STRAIGHT AND LEVEL By Brad Thorn as President Antique/Classic Division The Fall season has arrived with its warm days and cool evenings, and in most parts of the USA the fly-in season has ended. Scattered among these har­ vest days are small social gatherings known in North Carolina as "Pig Pickin's". The purpose is to enjoy fellowship, refreshments and excellent food. Most "Pig Pickin's" engage a chef with the know-how and ex­ pertise to slowly roast a whole pig over the hickory fire. In late September we received a phone call from Antique/Classic Division member Farrell James of Kannapolis, North Carolina, inviting my wife Ferne and myself to a "Pig Pickin'" on their strip. We eagerly accepted his kind invitation and our plans for that the temporary parking area - part of the James' Saturday were set. Now, you do not attend a "Pig cow pasture, with cut grass and an open fence for Pickin'" in a modern aircraft. My homebuilt has only entrance. After engine shutdown we were greeted, one seat, the Staggerwing is still under restoration, photographed, and then Ferne undertook the gymnas­ so the choice was obvious - scrounge an appropriate tics of departing the front seat of the J -3. At home aircraft for the trip. Pete Covington, Co-chairman of the temperature forecast for the day had been the the Antique judging committee at Oshkosh, resides in middle 60s, but by the time we arrived it had already Spencer, Virginia, about 45 miles from the residence climbed to the mid-seventies. Crossing the runway of yours truly. Knowing that Pete had just restored we entered the hangar, registered, shook hands with an immaculate J-3 needing some flight time, Pete and the early arrivals and began the day enjoying the I agreed that his J-3 should attend the event. fellowship and taking photographs. Late that Thursday afternoon I flew the homebuilt At around 1 p.m. the food line assembled and the to Pete's strip and returned home with the J-3 Cub. roasted pig was raised from the cooking pit. The smell Friday afternoon was spent giving the Cub a good was tantalizing and we enjoyed a fantastic barbecue washing and overall clean-up in preparation for the meal with all the trimmings, including dozens of home­ trip Saturday. made desserts. After completing the delicious meal, Never having flown in a tandem seat aircraft, my with seconds, we wandered to our aircraft to begin wife was afforded the pleasure of making the trip in some informal fly-bys. the front seat of the Cub, where the little internal Many a pilot was taught to fly in J-3 Cubs and wind draft was no threat to her hairdo. The ceiling many feel nostalgic about them. Among the 35 air­ was no problem but the visibility was only about four craft attending, eighteen were early Piper models to five miles and navigating from the rear seat and and at one time the fly-by pattern consisted of eleven around the hairdo makes you often lean to one side yellow J-3 Cubs! Mter they finally landed, all eleven to see the compass. were lined up on the grass runway for the camera For the first thirty miles, there were no IFR (I bugs. It looked like the early days of Bradford, Pennsyl­ follow roads) conditions, and assuming the compass vania where the production models were lined up for was not in calibration, we took up a relative heading pick-up or delivery. of 195° by taking a visible 15° correction after de­ As the evening approached the planes struggled parting runway 18. On this heading the compass read home to various parts of both North and South Caro­ 150°, which we used for the next few minutes. Soon lina, and yours truly, with better visibility, navi­ the sun broke through the clouds and it became ap­ gated via the sun toward our base airport. We were parent we were not on a heading of 195°. It took touched by this event. Our venture represented the only a couple of left and right turns to realize the "old days" for low cross country flying, the gather­ compass was inoperative and, finally arriving near ing of many types of similar aircraft, and above all a site that could be identified, we found ourselves the tremendous fellowship that makes these events several miles east of our intended course. By this so successful and enjoyable. We visited with many time we were near 1-85 and continued to our destina­ friends we had not seen for years and compared stories tion via IFR. with those we had seen as recently as the EAA Inter­ We had planned to arrive early and watch the ar­ national Convention this year in Oshkosh. rivals, but we were late and parked in the pasture We realize that similar events are happening next to the strip were fifteen arrivals ahead of us. throughout our wonderful