC06-08-10, Amendment B,

dated September 15, 2011, is posted

on the company’s website at www.

burlac.com/Helps_and_Hints.html.

Frankly, it would have been simpler

to understand if only one reference

to the inspection service bulletin

were listed in the AD.After each of the inspections, it

is recommended that the spar be

treated with a corrosion-inhibit-

ing compound.

In the event the spar cap angles

must be replaced, the FAA estimated

that each wing could cost $8,000 to

repair, if the work were hired out to

a shop that charged $85 per hour for

the estimated 80 man-hours needed

to accomplish the job.

While we were under the im-pression that comments and pro-

cedures for an alternate method of

compliance (AMOC) were submit-

ted to the docket during the pub-

lic comment period, the FAA stated

that when it issued the AD a written,

detailed procedure had not been

submitted. The agency further men-

tioned it would consider an AMOC.

We understand that an inspection

procedure has been created using a

borescope to thoroughly inspect the

DiMatteo Named EAA Vice President of AirVentureFeatures and Attractions

Decorated U.S. naval aviator Jim Di-Matteo has joined EAA as vice pr esident,

AirVenture features and attractions. Di-

Matteo will be r esponsible for develop-

ing and coordinating the programs for

the annual EAA AirV enture Oshkosh fl y-

in, “The W orld’s Greatest Aviation Cel-

ebration.” DiMatteo led the successful

Centennial of Naval A viation Foundation

programs nationwide last year . He previ-

ously (2006-2010) ser ved as inter na-

tional race director for the Red Bull Air

Race World Series.During his 20-plus Navy car eer, Di-

Matteo flew more than 5,000 hours in

five different fighter aircraft, including

72 combat missions in suppor t of Op-

eration Deser t Storm. He also ser ved as

commanding officer for TOPGUN Adver-

sar y Squadrons in Florida and Nevada

(VFC-111 and VFC-13), wher e his squad-

rons earned the unprecedented “Triple

Crown of Naval A viation”—top honors

for operations, safety , and maintenance.

Following that achievement, DiMatteowas promoted to a position r eporting

directly to the commander of Naval Air

Forces, overseeing all TOPGUN Adver-

sary Programs.

“Jim DiMatteo is an excellent addition

to the EAA staf f,” said Rod Hightower ,

EAA president/CEO. “His backgr ound,

exper tise, and leadership will enable us

to make EAA AirV enture—alr eady ‘The

World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration’—

even better.”


6/44

4 APRIL 2012

wing, but without the installation of

a large number of inspection holes.

We would also expect that some

may wish to submit an AMOC for

the installation of inspection panels

and doublers of their own design. In

most cases, Sedan owners will have

to repeat the inspection on an an-

nual basis after the initial in-depthinspection is accomplished. You can

download the AD from the FAA’s

website at http://rgl.faa.gov .

Beechcraft PilotProficiency Program

The American Bonanza Society

has rolled out a new online version

of its highly regarded Bonanza Pi-

lot Proficiency Program (BPPP). The

new plan allows pilots to complete

online a 13-module course contain-ing all of the material covered in the

normal BPPP course seminars. After

pilots complete the online course

they can schedule up to four hours

of flight review and instruction with

an approved BPPP CFI who is most

conveniently located to the airplane

owner. Cost of the course and flight

instruction is $495, and you must be

an ABS member.

Steve Wittman’s J-1 Standard Photo

On the back cover of the Febr uary issue of Vintage Airplane , we ran a wonder ful

black and white photo of Steve Wittman with his Standar d J-1. We do need to clarify

one point, and we can elaborate fur ther on the photo, thanks to the gener osity of a

few of our r eaders.

First, the “ANDERSON GARAGE, HAMIL TON, WIS” adver tised on the side of the

fuselage of the J-1 is not near LaCr osse, but is actually right near Steve’s home town

of Byron, Wisconsin. That Hamilton has never been incorporated, and does not ap-

pear on the state map, but it is indeed a little bur g just west of Highway 41, along

Highway 175. Our thanks to Rollie Olm (who is still fl ying a ’41 Cub), Nels Anderson,

and Carol Dodge for fi lling us in on the cor rect location for the Anderson Garage.

An early type of aerial adver tising was shown on the sides of the fuselage of

Steve Wittman’s Standar d J-1. The Anderson Garage of Hamilton, Wisconsin, wasa part of the small town until it r ecently closed. Typical of small businesses of the

1920s, the garage also had a side business selling Atwater Kent radios. The build-

ing still exists, along the west side of highway 175, just nor th of the entrance to the

west side of the Michels Materials Hamilton quar ry. The location is just a few miles

north of Steve Wittman’s home town of Byr on.

In addition, we also lear ned, with near cer tainty, the identity of the other fellow in

the photo; it’s Per ry Anderson, Steve’s par tner in the airplane (and later , his brother-

in-law). Jim Stanton, of Lake Havasu City , Arizona, reminded us of the chapter in The

Golden Age of Air Racing, written by Dr. Aaron King, in which Dr. King also points out

that the Standar d was Steve’s mount for his fi rst air race, which took place in Mil-

waukee, Wisconsin, in 1926. He took second place.

From the Comfort of Someone Else’s HomeIf camping at EAA AirV enture Oshkosh just isn’t your

thing and other lodging is booked, or if you’d just rather

have a home away fr om home for your Oshkosh experi-

ence, a private r ental is the per fect option. Thousands

of people who come to AirV enture rent space in private

homes for their stay .

Along with hotel and dor mitory listings, www.VisitOshkosh.

com includes hundr eds of private r entals. Both entir e resi-

dences and individual rooms are available. Some r entals of fer

a full bed and br eakfast experience, and some even pr ovide

transpor tation to AirV enture.

Jack Morrissey, EAA 282894, r ented a bedroom for Air-

Venture 2011. The homeowner , Mark Cook, had been r ent-

ing his home for 25 years. One of his r egular renters, a

couple from Texas, has stayed with him for 20 years. “Mark

is at his local baker y by 6 a.m. to make sur e his doughnuts

and rolls ar e fresh and right out of the oven,” Jack said.

“Over the years I have hear d many tales fr om various

attendees regarding what a great family they ar e staying

with, and how gr eat the meals ar e,” Jack said. “One I r e-member is a family who r ents out rooms, and the father

is a retired airline captain and insists on feeding his r ent-

ers breakfast in his full airline unifor m.”

For private rentals, www.VisitOshkosh.com allows us-

ers to sear ch by number of rooms and for specifi c ameni-

ties, including Internet access, car r ental by homeowner,

and pet-friendly homes. The website pr ovides contact in-

formation for each listing, and some include photos and

even videos.

If you’re looking for somewher e to stay for EAA AirV en-

ture Oshkosh, a private r ental may be the per fect fi t.

J E A N E T T

E M E R T E N

H

G

F R A U T S C H Y


7/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5

What are these numbers and whatdo they represent? No, these numbers

are not this week’s winning Powerball

numbers, nor are they the current na-

tional debt figures! They may mean

nothing to you presented in this con-

text. But they do represent a great

deal of dedication, toil, and sweat put

forth by very devoted Vintage volun-

teers during EAA AirVenture ’11.

