105 year old war bird

[Baldeagle]

I had the chance a couple of weeks ago to fly an original 1918 Thomas Morse S-4C with 80 LeRhone rotary engine at an invitational event in California. It was a new addition to the collection there and since I grew up around Old Rhinebeck I took on assembling it and getting it flying. I have flown several aircraft with 160 Gnome rotary engines, and have run LeRhones on the ground, but this was my first time flying behind one. Being very familiar with the various theories of running the engine the management of that was not too difficult, but I will say that of the over 160 types I have flown the Tommy is easily in the five worst. Very tail heavy and unstable in pitch, and heavy on the ailerons. It does not give the pilot a feeling of security, although I made three half hour flights and was less uncomfortable with each one.
I also got to fly the Curtiss Jenny in the collection, so flew two 105 year old aircraft on the same day.
This particular Thomas Morse was stationed at Rockwell Field in San Diego in 1918, and sold surplus after the war. It went through several owners in the Los Angeles area, and in 1930 was purchased by Roy and Tave Wilson in Burbank. Roy was a well known movie pilot and had just finished flying for the Howard Hughes epic Hells Angels, and it's very likely that this Tommy was used in that movie.
In 1936 it was sold to Paul Mantz, who certainly used it in the 1938 version of Dawn Patrol.
It probably didn't fly after 1939, and in the 1950s was traded to Skeeter Carlson in Spokane, Washington. Skeeter restored it and got it flying again in 1964. He flew it for many years, probably until the 1980s. A few years ago he died and the aircraft ended up with my friend in California. A big thank you to Walt for making this happen.

Here is a video recap of the event, featuring many aircraft, including the Thomas Morse:

https://youtu.be/SeDCu3s_NIo?si=4Uc-jxFg_k0HqVc5

A video I put together from my GoPro footage:

https://youtu.be/0DyAcTwLoW4?si=BkeCKnGetkfEdi1m

And a few air to air photos by Moose Peterson

[Baldeagle]

A couple of photos of the aircraft from the early 1930s, likely when owned by the Wilson Brothers.






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[Baldeagle]

And a couple of photos from the late 1930s when it was owned by Paul Mantz







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[Baldeagle]

Lt. Lawrence Harthorn in 38898 at Rockwell Field in San Diego in 1918




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[Baldeagle]

Nigel Hitchman photos of the Tommy and Jenny






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[sandiego89]

wow, thank you so much for sharing your experiences!

So what others are on your 5 worst list? Love hearing it from those that have actually flown them.

How much would you guess is original structure (not a rivet counter, and not critical to restorations, just curious)

[bipe215]

Nice job! Thanks for posting

[JohnB]

Thanks for the pilot report.

I knew the ship when Skeeter Carlson had it at his private strip west of Spokane. He kept it there with his many aircraft and restored vehicles.
He had two of the classic 1936-8 White "Yellowstone" tour busses, and a custom tour-bodied Cadillac FDR used to tour Glacier National Park in 1934.
He had a WWII Jeep, L-4 and L-5 finished in the markings of his WWII unit. I understand he was one of the L-Bird field maintainers.

He was an early antique aircraft collector, starting in the late 40s. Peter M. Bowers mentioned him often in his magazine columns and books.
A real contemporary of Cole Palen, Mantz and Tallman though lesser known.

He also trucked the Scout o the Biplane Fly-in at Felts Field circa ...2007. A highlight were the engine runs.
I recall for those runs, the fuel control knob was a round metal knob like you'd have on an outside faucet.
The airframe was in decent shape, the fabric was old but appeared serviceable.

As you say, it hadn't flown for years and would have needed a lot of work to make it safely airworthy again.
I'm glad it received it and is in a good home.

His Canuck (Canadian Jenny) went to a museum in Pennsylvania.

Last edited by JohnB on Fri Oct 20, 2023 8:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Dave Hadfield]

Excellent.

[DH82EH]

Thanks for that!
Great report.

Andy

[Baldeagle]

So what others are on your 5 worst list? Love hearing it from those that have actually flown them.

People sometimes ask what the worst ones are, and I always say, "Before I answer, I want to say that I loved flying them!"

The worst one would be the replica 1911 Curtiss Pusher, a replica of the first aircraft to land on and take off from a ship. It had a more modern Continental 125 flat six engine, but was otherwise authentic in aerodynamics, weight, and structure. The original used a shoulder yoke and the pilot leaned to work the ailerons, and the wheel worked the rudder. There was a foot throttle. We modified the controls so that they worked normally, with rudder pedals and a hand throttle. The rudder was quite normal, and the ailerons were very heavy and slow to react. It had everything wrong in pitch, highly sensitive and also very effective, with almost no feedback. The wing loading was very light, and hitting wake turbulence from a Piper Cub could be a problem. Also extremely high drag, if you pulled the throttle back to idle it would decelerate even in a very steep dive. In less than 5 mph winds it wasn't too bad, but I used to say that if the winds were more than about 8 or 10 and you flew for a half hour or more at some point you would be scared.
I had an aileron cable jump a pulley and jam the ailerons once, it was a high stress situation that ended up with no harm to pilot or airplane.
We did the Blue Angels homecoming show at Pensacola in 2011 and for a video I was allowed to beat up NAS Pensacola like nobody has in years, flying over Admiral's Row, the officer's club, the tower, and anything else I could think of.



Next might be the replica 1917 Rumpler built in England by Slingsby in the 1960s for the movie "Lawrence of Arabia", but not used in the filming. It's actually about 7/8 size. Terrible flying airplane.



Another bad flying airplane is the Nicholas Beazley NB-8G, you would think that by 1931 they would've come up with something better.




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[Baldeagle]

How much would you guess is original structure (not a rivet counter, and not critical to restorations, just curious)

Almost all of the steel parts on both the Tommy and the Jenny are original, and the Tommy has original aluminum cowlings with serial numbers stamped in them. As far as the wooden parts the Tommy has new longerons and some other fuselage parts (as of the early 1960s!), but I think the wings and tails are almost all original, so about 80 percent original structure in it.
The Jenny has a lot more new wood in it I think, it might have less than 50 percent original structure.



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[Pogo]

Very cool post, and of special interest to me. It so happens that there's a Tommy S-4C and a Curtiss Canuck sitting in a hangar just a few yards from where I sit typing this, both airworthy if not flown too much these days.

[k5083]

Wow. Wow wow wow. Terrific event, amazing experience, and kudos to the shooter as well, those photos are Makanna grade.

August

[Zac Yates]

I've really enjoyed seeing the photos and videos come out from this event, Andrew, and now it's terrific to read your first-hand account of how the Tommy flew. Fascinating reading and I can imagine quite an experience!!