Kermit's Blog

Change yourself . . . and you change the World!

Category Archives: Current Airplane Projects

New Storage Facility and Tour!

We recently completed another Storage Facility across the street from Fantasy of Flight to compliment our first one and are excited for several reasons.  First, it will give us some well-needed breathing room and give us the ability to make room in our Maintenance Hangar for the Douglas C-47, which we recently flew over from England and left on display at the EAA Oshkosh Museum.  Second, we purchased two road-legal trolleys to be able to take Fantasy of Flight patrons over to tour them as part of our normal ticket price!

Orignal facility on the left and the new one on the right.

Each building is 20,000 square feet!

There will be an opportunity to not only shuffle some of the airplanes on display in the Fantasy of Flight hangars but also give the restoration shop some long-needed space.  For the die-hard aviation enthusiasts, they will soon get to see a lot more of the collection!

For those of you that purchased the Wizard of Orlampa DVD we sell in the gift shop, you got to see a brief glimpse of how packed the current building is with airplane parts.  You have to crawl over stuff to get around as there is very little floor space to walk.

Small glimpse of the current facility showing Lockheed 14, B-29, and B-17 fuselages!

Pallet Racking has been assembled around the perimeter of the inside and my guys have started moving airplanes over from Fantasy of Flight.  The now disassembled AT-11, that had been stored in the Maintenance Hangar, became the first tenant.  Soon we will begin thinning out the first building and filling the new building, and in a manner that will allow our patrons, and my guys, to actually get to everything!

New building with Pallet Racking around the perimeter, AT-11 in the distance, and our Gas Balloon Gondola hanging from ceiling!

Since most people in the aviation world are aware that the National Air & Space Museum has their off-site Silver Hill Storage Facility in Maryland, I’ve decided to call ours the Golden Hill Storage Facility!  Now I’ll never admit to it, but there might be a subtle innuendo there!

Golden Hill Express!

I’m not going to make any predictions as to exactly when we’ll be open for business, as there is a LOT of work to do.  Give us about three months and we’ll have a better idea.  One thing is for sure . . . when we do open for business it will be posted on my blog!

Kermit

 

Rare Airplane begins to Shine!!!

We are slowly making progress on a very rare Seversky P-35a, which I acquired it in a trade many years ago with the USAF Museum.   The P-35 was a mid-thirties fighter that saw limited combat at the beginning of WWII in the Pacific.

There are only three of these single-seat aircraft left in the world and this will be the only one that will fly!  The two others are on display at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio and the Swedish Air Force Museum in Stockholm.

I am very fortunate to have on my restoration crew sheet-metal magician Ricky Reeves.  He has been the main person doing the work.  Once the Stinson L-1 is completed and flying, which is getting close, Paul Stecewycz will join him on the project.

Restoration Specialist Ricky Reeves putting the final touches on the side hatch.

Since we knew this would be a long-term project, we made the decision early on to reverse the normal process of restoration.  Normally, everything would be taken apart, documented, the basic frame restored, and then parts added as they are completed.  Instead, we have taken one part off, restored it, and then taken off another!  Once we finally get down to the basic fuselage and it’s restored, all we have to do is put all the parts together!

Obvious restored parts! The side hatch is for a mechanic to sit in the back!

The airplane came from the Swedish Air Force and has a significant amount of pitting and surface corrosion from being stored in underground bunkers during WWII.  The plane received additional damage in 1992 during Hurricane Andrew, mostly to the skins we will be replacing.  It is our intent to replace all external skins, shine them up, and use as much of the internal structure as possible.

We have some wing jigs made and will begin on them at some time in the future.  We recently assembled some of the parts to show off what has been accomplished so far.

Tail Feathers and Tailcone

If you want to follow the progress, come by Fantasy of Flight and check it out, as it’s part of the Daily Restoration Tour.  It will surely be a piece of art when we get it done and I’m looking forward to not only flying it, but being able to use it as a mirror to shave!

Kermit

 

The Spirit of Lindy about to Hit the Press!

I am very excited to have completed my second illustrated children’s book in the Gee Bee Series, The Spirit of Lindy. After two years of writing, working with the artists, and endless tweaking, I recently sent it off to the printer!

