LadiesLoveTaildraggers

Happy news from Susan Theodorelos! She & her husband, Andy, bought part interest in a Citabria that belongs to a friend of theirs, also based at their Moraine, Ohio airport. If you were at the Lady Taildraggers fly-in last year you might remember seeing this pretty blue Citabria….

“I now have something to fly that I don’t need Andy to start — that “might” keep up with the RANS — and that I can jump in and come visit without having a “starter” around!”

Looks like some fun summer flying's ahead for Susan!

“It is WAAAAAY different from the RNF — sooo much heavier on the controls….  but I’m current in it now — and with more time I will learn the “finesse” of it.”

Susan

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Posted March, 2010

Susan's Waco Avatar

Susan Theodorelos flies a 1930 Waco RNF out of I73 (Moraine Airpark) Dayton, Ohio.

1930 Waco

In the six or so years I have been flying I’ve done a LOT — so much so that I wrote a little book about it — but that’s for another time!  I have the absolute privilege of owning and flying two 1930 Waco RNF biplanes (well … one is a 75% complete project).

I started flying in 2003, flew the Champ at first — solo’d it at 13 hours, but put my flying on hold due to the death of my mother — got back to flying the following year  but then put things on hold due to the death of my father (yea…it was a bad couple years there).  Got back into flying the following year after purchasing the RNF.

Solo’d the cub in 5 hours and jumped into the RNF, solo’d it after 6 hours and never quit flying after that.  I had 29.7 hours of flying, solo’d 3 aircraft.

One happy pooch (Maggie) & Susan in the Waco

After goofing off for two years, and the threat of my written exam expiring — I finally set things up to take my practical in the RNF!   On 22 October 2009, I got my ticket!  My poor husband was having sympathy anxiety for me — as the winds were gusting to 22 kts on that day.  The ol’ RNF never let me down. It truly is a joy to fly.

The best part is that I took my checkride with Martha Lunken and had an absolute blast!  (I guess you’re not supposed to have that much fun on a checkride, but I did!)  My husband wrote an article about it for Vintage Aviation that came out in February.

Waco One:  1930 Waco RNF NC663Y

Waco Two:  1930 Waco RNF NC863V

Virginia Smith is based at KLBX, Brazoria County Airport, Angleton/Lake Jackson, Texas and flies a 7AC Aeronca Champ.

Flying the Champ!

Hello Lady Pilots,

Taildraggers all the way!!

The 7AC Aeronca CHAMP is my fun airplane.  I relax in a Southwest seat twice a month for long trips.  My pilot training started on a “postage stamp wide” crop duster strip in, of course, a taildragging J-3 Cub.  Signed off to solo in only 4-1/2 hours, I never felt so free once in the air. What an awesome feeling. The scary part was getting to the point of solo.  Shortly after that I purchased the Champ and as I was flying it home one of the tapes started flapping in the breeze.  100 mph tape to the rescue!  A few more hours in the Champ and them it was on to a Cessna 180 for my private ticket.  The 180 was a fun plane to fly too.

For more excitement I logged an hour of PIC time in a hot air balloon.  You should do this if you’ve never been in one.  Also every man’s dream to get a seat in a P-51 Mustang…mover over men!  I experienced what many people only dream of, a half hour flight in the rear seat of a real Merlin engine P-51 with a couple rolls and a loop along the way.  I am forever indebted to the P-51′s owner, who graciously signed my log book, and to an acquaintance for being at the right place at the right time.

Also owned my own high performance sailplane (glider) for a few years and may still hold several soaring records in Arkansas.  Competent on both ends of the tow rope, I logged 100 hrs of PIC in the sailplane and many more on the lead end of the rope as aero tow pilot.  I flew both my 100 hp Champ and a Piper Pawnee 235 for towing.

Another unique experience was the opportunity to sit in a real Russian MIG, though I didn’t have the opportunity to go aloft, it was still awesome when you realize the history.  The Russian pilot and I had a good laugh at the stick-on compass he had adhered in the cockpit.  Obviously his first trip to an American 5 & 10 resulted in this impulse purchase!