Each year, several weeks before the

opening day of AirVenture, dedicated

folks from all over the country beginto arrive, offering their sweat equity

to make the fly-in a success, at least

in the Vintage Aircraft Association

(VAA) area. They come from all walks

of life: business owners, doctors,

teachers, architects, salespeople, car-

penters, plumbers, electricians, and

many other professions too numer-

ous to list. In some cases, entire fami-

lies volunteer. All have one purpose

in mind: Do whatever necessary to

make the Vintage area presentable,safe, inviting, and fun for all fly-in

attendees, especially VAA members.Each year more than 500 VAA

members step forward offering their

talents, whatever they may be, mak-

ing the weeklong event a memorable

experience for all. In 2011, 514 mem-

bers accumulated a total of 21,000

volunteer hours. That calculates out

to be the equivalent of 2,625 eight-

hour days, or an accumulated 7.2

years of volunteer time.

These volunteers can be foundthroughout all VAA areas on the

EAA grounds from parking air-

planes, to popping popcorn in

Vintage headquarters, to serv-

ing breakfast in the Tall Pines

Café; some give hand-propping

instructions, while others host

the Vintage in Review area,

and still more volunteer their

time as representatives of type

clubs. It seems there’s practi-

cally no end to what thesemen and women seem to be

able to accomplish. It takes

a lot of people doing a lot of

things to keep thousands of

people satisfied while attend-

ing this annual event.Although the number

grows each year, the vast majority

of VAA volunteers are repeaters.

Once they offer their time, meet,

and work with other volunteers,

friendships are established. Fami-lies become acquainted and these

friendships become lifelong.

Each year it’s like a family reunion

except, unlike most family gather-

ings, everyone gets along. All have

one purpose: Do whatever it takes

to make attending EAA AirVenture a

fun, memorable experience for all.

Next year, why not give a few

hours or one day of your time and

volunteer? It could prove to be an ex-

perience of a lifetime.

21,000–514–2,625Volunteers make EAA AirVenture fun

BY STEVE KROG

PHOTOS COURTESY STEVE MOYER


8/44

6 APRIL 2012

Joe NorrisOshkosh, Wisconsin

Joe grew up

on a cranberry

farm in cen-

tral Wisconsin.

Several neigh-

bors had lightaircraft, and

some had air-

strips on their

property, so it

was always easy to be around air-

planes and airplane people. A close

friend of the family was the ag pi-

lot Jim Miles (EAA 158), who intro-

duced Joe to EAA by taking him to

Oshkosh for the EAA convention

in 1970, where they camped under

the wing of Jim’s Piper PA-12 Su-per Cruiser. Joe joined EAA in 1976

and became a lifetime member in

2002. Joe is also a lifetime member

of VAA (VAA 5982).

Joe earned his private pilot cer-

tificate in 1978, and bought his first

airplane in 1979—a 1955 Piper Tri-

Pacer. He flew it for about a year

and then converted it to the PA-

20 Pacer (tailwheel) configuration.

During this time Joe helped form

EAA Chapter 706 in Wisconsin

Rapids, Wisconsin. Over time Joe

has earned commercial pilot and

flight instructor certificates with

airplane and helicopter ratings, as

well an A&P certificate with IA. Joe

also acted as a DAR for experimen-

tal aircraft for a number of years.

Joe has been actively involvedwith EAA, serving as a techni-

cal counselor and flight advisor,

and has been an officer in two

EAA chapters. Joe has volunteered

at the EAA convention for many

years and was one of the five origi-

nal members of the EAA Homebuilt

Aircraft Council.

In October of 2001 Joe was hired

as a senior aviation specialist in

EAA’s aviation services department,

a job previously held by longtimeEAA employee Norm Petersen. In

2008 EAA created the position of

homebuilders community man-

ager, and Joe was selected to fill

that role. In 2011 Joe decided to get

out from behind the desk and back

behind the stick, so he left EAA and

has been working as a flight in-

structor at Cub Air Flight in Hart-

ford, Wisconsin. Joe has served as

the lead presenter for a series of

vintage airplane maintenance sem-

inars that take place in the Vintage

Hangar during EAA AirVenture.

Joe currently owns and main-

tains three vintage aircraft—a

Cessna 180, a Piper Super Cub, and

a Waco UPF-7. He has previously

owned a Piper J-5A Cub Cruiser and

another Super Cub. Joe built andflew a Sonerai II homebuilt and also

owned a homebuilt Pitts S-1C.

Tim PoppLawton, Michigan

Tim Popp

joined EAA in

1988 and i s

now a lifetime

member. He

began taki ng

flying lessonsand attended

his first EAAconvention

that same year and has attended ev-

ery convention since. Tim earned

his private pilot certificate in 1989

and later added a tailwheel endorse-

ment and an instrument rating. He

joined VAA in 1994, about the same

time he began volunteering with the

VAA Contemporary Aircraft Judges.

He currently serves as the vice chair-

VAA Board

Appoints New Advisors

More than 30 years ago, the Vintage Aircraft

Association (back then it was known as the

Antique/Classic Division) board of direc-

tors began a program that would have long-

lasting benefits for the division and its membership.

They created a management environment that fosters

a better understanding of a potential board member’s

capabilities and interests. The new program, dubbed

the “Antique/Classic advisor,” gave men and women

who were interested in serving on the board the op-

portunity to learn more about themselves and thedivision, while giving the board the opportunity to

evaluate a potential board member over a period of

months or years. Many folks who have served the

division as advisors have gone on to serve as direc-

tors, and our most recent presidents, Butch Joyce and

Geoff Robison, both started their volunteer leadership

careers as advisors.

During the fall board meeting, three new advisors

were appointed to serve the VAA board in that capac-

ity. They are Joe Norris, Tim Popp, and Ron Alexan-

der. In June of each year, as we present the slate for

the board of directors’ election, we publish a short bi-

ography and photo. So you can come to know theseindividuals better, here are the biographies of our

three newest advisors.

TM


9/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7

man of the group. He owns a 1958

Cessna 172, which he purchased in

1994 and has slowly restored over

the years. He is currently building a

Van’s Aircraft RV-7. He is an active

member and past president of EAA

Chapter 221 in Kalamazoo, Mich-

igan. He is an active Young Eagles

program participant, having flownmore than 500 Young Eagles over the

years. He earned his bachelor’s and

master’s degrees from the University

of Michigan and is an environment,

health and safety manager for a ma-

jor pharmaceutical company. He has

been happily married for more than

25 years to his wife, Liz, who also ac-

tively volunteers with the VAA.

Ron Alexander

Griffin, Georgia Ron Alexan-der learned to

fly at age 16 in

his hometown

of Blooming-

ton, Indiana.

He went into

t h e U n i t e d

States Air Force

in 1964, com-

pleting pilot training in 1965. He

served a total of five years in theAir Force including a combat tour

in Vietnam. After military service,

he was hired by Delta Air Lines.

After starting his career in 1969,

he retired as a captain in 2002 af-

ter 33 years of ser vice. Ron has

been involved with antique air-

planes since 1975 when he first

began restoring a P T-17 Stea-

rman. In 1979 he founded Alex-

ander Aeroplane Company, which

was later sold to Aircraft Spruce.Ron also developed the SportAir

Workshops program that is cur-

rently being presented as the EAA

SportAir Workshops program. He

lives in Griffin, Georgia, where

he has several antique airplanes,

including a Stearman Model 6

and a Curtiss Jenny that is un-

der restoration. He is developing

an antique airplane museum that

replicates the original Atlanta,

Georgia, airport.


10/44

8 APRIL 2012

Yet another Ron Alexander project

BY BUDD DAVISSON

PHOTOS CHRIS MILLER

StearmanC3B


11/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9

Ro n A l e x a n d e rdoesn’t believe in

leaving a lot of

white space in life:

If there is spare

time available, put it to use. He

appears to be a man who looks

back at each day and says,

“Did I invest it wisely and get

something accomplished?”

He could easily be selected as

the poster boy for the “Get ’er

done” generation.