country and that many of "James International" is about 1500 feet, slightly up­ you have participated in such affairs. Let us not allow hill to the northwest and has a beautiful approach these events to fade away as so many have, but strive over a deep blue lake. At touchdown on the right were to keep these friendly and fun-type fly-ins in existence. two hangars and the James' residence; to our left was The grass roots are still here ... let's not forget it. • 2 NOVEMBER 1982 TH ~DIVISIOll~ :ftt'\\~ VI~TA(I AIWLA~~ ~~\ PUBLICATION OF THE ANTIQUE/CLASSIC DIVISION, INC. \ ~ J OF THE EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION, INC. ,. P.O. BOX 229, HALES CORNERS, WI 53130 COPYRIGHT © 1982 EM ANTIQUE/CLASSIC DIVISION, INC., ALL RIGHTS RESERVED NOVEMBER 1982 VOLUME 10 NUMBER 11 OFFICERS President Vice-President W. Brad Thomas, Jr. Jack C. Winthrop 301 Dodson Mill Road Route 1, Box 111 Pilot Mountain, NC 27041 Allen, TX 75002 919/368-2875 Home 214/727-5649 919/368-2291 Office Secretary Treasurer M. C. " Kelly" Viets E. E. " Buck" Hilbert Route 2, Box 128 P.O. Box 145 FRONT COVER. , . The Grand Champi­ BACK COVER ... 1931 scene at Lock­ Lyndon, KS 66451 Union, IL 60180 on Antique at Oshkosh '82 was this heed's Burbank, CA plant. The Lock­ 913/ 828-3518 Home 815/923-4591 1936 Stinson SR-8C, NC17116, SI N heed Vega is NC926Y. Note the lower 9801 owned by Roy and Judie Red­ two headlights on the Packard Eight man, Kilkenny, MN. See story on page turned in the same direction as the 5. front wheels. The curved line in the DIRECTORS ADVISORS (Ted Koston Photo) lower left of the picture is a portion of the compass rose located to the Ronald Fritz Morton W. Lester Ed Burns west of the factory building. 15401 Sparta Avenue P.O. Box 3747 1550-Mt. Prospect Road (Photo from the Lee Worthington Kent City, MI 49330 Martinsville, VA 24112 Des Plaines, IL 60018 Collection) 616/678-5012 703/632-4839 31 21298-7811 John S. Copeland Claude L. Gray, Jr. Arthur R. Morgan 9 Joanne Drive TABLE OF CONTENTS 9635 Sylvia Avenue 3744 North 51st Blvd . Westborough, MA 01581 Northridge, CA 91324 Milwaukee, WI 532 16 6171366-7245 213/34S-1338 414/442-3631 Stan Gomoll Straight and Level . .. By Bmd Thomas .. .. 2 1042 90th Lane, NE Minneapolis, MN 55434 AlC News . .. By Gene Chase .. , . , . .. .. .... ... , .. 4 Dale A. Gustafson John R. Tu rgyan 6121784-1172 Stinson SR-8C- Four Time Grand Champ .. 7724 Shady Hill Drive 1530 Kuser Road Indianapolis, IN 46274 Trenton, NJ 08619 Espie M. Joyce, Jr. By Gene Chase. 5 317/293-4430 609/585- 2747 Box 468 Madison, NC 27025 Wedell-Williams and the Haizlips- Part I .. ..... ... 10 919/427-0216 Flight of the Falcon . By Warwick J ohnson . ... .. 15 AI Kel ch S. J. Wittman 66 W. 622 N. Madison Ave Box 2672 Gene Morris Borden's Aeroplane Posters From The 1930's . Cedarburg , WI 5301 2 Oshkosh , WI 54901 27 Chandelle Drive By Lionel Salisbury .. .... ... .. ... ...... 18 414/377·5886 414/235-1265 Hampshire, IL 60140 3121683-3199 Mystery Plane ... ...... .... .. ...... .. ...... 20 Robert E. Kesel George S. York Roy Redman Letters To The Editor ... , ...... .. .. .. .. .. ... 21 455 Oakridge Drive 181 Sloboda Ave. Rt. I , Box 39 Rochester, NY 14617 Mansfield , OH 44906 Kilkenny, MN 56052 Calendar Of Events ... .. ... ... .. .. .. .. , . 22 716/342·3170 419/52S-4378 507/ 334-5922 S. H. " Wes" Schmid 2359 Lefeber Road Wauwatosa, WI 53213 414/771-1545 PUBLICATION STAFF PUBLISHER EDITOR Paul H. Poberezny Gene R. Chase ASSOC, EDITOR EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS George A. Hardie, Jr. Norman Petersen Pat EHer Page 5 Page 10 Page 15 Editorial Policy: Readers are encouraged to submit stories and photographs. Policy opinions expressed in articles are solely those of the authors. Responsibility for accuracy in reporting rests entirely with the contributor. Material should be sent to: Gene R. Chase, Editor, The VINTAGE AIR­ PLANE, P.O. Box 229, Hales Corners, WI 53130. Associate Editorships are assigned to those writers who submit five or more articles which are published in THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE during the current year. Associates receive a bound volume of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE and a free one-year membership in the Division for their effort. THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE (ISSN 0091 -6943) is owned exclusively by EAA Antique/Classic Division, In c., and is published monthly at 11311 W. Forest Home Ave ., Franklin, Wisconsin 53132 , P.O. Box 229, Hales Corners, Wisconsin 53130. Second Class Postage paid at Hales Corners Post Office, Hales Corners , Wisconsin 53130, and additional mailing offices.