So remember the Champ’s wings need recovering, right?  Well you can guess the rest of the story, once started where does one stop?  It wasn’t long before I realized a complete restoration was in order.  So off recovering, rebuilding, and restoring I went.  1-1/2 years later I made the long flight to Oshkosh form North Little Rock, AR.  Ok women, you’re going to love this picture: typical 95 degree, 95 percent humidity day at a rural North Arkansas airport and a young woman hand propping a Champ which refused to fire.  Then two crop dusters taxied up and each man climbed out their comfy air-conditioned aircraft and walked a safe distance toward me, not to help mind you, but to watch a woman prop!  Doubt they ever hand propped anything.

The Champ and I have flown solo many cross country hours with just a map and a compass, the old fashioned way.  We navigated West to Goodland, KS; North to Fargo, ND, East to Athens, GA, and South to NAS, New Orleans.  Shortly after the restoration I made the trek to Middleton, OH for the National Aeronca Association fly-in and met many Champ owners and beautiful Champs. One woman from upstate NY I lost contact with several years back…Helen W. where are you?  Also a nice man from Louisiana with two boys and two Redbone dogs camped under my wing for a while and are etched in my mind.

Still not having had enough restoration fun I had to do another complete restoration, this time on the Pawnee to get rid of the “crop duster” smell. Believe my fingers are still sore from rib stitching. For more flying fun I made an aero tow in a Mexican owned Piper Pawnee for an airshow in Torreon, Mexico.  That was quite an awakening flight as I experienced mechanical failure upon landing.  The crowd line was dangerously close to the runway with little regard for spectator safety.

My non-pilot husband loves me to take him flying, especially to fly-in lunch locations. He enjoyed his longest cross country flight in a small airplane flight from Central Arkansas to our new home South of Houston by way of Galveston.   He loves our new DC headsets, radio, intercom and anti-fatigue seats; thought he’s still looking for in-flight cocktail service!  I also serve on our airports fly-in committee.

My next goal:  anyone have any connections with a blimp?  I’d love to get a flight in a blimp.  I’m not a rating collector and don’t particularity enjoy aerobatics, though I do enjoy adventure.

Keep in tough, I may make another long cross country later this year.

Virginia Smith

Faith Olen-Glick is based at KGVE, Gordonsville Municipal Airport, Gordonsville, Virginia.

Check out Faith’s website at BlueBirdAerodrome.

More on Faith soon!

Sent in by Shannon Gallagher….probably because she flies a Taylorcraft and knows I LOVE my Aeronca!  Thanks, Shannon.

Best friends and 16 years old when they each soloed several years ago, Janice Griggs and Andrea Hattan-Stang of Goddard, Kansas had the good fortune to learn to fly in the Griggs family’s 1937 Aeronca “K”.  Janice’s father, Jerry Griggs, instructed both girls, soloing his daughter one day and her friend, Andrea the next.

Janice is now 21 and in Oregon studying aquarium sciences.  Her shirttail still hangs on her wall while she is away at college.  Andrea comes from a family of pilots and has about 50 hours.  Her brother is a pilot, her dad a pilot, her mom a pilot (in a Luscombe), her granddad a pilot and her grandmother a pilot.  Her new husband is a crew chief on Army helicopters and Andrea would like to finish her rating when he returns from Iraq while he learns to fly too.

Jerry Griggs’ “K”, registration NC18869, was converted from the original 36 HP 2 cylinder Aeronca E-113 engine to a 65 HP Lycoming O-145 in 1970.

Kansas – Texas, it doesn’t matter – aviation really is a very small world.  Jerry Griggs, from Kansas, who owns this ’37 Aeronca, located his aviation mentor, Lori Adams, from Texas, on this website.  He started in aviation working for Lori Adams in 1967 at her flight school in Texas and is who he credits with inspiring his love of aviation.  See Lori Adams – Texas !