It’s a great story based on the famous flight Charles Lindbergh made from New York to Paris to win the Orteig Prize in 1927.  I came up with the concept, wrote the story, and had two great Disney-trained artists, Dominic Carola (pencils), and Ryan Feltman (paint), do the artwork.  We came together to create a beautiful book that, we all feel, has more potential than my first book, All of Life is a School.

The first book was actually a condensed version of a feature film script I’d written.  At the time, I owned several of the ten airplane characters in the book.  Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to collect another character here and there and eventually realized life was leading me to collect all ten!  I now have seven on display at Fantasy of Fight!  There’s a possibility to collect two others but the third, Curtiss, will have to be built from scratch, as only the original exists and is in National Air and Space Museum in Washington.  Something tells me, I don’t think they’ll be willing to part with it any time soon!  :-(

Cover Art including Questions on the back to help teach History in a Fun Way!

While creating the next book, and to save myself some money, I got smart this time and made sure I only included new characters that I already had in the collection!   This will be my approach for future books in this series, as I’ve got plenty to work with.

Two new characters making their debut are Geoffrey D. H., an enthusiastic DeHavilland 4 Mailplane with a grand idea, and Lindy, based on the Spirit of St. Louis.  Of course, it all takes place at Fantasy of Flight where Gee Bee Zee, Puff, and all their friends pursue Geoffrey’s idea, build the plane, and learn a valuable life lesson in the process.

Geoffrey D.H. makes his debut!

Currently, I’m awaiting a sample copy from the printer to approve before we run the presses.  As with All of Life is a School, the first run will be for 5000 books.  I’m hoping to have them by the Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In in late March 2012 but this may be somewhat tight, as the printer is currently on vacation and I’m not sure where I may end up on their schedule.  If I don’t make Sun ‘n Fun, I will definitely be signing copies at the Oshkosh Fly-In in July and the Reno Air Races in September.

So far, I’ve sold over 6000 copies of All of Life is a School out of the Fantasy of Flight gift shop, on the Internet, at airshows and other smaller events.  I’ve had no luck trying to break into the major bookstores so, I’m quite proud to have sold this many on my own.  I actually have signed so many books the non-autographed ones are rarer and probably worth more!  :-)

Lindy is Ready to Go!

Since the book will now be printed in 2012, I’ve missed the deadlines for entering any 2011 contests.  I’m excited to submit it, as I believe it has as much, or more, potential than All of Life is a School, which won a Bronze independent Book Publishing Award!

I have concepts for another dozen books in the Gee Bee Series and now have to think about which one to focus on next!  Once I get The Spirit of Lindy books in hand, the real work will begin trying to promote and sell them!  At least I’ve laid the foundation with the first book and already have an email list and somewhat of a following.

I’m still learning the business, which is all but impossible to break into for a first-time author.  I can only apply what I’ve learned so far and hope to implement some new things as well.  But, hey . . . now I’m a two-time author!  We’ll see.

Kermit

Sopwith Snipe Flies!

My Sopwith Snipe has been completed, signed-off by the authorities, and recently test-flown!

All this is courtesy of Peter Jackson’s great interest and efforts building up very authentic reproductions of famous WWI aircraft.  As mentioned in a previous blog, I did a trade with Peter for the Snipe and Albatros and sent down several engines they overhauled for the projects.

Snipe being Rigged for Flight!

Since this is the first Snipe built by Gene DeMarco and The Vintage Aviator Ltd. (TVAL), it took considerably longer than my Albatros, which already had a prototype flying.  I blogged about my exploits in April flying the Albatros at the Omaka Airshow.

I chose to paint the Snipe in the colors of highly-decorated WWI Canadian Ace Billy Barker, who was the 12th highest scoring ace in WWI with 50 confirmed kills.  It represents the airplane he flew his last combat in on October 27, 1918, in which he received the Victoria Cross for his valiant efforts against enemy aircraft.

Ready to Test-Fly!