His C3B Stearman that was

on display at EAA AirVenture

(to longtime fly-in warriors:

read that as “Oshkosh”) 2011

was yet another immaculate

example of how he likes to seehis time and money invested:

Take a basic concept, in this

case, a really worn out air-

frame, and turn it into some-

thing that is beautiful yet

meant to be flown. In fact, the

airplane is representative of a

lot of the business and personal

philosophies that have always

guided Ron’s way of thinking.

For several decades Ron has

had a pretty high profile in

sport aviation. So high that

it’s easy for the casual observer

to pigeonhole him as “one of

the high rollers” and look no

deeper. He didn’t develop thatkind of profile by accident, and

if someone feels driven to pi-

geonhole him (which is hard

to do), it should be as “one of

aviation’s serious achievers and

entrepreneurs.” He plays hard

(which is most visible), but he

works even harder and has a

natural flair for entrepreneurial-

ism: He sees a need and builds a

business around it. A lot of busi-

nesses, actually (see the sidebar).And then there is the C3B

Stearman. When Ron and his

partners combined Stits/Poly-

Fiber, Randolph, and Ceco-

nite, they were incorporated

into the Poly-Fiber operation

on Flabob Airport in Riverside,

California. A part of that op-

erated as Flabob Restoration,

and that’s where he took the

bedraggled C3B Stearman that

followed him home one day.


12/44

10 APRIL 2012

The for ward cockpit has just enough instr umen-

tation to give a passenger/pilot enough infor ma-

tion to keep the Stear man pointed in the right

direction.

The aft pilot’s cockpit of the C3B.

The fuel tank for the C3B is in the center sec-

tion of the upper wing, so the fl oat-activated fuel

gauge is mounted on the bottom of the tank, so

the pilot can see it at a glance.

A brass venturi supplies vacuum to r un a pair of tur n & bank

indicators.

Well, not quite “W right.” In an ef fort to preser ve the look of

the Stear man, the Wright lettering is applied to the r ocker

boxes of the mor e-reasonable-to-maintain L ycoming R-680.


13/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 11

“There was no specific reason I

got the C3B. I just happened to

like the type, and the 1928 mod-

els are fairly rare. Plus the deal that

popped up made sense. A tornado

had dropped a hangar on my beauti-

ful PT-17, and his C3B was located

just a few miles away. The owner

of the C3B, a good friend, wanted

to restore the wrecked PT-17, so wetraded airplanes.

“This particular C3B had seen

some of life’s rougher roads and,

judging from some of the tubing

modifications in the front seat, may

have been a duster/sprayer at one

time. It was typical of a lot of the

big old biplanes that go through

a series of hard times, with each

owner making additional, and usu-

ally worse, modifications and Band-

Aid fixes. It was way past due for a

total rebuild.

“The original Wright J-5 had

been replaced with a Continental

220, and the front seat had been

raised 10 inches. Don’t ask why. We

don’t know. Plus it had 30 pounds

of lead in front: It had a very aft

CG. But, it was flying. Sorta! In fact,

I flew it that way for several years

before I couldn’t stand it anymoreand took it out to Flabob where I

turned Brian Newman, and his

helpers Hualdo and Nando Men-

doza, loose on it.

“All things considered,” he says,

“the wings weren’t too bad. We

didn’t have to do any major wood-

work, spars, etc., other than repair-

ing a bunch of ribs and replacing

the hardware and leading edges.

The fuselage was another story.

“About all we used from the fu-

selage was the tubing structure it-

self, and much of that had to be

replaced. The front tubing had

been cut and welded in a number

of places and had to be rearranged

to match factory drawings, a sure

sign that it had been a duster. And a

lot of it was corroded. That’s true of

all old airplanes, but dusters espe-

cially. The tail, being made of steel,was also badly corroded, so we did

a lot of cutting and welding.”

The landing gear not only wasn’t

original, but also was rusted be-

yond saving. They would have

been welding patches to patches, so

they opted to build an entirely new

one. The major struts and leg tub-

ing are all round but are faired ei-

ther with aluminum or balsa wood

glued to the back of the tube and

wrapped in two layers of fabric and

“. . . the lines visually flow from the spinner,

back up across the firewall to the fuselage.It’s very streamlined, in a clunky sort of way.”


14/44

dope. Just the way they would have

done it back in the day.

Ron says, “The sheet metal was

essentially worthless. Barely good

enough for patterns and not even

good patterns. Brian did all of that,

and he really had his work cut out

for him. While it looks simple, it’s

really not. Especially with all thebeading, curves, and access pan-

els. And it had to be right. There’s

something about the airplane that

draws your eyes to the engine and

everything around it, and if some-

thing isn’t right, it would really

stick out. The spinner was spun in

Chino, California, and even though

that big old engine is between the

spinner and the sheet metal, it’s as

though it isn’t there because the

lines visually flow from the spinnerback up across the firewall to the

fuselage. It’s very streamlined, in a

clunky sort of way.”

It’s not too surprising to find

that the covering and finish on the

airplane is Poly-Fiber all the way

through: Poly-Fiber fabric painted

with Poly-Tone and Aerothane (six

coats of it) on the metal. What is

surprising, however, is to find that

there are no decals or vinyl mark-

ings on the airplane. All of theWestern Air Express air mail mark-

ings are paint with the wonderful

Western Air logo hand painted by

Louie Check of Little Louie’s.

One aspect of Ron’s plans for the

airplane that probably has hard-core

antiquers grinding their teeth was

that he actually wanted to fly the

airplane as if it were a regular air-

plane. He didn’t want to constantly

worry about things breaking down.

Especially when he knew there wereacceptable ways to improve on some

of the systems. Ron is all for origi-

nality but not when it compromises

the reliability, safety, and maintain-

ability of the airplane. At the same

time, he didn’t want to deviate too

far from the antique mold, and that

began with the engine.

“The original Wright J-5 is a

unique-looking engine,” Ron says.

“Being nine cylinders rather than

seven, it just looks busier than later

seven-cylinder Wrights like the J-6,

especially with all those long push-

rod tubes. But, it’s a tough engine

to support these days, so we wanted

to go with something that had the

same look but was more modern

because we planned on flying the

airplane a lot. The 220 Continen-

tal just doesn’t look right, eventhough it is much newer and eas-

ier to maintain. The only engine

that looked right was the much

later 300-hp Lycoming R-680. But,

we couldn’t be seen flying around

with a Lycoming engine on a C3B

Stearman, so we decided to camou-

flage it: We hand lettered ‘Wright’

on the rocker arm covers. Most

folks have to look twice, or three

times, to see it’s not a Wright.

“The Lyc is also a little heavier andcombined with the 2D20 Ham-Stan-

dard prop helps the CG problem.”

The fuel system was also rebuilt

in the interest of reliability. Instead

of having to use a wobble pump to

get fuel from the 28-gallon fuselage

tank up into the 46-gallon center

section tank so it would gravity

feed, both tanks are now plumbed

to gravity feed.

Antiques like the C3B were de-

signed to work off grass fields, sowhen they are put on pavement,

their manners are sometimes some-

what less than hospitable, which is

greatly aggravated by the marginal

tail wheels and brakes of the day.

Brian and the Mendozas solved

that for Ron by changing out the

old cable-operated brakes for Red

Line disc brakes and putting a steer-

able PT-17 tail wheel out back. It is

a Stearman part, so that’s not really

too awful, is it?The finished airplane is a classic

piece of aviation art. And, as so of-

ten happens, someone wanted that

airplane so badly that he was able

to talk Ron out of it. Where some

aviators are busy building replica

aircraft, Ron Alexander is too busy

building his Atlanta airport replica,

Candler Field, to fly it as much as

he would like. So, the C3B has gone

to a new, highly appreciative home.