Here is a future lady tailwheel pilot, Jerry’s granddaughter and Janice’s niece.  She is now five years old and perhaps in eleven more years she can solo his 1937 Aeronca.  By the way, her name is Jazelle Aeronica Morris and Jerry swears he had NOTHING to do with naming that baby.  She is the daughter of his oldest daughter who helped him varnish the wing’s woodwork prior to covering in 1985.  The misspelling of Aeronca = Aeronica is intentional to make it sound more feminine.  Her sister is Joslyn Piper Morris.  He had NOTHING to do with naming her either!

The following article was written by Elaine Huf

Blakesburg 2009

For the past several years, my husband Tom and I head out to Blakesburg, Iowa for their annual Antique Airplane Fly-in over Labor Day weekend, always flying his 1944 twin Cessna T-50 Bobcat……a distance of 882 statute miles.  In the Bobcat, this usually takes one day with a fuel stop somewhere in Indiana.

This year I decided to fly my 1947 7BCM (L-16A) Champ to Blakesburg, starting out Monday with the intention of arriving either late Wednesday or early Thursday – - – Tom would be flying out Wednesday or Thursday with the Bobcat and the camping gear. I departed our farm in Harford, PA (PS50) that afternoon with about 7 kts. on the tail.  First leg was 195 miles (2 hrs. 38 min.) to Clarion, PA (AXQ), I fueled up and got a free hot dog left over from Sunday’s Young Eagle Day.  Next stop was Medina, OH (1G5) 121 miles which only took 1:30 hrs. but I would soon be running out of daylight because of the late start.  Up went the tent and out came the coyotes howling at midnight (almost a full moon).

Departing the next day, my first fuel stop was Auburn, IN (GWB) covering 173 miles in 2 hours.  My next stop was Dwight, IL (DTG) 175 miles in just under 2 hours.  Dwight has a 2,800 ft.grass strip (9/27) with 25′ of asphalt down the middle (due to drainage problems) and a second runway that runs North/South – 1,900 ft. of grass cut out of a cornfield.  This airport is owned by David and Jeanne Constantine – what a delightful couple!  I had about 2 more hours of daylight, but it was so pretty with all the corn fields and that nice grass runway I decided to stay there for the night.  I only had another 2:30 to 3 hr. flight to Blakesburg which I could easily fly the next day.  Taking their courtesy truck into Dwight, I did some sight-seeing downtown (which is what you are supposed to do on a cross-country).  Dwight is known for its large publishing company and beautifully restored railroad station.  The train stops in Dwight 3 times a day and runs from Chicago to St. Louis.  There are 2 restored gas stations from the original “Route 66” and you feel you could be back in the late 40′s or early 50′s.  It’s a lovely town, and I enjoyed the visit.  Plus they let me sleep in the office on the couch; I didn’t have to put up my tent overnight….no coyotes.

This is a working farm with corn and soybeans in the surrounding fields – and the early morning fog came down to the tops of the corn stalks the next day.  I ended up having breakfast with the Constantine’s and as soon as the fog lifted I headed west again (another 7-8 kts. on my tail) to Monmouth, IL (C66) for fuel…115 miles with a groundspeed of 89 mph.  My husband had stopped there a day earlier and let the FBO know I would also be stopping in for fuel.  The FBO knew of a local pilot that used to fly the L-birds in Korea and he was there to greet me when I landed.  Leaving Monmouth, I flew the last 102 miles to Blakesburg, where I finally landed in the early afternoon….a total of 10 hours, 45 minutes – 882 miles.