One of the cooler aspects of the restoration was that Barker and his squadron mates used to put car ornaments of the time on their airplanes to “personalize” them.  Gene and his restoration crew did some research and found the ornaments are still being made for period cars . . . by the SAME COMPANY that built them in WWI!  How cool is that?  They ordered me the one Barker used . . . a Red Devil!

Barker's personalized weapon with WWI period car hood ornament!

The Snipe uses the largest Rotary engine ever built: a British Bentley BR-2 with 230 hp!  I have seen videos of it running on a test stand and can’t wait to get it back to hear it in person.  Better yet, fly behind it!

She Flies!

As I write this, both the Snipe and the Albatros are on a ship headed to Florida.  We hope to have them assembled and flying at Fantasy of Flight and by the end of March in time for the 2012 Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In!

Kermit

Curtiss Pusher Arrival!

The Curtiss Pusher I purchased earlier this year is now at Fantasy of Flight!  Shipped down from Idaho, it made the trip in record time in the back of a semi-trailer.  With the help of my guys, we unloaded it and eventually hung the wings on temporarily while we had everyone there.

The precarious part with the help of a forklift!

While in the trailer unloading parts . . . with my three of my guys looking in . . . I couldn’t help but have them pose for a picture!

Grease Monkeys?

As mentioned in a previous blog, I think the airplane will make a great trainer for the Benoist Flying Boat we’re building.

Hangar Flying!

The airplane has since been completely assembled, inspected, and test run.  We now only await paperwork from the FAA.

Kermit

Liberty Engine Progress!

Restoration Specialist, Andy Salter, just completed a milestone on one of our onsite airplane projects . . . the installation of a Liberty engine he overhauled himself for our WWI DeHavilland 4!

Andy makes last minute checks!

Andy is an expert machinist and comes from a background of tool and die making as well as car and airplane restoration.  He was involved in the rebuild of the Spitfire we have at Fantasy of Flight as well as several other projects I had done in England before he came to work for me.

Hoisting the Liberty to its new Home!

One of the more tedious parts of the overhaul was hand-scraping the silver babbitted crankshaft bearings, which alone took him three weeks!  Next steps on the project will be to begin installing anything that connects to the engine like fuel lines, instruments, radiator, etc.

Installed!

Andy is also working on another Liberty for our other DH-4 Mailplane so what he’s learned from this project will have a direct carry over to the Mailplane.

I can’t wait to hear one run!

Kermit

My first Product Endorsement!

I was recently asked to endorse a product for a Radio Control Airplane version of the famous Gee Bee R-1 Racer!  This was the airplane that Jimmy Doolittle flew and won the famous Thompson Trophy Race in Cleveland, OH in 1932.  They actually built two versions of the airplane: one for racing in the Thompson closed-course pylon races and another for participating in the cross-country Bendix Race from Los Angeles to Cleveland.

I'm now on the side of a box!

We’re fortunate to have a reproduction of the airplane on display at Fantasy of Flight, which has since become one of the characters in my illustrated children’s book series.  The first book is called All of Life is a School and I’m rapidly narrowing down on my second one.

It’s a cute little airplane with an electric motor.  Guess what it weighs with the motor and all the radio control gear in it?  FIVE OUNCES!  They brought one out for the photo shoot and later flew it for me off the ramp.  How cool!

While we aren’t getting paid for the endorsement, we are getting some great advertising on the side of the box to help advertise Fantasy of Flight.

I used to fly R/C airplanes when I was a kid and now joke to people that I crashed so many of them, it got too expensive . . . so I got into collecting Warbirds!

Kermit

Another Mustang for the Herd!

Most everyone is aware of the two beautiful P-51 Mustangs we have on display at Fantasy of Flight: P-51C, Ina the Macon Belle, and P-51D, Cripes A’Mighty. But did you know that I’ve also had a North American P-51A in storage for many years?  I purchased it in the early 1980′s but, because I had first the “D”, and then the “C” to fly, I never really pursued getting the “A” flyable and focused on other projects.

