National Aeronca Association Bulletin Board

Rides four at a time...

One giant biplane

Small, Medium and Large

Nice looking airplanes. Lots of history in that area with aviation.

Cool, real airplanes!
I watched a guy selling rides in a Standard D-25 at the Watsonville CA airshow on Memorial weekend. I was talking to him and he mentioned Nathan's dad from GA.

That is Ted Davis flying and giving rides in his New Standard at BVO. Nathan flew the New Standard belonging to Olivers his dad just finished yesterday during a flyin at Peachstate. A real nice looking old flying truck.

I flew out from Atlanta on Friday afternoon with the wife in the right seat of the RV. Doglegged by Dallas to drop her with friends, then on to Bartlesville. 800 nautical miles in an afternoon ain't bad in an RV-6.

The Biplane Expo is a great event. Well organized, nice people, beautiful airplanes, and good weather this year. Too bad it was supposed to be the last Expo.

Here are a few pictures:

For you Waco types:







And a few for the Stearman crowd:



The pilot of this bird was a real old fashioned duster pilot complete with pointy boots and a cowboy hat.



On film, this landing looks much sportier than it looked in person...



I can't see anything... How 'bout you?:



How 'bout some N3N action:

Riveted, not welded...

Nice pictures. I've always been a biplane nut!

Wonder when Chris is going to chime in on this thread!?

From what I hear, Nate and his Dad (and Family), are THE New Standard folks. How many have you all restored now Nathan? Are there any left you guys have not done? David J.

Great pics you guys!

David; of the 9 flying we've built/re-built 4 of them, but I'm still learning!

nkh

joea wrote:Wonder when Chris is going to chime in on this thread!?

I'm sitting in the corner in a cold sweat!!!! I saw a baby great lakes that I almost bought....I did get the guys information...

Good thing it was too windy for him to demo it. FYI, I was the only Aeronca at the fly in on Saturday. So much for saying the 7FC doesn't like wind. Blew pretty hard on Saturday...

Someone enlighten me about the N3N. I know the Navy used them as trainers. The one pictured with the panel off shows what looks to be square tubing instead of the traditional "round" stuff.

What's up with that? They look quite a bit different than a Stearman. How do they fly? Are they that much more of a beast??

I have seen the guy's N3N out at Kennesaw, Ga and it is very pretty.

Looks like aluminum angle rather than square tubing, but what the heck, I don't know squat about them. Nathan, what's the scoop?

Mike

drjeff wrote:Someone enlighten me about the N3N. I know the Navy used them as trainers. The one pictured with the panel off shows what looks to be square tubing instead of the traditional "round" stuff.

What's up with that? They look quite a bit different than a Stearman. How do they fly? Are they that much more of a beast??

I have seen the guy's N3N out at Kennesaw, Ga and it is very pretty.

Once upon a time, Congress mandated that the Navy build a certain percentage of its own airframes. The Navy decided that it would leave the go-fast stuff to Grumman, Vought, etc. and that the Navy would build its own trainers. Coincidentally, the Navy happened to have a bunch of leftover material from their dirigible program, and used that material to build a significant portion of the N3N.

The N3N was "all metal" in that the fuselage was built of aluminum angles riveted/bolted together with formers allowing the fitting of an aluminum skin. If I recall correctly, the wings have an all metal structure, although they are fabric covered.

N3N's are larger than Stearmans and were used into the late '50's to train cadets at Annapolis. Later, many were modified for use as sprayers, but most have been returned to stock or near-stock condition.

SFC Hiatt wrote:

joea wrote:Wonder when Chris is going to chime in on this thread!?

I'm sitting in the corner in a cold sweat!!!! I saw a baby great lakes that I almost bought....I did get the guys information...
...

Chris, can a Army soldier like you even fit into a Baby Lakes? They are a very small bird! I've always liked the baby lakes, but I always see peoples heads sticking way out above the fuselage. It would be curtains for them if they ever flipped over during an off field emergency landing!

My personal latest favorite is the Rose Parakeet. Check it out here! http://www.earthspirittx.com/roseparrakeet/index.html

That and I've always had a soft spot for a Pitts S-1D.

flyingfool wrote:

SFC Hiatt wrote:

joea wrote:Wonder when Chris is going to chime in on this thread!?

I'm sitting in the corner in a cold sweat!!!! I saw a baby great lakes that I almost bought....I did get the guys information...
...

Chris, can a Army soldier like you even fit into a Baby Lakes? They are a very small bird! I've always liked the baby lakes, but I always see peoples heads sticking way out above the fuselage. It would be curtains for them if they ever flipped over during an off field emergency landing!

My personal latest favorite is the Rose Parakeet. Check it out here! http://www.earthspirittx.com/roseparrakeet/index.html

That and I've always had a soft spot for a Pitts S-1D.

I watched the current owner who is also 6 ft 200 lbs climb into the cockpit or should I say put the airplane on his back. Fit him just fine.


Picture makes me look more like 300lbs than 200lbs....