VOL XXIX #2 1 July 2007 I n t e r n a t i o n a l F l e e t C l u b N E W S L E T T E R Editor / Publisher From the Editor mailing well over 400 hard copies Jim Catalano world wide. Last issue we sent out over 200 requests for updated info to 8 Westlin Lane Wildly optimistic, I started the open those we hadn’t heard from since Cornwall NY 12518 cockpit season off on April 1 with two 1999 – and received only about 10 great flights in 60-degreee weather, responses. We have no idea whether E-Mail clear skies – then it dropped to 35 these 200 folks are receiving the [email protected] degrees and snowed on and off for 2 newsletter, or are enjoying it or weeks. I thought for about a minute couldn’t care less – but it’s almost like Telephone about putting on the old MacKenzie throwing leaflets overboard on a fly-by 845 - 534 - 3947 Airservice wooden skis, then thought and not knowing what impact we’re better of it. having. Fleet Web Site Ninety de- web.mac.com/fleetclub grees here If you’re one of this today, great Silent Half, we would for warming Fleet Net love to hear from you. up 2 gallons Don’t just sit there on groups.yahoo.com/ of oil, short- your er …ah… seat group/fleetnet ening up my pack, send news, pre-flight by several minutes so I can send photos and con- Cover Photo quickly get up in the sky and go no- sider sending a dona- Mike O’Neil’s 1930 where fast in 615S! tion of at least $10 a Model 7 Fleet - N756V year to keep us ahead Club membership now hovers around of the financial power Designer 450 strong; 5% receive the newsletter curve. At the very least, drop us a Jesse Catalano electronically only, so we are snail- post card or e-mail saying whether VOL XXIX #2 2 July 2007 you want to continue in our Fleet community. If we MEMBERS WRITE don’t hear from you by year’s end, we may ask you to step down onto the lower wing and hit the silk! John Beebe, White Stone, VA Jim Soloed Fleet February 1941 and licensed in May of that year! Have over 100 hours, in all Fleet mod- els. Would like to keep up. CD Perrotti, Londonderry, NH I owned four Fleets, all in flying condition and TIME TO FLY flown by me and my brother: Model 16B (N39623), Model 16B (N39605 changed to N162V by me), Model 10 (N20699), Model 9 (N939V) – best flying Soon they come, the pilots, needing to get off the ground, Fleet of the lot. The following Fleets not flown, gravity oppressive, no longer disassembled: Model 8 (N49V, original number acceptable. They gather early N69V, s/n 803), Model 16B (N1238V, s/n 512), Model 1 (N685M, s/n 277). All B-5s, except N162V on this flat field, edged with which has R-55, 160 hp. trees they know mark the limits of the time they will have to stop within or rise above. John Abitz, Roanoke, TX I bought a 16B in 1950 (N39630) and found a pri- Light has overpowered darkness, vate pilot in Alaska to teach me to fly. We both lifting it off and away for the day. learned together. Years later, my Army buddy re- Two, maybe three or four congregate, stored a 16B with the R-56. We flew it lots. I now a circle of comrades, have an L-16 Aeronca - just finished rebuilding it. I to poke the earth with small talk, also repaired and assembled a Fleet 2 in my shop to share glances of the sky, a few years ago. to feel the wind replace thoughts until one says slowly, as if he had drawn the winning card, John Davis, Northampton, MA “Looks pretty good, I guess.” I’m a Fleet and antique airplane enthusiast though I don’t own an aircraft. I know Sandy Brown Then maybe a scratch behind an ear, through the Antique Airplane Club of Greater NY. a grin, a nod, a turn toward the hangar where a biplane waits and listens. The pilot rolls open the large doors, Peter & Kate Bayer, Naperville, IL walks to his flying ship, Buck may be sorry he sold his 10F (1939, N14GN, its smells filling his soul s/n 263) - but we’re not! We’ve enjoyed many like an elixir. He stands for a moment happy hours flying around in it. Thanks, Buck! between the wings and fuselage, rests a hand on the painted fabric, its feel no longer needing Mark Laurin to be remembered. Just got the Kinner back together after a valve job. We had