In 1998 the Kansas Aviation Museum acquired the remains of Stearman Model 4D, Serial Number 4027. The "Junior Speedmail" as this model was called, was donated by Bruce Bissonette, a retired aviation writer of El Paso, Texas. Bruce obtained the Stearman (basically the fuselage and 3 boxes of parts) from John Thurmond's aircraft project yard in Tucson, Arizona in 1971.

Bruce offered the Stearman to KAM as a donation – it was accepted immediately and was hauled it back to Wichita from El Paso.

The Stearman 4D, registration NC563Y, was first purchased on July 21, 1931, by The Texas Company. It was completed and delivered on August 1, 1931, and Texaco pilot J. D. "Duke" Jernigan flew it away. It was a handsome airplane with its red and white paint with the "Texaco 11" fleet number, Wasp Jr. engine with a full NACA cowl and 81 inch wheel pants. Some say the Model 4 was the most beautiful biplane built. Lloyd Stearman said in later years that it was the best airplane he ever designed.

Texaco flew 563Y over 1100 hours, on an aggressive schedule. It was repainted in 1933 with "Texaco 14" fleet number. Texaco sold 563Y in 1937 to Hangar Six Inc. in San Antonio, Texas. It then went through several cotton duster owners in Mississippi, including the famous Finkley Brothers, before being sold to the Tennessee Valley Authority in November 1941. The Stearman flew mosquito control for the TVA out of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, along with three other Model 4D's. Mal Carberry of Fresno, California purchased the biplane in 1948. Carberry Dusters operated several Model 4’s through the 1950's. 563Y's records show that it was "Dismantled/Salvaged," May 18, 1965, with more than 3,000 hours total time flown.

The Kansas Aviation Museum has a rare jewel in this Stearman. Out of the 40 Model 4's built in 1929 through 1931, fourteen are still accounted for. Eight are restored and flying, two are restored and in museums. 563Y is under restoration and three others are awaiting restoration. This is an amazing survival rate.

More parts have been donated and some were obtained through trade. The engine, a Pratt & Whitney Wasp, Jr. (R-985), has been assembled from donated parts and as the Kansas Aviation Museum does not fly the restored airplanes, the engine was not built up to run. The nice ladies of a local organization, "The Women of Wichita" donated $20,000 for the restoration in January 2005. This allowed the restoration shop to purchase all of the necessary supplies, materials, parts, dope and fabric to complete the project. The restoration was started in mid 2005. With the donated services of several commercial shops and suppliers, the volunteer museum shop technicians (who range in age from 60 to 87) were able to fabricate and assemble all of the non-repairable or missing parts and assemblies.

The four wings and wing center section, including hardware, ribs and spars were all built from scratch in our shop as well as the right horizontal stabilizer and elevator. The beautiful instrument panel, seats, all sheet metal, upholstery and furnishings were all fabricated in our shop. All of this was accomplished without factory drawings. Using dimensions from other Stearman Model 4's under restoration, KAM volunteers re-created the necessary drawings. More than 9,000 KAM shop volunteer hours have been expended on this project. It is now nearing completion. The paint is complete except for the green color separation stripes. The decals have been applied and final assembly is 95% complete. This team effort of the KAM volunteers and the Wichita community is making the "Texaco 11" look like it did when "Duke" Jernigan took delivery in Wichita August 1, 1931.

By Walt House

Interested in homebuilt aircraft? You know, the old fashioned plans-built kind that is?? Airplanes with names such as Pietenpol, Corben, Knight Twister, Thorp, Wittman and similar. If so, the latest issue of AAA founder/President Robert Taylor's Legacy Log of Homebuilt Aircraft is hot off the presses.

For more info give RLT a call here at AAA HQ in the afternoons at 641-938-2773 or subscription is $21 for three 24 page issues to:

Legacy Log of Homebuilt Aircraft
PO Box 127
Blakesburg, IA 52536

RLT would welcome your input of material, photos, history etc. for future issues.

Here's the Michigan Chapter April 2013 Newsletter. Lots of fly-in announcements!

From Aero Digest, 1928.

A reader pointed out about a month ago that it was hard to find an application for the Antique Airplane Insurance program that is a membership benefit of AAA. The application form is now available here on AntiqueAirfield.com, suitable for emailing or paper mailing to Butler-Brown Insurance.