And we’re all jealous.

Ron Alexander: Aviation Entrepreneur Born in Bloomington, Indiana,

Ron says, “I’ve just always been an

aviation guy. No one in my family

had the bug, but somehow I caught

it and joined the CAP when I was

14. In fact, my first airplane ride was

in the back of a C-119 on a CAP trip.

“I started flying a Champ,” he re-

members, “when I was 16 and just

kept going. By the time I got into

Air Force ROTC in college, I alreadyhad my commercial ticket and CFI.

Then, in ’64 I went into the Air

Force and completed flight training

at Reese AFB.”

Ron flew C-130s for a few years

before finding himself in Vietnam

flying the de Havilland C-7 Cari-

bou. “We did a lot of mission sup-

port for the special ops guys, most

of which was pretty ‘interesting.’”

He doesn’t mention it, but he re-

ceived a Distinguished Flying Crossfor some of the flying, which attests

to the “interest” level attached to it.

“I came out of the Air Force and

went right to work for the airlines, re-

tiring 33 years later, in 2002. I started

out in DC-9s and ended up in 767s.”

Ron worked for the airlines, but

he flew for himself. Almost imme-

diately upon joining the airlines, he

started looking around for a vintage

or antique airplane. “I really wanted

a Stearman, and there were lots of

12 APRIL 2012

P H I L

H I G H


15/44VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

projects around, but at the time I

just couldn’t quite swing something

that big. So, I bought the next best

thing: a J-3 Cub. At the time it cost

$3,500. I was based at O’Hare and

kept it at Olson Field, west of there.

Four years later I was moved to At-

lanta, and the Cub came with me.

Unfortunately, it was tied down out-side, and a thunderstorm severely

injured it. It was resurrected and

continues to fly today.”

“The airplane that really got me

started on the business side of avi-

ation was a PT-17 Stearman proj-

ect I finally found. It was an uncut

duster from the Shreveport, Louisi-

ana, area, and I was determined to

finish it quickly. So, if I wasn’t in

an airliner cockpit, I was out in my

workshop. I averaged 12-14 hoursa day, every day that I wasn’t fly-

ing, on the project. I really loved

the work, and it was chosen as the

‘Best PT-17’ at Galesburg that year.

So, I felt good about that.”

A Stearman of any kind is a huge

project and entails every aspect of

building aircraft: wood, steel, fabric,

paint, aluminum. The airplane gave

Ron a crash course in aircraft build-

ing, from sourcing and ordering the

materials to developing the hands-on skills to put those materials to

work. In so doing, he clearly saw

what the amateur aviation crafts-

man was up against in every area.

“First, I was having trouble find-

ing supplies of all kinds, but espe-

cially covering materials. Although

there were sources out there, they

just weren’t convenient, and one

thing led to another and I wound up

buying a Stits distributorship. And,

since I was suddenly in the businessof selling aircraft-covering materi-

als—when I wasn’t flying for the air-

lines, that is—I found I was going to

need to both form a company and

come up with a catalog. The busi-

ness was Alexander Aeroplane Com-

pany, and we put the first catalog

together on my kitchen table.

“As we started marketing the

Stits products, I decided to expand

the product lines we were selling

and, amongst other things, became

a Randolph dope distributor. Then

it was other types of aircraft parts

and hardware. Before I knew it the

company had grown into a sizable

project of its own, and marketing

was central to it.

“In ’91 I thought it would be a

good marketing move to have a dis-

tinctive aircraft of our own to taketo fly-ins, so we bought a $50,000

DC-3 that was sitting at Tamiami,

Florida. We put about six months’

worth of elbow grease into it in-

cluding painting ‘Alexander Aero-

plane Co’ on the side and have

been using it to go to fly-ins since.”

Although Ron knew airplanes

really well, that original Stearman

reminded him of all the things he

didn’t know, and his entrepreneur-

ial mind reasoned that he wasn’t theonly airplane guy in that position.

“To me, it seemed as if there was

a real need for hands-on education

in aviation. When we got the Aero-

plane Company going, that be-

came even more obvious because I

had to run classes for my salespeo-

ple. Most of them had come to us

from outside of aviation, so we had

to train every one of them on how

to use the stuff they were selling. I

felt that they had to be more thanorder takers. For a company to be

successful in this field, they had to

be able to answer the tough ques-

tions. A good percentage of our

customers had never worked on an

airplane before and were naturally

looking to us for advice. So, as part

of building our customer service,

I had to formalize training for the

salespeople. From there it was a

simple and logical move to make

that same kind of training avail-able to our customers, and an en-

tirely new product line was born:

the SportAir Workshops.

“Since so many of the skills we

were teaching were very portable,

we began setting up traveling road-

shows, and that program took on

a life of its own and continued to

grow. Eventually, the EAA took over

the workshops, which I think was a

good move for all concerned. The

EAA’s charter is based on education,

and ours was selling aircraft prod-

ucts, so the SportAir Workshops

concept works better in an educa-

tional environment.”

Actually, staying up with all of

Ron’s various aviation bus iness

dealings can get a little daunting.

For instance, he sold Alexander

Aeroplane Company to Jim Irwin,owner of Aircraft Spruce, who re-

opened it as the eastern branch

of his own California-based com-

pany. Ron had also purchased Poly-

Fiber from Ray Stits and left it based

at Flabob Airport in So-Cal. He

merged Poly-Fiber with Ceconite

and bought Randolph Paint Co., a

leading manufacturer of dope and

aircraft finishes, and brought that

out to Flabob as well.

Are you losing track? This is un-derstandable. Us too.

Ron had always wanted his own

museum that would be a true flying

museum where every aspect of it not

only displayed aviation’s roots, but

also would put most of those aircraft

back in the air. He has sold out of all

of his various companies and now

concentrates on the Candler Field

Museum located in Williamson,

Georgia, just south of Atlanta.

The Candler Field Museum isnot exactly a museum. At least not

the way you think of museums. It

is to be an accurate re-creation of

the original Atlanta airport as it

existed in the 1920s when it was

still known as Candler Field. It

was named after Asa Candler, the

founder of Coca-Cola, who had

originally developed the land to be

a racetrack and sold it to Atlanta

to be its airport. Little by little Ron

is re-creating all of the buildingsthat were on the airport at the time

(the American Airlines hangar and

Barnstormer’s Grill are finished,

and others are under construction).

Some house museum airplanes and

cars, while others will have unique

uses including apartments for avia-

tion retirees. The replica of the art

deco Candler Field terminal will

house a hotel and banquet facility.

It can never be said that Ron Al-

exander doesn’t think big.


16/44

14 APRIL 2012

The very first C series Stearman

was delivered to its owner the samemonth Lindbergh flew the Atlantic

and the last Model T drove off the

line. One year later, construction

on the C3B, seen here, began.

If you want to know how the

Stearman may fly, study it with its

history in mind. As a biplane you

know it will have great lift. Mounted

with an improved and slightly larger

powerplant than original, you

would also expect it to perform to

or exceed the standards of its peers.Sitting tall on sturdy outrigger gear

and large diameter wheels with

high-pressure tires gives the aircraft

an impressive stance. Yet its pres-

ence is only a byproduct of engi-

neering. Designed to handily carry

weight, driven forward by large di-

ameter props, over wildly varying

landing surfaces, the gear accounted

for many design concerns of the

day. In terms of flying, though, you

should also see that P-factor and pre-cession, along with a high center of

gravity, are things to be considered

during takeoff and landing. The fact

it was originally constructed with

a tail skid offers you the final crit-

ical piece; the plane was designed

and built to be flown to and from a

three-point attitude. Honor the de-

sign and it will honor you.