The project is in great shape and years ago I sent the it out to Art Teeters’ Cal Pacific Airmotive in California to slowly begin working on.  I was in no hurry and the project has been on and off the “burner” for several decades.  Art and his son Dave did the restorations on both the “C” and the “D”, which both won Grand Champion Warbird at the Sun ‘n Fun as well as the Oshkosh Fly-In’s.  It seemed only natural to let them do the “A.”

New Stainless Steel Parts

Recently, I told Art to get back on the project again.  They had just completed the metalwork on another P-51A project and the shop was now up to speed on its slightly different construction.  It seemed only natural to take advantage of their current knowledge.

There came a great opportunity to visit the shop again when I was invited out to Dave Teeters recent wedding!  I had not been out to the shop in years.  One wing is basically done and the other is in assembly.  Currently they are focusing on finishing up the wings before diving in to the fuselage.

Right Aileron in Jig

As we began to think of how we were going to paint the airplane, I decided to do something different.  It seems everyone wants their airplane to stand out from the crowd, whether its the paint job or some special thing about it that no one else has.  Well, I guess I’m no different!

Early in the War, the factory made some of the P-51A’s with cannons instead of guns.  They were built mostly for the British but in researching into it, I discovered there were a few Americans that flew them as well.

Second Wing Half in Jig

Left Wing in Jig

Eventually, we discovered a likely candidate flown in the Mediterranean Theater by a 1st Lt. Dean R. Gilmore in a 111th Photo Recon paint scheme.  It was an airplane called Snoopers with some great artwork on the nose depicting its photo mission status as well as the number of missions it had flown.  Dean was awarded the DFC for one of his Recon missions over Monte Cassino, Italy and went on to fly 91 missions between August, 1943 and May, 1944.  By the time he returned home, he had accumulated a total of 194 combat flying hours and had flown more missions than anyone else in his squadron.

As a side twist to all this, Racing Legend Jack Roush at one point wanted to buy my P-51C but I told him it was not for sale.  He did the next best thing and acquired a data plate and paperwork for an early Mustang and had it basically built up from scratch by Cal Pacific Airmotive.  He originally intended to paint it in Dean’s colors but eventually decided on a paint scheme for another P-51B.

Lt. Gilmore and Snoopers

But this is where the story gets interesting.  After serving overseas, Dean returned to the States to train other pilots in Central Florida, flying out of the Bartow Airbase.  Unfortunately, he was killed on a training mission in a P-51B over Lake Louisa, near Clermont, FL just north of Fantasy of Flight.

Through an amazing twist of synchronicity, I had been asked years ago to do a fly-over for a memorial service in Cripes A’Mighty while family and friends watched from the shoreline.  I had no idea at the time that IT WAS OVER LAKE LOUISA AND WAS FOR LT. GILMORE!

The event was to commemorate a memorial for Dean’s contributions and sacrifices, which now stands at the south shore of Lake Louisa.  To add another bizarre twist to the story , the wreck Jack Roush got his data plate from WAS FROM THE RECOVERED WRECK OF LAKE LOUISA!

Lt. Gilmore's Noseart!

Needless to say, his family is very excited about the project and have offered to help in any way with information and photos.  In the words of famous radio personality Paul Harvey . . . “So now you know . . . the rest of the story!”

If you want to learn more about Lt. Gilmore and his exploits, check out http://www.swissmustangs.ch/72468.html.

Kermit

Airplane Projects Trip!

While on a recent California business trip this September, I got the chance to check up on a couple of airplane projects as well as acquire another great addition to the collection.

Over the years, I’ve had several projects worked on by Carl Scholl and Tony Ritzman’s Aero Trader facility at the Chino Airport.  They were responsible building up my North American B-25, the Apache Princess, which received Grand Champion Warbird at the Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In and Reserve Grand Champion Warbird at the EAA Oshkosh Fly-In.  After Hurricane Andrew devastated the Weeks Air Museum in Miami in 1992, I sent my Douglas A-26C attack bomber out to them to rebuild.

A-26 under restoration

When I purchased the airplane back in the mid-1980′s, it was very original and probably the most authentic A-26 in the world.  While flying it back from California, I happened to stop at an airshow in Texas and while showing someone the airplane, flipped on a couple of switches in the back and found that the rear gunner turrets still operated!  I was impressed.

