| Welcome! |
| The
Internet is a lot like television. There are jewels in
there amongst the junk-you just have to ignore the
bright, shiny stuff that's not worth anything. For all
its shortcomings, the Internet is still a remarkably
efficient way to distribute information. People from all
over the world can access material about history,
statistics, and how-to information; just about
everything is documented on the Internet. It seems
there's an endless number of websites or forums
dedicated to exploring most aspects of our world and the
universe as we know it.
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H.G. Frautschy
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Still, every now and then I run into a blank spot on
the Web. My article below about the Warner Aircraft
Corporation and its history is one of those
"black holes." I've found very little posted
about it, and even in the world of aviation print
publications we don't have much documentation on
Warner in our library at EAA.
I'd love to fill in the
blanks. So after you read the story about the building
where the radial engines were built, if you have
information you'd like to add, visit The Red Barn
forum on EAA's Oshkosh365 online community, and click
on the "Aviation Historical Sites" thread.
You'll see a post about the Warner Aircraft building.
Feel free to tell us more about the company, and if
you know of a blank spot you'd like to tell us about,
post that as well.
Aviation is filled with
folks from all walks of life, from the businessman
with the resources to build a collection of airplanes
all the way up to the guy who makes sacrifices every
day so he can keep his two-place postwar trainer in a
lean-to hangar. That's what makes the field so great
and why it can be so fun to meet these folks. One of
the most interesting businessmen I've met during my
time here at EAA was the late Sam Johnson, the fourth
generation Johnson to man the helm of the S.C. Johnson
Company in Racine, Wisconsin. Sam's dedication to
aviation was as deep as can be, and the company has
now dedicated a new building to honor Sam's legacy.
Read all about it below.
In just a few short
months the flying season will begin. Are you ready?
Have you scheduled an hour or two with your local
instructor to brush up on your flying skills and made
your to-do list for those little things you've been
meaning to get to on the airplane? Before you know it,
the sun will be shining, the birds chirping, and the
runway will be buzzing with lots of folks exercising
their wings. Don't be left behind!
H.G.
Frautschy Editor, Vintage Aircraft Online
Editor, Vintage Airplane magazine
Executive Director, VAA |
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| News |
| S.C.
Johnson Dedicates New Building to House Sikorsky S-38
Replica |
Many
members will recall the amazing Sikorsky S-38 replicas
built by the late Buzz Kaplan. Kaplan and fellow EAA
President’s council member Sam Johnson, who was
chairman of S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. It was Sam’s
wish to recreate the pioneering flight taken in 1935
by his father, H.F. Johnson, Jr., in a Sikorsky S-38.
When Sam was a boy and his father wrote a book about
the journey, H.F. dedicated the journal: “To Sammy,
I hope you make this trip sometime.” By the 1990s,
Sam had decided that “sometime” was now.
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| Sam
figured that since there were no S-38’s known to
exist, he’d have to make the journey with a modern
airplane such as Kaplan’s Cessna Caravan on
amphibious floats. Read
more |
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| Hamilton
Metalplane Sells at Auction |
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The
one-of-a-kind Hamilton H-47 Metalplane we featured in
last month's Vintage
Aircraft Online was sold the evening of January
23, 2010,
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during the
Barrett-Jackson
auction in Scottsdale, Arizona. The winning bid of
$610,000 was made via phone. The final price that was
posted, after a 10 percent buyer's premium was tacked
on, came to $671,000. The winning bid was placed by Mr.
Howard Wright III, a Seattle, Washington based
businessman and philanthropist. Mr. Wright is a past
trustee of the Museum of Flight. He also recently
purchased a Travel Air 6000 (N9084) on floats, owned for
many years by Bill Decreeft. You can view it here.
Wright's
plans for the Hamilton are unknown at this time. If we
have an update regarding its status, we'll post it in
the Hamilton Metalplane thread in The Red Barn forum on www.Oshkosh365.org.
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| Technical
Tidbits |
| FAA
Issues SAIB on Circuit Breakers |
| A
few years ago, the FAA and Wichita State University
undertook a study concerning aging aircraft and how
various systems and components deteriorated over time.
One of the things that came to light during this
effort was the revelation that circuit breakers were
prone to failure if they were not regularly exercised.
Testing of the circuit breakers removed from a
well-used Cessna 421 showed that some failed to trip
properly when initially tested. When they were cycled
(pulled out and then reset), they began to trip at the
proper amperage after many of the breakers regained
proper function from being cycled a number of times.