Equipped with minimum instru-

mentation and nothing extra in

terms of flight controls, from the pi-lot’s seat this aircraft feels surpris-

ingly refined. Once comfortably

inside, the small cockpit opening

feels made to fit. This is partially

due to the rakish windscreen that

envelopes a large part of it. Inside,

though, the cockpit feels huge. Be-

low the panel, mounted well for-

ward, rudder pedals hang just in

front of a seemingly identical set

of pedals that come up out of the

floor that are actually the brakes.

These pedals are the most com-

monly asked about item in the cock-

pit, but they are surprisingly easy to

use, which is odd for aircraft of the

period. In the middle, a tall control

stick implies that leverage is critical

to the movement of the control sur-

faces. As for fuel, the selector offers

the options of off, main, and fuse to

control a supply of 72 gallons of gas.

Finally, left of the pilot’s seat, withthe control lever sticking forward, is

the stabilizer trim control that was

obviously sourced from or inspired

by Farmall, Oliver, or John Deere.

Taxiing the C3B requires the

same S-turn method used for most

vintage aircraft. Safely taxiing the

C3B requires it be exaggerated.

Despite having enough visibility

for takeoff and landing, the for-

ward view, compromised by the

small cockpit opening, is restrictedenough to require extra attention.

Takeoffs in the “B” are fun and

easy. Push the throttle forward and

hold the stick neutral. Thanks to

the steerable tail wheel and outrig-

ger gear, little effort is required to

keep her straight. Yet, even if she

wanted to wander, your ground-

speed increases, the controls come

alive, and she lifts off so quickly

there is little time for you to screw

it up. Once in the air keep pull-ing back until your airspeed is sta-

bilized at 55-60 mph and you are

on your way to vintage nirvana. A

look at your wingtips excites you.

In the B a 30-degree deck angle and

a 1,000-plus foot per minute climb

is not uncommon. Not every old

bird climbs like this, and still the

Stearman has more surprises.

Level flight is something the

C3B seems to have been made for.

Although some owners of other

C3s report just the opposite, Serial

number 241 is a dream traveler. Asif on a mission to go somewhere,

straight and level is how she wants

to fly. But that can also be an issue

for prospective owners. The plane’s

controls are a mix of effective rud-

der and elevator with ailerons that

seem at times to not exist. There-

fore, if you dream of your own C3B

for short pleasure flights, it is not

the plane for you. The meandering

path of a local flier would quickly

exhaust anyone flying this machine.On the other hand, if you dream of

filling the tanks and taking off for a

weekend destination, and for some

reason you think it should be done

in a vintage aircraft at 100 mph, you

could not find a better machine.

Landing the C3B is an exercise in

vintage flying that starts a mere few

hundred feet laterally from the end

of the runway. Pulling the power

to idle, the remainder of the ap-

proach involves lowering the noseto maintain 70 mph and starting a

turn. Done correctly, you will roll

wings level roughly 200 feet from

the runway with an option to slip

off the remaining altitude. Touch-

down happens in a three-point at-

titude with a speed south of 45,

and the rollout, like the takeoff, is

almost too short for you to screw

it up. There’s only one catch: the

Stearman airfoil. Flare 3 mph fast

and you’ll float 1,000 feet; do it 3mph slow and you will touch down

with the grace of a rock.

It’s a terrific airplane, and I’m

privileged that Ron allowed me to

be his pilot at AirVenture 2011 be-

cause I truly love the B.

Rich Da vi ds on and Gin ger, hi s

aviator wife, are the proprietors of

Lee Bottom Flying Field in southern

Indiana, hard on the nor th bank of

the Ohio River. Visit their website at

www.LeeBottom.com .

On Flying anIcon BY RICH DAVIDSON

C H R I S M I L L E R


17/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

Flanked by lakes, trees, and

pastoral fields in a scenic

area near Greenville, South

Carolina, Triple Tree Aero-

drome seems like something out of

a dream. Its expansive, emerald-

velvet runway stretches nearly to

the horizon from pattern altitude,

and it’s rather awe-inspiring to be-

hold, especially during Triple Tree’s

annual fly-in, when hundreds of

airplanes migrate to the field in

well-orchestrated arrivals.

The pilots of those planes have

the uncommonly delightful op-

portunity to touch down and roll

out on a 7,000- by 400-foot grass

airfield, and they are heartily wel-

The Triple TreeAerodrome Fly-in

Featuring phenomenal “fun, fellowship and hospitality”

BY SPARKY BARNES SARGENT

DON LOVINGOOD


18/44

16 APRIL 2012

comed to enjoy the

best amenities a fly-in has to offer.

The Triple Tree Fly-in is quickly

becoming popular in the mid-southeast region, as evidenced by

the 450 aircraft that flew in last

year. Aviation-minded people are

encouraged to attend and camp

on-site in the virtually manicured

camping areas.

Triple Tree has had flying ma-

chines ranging from powered

parachutes and gliders to a Corsair

and DC-3, including a wide variety

of classic, vintage, and experimen-

tal airplanes, fly in to the field. A

volunteer group of profes-

sional air traffic control-

lers give traffic advisories

from their lofty perch in

Triple Tree’s refurbished

World War II-vintage

control tower ( which

was previously the active

tower at Donaldson Air-base in Greenville).

Lou Furlong of Geor-

gia has attended sev-

eral hundred fly-ins

throughout the past

50 years, and while

he’s enjoyed all of them,

Triple Tree immediately

became his favorite when he at-

tended its fifth annual fly-in in

September 2011. “The arrival pro-

cedures are well-thought-out andsafe. Definitely first class! Once on

the ground, I was impressed by the

orderly flow of traffic, thanks to

the many trained volunteers,” Fur-

long explains, adding with a smile,

“there is shaded camping, and hot

showers and hot food available for

breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They

even have a ‘cook your own’ steak

night, and a centrally located pa-

vilion has flat-screen HDTV for

the weekend football games! I was

most impressed with the positive

attitude of the many volunteers.

They went out of their way to en-

sure we were having a good time.

Once I met Triple Tree Aerodrome

owners Pat and Mary Lou Hartness,

and event organizer Pat Derrick, I

understood where all the enthusi-

asm comes from. They aren’t happyuntil you are happy!”

Genesis of Triple TreeThe Hartnesses first bought the

nearly 405 acres of neglected farm

property in 1997, and commenced

a tremendous amount of clearing,

moving earth, and grooming—with

a vision of creating a site for people

to enjoy aviation. All told, it took

them nine years to get the runway

to 7,000- by 400-feet wide and us-able before they would invite the

public to a fly-in. Pat Hartness says:

“When we bought the land, we

wanted to create as fun a place to

come fly as humanly possible, with

the lakes and the hiking trails and

the things that we claim makes

Triple Tree a different kind of fly-

in.” He adds, “In the interim, while

we were working on the land, we

established probably the largest

radio-control event on earth—we

Myriad airplanes on the fl ightline, and a tether ed hot air balloon in the backgr ound.

Pa t and Mar y Lou Har tne

s s.

MARTIN BETTS

L O U

F U R L O N G


19/44

bring 6,000 to 8,000 people in to

Triple Tree each year to participate

in our large-scale, radio-control

event, which is called the ‘Joe Nall

Fly-in.’ But we could not have full-

scale airplanes until we had a run-

way that we felt that would be safe

on approaches, and have plenty of

room for people that maybe aren’t

as gifted as someone else to land.

