Howard Wright's Hamilton Metalplane
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Howard Wright’s Hamilton Metalplane by Budd Davisson MIKE FIZER AOPA MEDIA Sole Survivor 26 MARCH/APRIL 2017 www.vintageaircraft.org 27 A Legendary Decade The Hamilton Metalplane is the product of one of the most in- spired, entrepreneurial, innova- tive decades in aviation history. The 1920s were awash with names we’ve come to know as the founda- tion blocks of aviation. Individuals’ names like Boeing, Cessna, Doug- las, Northrop, Beech, Stearman, etc. belonged to a generation that often worked together under the same roof, then separated to form their own monster companies. To- day’s aviation is rooted in the soil CHRIS MILLER created by the 1920s generation, and Thomas F. Hamilton was an in- tegral part. Like all the rest, he was enthralled by the concept of flight almost from birth. It is worth Googling Hamilton because his story reads like a bi- ography about Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. By the time he was 16, in 1910, he and a schoolmate were al- MIKE FIZER AOPA MEDIA ready building, flying, and crashing biplane gliders. Eventually being hen asked why he be aware of the constant stream minimal runways, lakes, and rivers employed by a propeller manufac- decided to pur- of floatplanes coming and going in would be appreciated. The Hamilton turer during the waning years of chase the unique practically the middle of the me- monoplane was among those. World War I, he learned the short- 1929 Hamilton tropolis. For a big segment of the comings of wood and saw a new Metalplane at very active Seattle aircraft commu- material on the horizon called “du- the 2010 Barrett- nity, floats are a way of life, and it raluminum.” Shortly thereafter, he CHRIS MILLER WJackson auto auction, Howard bled over into Howard’s love of vin- started one of his many compa- Wright’s answer was simple and to tage aircraft in a very real sort of nies, all of which had his last name corrugated skin and thick cantile- the point: “Because it has a unique way, as shown with his Metalplane. in the title. vered wing was developed by him history as a floatplane.” Could he The Hamilton Metalplane epit- Although he was a high school and his chief engineer, James S. be clearer than that? omizes that breed of big antique dropout, Hamilton designed as McDonnell, who had been involved Howard describes himself as “a airplane that led the way for the many as 25 aircraft during this in the design of the Ford Tri-Mo- floatplane guy,” which is totally un- development of commercial air- period. Only a few of them came tor. Hamilton’s goal was to produce derstandable. The owner of a num- line travel as the 1920s gave way to fruition, one of them being the a small, efficient aircraft capable ber of Seattle-based tourism and to the ’30s. At the same time, how- Metalplane series. of carrying six passengers plus hospitality companies, he likes ever, those pioneering multipassen- Recognizing the long-term ef- crew as a commuter-type airliner backcountry flying. Living in Se- ger aircraft that started the airline ficiencies of aluminum and seeing or enough mail to make it a viable attle means that there are lots of movement were quickly overtaken the success German Hugo Junker mail plane. backcountry lakes and inlets to be by technology in the form of mul- had with his F13 transport, which Design began in 1927, and the visited, and Howard lives in float- tiengine aircraft. Single-engine air- itself was rooted in Junker’s WWI aircraft was in full production less plane central because EDO Floats planes were immediately relegated metal fighter designs, Hamilton’s than two years later. It was un- is owned by Seattle’s Kenmore Air, to flying cargo or nonscheduled pas- designs borrowed on the corru- veiled as the shadow of the disas- which may be the busiest float- senger flights, which meant many gated skin concept. This type of trous financial depression cast plane operation in the country. of them headed north where their metal was difficult to form but was itself upon businesses nationwide. CHRIS MILLER No one can visit Seattle and not ability to carry lots of cargo out of self-stabilizing once formed. The The Hamilton Metalplane HK-45 MILLER CHRIS 28 MARCH/APRIL 2017 www.vintageaircraft.org 29 ment, which is why NC879H, serial Alaska, stands on the very brink of that was equipped with the simi- No. 67, skipped airline employ- nowhere, just a little south of the larly powered Wasp (R-1340). Un- ment and was delivered to Provin- Arctic Circle on the far northwest- fortunately, only a few Hornets cial Air Service in Sault Ste. Marie, ern Alaskan shoreline where, on