At the very least, each resettable circuit breaker
should be cycled a few times during the aircraft's
annual inspection. This type of inspection will be
part of the new ASTM specification concerning aircraft
wiring, ASTM F39. Read
more |
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| Feature
Story |
| Warner
Aircraft Building |
| Last
month I was on a personal trip to the Detroit area,
and I had a chance to have lunch with one of my
friends, fellow EAA Pioneer Airport pilot Doug
Conciatu. Doug is a lifelong resident of the Detroit
area, and while we were chatting over our very
decadent Coney dogs (a Detroit |
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| favorite) he offered to
show me the factory building that used to house the
Warner Aircraft Corporation. He mentioned that it had
some neat art details as part of the structure, so off
we went to explore the west side of Detroit. Read
more |
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| This
& That |
Book
Review Contact Info
We have some revised information regarding the
correct information if you wish to order the two books
reviewed in last month's issue of Vintage Airplane.
For
Carl Gunther's book Harold F. Pitcairn: Aviator,
Inventor, and Developer of the Autogiro, you can
contact the publisher at: rob.nash@newchurch.org
or call 267-502-4922.
For
Sparky Barnes Sargent's book, A Hunger for the Sky,
order from her
website.
It's
also available at these locations:
Wind Canyon Books
Women
in Aviation International
Swift
Museum Foundation Inc. - Athens, TN (accepts
credit cards via phone call)
99s
Museum of Women Pilots - Oklahoma City, OK
Tennessee
Museum of Aviation
Correction
We've just been notified that the listing for the
International Stinson Club that was published in the
January issue of Vintage Airplane is to be revised.
Mr. A.L. Wright listed in the magazine is no longer
associated with the club in any way. The most recent
information is:
International
Stinson Club
Logan Boles
210 Blackfield Dr.
Tiburon, CA 94920
415-383-3262
E-mail: loganboles@gmail.com
Website: www.stinsonclub.org
Dues: $30/yr.
Newsletter: Monthly |
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| Great
Web Links |
 EAA's
chief photographer, Jim Koepnick, is featured
by Canon on their website. Jim offers some insights
into his work at EAA and his broader photographic
career. You can read it here.
EAA President and
Chairman of the Board Tom Poberezny recently
taped two interviews in EAA's video studio that
highlight EAA's role and direction in today's aviation
community, and what it means for the organization and
its members. Both videos are available on the
www.eaa.org website, and are the first two parts of a
trilogy of interviews in which Tom discusses current
events at EAA. In this installment, Tom covers EAA
Sport Aviation's new look, EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2010
site upgrades, and the importance of chapters. Watch
it here.
Recall the
amazing Vickers Vimy replica build to retrace
the amazing flights made with the British bomber of
World War I? It has flown its last flight. You can
view pictures of that bittersweet day on Flickr. View
them here.
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| EAA's
efforts to compile an oral history of aviation's
pioneers and those who have helped make aviation
such a fascinating part of our nation's history
has culminated in EAA's Timeless
Voices project. |
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| Hundreds of videos are now
archived at EAA Headquarters. We continue to
create online versions of those videos so that
members and others who have an interest in
aviation can watch and learn from those who have
come before us. This month's featured interview
is Mary Feik.
Born in 1924,
Mary Feik's interest in aviation began at an
early age when a barnstormer came through her
hometown area. Her father bought her a ride in
the visiting pilot's Curtiss Jenny, and Mary was
quickly hooked on airplanes. Mary's father ran a
small automobile repair shop, and Mary became
his helper, learning how to overhaul engines.
After the
outbreak of World War II, Mary applied for a job
as an aircraft maintenance instructor at Seymour
Johnson Field in North Carolina and was hired on
the basis that she'd been working on engines
most of her life. She worked at that job for a
while and was eventually transferred to Wright
Field in Dayton, Ohio, where she worked in
Research and Development (R&D). Mary was the
first female engineer in R&D at the Air
Technical Service Command's Engineering Division
at Wright Field, where she became the first
woman to go on test flights at the field. Mary
flew more than 5,000 hours as a flight test
engineer in just about every aircraft in the
Army Air Force inventory at the time. Her next
big assignment was working on the "CaptiveAir"
project at Williams Field in Chandler, Arizona,
using a fully converted P-51C Mustang equipped
with jet instrumentation for acclimating pilots
to a jet airplane cockpit.
After the war,
Mary became involved with restoring antique
airplanes and was employed by the Smithsonian
Air and Space Museum to work on projects like
the 1910 Wiseman-Cooke pusher biplane, a Curtiss
TS-1, and a World War I Spad XIII. Retired now,
she is still active in aircraft restorations and
teaching fabric covering techniques to younger
generations. Mary shared her memories in this
interview with EAA staff during the EAA Oshkosh
1988. Watch
the video.
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| It's
hard to believe it's been over a decade since
Buzz Kaplan's Born Again Restorations built the
first of two Sikorsky S-38 replicas they were to
produce. Here's the article we published on the
project from the November 1998 issue of Vintage
Airplane. It's a little on the large size,
but we thought you'd like to see it in full
detail. View
it here.
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| Question
of the Month
Q. Is your
aircraft maintained:
- Solely by
myself (I'm an A&P-IA)
- Jointly by
myself and my A&P
- Completely by
my A&P
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