Beautiful weather and good friends at Blakesburg – this was the year of the “Corporate Wings” and any older aircraft that flew corporate was front and center.  Our Bobcat flew for Berghoff Brewery and Tom was smack in center field, as was the Lockheed that was used to film “Amelia” (starring Hilary Swank – the movie was due out in theaters soon).  We stayed to the end of the fly-in on Sunday, camping at night and enjoying the coyotes in Iowa (now a complete full moon!).  Sunday night is the awards night, and I was surprised to hear my name being called to the stage to receive the “people’s choice” award from the Arizona Chapter of the Antique Airplane Association.  I had given up hope of winning any prize, as there were so many beautiful and unusual airplanes that flew in – 362 in all, a banner year.  Getting ready to leave the stage with my award….which was the state of Arizona cut from sandstone with a bi-plane flying in a sunset painted on the surface…..stunning!….I was shocked to hear the announcer tell me to wait as I also won the “people’s choice” award from the Iowa Chapter……but they FORGOT to buy a trophy so I have to wait until they mail it to me (or bring it out to Lock Haven next year when their president visits with his J-2 Cub).  Another Champ won the award for “Sweetest Airplane” – - – great year for Champs in Blakesburg!

On Monday, September 7th I flew the return trip with our friend Joe Kaminskas and his newly restored 1930 Waco RNF (which took Grand Champion at OSH this year) making our first fuel stop at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa (MPZ) about 55 miles East of Blakesburg.  We hit headwinds but our speeds were about the same, I was a bit slower so I took the lead.  He had no radio so we used hand signals and planned alternate airports for every fuel stop.  Our next destination was back to Dwight, IL and our groundspeed dwindled to about 66 mph.  There was rain ahead so we stayed overnight, and I got to give Joe the tour of Dwight.  The Constantine’s had renewed their vows a day earlier – 60 years of marriage – and even saved a piece of cake for me!

After the morning fog cleared Tuesday, we tried to fly to another grass strip further south on Joe’s route (he has a strip outside of Harrisburg) but had to divert to Peru, IN (I76) after covering only 121 miles in one hour and 37 minutes – the rain and low ceilings kept us in Peru overnight.  Since I had been camping all along the way out and at Blakesburg, I opted to get a motel room in Peru – it is the Circus headquarters of the US and is the hometown of Cole Porter.  But the only thing I was looking for was a washer and dryer for my clothes.

Wednesday had us sitting in the airport terminal until 2:30 PM when the ceiling FINALLY lifted and the rain stopped, and Joe went southeast and I headed northeast into headwinds again.  Around Ft. Wayne I hit horrible clear-air turbulence that shoved me sideways about 1/4 mile and 40 degrees off-course……I have never encountered wind-shear like that.  All I could do was throttle back and ride it out……quite unnerving to say the least.  I was afraid my wings were going to come off!  I was headed to Seneca County Airport in Tiffin, OH (16G) and was only 30 minutes away, and I couldn’t wait to land.  Even though it was sunny the turbulence was awful and I opted to stay put.  This airport has about 30 employees working in the propeller repair shop based there, and they were also in the process of restoring an L-4 Cub.  They pushed the owner’s Stearman further back in the hangar and stuck the Champ inside, then gave me a tour of the place.  3 beautiful collie dogs and one huge labrapoodle greeted me in the terminal and the courtesy car got me to a local motel.  I was wiped out from flying 2:30 hrs. in that turbulence, but I was 154 miles closer to home.

The first 50 minutes I flew on Thursday was smooth and clear, and then I hit turbulence and mist and low ceilings again by Youngstown, Ohio.  When I made my first fuel stop 2 hours 25 minutes later (159 miles) in Grove City, PA the crosswind was so bad I had to slip it down to the runway into the crosswind, land and then taxi to the pumps with the right wing totally deflected – and stay on the brakes until the line crew came out to chock the wheels.  WHEW!  I had called ahead to make sure they had hangar space available and we put it away and I rented a car and drove home.  I had no intention of submitting myself or my airplane to those conditions – I could come back later and pick up the Champ.

