Fri Aug 08, 2008 11:39 am
When I worked for Ed Shipley he had one that I took care of. It had been owned by George Mennen of the aftershave fame. George landed at an airport that is no longer there, Shannon. He landed hard and cracked the MLG trunion as the story goes. The trunions are cast alum and have a history of cracking and breaking. This and the lack of a locking tailwheel caused issues with most at some point in their history. Anyways George decided to fly it home to NJ to get it fixed by his guy. The gear departed the aircraft and imbedded itsself in the roof of a bank in NJ. I saw pics along with a newspaper article in with the pile of papers that came with the aircraft. It was S/N 34 which was the last one built IIRC. George flew most of gas off and bellied it in. It caught on fire but emergency crews were waiting so it was extinguished real fast.
John Turgen ended up with it and finished the rebuild.
It is not that high up on my list of aircraft to work on. The manual has repair instructions along the lines of- The elevator trim system is of robust design and should require little work to be performed on it or something to that effect. The structure was before they trust alum for everthing. There was steel tube wing spar along with a steel tube inner structure from firewall to tailwheel.
Rich
John Turgen ended up with it and finished the rebuild.
It is not that high up on my list of aircraft to work on. The manual has repair instructions along the lines of- The elevator trim system is of robust design and should require little work to be performed on it or something to that effect. The structure was before they trust alum for everthing. There was steel tube wing spar along with a steel tube inner structure from firewall to tailwheel.
Rich
Fri Aug 08, 2008 12:37 pm
tulsaboy wrote:Django-
Don't tell your wife!
kevin
http://www.lpjetservices.com/for_sale.html
http://www.shermanaircraft.com/showspecs.php?ad=31
Kevin, he has to tell his wife--who's he going to get to do the nasty work on it?
(It took me years to trick her into this--don't spoil it!
.)
Fri Aug 08, 2008 12:38 pm
BigGrey wrote:That is a pretty good ratio of survivors. It must fly pretty nice and I like the fairly wide gear. That is one darn attractive airplane.
Les
It flies a little like a fighter. Lots of fun and with the floor jump seat it can, hold 5 people. Big throw-over control yoke is always fun when you watch the faces of those in the back seat who aren't familiar with this type of set-up! I know some who have mentioned that the center flap can cause floating on landing and they prefer not to use it. I forget if it's an actual cockpit selection or it has to be wired inoperative.
I only have a little time in the right seat of one in Connecticut, but I'd LOVE to have one of my own someday! It's very cool!
My wife thinks so too!
Jerry
Fri Aug 08, 2008 2:05 pm
Thanks for the pirep Jerry. If you can't turn heads arriving at an airport in one of those, nothing will do it. 
I also think it looks good with minimal paint of any color.
Les
I also think it looks good with minimal paint of any color.
Les
Spartan
Fri Aug 08, 2008 2:34 pm
51fixer wrote:It had been owned by George Mennen of the aftershave fame... It was S/N 34 which was the last one built IIRC.
Rich,
#34 has a unique history! Check out the story here.
http://www.spartanexecutive.com/html/story.html
Interesting that you knew the airplane awhile back.
Fri Aug 08, 2008 3:28 pm
Django,
If you're talking about this one:
Then yes, it is a survivor. Currently registered to Burton Bucher of Waukegan, Illinois.
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry ... rtxt=17664
Other shots of this particular airframe (kevin showing off here)
Notice the Army-Navy "E" Award flag on the side...
And just for fun, in color:
Like I said, how bout those fun paint jobs? You could even stick with one airframe and still follow its paint jobs through its history and have fun. Not including the ones that went to Mexico and possible saw service with the Mexican Army or the Spanish Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, there were about 20 Executives that served with either the USAAF, the RAF or the (I think) RCAF.
kevin
p.s.- Scott, I have to pay homage to the wives. Mine lets me do this for a living. How cool is that?
If you're talking about this one:
Then yes, it is a survivor. Currently registered to Burton Bucher of Waukegan, Illinois.