trouble with #1 as the head was cracked Donald Everett Axinn .Hugo got the call and is fixing the head as we From Against Gravity - Grove Press speak. He had a B-5R head he sold me, to get me Don Axinn is a pilot, writer, poet and film producer. in the air. ..Praise The Lord!! We just ran it up this Check out his website: www.donaxinn.com morning and everything seems fine, except for me VOL XXIX #2 3 July 2007 getting soaked in the rainstorm. My neighbor Bob and have been in a variety of roles in the organiza- Quick is a great mechanic and has helped me tion and know what kind of commitment and time through this whole thing. He is building a Sonerai- it takes to keep things fresh and active. The effort 2 project and belongs to EAA 486… really is appreciated by us - particularly we very new Fleet owners. Frank Delmar, Green Valley, AZ Cam Harrod I do miss what I once had – sitting behind that purring B-5! [email protected] I still! own my 1940 Fleet 16R s/n 397 RCAF #4494! Canadian reg. CF-DAF. I'm in the process Paul Siebert, Sonoma, CA of rebuilding both mags in order to be ready for the upcoming season. We have had a warm spell up [email protected] here in Canada, so hopefully we get an early sea- While Looking for a source for nails to attach Fleet son. Thanks for a great job on the newsletter.! I wing ribs to the spars, I have found 8 NOS 1 lb. really look forward to reading everyone’s Fleet sto- boxes of AN301-18-3 nails. They are described as; ries. 18 Gauge (.048" dia.), Straight Shank, Flat Head, steel nails, 3/8 inches long, !parkerized and ce- ment coated. Price is $10.00 per box FOB Oakland CA. As far as I know this is the last known stock in the US of this size of AN301 aircraft nail. If anyone is interested in some or all of these nails, contact me and I will pass on the purchasing details. The nails Fleet used were spiral shank 1/2 and 5/8 or 3/ 4 long but perhaps the 3/8 long nails would work OK with new spars. Jim Record [email protected] I enjoyed the piece about Brian Coughlin and his Fleets in the latest newsletter and have an update on the 16B he sold to get his Dad's ship back. Here is a pic of my fleet at the Niagara Falls Ca- N5096L (not N410K) was purchased by my partner nada Airshow last year. She is sitting at a field Tom Daly, and will be used regularly by us (in addi- about one mile from the old Fleet Factory in Fort tion to our Great Lakes 2T-1R) at the Old Rhine- Erie where she was born. Keep ‘em Flying. beck Aerodrome Airshow. It was very well restored by Brian and still sports George Gregory's French Horn on the tail. Now, after a winter of tinkering Buddy Wehman and primping, it is ready to provide a perfect photo op to thousands of spectators of just how pretty a [email protected] Fleet in flight really is. Other Fleet owners and en- An Interesting Fleet “First” thusiasts in the Upstate/New England area should I am reading Joe Rychetnik’s book, Alaska’s Sky make plans to fly to the Aerodrome for multiple Follies, an at one point he mentions that Mary Bar- Fleet photos. row was the first woman to take all of her training and successfully pass the federal exam in Alaska. Mike O’Neal She took instruction from Steve Mills at Merrill Field, Anchorage in a FLEET. She soloed on July Mike.O’[email protected] 27, 1932. The book goes on to say, “A few weeks Thanks for keeping the newsletter vital. I'm a later, the federal inspector tested the skills of 12 member of the American Society of Aviation Artists candidates at piloting the Fleet plane She was the VOL XXIX #2 4 July 2007 only woman to take the test, and one of the only 3 part of the story all the more amazing is that Sue candidates to pass…at the age of some 90 years, does not have any warm, fuzzy feelings about she was still able to recall the great times she had small airplanes.! She gets sick when she flies (and exploring Alaska in the early days of aviation.” I don’t mean just when she flies with me).! I should have written that last sentence in past tense.! After I am still “blasting” around the skies of South several heroic attempts to Fleet-fly, we both de- Carolina in N8742 (1939 Fleet 16B).