That was part of our ambition to

make the runway long, plus it was

possible to make it that long be-

cause of the way the land was pre-

sented to us.”

The funding for the Aerodrome

improvements are derived partially

from the modest amounts charged

for camping and registration during

the Triple Tree fly-in, as well as the

Joe Nall Fly-in (a world-renowned

large-scale radio-control model-air-

craft event), and from Pat Hartness

himself. “The Nall,” as it is some-

times called, was named in mem-

ory of Joe Nall, who was Hartness’

college roommate at Furman Uni-versity in Greenville.

Derrick explains, “Joe later be-

came the spokesman for the NTSB,

and he was an emcee at the R/C

events that Pat held before Joe was

killed in a plane crash down in

South America.” (The 30th annual

Joe Nall Fly-in will be held in May

2012—for more information, visit

www.JoeNall.com.)

Pat Hartness and the volunteers

have personally been leveling andsanding the earth with heavy ma-

chinery and getting the runway set-

tled for several years. Next, they’ll

be sprigging 419 Tifton Bermuda

grass along 4,800 feet of the run-

way in early June 2012, so it will be

ready for the sixth annual fly-in in

early September. Hartness says:

“We are making the runway

where it will be equivalent to a re-

ally fine fairway for golfers—similar

to the ‘Augusta National’—exceptit will be for full-scale aircraft. You

can walk barefooted at Triple Tree,

and it feels like you’re on a carpet.

I think that’s a vast difference be-

tween our field and others. Why are

we so inclined this way? We want

the place to be discovered, and we

want it to be able to perpetuate it-

self. Once our foundation is estab-

lished, it will own the property. Our

board of directors will be charged

with the responsibility of makingit work, in perpetuity. If it doesn’t

work, the worst thing that can hap-

pen is that 405 acres will be a real

nice piece of green land forever. But

we want it to be aviation; we want

aviation written all over it!”

Pat Hartness says his inspiration

for the Triple Tree Fly-in was nur-

tured by a desire he shared with

several friends:

“We wanted to have a culture of

people that had the right attitudeVINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

Airplanes everywhere!

The pavilion, surrounded

by aircraft.

Four hundred fifty aircraft flew in for the fifth annual fly-in.

PAT HARNESS

DON LOVINGOOD

JIM MARLAR


20/44

18 APRIL 2012

to host people and allow them to

have the best time that they could

have—and for us not to be the

bosses, but to be the best hosts and

hostesses we could be. That was re-

ally the incentive, and then with

the beauty of the place, we said,

‘How can we make it special, so

that it will catch on to the mag-

nitude that people will come in

greater numbers, and we can be

very successful?’ The actual mo-tivation behind that was to have

the best of the best, and really

work diligently to make it be that.

Pat [Derrick] is the first person I

talked to about dreams and aspira-

tions for Triple Tree, and then we

shared it with our other 30 base

members who help us in the full-

scale as well as the model events

that we host, which are numerous.

My wife, Mary Lou, is also very in-

volved and supportive.”

In fact, the Aerodrome was chris-

tened by Mary Lou. “There were

three huge oak trees that were on

this piece of land that was previ-

ously farmed with cotton, pump-

kins, and watermelons for many

years,” recalls Hartness, adding,

“then the farm became kind of der-

elict, but the three big oak trees re-

mained, and my wife named it Tri-

ple Tree. One tree died in a recent

drought, but we planted anotherone in its place.”

Aviators at Heart

Part of Triple Tree’s success is the

fact that both Pats hail from a family

background in aviation, and have

been flying for years themselves.

Hartness, who soloed a Cessna 172

when he was 18 and has been flying

for 50 years now, fondly recalls his

earliest memory of aviation. When

he was just 4, his pilot parents took

him to visit Paris Mountain Air-

port in Greenville, South Carolina.

“My mom and dad owned a Piper

Cub then, and just seeing and be-

ing around the airplanes, I could tell

that’s exactly what I wanted to do,”

Hartness explains, adding, “my dad

was a captain with the Civil Air Pa-trol, and my mother was a lieuten-

ant teaching cadets to fly during the

second World War.”

As for airplanes, Hartness likes

them all. He’s owned a 1938 Spar-

tan Executive for 40 years, which

he recently restored to a pol-

ished, mirror finish. It shares a

10,000-square-foot hangar with

his 1946 J-3 Cub, 1944 BT-13, Ex-

tra 330 LT, and a 1942 Stearman.

A Volksplane, which Hartness stillenjoys flying, represents his entry

into the world of homebuilding. “I

built that back in 1971 and flew it

400 hours. It was my early experi-

ence with building and becoming

an EAA member, and I also have a

Phantom ultralight from that era

which I still enjoy flying—that’s re-

ally flying!”

Fly-in President Pat Derrick was

also introduced to aviation when

he was a child. His father had anairplane, and Derrick started fly-

ing gliders in 1973 in Virginia. He

earned his power rating the next

year, when he was 21. After op-

erating his own flight school and

flying for some companies in the

Greenville area, he’s currently the

company pilot for Hartness Inter-

national. Additionally, Derrick en-

joys flying Hartness’ BT-13 during

a sunrise “dawn patrol” each morn-

ing during the fly-in.

Walkway to the pavilion.

The roadside entrance to T riple Tree.

DON LOVINGOOD

JIM MARLAR


21/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

Activities Abound!

While activities abound at this

first-class airfield and its associ-

ated facilities, there is one activity

that isn’t part of this fly-in—there

isn’t any aircraft judging. That, Pat

Hartness explains, is simply be-

cause “We just feel like if you come,you’re a winner!” And those who

do arrive at Triple Tree will very

likely feel like winners, indeed. The

scenic acreage is accentuated by a

stately pavilion and gazebos, which

provide gathering places for avia-

tors and their friends to relax and

enjoy each other’s company.

An aviator who flew perhaps the

longest cross-country to arrive at

Triple Tree this past September was

Presley Melton of Little Rock, Ar-kansas. He reflects, “Triple Tree is

the best organized regional fly-in

I’ve ever attended, and it’s abso-

lutely a wonderful place for a fly-

in. The facilities and hospitality are

‘over the top.’ From the 7,000-foot

sod runway, to the steak cookout

on the patio, to the bathhouses

with built-in hairdryers, this place

is first class all the way. Pat Hart-

ness has done everything he can

to make Triple Tree the best fly-inairport. He built this airfield and

all its wonderful facilities because

he wants people to have a place to

come together and enjoy aviation.”

Overall, Hartness describes a visit

to Triple Tree as being “di fferent

from going and landing at an as-

phalt runway, where you wonder

what to do next. There’s plenty to

do here! It’s set up to help enter-

tain and give the people a unique

destination. One thing that hashelped us do that, is that we’ve

learned a lot from the people that

have been coming here for the 29

years that we’ve run the Joe Nall

Fly-in—we have lots of experience

with hosting public events,” says

Hartness, elaborating, “Triple Tree

is like a really fun park, but it’s bet-

ter than a park. We have the Enoree

River running right by one end of

our property, and we’ve created a

grassy beach area from a sandbar,

where supervised kids can wade in

the river.”

There is also a 50-acre lake and

an eight-acre lake, where people

are welcome to catch fish and

have them for dinner if they like.There are about seven miles of na-

ture trails as well, which are neatly

maintained and wide enough for

golf carts, though most people

enjoy just strolling or jogging on

them. A large patio with an outdoor

fireplace offers a place where people

can sit in the shade of an umbrella

and watch planes landing and tak-

ing off. There’s no problem getting

from one end of the airfield to the

other to enjoy all these amenities;

ground transportation is available

in the form of school buses, which

are driven by volunteers.

