Here are some photographs that I took during my flying days and days as an airport bum at Ryan Field, Tucson in the 70's.
as seen from the front seat.
When he wasn't building airplanes Charlie built violins. And good ones they
were!
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was built by Charlie at the Ryan
Field EAA hanger during the winters he spent here in Tucson in the early
70's. Starting with the rotted framework found in the woods with a boxelder
tree growing up through the cowling. Charlie restored this old bird to
first class flying condition. I'm in the front seat as passenger.
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was self published and copies are still avaiable at the Fargo Air Museum.
Pima Air Museum in Tucson also has a copy in their library.
Fargo Air Museum http://www.FargoAirMuseum
Pima Air Museum http://www.pimaair.org
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Charlie and his J-1 were used in a TV serial called "Bear Cat" at Old
Tucson.
In this shot Charlie would fly over and drop a "bomb" by hand and then an
explosion would be set off on the ground by the special effects people.
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I flew with Charlie one summer (1972) to Casa Grande airport to the EAA
Fly-In.
Looking down on I-10 and watching cars it became obvious that the cars
were making better time than we were. But we where having more fun!
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On our way to the Casa Grande EAA Fly-in the Air Coupe flying along with
us had a hard time going as slow as we were. Made for an interesting picture.
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The J-1 always draws a crowd. This is the first one of the two J-1's that
Charlie built. This one has the Curtiss OXX6 100 HP engine. Clearly visible
in the photo is the radiator standing vertical in front of the forward cockpit.
The second J-1 had a Hispano Suzia "A" 150 HP engine. (Nick-named Hisso) The
Hisso was water cooled as well but the radiator was mounted between the
engine cowling and the prop.
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Judging by position of the ailerons the rigging isn't finished yet and there's
no number on the side. Note there's no vertical radiator on this one.
The distinctive shape of the Standard tail can be seen in the shadow on
the ground.
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Hand made from a Mack truck radiator, this picture kind of twists your
mind a little. A hole in a radiator... on purpose?
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I was always under the impression that the J-1's and Jennies were forgiving airplanes. Not so according to Mr. Klessig. To quote him, "...these old planes fly hard, are quite stable horizontally, but the aileron stick pressures [are] heavy and not responsive".
Charlie is shown here turning on his "booster coil" which was the secret to
the incredible easy starting of this big engine. He made it look so easy you
just had a hard time believing it wasn't a trick of some kind.
This picture will give you some idea of the size of the prop on this bird.
Standing next to it is like standing next to a tree.
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Built for a friend from parts of a wrecked Cessna 170-B, a Lycoming
0-290-D from a Cub sprayer and a set of plans from Pitts. (Nothing ever goes
to waste).
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Five of Charlie's planes are located at Fargo Air Museum in Fargo, North Dakota. They are a 1969 Brieglieb Glider BG-12, 1936 Piper J-3 Cub, 1926 Swallow Biplane, 1917 Standard J-1, and a 1952 McKinnie "165". The Pitts Special in the photo above is also at Fargo but is listed as "on loan" by the owner Jerry Meyers but it was built by Charlie in the old EAA hanger at Ryan, Tucson.
Fargo Air Museum has a web-site, www.FargoAirMuseum.org
This beautiful aircraft is part of the Collings Foundation of Stow MA. They have three
bombers in their collection. The B17 pictured, a B24 Liberator and a B25 Mitchell.
I took this photo at first takeoff on the morning of April 20, 2008. Collings Foundation web-site, www.cfdn.org |
