ANTIQUE ATTIC
A Leap of Faith.
“My landings are faith-based. If I cannot see the runway, then I know everything is OK,” ushers Bruce McElhoe, pilot and owner of the Curtiss-Wright Travel Air 4-D N689K (c/n 1270), the only original flying example of a kind of biplane produced in small numbers at the advent of the depression. He explains: “I started flying in high school, and generally stayed with Cubs, Champs and the like, airplanes I could afford. However, I always wanted to own an antique airplane, and I started that as a retirement project. So, when the time came, I went on a search for a suitable antique. Mostly because I wanted an airplane with a Wright J-6 engine, Frank Rezich and Bob Lock helped me find this Travel Air.”
Applying the construction methods Walter Beech, Lloyd Stearman and Clyde Cessna, the founders of the Travel Air Manufacturing Co., in Wichita, Kansas, advocated, all Travel Airs had a welded steel tube fuselage and tail assembly and wood frame wings, all fabric covered. When the design first appeared in 1925, it had aerodynamically balanced ailerons with the balance area beyond the wingtips. In this form, the plane resembled the general proportions and outline of the famous Fokker D-VII WWI German fighter. As such, the Travel Air found a niche market in Hollywood, playing the part of the “bad guy’s airplane” starting with Howard Hughes’ 1929 war epic “Hell’s Angels” and continuing well past WWII, acquiring along the way the nickname of “Wichita Fokker.”
Of the 1200 or so, Travel Air built between 1925 and 1930, a surprisingly high number -about 150- are still on the US register, and a handful more disseminated around the world. Particularly worthy of note is the Travel Air 2000 HS-SIAM “Miss Siam” operated by the Tango Historical Squadron of the Royal Thai Air Force. C/n 1270 rolled out of Wichita’s East Central factory of the Travel Air Division of the Curtiss Wright Co. in September 1929, and was delivered to Marshall Seagrave -of the Seagrave Company, manufacturer of fire pumps and fire engines in Oakland, California- shortly after.
On January 24, 1934, Sol Sweet, owner/operator of Sweet Flying Service at Visalia Municipal Airport, acquired the Travel Air from Larson Aircrafts Sales, a dealer in Oakland, CA for $1500 and the trade of his rather tired Waco 10. Starting immediately, the Travel Air became the official mode of transportation of Colonel John R. White, Superintendent of Sequoia National Park. In January 1937, after three years and 750 hours of National Parks hopping, Sol sold it to Earl Hopkins, owner of the West Coast Kalsomine, Co., a paint company in Berkeley, CA. In November 1940, the left wing and the landing gear were damaged in a ground loop. In 1941, in accordance with wartime regulations, Hopkins disassembled the airframe. Following on a lead from Frank Rezich, Bruce McElhoe offered to buy the airplane from Jerry Porchin and Walt Kuhn, in July 2000. He describes what he got at the time: “When I started the project, pieces had been lost and pirated by crop-dusters, but I had the big important pieces, starting with a good straight fuselage. The wings were in very poor shape, but I was able to salvage 60 to 70 % of its wood. The empennage on that model is metal, and the good news was that it was in serviceable shape. I had an engine that could be rebuilt and a Hamilton-Standard propeller. These are extremely difficult items to find, and I was lucky it came with the project. I did most of the work myself, with a lot of coaching from Bob Lock.”
In 2005, after five years of restoration, the flying phase was approaching. Bruce wanted to be ready: “I learned to fly on tailwheels, but I was very rusty, so I got a refresher course. I did the first flight [on May 6, 2005] with Mark Lightsey, of Hemet, and, then, he turned me loose. The plane handles beautifully. It is much better behaved on the ground than a Stearman. That particular model has outrigger gear with air shock struts, so it handles like a baby carriage. It will lift off at about 55 mph, and climb at 70/75. Cruise is about 100 mph and the landing speed is about 50 mph. I can fly the airplane hands off, feet on the floor, and it will fly in a straight line, even though it will wallow a bit..
The hardest thing for me to get used to was the view from the cockpit. I have to admit, I still am not used to it. It takes very definite S-turns upon taxiing and, for that reason, I very much prefer a wide taxiway, so I can make high amplitude S-turns. In cruise, I cannot see straight ahead and on landing, I can hardly see anywhere. I tend to make my turn to final very close to the end of the runway, so I can see my landing point and touch down not too much later after that when the runway disappears. The Travel Air loves grass runways. The airplane was originally delivered with a Wright J-6, which has a pressure oil system, 225 hp, 7 cylinders, and a rather long exhaust. It makes a nice, quiet, rumbly sound that I like.
The airplane has won quite a few awards. The two I am most pleased with are Grand Champion at the 2006 Antique Airplane Association National Fly-In , and Best Antique at the National Aviation Heritage Trophy at Reno in 2007. Now, after five years of toiling over I am in the flying phase and enjoying every minute of it. I already put 400 hours on the airplane in the year and a half it has been completed. I am now looking for a Taylorcraft to be my LSA when I will reach an age when that would become necessary. “