Click for the application form.

The "Buy-a-Foot" Campaign to raise funds for the APM Restoration Center is now 99.43% complete and only $500 away from reaching our goal of $71,000.00. Only 16 square feet remain open and available at $25 per square foot.

We currently await a final bid for insulating the structure to move ahead with the final segment of construction. We hope to have that bid and let a contract for that all important segment of the job, at the coming APM Board meeting this weekend. The steel for finishing the insides of the Restoration Center has been purchased, is cut to dimension and awaits installation.

Once construction is complete we can move ahead with the next phase of the project, making the APM Restoration Center operational!!

It is because of you, those whom have supported this project with your dollars, your material donations and your "sweat equity", that we have been able to construct the Restoration Center in these challenging economic times. The Board of Directors of the APM and I personally would like to "Thank" all of you for you continued support of the Restoration Center and the APM.

Brent Taylor
Treasurer APM

Bob Hartmaier of Monroe Township, NJ wrote about the Pitcairn photo in the latest copy of Antique Airfield Runway, and an update on his new Airmaster:

Thanks for your letter and the copy of The Antique Airfield Runway. I was delighted to see the photo of the Pitcairn PA-7, NC13158. I have a photo of that plane with Steve Pitcairn sitting with his back against the wheel pant that was taken when he owned it and brought it to a Golden Age Air Museum Fly-In.

Airmaster N16404 is presently a basket case. It was involved in a ground loop incident in the 1960's, and the main spar suffered a crack that goes all the way to the point where the wing attaches to the top of the fuselage, and goes through all the laminations. The wing was improperly repaired at the time; the main spar should have been replaced. On top of that, the uncovered wing was then left outside in the weather for the best part of a year, so all the plywood parts such as the leading edge and compression ribs and many of the scarf joints in the spars delaminated. In other words, a complete new wing is needed. John Pike and his crew at Big Sky Stearman constructed two new spar blanks for me, and I can now begin building a new wing. Anyway, NC16404 is going to be a long term restoration project, and will not make it to the 60th Anniversary Fly-In.

Last November I purchased C-38 NC19459, S/N 412, that had been stored away in a hangar for the last 15 years. I guess the classic car guys would call it a "Barn Find". It did make one ferry flight in February(see attached photos), and is now in the final stages of getting it's first annual in 15 years completed. It should be licensed and flying regularly by the end of this month.

Regards from New Jersey,
Bob Hartmaier

Bill Allen at the Allen Airways Flying Museum, Gillespie Field in San Diego wrote us that his Ryan is back in the air after restoration:

Here are some shots of our Ryan STM, winner of best Warbird award a couple years back at the National Aviation Heritage Invitational in Reno.

The fresh Menasco C4S was overhauled by Bradley Ball of Santa Paula, CA. The restoration was done by Rick Adkins of Ragtime Aero in Placerville, CA.

The airplane was acquired from Jeff Trappett in 1981 in trade for the first Stearman PT-13 to every arrive in Australia.

The first restoration in the US was done by Carl Hays and me here in San Diego and completed in 1984.

Now she is flying again over the San Diego skies in all her Dutch Markings.

Two years ago Andre Hissink (age 90 at the time) came from Perth Canada to see the airplane that he soloed in while in the Dutch Military. He brought his log book to prove it and we compared it to two log books we have from instructors who trained the pilots on Java in Indonesia. Andre went on to fly in a B-25 over the Battle of the Bulge where he and all but one crew member bailed out.

Lots of great history,
Bill Allen

Gary Baglien sent a photo of his new J-2:

Dear Brent Taylor: I just purchased a 1937 J-2 (NC 19565). In going through the ownership history I found your Dad's name [AAA Founder Robert L. Taylor] as owner in 1957. I have all logs back to the factory including your father's entries in the 1957-58 time period. The Cub was restored a couple of years ago and is very nice, (about a 9 out of 10) and sporting a 40-5. I plan on flying the ship down to Antique Airfield for the September fly in. See you then.

Congratulations to the Northwest Missouri Chapter for organizing and producing its first newsletter! Inside: Performing the Millman metal spar conversion for Citabrias, and Maryln Atkison's Funk.