Additionally, visitors can tour

the beginning of Triple Tree’s mu-

seum hangar, and see their collec-tion of airplanes and model air-

craft. Aviation-related seminars and

workshops are held during the fly-

in, and the Military History Club

of the Carolinas brings Jeeps and

other military vehicles for display.

Some of the volunteers arrange

tours of the magnificent downtown

Greenville area, while kids enjoy

their skateboards and bicycles, and

others enjoy camping with their

airplanes on the carpet of closely-

Aerial view of T riple Tree Aerodrome.

PAT HARNESS


22/44

20 APRIL 2012

cut grass. Campers may indulge

themselves in the fully equipped

bathhouses—which, in the wom-

en’s area, boast granite counter-tops surrounding the sinks, with

eight thoughtfully designed private

showers and stalls.

One first-time attendee from

North Carolina described his expe-

rience at Triple Tree in this manner:

“There are many impressive

things about the Triple Tree Fly-

in, but perhaps the most impres-

sive is their theme of ‘Fun, Fellow-

ship, and Hospitality.’ That is just

what this fly-in is all about, and it

shows everywhere you

look—from the organized

arrival procedures pub-lished on their website

and the traffic adviso-

ries, to the folks directing

ground traffic and wel-

coming pilots and taking

care of their arrival needs

(such as fuel, camping,

registration, food). Sim-

ply put, it’s a low-stress,

just-for-fun event in a

beautiful setting, with

taxiways through thewoods to camping sites,

fishing ponds for kids of

all ages, free transporta-

tion from one end of the

field to the other, and lots

of aviation-minded folks

to mingle with. Where

else is all this available,

plus a 7,000- by 400-foot grass strip?

Many thanks to Pat Hartness for

sharing his aviation enthusiasm this

way with the public!”

You’re Invited!

Even as the variety of activities

and attractive accommodations at

Triple Tree continues to broaden,

the Aerodrome’s lush, natural

beauty is perhaps the most dis-

tinctive draw for this fly-in—en-

hanced, of course, by the con-

tagious enthusiasm of the hosts

and volunteers. Simply stated, Pat

Hartness’ favorite aspects of the

fly-in revolve around the friend-

ships and relationships it has al-

lowed him to make:

“These people are among the

finest people that I have ever met

in the world, and I look forward

to them making their pilgrimage

back to either the Nall or the Triple

Tree Fly-in. Beyond question, en-gines and pistons are nice, but the

smiling faces and relationships are

what it’s really all about.”

Derrick echoes that sentiment,

adding, “you would not believe

the amount of preparation for

the event in terms of the man

hours and the work involved, but

it’s something that we really look

forward to. We continually try

to make Triple Tree the Augusta

National [Golf Club] of airfields,and we really look forward to see-

ing those friends that we get to

see once a year. When they leave,

we always have a tear in our eyes

when we wave them goodbye.”

Pat Hartness cordially extends

an open invitation to aviators,

whatever type of aircraft they fly.

“We have quite a variety, and ev-

erybody who is a pilot, a mem-

ber of an aviation organization,

or a sincere aviation enthusiastis welcome to attend. Come and

discover a different kind of fly-

in! And when we say ‘different,’

we’re not saying anybody else’s

isn’t good; ours is just different .

We don’t want to be the biggest

fly-in; we just want it to be as

good as it can be. That’s what we

want aviation people to discover

about Triple Tree—our ‘Fun, Fel-

lowship, and Hospitality’!”

Note: Triple Tree Aerodrome(SC00) is located in Woodruff, South

Carolina (near Greenville, KGMU).

The dates for the sixth annual fly-

in are September 5-9, 2012. Fuel is

typically available on the field dur-

ing the fly-in. For more informa-

tion, visit www.TripleTreeFlyin.com

and www.Facebook.com/pages/Triple-

Tree-Aerodrome/282990699292. To

watch some videos of Triple Tree,

tune in to www.YouTube.com/user/

TripleTreeAerodrome.

. . . beyond question,

engines and pistons

are nice, but the

smiling faces and

relationships are whatit’s really all about.”

—Pat Hartness

Relaxing on the landscaped patio.

JIM MARLAR


23/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 21

If a type of lightplane called

the Hawker Cygnet were to

show up in the ultralight sec-

tion of a future fly-in, it’s very

likely that most spectators

would assume that it was another

interesting new design in this rap-

idly growing field of sport aviation.

In fact, because of its nicely

rounded wingtips, fairly clean-

lined fuselage, and curvy rudderoutline, many would remark that

it had more eye appeal than some

other more straight-lined and an-

gular types. It would therefore be

very amusing to stand to one side

and watch the expressions on their

faces as they read the descriptive

placard standing in front of it—and

found out that this design was cre-

ated in long-ago 1924!

Once that surprising information

had soaked into their gray matter,

many a younger aviation enthusi-

ast might be prompted to ask, “Say,

just how much progress has there

been in small aircraft design over

the last six decades?”

Part of a well-thought-out replyto that legitimate question would

have to be that the Cygnet was the

creation of a professional and very

competent design office. In addi-

tion to that, it was very carefully

conceived to have the best possible

chance of scoring high in a light-

plane design contest.

In 1923 there had been a con-

test at the airfield of Lympne (pro-

nounced Limm ) in the south of

England intended to encourage

the development of light and eco-

nomical aircraft suitable for private

Light Plane Heritage

published in EAA Experimenter April 1993

Editor’s Note: The Light Plane Heritage series in EAA’s Experimenter magazine often touched on aircraft and concepts

related to vintage aircraft and their history. Since many of our members have not had the opportunity to read this se-

ries, we plan on publishing those LPH articles that would be of interest to VAA members. Enjoy!—HGF

LESSONS FROM THE HAWKER CYGNETBY BOB WHITTIER

EAA 1235

Above: The sole r emaining Hawker

Cygnet in flight, ar ound 1950, af-

ter being restored. Spot on fuselageside below fr ont cockpit is sunlight

shining through the clear-doped fab-

ric. Tiny windshields wer e typical of

early 1920s airplanes. One r eason

could be to minimize drag and to let

pilots feel airfl ow on their faces in

slips, etc.


24/44

22 APRIL 2012

owners. While war-surplus military

planes were still in good supply,

they were fitted with powerful and

very fuel-hungry engines.

So much stress was placed onfuel economy, in fact, that the rules

specified that engines that powered

entries must have cylinder displace-

ments of not more than 750 cu-

bic centimeters. That’s about the

displacement found in today’s in-

termediate-weight motorcycles, so

you can understand that such en-

gines were quite small for aircraft

use. [ Editor’s note: The two-cylinder

Aeronca E-107 engine of 28 hp, which

powered the Aeronca C-2, displaced107 cubic inches, or 1753 cc—that

equates to more than twice the max-

imum displacement allowed by the

contest organizers!—HGF ]

In fact, because no aircraft en-

gine manufacturer at that time

produced such a tiny aero engine,

those who wanted to enter this con-

test had to turn to the air-cooled

and therefore reasonably light mo-

torcycle engines then being manu-

factured. Even the best of these, ofcourse, represented what was avail-

able in 1923 in the way of metals,

bearings, valves, and other things,

which means they were really not

at all the equal of today’s Harleys

and Hondas.