a were built, and it’s probable that Ontario, Canada. It was mounted clear day, you actually can see Rus- it decided to break in Deering and on a set of EDO 6500 floats that sia from your front porch. couldn’t easily be fixed. So, No. 67 were serial-numbered to the air- Deering is tiny. Its population was left to rot until Harry found plane. Unfortunately, as is the case averages 141 hardy souls (127 in it in 1951 and transported it to of most airplanes that spent their 2015), the majority of which are Minneapolis intending to restore lives bouncing around in the back- Inupiat Inuit who live by subsis- it. Harry and his group of enthusi- country, much of its history is lost. tence hunting and fishing. The astic ex-NWA pilots and mechan- All that is known is that many bush village was founded in 1910 (pop- ics tried hard, but the complexities operators owned the aircraft and ulation 100) as a supply base for and finances of such a major res- tried to keep it flying. (No matter inland mining operations, which toration wore them down, and the how rickety, airplanes that don’t is probably what 879H was doing airplane went into long-term hi- fly don’t generate revenue.) there. Metalplanes were among the bernation just a few years after be- According to the Metalplane’s favorites for carrying loads into ing rescued. paperwork and the history sur- the mines. rounding the aircraft, it wound What led to the airplane’s aban- Enter Jack Lysdale up abandoned in Deering, Alaska, donment is unknown, but it’s Jack Lysdale was the aviation where it eventually was discovered quite likely it was unsolvable en- enthusiast’s enthusiast. A long- by a Northwest Airline pilot, Capt. gine problems. Built as an H-47, time A&P and lover of old air- Harry McKee. What was 879H do- it was powered by the Pratt & planes, he purchased 879H in ing in Deering, Alaska, and how did Whitney R-1690 Hornet that had 1972, and where Harry was striv- Harry find out about it? Deering, 525 hp versus the identical H-45 ing for a static museum restora- MIKE FIZER AOPA MEDIA and HK-47 were among the fatali- ties. The exact figure of how many were produced is muddled by the Vero Beach, FL and fog of time, but many estimate it Long Beach, CA* to be 29. Nine were purchased and operated by fledgling Northwest March 2-5 Airways, and Alaska’s pioneer air- B17 fl ights also available line, Wien Alaska Airways, pur- at Long Beach location chased two. When the HK line was shut Pompano Beach, FL down in 1930, Hamilton and Mc- March 9-12 Donnell went their separate ways. Hamilton continued with propel- CHRIS MILLER CHRIS lers, joining with another com- Palm springs, CA* pany to be Hamilton-Standard — the world’s propeller standard. March 16-19 McDonnell eventually formed a strong company that in 1967 merged with another to become *Indicates liberty tri-motor McDonnell-Douglas. Visit eaa.org/fordmarch Sole Survivor: NC879H or call 1-877-952-5395 North-country bush opera- to reserve your flight. tions recognized the viability of CONNOR MADISON CONNOR the Metalplane in their environ- 30 MARCH/APRIL 2017 www.vintageaircraft.org 31 PHIL MAKANNA MIKE FIZER AOPA MEDIA gated aluminum would seem to be It would not be overstating the case to say that Jack impossible. And it normally is, but re-created the airplane in a form that was even better Univair Has Kept not to Jack Lysdale. than when brand new. Ercoupes Flying Jack was blessed with an abun- dance of determination and re- Howard Wright Wants Since 1946 sourcefulness, as well as volunteer Another Unique Floatplane helpers from NWA. He somehow Flash ahead to 2010 and one of the more “interest- Univair is the Type Certificate holder for the Ercoupe 415 determined that Alcoa still had ing” experiences available to nuts and bolts aficiona- series, Forney, Alon, and M-10 Cadet. We have thousands of the rolling dies that the company dos: the Barrett-Jackson car auction in Scottsdale, quality parts specifically for these airplanes. Many of our had used to make the original alu- Arizona. Known primarily for its extravagant events parts are made on the original minum in 1929. Finding the roll- in which millions of dollars’ worth of cars roll across tooling that was used when these ing dies must have been difficult the auction block, Barrett-Jackson occasionally great aircraft were being made. We enough, but imagine a conversa- breaks form and puts an airplane in between the Fer- also have distributor parts such as tion in which you’re brow-beating raris and Bugattis. Jack Lysdale made his last takeoff tires, batteries, windshields, and a company the size of Alcoa into in 1992, but his family kept the airplane in good con- much more.