Rear gunner position for the upper and lower remote turrets

My airplane had the distinction of having flown in both WWII as well as Korea and sported the colors of Whistler’s Mother for many years.  Other A-26′s went on to be used during the Vietnam war, giving them the distinction of being the only American combat airplane to have participated in three wars.  Seeing the opportunity to take what was already the most original A-26 in the world to an even higher level of detail, I told them to disassemble and go through the entire airplane.

Bomb Bay detail

While the airplane appears to have been originally built with the glass bomber nose, which the “C” model designation signifies, it also came with four gun packs under the wings, housing a total of eight .50 caliber machine guns.  I’m not sure whether or not it was originally built this way in WWII or modified for Korea but we intend to continue researching this as well as its original colors.  Combined with the four .50 guns in the upper and lower turrets, it was not an airplane to mess with.

Three of the four guns mounted per side that are housed in streamlined pods

Three of the four guns mounted under one wing, which are contained in streamlined pods

I also got a chance to check up on a project we’re about to start on for a Rosie the Riveter display we’ve been designing for Fantasy of Flight.  It’s one of the new attraction elements were striving to create that immerse people in history around a theme common to the human experience and in a way they self-discover something about themselves for themselves.  It will involve a factory assembly line for B-29′s and that’s were Aero Trader comes in.

B-29 nose for a new Rosie the Riveter Display!

I purchased a B-29 nose years ago and we intend to clean it up, as if it was being built on an assembly line.  I don’t want to give away too many details of our plans but keep an eye on our progress!

I also had the chance to check out a rather historic helicopter: a Sikorsky S-55, which had flown with the world’s first Helicopter Airline out of New York City to La Guardia Airport and other local destinations.  The owner and I had talked over the years and he recently called to tell me he decided to sell it.

With my new (well, OK, old) Sikorsky S-55!

Having decided to include early helicopters in the collection, I couldn’t resist checking it out.  It had flown as recently as the late nineties but had a light blade strike, which will require going through everything to be safe.  While it will be a long-term project, I couldn’t resist acquiring this great piece of history!

Due to space considerations, I will leave it in California until we get our new storage facility completed.  Look for it to arrive at Fantasy of Flight sometime in the early Spring of 2012!

Kermit

Benoist and Roberts Engine Update!

Progress continues to be made on the  Benoist airplane we are building at Fantasy of Flight for the 100th Anniversary of the first scheduled commercial airplane flight on 1/1/2014.

Restoration specialist, Ken Kellett, is heading up the construction of the airframe and has begun making jigs for the fuselage sides, ribs, and a mock-up of the center-section to get an idea of where everything will go.

Most people that reproduce old airplanes only go half the distance to do it right and end up installing a modern engine and don’t get near the same performace as the original.  This is because of the rpm the engine delivers it’s horsepower and turns the propellor.  Most modern engines turn at a higher rpm for use with smaller propellors at higher speeds.  At the speed realm of the older airplanes, modern engines cannot create the thrust needed like a slow moving large diameter propellor.

That’s not the way we like to do things.  However, there was a problem . . . we couldn’t find an engine to purchase ANYWHERE!

There's a Crankshaft in there somewhere!

I hired Steve Littin of Vintage Auto and Rebuilds in Ohio to scratch build the six-cylinder Roberts engine that we’ll need for the project.

An original cylinder and a mold plug

His company currently builds Rolls Royce Silver Ghost car engines from scratch of the same period and is well-qualified to do the job.  I was able to purchase two four-cylinder Roberts engines but only know of about six original engines that were in museums and unavailable for purchase.

Cylinder Molds

We were able to borrow a six-cylinder Roberts that had been in a crash from Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome to reverse-engineer.  The four-cylinder engines that I have put out 50 hp.  The Benoist uses a six-cylinder Roberts that is basically a stretched four-cylinder to produce 75 hp.  The cylinders and carburetors are identical and the plan is to build the case molds for both the four and six-cylinder engines.

Roughed in Connecting Rods!

It’s an exciting project for everyone.  We’re living our product by pushing our boundaries. It will be great to see how all this unfolds!

Kermit