It rained the next several days, but Monday (Sept. 14th) was beautiful so my husband and I drove the rental to Grove City, got in the Champ and had (normal) tailwinds home – fuel stop in Lock Haven to visit with some friends and then HOME. Total time was 12 hours and 14 minutes, mileage home 891; total round trip was 1773 miles.  All in all, a great trip – I got to meet new friends and new airports – we are so lucky to be able to do that in this great country of ours.  Even with the turbulence and headwinds, flying over the beautiful countryside in a slow airplane is still the best!

By Elaine Huf

Meet “Rudolph”, the Pink L-16A!

Elaine Huf’s  ”Rudolph”

This  happy, 1947 Aeronca L16A belongs to Elaine C. Huf of Kingsley, Pennsylvania (Identifier PS50).  I got my private in 1968, and since then I have added Glider, Seaplane (in a 90hp Cub) and Instrument ratings.

I currently own and fly this 1947 Aeronca 7BCM (L-16A) that I purchased in 2002 (I fell in love with this airplane in 1976 when I flew Search & Rescue with the Civil Air Patrol); and a cute, pudgy 1941 Baby Stinson 10A that trained WWII pilots – designated as an L-9B.  My husband and I restored the L-16A in 2007-2008 to ALMOST the exact condition as new. . . . some “poetic license” was involved in the paint scheme.

Elaine Huf with Aeronca L-16

This airplane is a “kid magnet” wherever I land, and there are always youngsters under the wings at any show!

My L-16 was called “Rudolph” by the guys in the Army Air Corp. back in the 1950’s and it is actually in the logbook several places such as “Rudolph in for brakes” etc.

You gotta love Pink to fly this bird!!

Once You see Rudolph, you just don’t forget!

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Elaine also owns a fine looking 1941 Baby Stinson 10A.

“As I was walking past row after row of delightful antique and classic airplanes at Blakesburg, Iowa’s 2007 Fly-in, I came across a Stinson airplane I have never seen before.  It was a cute, chubby little thing – like someone stuck a Stinson 108 in the dryer.  Checking it out, I noticed a “for sale” sign on the prop. . . . must be a guy, I thought, as the sign was made from the back of a beer carton and it was duck-taped to the prop.  After one hop in the “Baby” Stinson, I was sold, and contacted the owner to fly it to our farm in PA.”

“This 1941 Baby Stinson 10A is the first of the Voyager series, seats 3 and has a 90 HP Franklin engine.  She was drafted in WWII, designated as an L-9B (Liaison Aircraft), carried a one-hundred-pound bomb and one is credited for sinking an enemy sub off our Eastern coast during the war.  Several of these L-9B’s went to France right out of the Stinson factory.  We decided to put the original Civil Defense logo on the fuselage and wings and my husband crafted a fake “bomb” out of balsa wood for display.  After the war this Baby Stinson flew charter for both SANTA FE AIR TRAILS and OZARK AIRLINES, and has flown Corporate Executives for the COCA-COLA BOTTLING CO. of Southeastern Arkansas.  What a life she has led!  The previous owner restored the Baby in 1986 and we did a top overhaul on the 90 hp Franklin Engine last year.  At 5 1/2 GPH she gives us a range of about 750 miles, cruising at 108 mph. . . .take off speed is 55 MPH and landing speed is a gentle 47 MPH.  The Baby is a fun airplane to fly, is pretty forgiving and tracks straight on the runway.  You have to  be mindful of the tail in your turns, but she is as sweet as she looks.  Out of the 760 manufactured, only a handful are flying today.  I feel pretty lucky to have this “Baby Bomber” in our hangar.”

Look hard – it’s a small picture!  Elaine with her favorite Stinson!

Of note, Elaine Huf comments that Ladies Love Taildraggers now has featured 3 gals that have a shared “history” of being published in Sparky Barnes Sargent’s book “A HUNGER FOR THE SKY”.  For more information please visit   \”A Hunger for the Sky\”.

Visit the following link to read Elaine’s article about her 2009 round-trip flight to Blakesburg.

BLAKESBURG 2009 by Elaine Huf