What engines they had to choose

from they modified as well as they

could to suit them—they hoped!—

for flight. But because these mills

in many cases were forced to run

at as much as 50 percent over rated

power in order to coax planes aloft

in a useful manner, persistent en-

gine trouble plagued everyone. By

the time the 1923 competition was

over, everyone agreed that it hadbeen a mistake to place so much

stress on fuel economy. After all,

the cost of gas—er, petrol—for

weekend flying is but a small per-

centage of the overall cost of buy-

ing and owning an airplane.

Early in 1924 new rules were is-

sued for the second Lympne con-

test to be held late that September.

They called for two-seat designs

suitable for training and cross-

country flying in an island nationthe size of Britain. Engine size was

increased to 1100 cc. [ Editor’s note:

Still significantly smaller than even

the smallest of the Aeronca engines,

the E-107.—HGF ]

The new rules also laid stress on

achieving as wide a spread as pos-

sible between minimum and maxi-

mum speeds. They hoped thereby

to gain the ability to travel from

point to point at speeds temptingly

higher than the 30 mph averagethen possible by motorcars on the

narrow, twisting roads of the 1920s.

And because they also wanted

these planes to be able to operate

out of small, unimproved fields

conveniently near to owner’s

homes and destinations, quick

takeoff and good obstruction-

clearing capability was specified.

To eliminate both the “floaters,”

too light and slow to be manage-

able in ordinarily windy weather,

and the “brick,” too fast and tricky

for inexperienced pilots, the rules

specified a cruising speed of not less

than 60 mph and a landing speed

of not more than 45 mph.As a result, where most of the

1923 entrants had been mono-

planes for the sake of achieving

lowest possible drag in order to at-

tain the maximum possible miles

per gallon of fuel, biplanes predom-

inated among the 1924 entries for

the sake of lightest possible weight

on one hand combined with great-

est possible wing area on the other

hand in order to score well on take-

off and landing tests. Some of the1923 entrants had been so carefully

designed to be fuel-stingy that they

achieved as much as 87 miles per

gallon of fuel.

Much use was made of wing

flaps—the first serious use of this

feature—not to help faster designs

to approach and land at accept-

able speeds, but to enable mod-

estly powered planes to take off

and climb out acceptably well. And

once aloft, to cruise at useful speedswith the flaps retracted.

A number of prominent aircraft

manufacturing companies were at-

tracted to the 1924 competition be-

cause of the possibility that success

with two-seaters might open up a

worthwhile civilian market. One

of these firms was the H.G. Hawker

Engineering Company Ltd., which

had emerged from the famous Sop-

with Company that had closed

down in 1920.

Oh what fun it is to taxi thr ough the grass and dan-

delions in a Hawker Cygnet! Restor ed around 1950,

G-EBMB is the sole r emaining example and is on dis-

play at the R.A.F . Museum, Hendon.

Rear view of the same shows the double ailer on horns

used to minimize twisting of the light, full-span aile-

rons. Cockpits wer e a tight fi t, and the front one is awk-

ward to get into.

THE AEROPLANE LEO KOHN


25/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

During World War I, Sopwith

had specialized in fighter aircraft in

which both light weight and high

strength were vital qualities. TheLympne two-seater project was put

into the hands of a young engi-

neer named Sydney Camm. He had

joined Hawker in 1923, and this

plane—named the Cygnet—was his

first aircraft design project.

Of course, Camm drew on the

experience of others at Hawker, but

clearly he was a capable designer

and learned much from the small

but well-thought-out Cygnet. Proof

of this lies in the fact that he wenton to design the fast Hawker Fury

fighter biplane of the mid-1930s and

then created the memorable Hawker

Hurricane fighter of World War II.

The Cygnet (which means “a

young swan”) was a smallish air-

plane in that it weighed only 373

pounds empty and grossed at 730

pounds. But it wasn’t exactly tiny

by reason of having a wingspan

of 28 feet and total wing area of

165 square feet. While it wouldn’t

qualify as an ultralight under the

current U.S. empty weight limit

of 254 pounds, it was still very

much a lightplane. It helps tograsp this by pointing out that

the Aeronca C-3 two-seater light-

plane of 1931 was considered to

be a very light aircraft by Amer-

ican pilots. It had a 113 cubic

inch (1852 cc), 36-hp engine,

weighed 461 pounds empty and

875 pounds gross, and had 142

square feet of wing area.

The twin-cylinder, horizontally

opposed four-cycle engines used

on the Cygnet weighed from 95to 105 pounds. In contrast, today’s

two-cycle ultralight engines in the

27- to 38-hp range typically weigh

between 42 and 62 pounds.

Beginning with an assumed en-

gine weight of about 100 pounds,

Camm was left with only 273

pounds for the complete airframe.

To create a two-seater of fairly

generous proportions within that

weight limit with the materials and

construction techniques available

in 1924 called for engineering work

of a high caliber.

All or most of the spruce fuse-

lage longerons and cross-memberswere routed to I-shaped cross sec-

tions to achieve stiffness with mini-

mum weight. The fuselage frame

employed the efficient Warren truss

and was assembled with plywood

gussets riveted and screwed into

place. That’s something that simply

is not approved of today. To save

a small amount of weight, the fu-

selage was made less than two feet

wide. As a consequence, the cockpits

were a tight fit for all but thesmaller pilots.

The wing spars were of the box

type, with spruce upper and lower

flanges separated by plywood webs.

This called for much more hand la-

bor than the flat, solid spruce spars

typically used in later American

lightplanes. To make such spars,

rough lumber is merely fed through

a planer to achieve desired cross-

sectional dimensions, and com-

paratively little labor is involved.

Designed specifically to scor e as high as

possible in a 1924 design competition, the

Hawker Cygnet amounted to a specialized

airplane. The landing gear looks comically

small, but it gave the smaller pr opeller am-

ple ground clearance and helped keep the

plane’s weight to a minimum.


26/44

24 APRIL 2012

But these box spars put the spruce

where it would handle loads tobest advantage, and so this type of

construction saved a worthwhile

amount of weight.

The wing interplane struts were

also of spruce, each being made in

two pieces, routed out, and then

glued together to create hollow struts.

Both weight and drag were reduced.

Because the stabilizer spar was

made the same way, it was strong

enough to serve its purpose without

external struts or tie rods. Through-out the plane an effort was made to

keep the number of metal fittings

to a minimum.

The vertical tail consisted of a

balanced rudder only, with no fin.

Since this rudder was able to stand

by itself, the weight of a fin and its

brace wires was saved.

Because of the plane’s overallproportions, there was not much

gap between the top of the fuse-

lage and the underside of the top

wing’s center section. Also, the cen-

ter section support struts were held

true with crisscrossed brace wires

that would have been in the way

of cockpit entry. So the front cock-

pit was located a little ahead of the

center section. Overall balance was

retained despite this forward posi-

tioning of that seat, thanks to theengine’s light weight in the nose.

Getting in to and out of the front

cockpit called for some wriggling,

but once a person was in it, forward

visibility was superb.

The landing gear had an almost

comically undersized look to it, but

its design made good engineering

sense. Because of modest propellerdiameter, it did not have to be long

to offer adequate propeller ground

clearance. Since a plane as light as

the Cygnet would not usually be

flown on more blustery days, the

gear did not have to be particularly

wide. The short, straight axle was

light in weight and automatically

lined up right and left wheels. It

was lashed to the landing gear vee

struts with rubber shock cord. Be-

cause these struts were short, theywere light and also stiff, as a result

of which they could be made of

spruce instead of steel tubing. The

only shortcoming of the low-riding

straight axle was that it could drag

through tall grass when operating

from an unmowed field.

This drawing by retired Boeing engineer Geor ge Visk illustrates ef fect of air foil thickness on inter ference in airfl ow

between the two wings of a

vintage airplane - apr 2012

Documents