What's New In Sportsman Pilot?

The Spring (May) 2009 issue of Sportsman Pilot contains the following news items:

Plus in-depth articles on the following aviation people and their aircraft:

 

         (click images for larger view)

Bill Hooten's SonexBill Hooten of Greenbrier, Arkansas and his father, also Bill Hooten, teamed up to build a beautiful Jabiru 2200 powered Sonex, which Bill (the son) flew to Oshkosh last Summer.  Bill, an A&P/IA, is one of the mechanics for the EAA B-17 and frequently accompanies it on its national tours.




Frank Moore's Piper PA-15Frank Moore of Wake Forest, North Carolina decided to go Sport Pilot when that pilot category was established a few years ago and now has two pristine Piper Vagabonds to fly.  One of them is a stock yellow PA-17 and the other one is a highly customized red and white PA-15 that has all the PA-17 upgrades, plus a Continental C-90 and two wing tanks.

 

 

Chris May's FireboltChris May of Owensboro, Kentucky won the Reserve Grand Champion award for Plans-Built homebuilts at Oshkosh 2008 for his beautiful Lycoming IO-540 powered Firebolt.  The sleek biplane was initially a project co-owned by Chris and his mentor, George Wheeler.  Unfortunately, George would die of cancer before the plane was completed, but Chris finished the job and obtained the N number 4GW (“For George Wheeler”) in honor of his friend.

 

John Drews' Timm N2T-1 TutorJohn Drews of Lake Mills, Wisconsin has restored a series of World War II trainers, the most recent of which is a rare Timm N2T-1 Tutor.  Compared to the PT-23, PT-26 and BT-13 he had previously restored, the Timm presented a unique challenge.  Its all-wood Aeromold airframe was originally formed and heat cured in molds - which John did not have access to.  He developed his own ways of making repairs, however, and ended up with a superb restoration.

 

Charlie Nutt's Falco F.8LRetired airline mechanic Charlie Nutt of Montgomery, Minnesota and his son, Bill, a United Air Lines pilot, built a prize-winning Falco F.8L - the hard way!  Bill lives in Magnolia (Dover), Delaware and had to commute back to Minnesota every month to work on the project with his dad.  It took them over a decade to complete the airplane in such a cross-continent fashion but the result was a stunning dark blue Falco that was named the Plans-Built Reserve Grand Champion at Oshkosh in 2007.

 

Mark Hardin's Ercoupe 415CMark Hardin of Terrell, Texas once doubted that a military version of the Ercoupe had ever existed - only to discover that a basket case 1941 Ercoupe 415C he had purchased was in fact the sole known survivor of three ‘Coupes purchased by the Army Air Corps 68 years ago!  He has subsequently restored the airplane to its Army Air Corps XPQ-13 configuration, color scheme and markings and enjoys displaying it at fly-ins around the country.

 

 

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