Airplane stories.

[a2jack]

Our first real airplane. A no fly, came in boxes and Mason jars. It was a 1941 Taylorcraft, Deluxe, with a chrome strips on the side like a 1941 car. A buddy and I worked a year and a half restoring on it but never finished . We sold it and bought a Flying airplane.

That airplane was a 1948 Stinson, Station Wagon with a 165 HP Franklin. An absolutely beautiful ship, covered with blue and white Irish linen. The cabin was done in leather and two tone wood just like a station wagon, but the wood was inside.

This Stinson had leading edge slots like an STOL airplane, and would fly away 600lbs strapped to floor hooks in back. It burned 12 gal of fuel and a quart of oil an hour @ 130mph. My buddy and I and my wife learned to fly in this old 108-3.

This was all in the late 70's and we were just kids then.

Next, on airplane stories: Franklin piston breaks up on take off.

A2Jack

[a2jack]

Disclaimer: We were living the life of old time country flyers. We flew mostly out of farm fields. We did most of the work on our own airplanes. This was the era of $50 annuals. Don't try this stuff today.

The run up went fine, and we lined up to go. Four of us on board, an instructor, and three of us student pilot/airplane owners. It was my turn to fly so I was in the left seat.

Up and away, out over the woods, climbing nicely. Then BANG, it back fired. The whole ship began to shake like a wet dog. We were going in !

BANG! Another backfire, and we began to climb again. The engine smoothed out and oil pressure and temp were fine. As our home field was near by, we flew there and put it in the hanger. (a years hanger use came free with the Stinson all for $3,000).

We all were very poor and were really hard pressed to put the money together to buy the airplane in first place. We thought all this backfire stuff was a bad magneto. The thought that we would have to replace or rebuild a mag would mean the end of our flying for a while.

We talked to an old time airplane mechanic and he suggested we do a compression check before we went any further. Sure enough one Cyl was ZERO.

We pulled the jug and the rings fell out in pieces in our hand. the piston had a chunk knocked out and must have been spit out the valve on the back fire.

Now we were really at the end of our short flying careers. Our airplane was broken beyond our budget. But by now we were all three hooked on flying. As for our instructor? He vowed never to set foot in one of our old air planes again.

A quick, cheap fix in Chap#3.
A2Jack

[mismart]

Excellent story a2
Keep the chapters coming.

[a2jack]

This the very airplane we are writing about about here. NC 502C. When It was new it was the factory ad/photo plane. I found this photo on the Stinson club site.

[a2jack]

We had heard that somewhere around Sylvania Ohio A man named Ellington owned and operated an airplane junkyard. We found his strip on the Ohio chart and had a friend fly us out there.

What a place for an old airplane buff! It was like any old auto bone yard, with a high wooden fence, except it was filled with airplanes from the 30s, 40s, 50s.

Many were wrecked, but most were were just run out, or abandoned here for scrap and parts. We watched a ragged old Aeronca Chief just blow around the yard in the wind... And Yes, Mr. Ellington had our piston. In fact we bought two from a pile with the rods still hanging on them.

Before we left here we inspected a number of real treasures that looked good enough to fly away. There was a twin Beech 18 all decked out in full 1930s executive class. There was a PT19 low wing army trainer that been skinned in aluminum and a had a sliding hatch installed. (The PT19 shall remain another story, for another time as the old girl ended up with us towing her home down US 23, many months later.)

A long story short: The jug was fine. We left the "new" piston's old rings in place, as we didn't want one cylinder to be higher than the rest on our poor old tired out engine.

We flew 502C for another year then brought in an a real engine man and tore the Franklin down. We found a hair line crack in the crankshaft. We sold the Airplane with the wings off and the engine in a basket for more than we paid for it.

Wife and I soloed in a 1940 Aeronca Defender we purchased with the proceeds from the Stinson. Our Buddy Bought the PT19. Our old Stinson N502C is still flying today out in Eugene Oregon.

A2Jack.

Last airplane story for a while, guys. But I had to tell it.


The Stinsons were built in Wayne Michigan. This is a 1947 factory pix.

[butch arbogast]

My nephew Bob Chandler and I owned 502 c for a couple years in the lat 1980's we sold it to Terry Hellickson in the Portland OR area

[a2jack]

Originally Posted by butch arbogast

My nephew Bob Chandler and I owned 502 c for a couple years in the lat 1980's we sold it to Terry Hellickson in the Portland OR area

Butch. Thanks for your post.

We have wondered where "Charley" had gone after he left us. Wife and I have good memories of 502c, as it was our first airplane. I wonder if he's still flying.

We sold it to a guy who worked for a small aeronautical school in west Michigan. I think he planed to install an old "Bell 47" 200 hp Continental in it. And as the ship was covered with old, Blue and white "Irish Linen", I guess he recovered it too?

What was the airplane like when you guys bought it? Was it flying?

BTW, Yes 502c was the photo plane for the Stinson 108-3 A2Jack

[butch arbogast]

We bought 502c from an owner in Montana i believe but it was at Vancouver WA on consignment it had nearly new grade a fabric and low time 165 hc engine brown in color we added 8-50-6 tires and pitched the prop to near seaplane specs we flew it to Red's horse ranch on the Minam river a lot. my nephew got his ticket in it we sold it to Terry Hellickson in the Portland OR area and I believe he still ownes it
Got to go wife ready to go to town will post more later
do you have any pics of your ownership??
Butch
skywagon70@gmail.com

[wrumbarger]

In the pilot movie for the TV series "Airwolf" there was a great scene.
A yahoo movie star was going to fly a helicopter to show off for TV media that were watching his movie being filmed.
He took off and didn't know how to fly a helicopter (had a real pilot with him just in case, Jan Michael Vincent)
did a number of spectacular "stunts" that the TV crew were OOHING and Ahhing about.
Then came this great bit of dialog.
"What's he doing now?"
"That's called a hammerhead stall"
"Is that safe?"
"I dunno, I never seen a helicopter do one before?"

Great scene

[wiltjk]

What you accomplished in the form of a "hobby" transcends what many ever accomplish in a lifetime.

I spent 11 years in aerospace with composite airframe manufacturing being my specialty. Below are some of my most favorite projects (and yes, there is a unique story behind each one, but not that can be shared ;-)