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry ... rtxt=17664
Other shots of this particular airframe (kevin showing off here)
Notice the Army-Navy "E" Award flag on the side...
And just for fun, in color:
Like I said, how bout those fun paint jobs? You could even stick with one airframe and still follow its paint jobs through its history and have fun. Not including the ones that went to Mexico and possible saw service with the Mexican Army or the Spanish Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, there were about 20 Executives that served with either the USAAF, the RAF or the (I think) RCAF.
kevin
p.s.- Scott, I have to pay homage to the wives. Mine lets me do this for a living. How cool is that?
Fri Aug 08, 2008 5:33 pm
[/quote]
It flies a little like a fighter. Lots of fun and with the floor jump seat it can, hold 5 people. Big throw-over control yoke is always fun when you watch the faces of those in the back seat who aren't familiar with this type of set-up! I know some who have mentioned that the center flap can cause floating on landing and they prefer not to use it. I forget if it's an actual cockpit selection or it has to be wired inoperative.
I only have a little time in the right seat of one in Connecticut, but I'd LOVE to have one of my own someday! It's very cool!
My wife thinks so too!
Jerry[/quote]
I used to work on this airplane and have a little bit of time in it. Performance wise its just like a big Bonanza with a tailwheel. Construction wise it really was a head of it time and is miuch different then it peer group.
It flies a little like a fighter. Lots of fun and with the floor jump seat it can, hold 5 people. Big throw-over control yoke is always fun when you watch the faces of those in the back seat who aren't familiar with this type of set-up! I know some who have mentioned that the center flap can cause floating on landing and they prefer not to use it. I forget if it's an actual cockpit selection or it has to be wired inoperative.
I only have a little time in the right seat of one in Connecticut, but I'd LOVE to have one of my own someday! It's very cool!
My wife thinks so too!
Jerry[/quote]
I used to work on this airplane and have a little bit of time in it. Performance wise its just like a big Bonanza with a tailwheel. Construction wise it really was a head of it time and is miuch different then it peer group.
Fri Aug 08, 2008 6:05 pm
[/quote]
It flies a little like a fighter. Lots of fun and with the floor jump seat it can, hold 5 people. Big throw-over control yoke is always fun when you watch the faces of those in the back seat who aren't familiar with this type of set-up! I know some who have mentioned that the center flap can cause floating on landing and they prefer not to use it. I forget if it's an actual cockpit selection or it has to be wired inoperative.
I only have a little time in the right seat of one in Connecticut, but I'd LOVE to have one of my own someday! It's very cool!
My wife thinks so too!
Jerry[/quote]
I used to work on this airplane and have a little bit of time in it. Performance wise its just like a big Bonanza with a tailwheel. Construction wise it really was a head of it time and is miuch different then it peer group.
It flies a little like a fighter. Lots of fun and with the floor jump seat it can, hold 5 people. Big throw-over control yoke is always fun when you watch the faces of those in the back seat who aren't familiar with this type of set-up! I know some who have mentioned that the center flap can cause floating on landing and they prefer not to use it. I forget if it's an actual cockpit selection or it has to be wired inoperative.
I only have a little time in the right seat of one in Connecticut, but I'd LOVE to have one of my own someday! It's very cool!
My wife thinks so too!
Jerry[/quote]
I used to work on this airplane and have a little bit of time in it. Performance wise its just like a big Bonanza with a tailwheel. Construction wise it really was a head of it time and is miuch different then it peer group.
Re: Spartan
Fri Aug 08, 2008 9:00 pm
C170BDan wrote:51fixer wrote:It had been owned by George Mennen of the aftershave fame... It was S/N 34 which was the last one built IIRC.
Rich,
#34 has a unique history! Check out the story here.
http://www.spartanexecutive.com/html/story.html
Interesting that you knew the airplane awhile back.
That is somewhat BS and artistic license.
When I took care of it from 95-97 it had many issues after its great restoration from the fire. Ed complained of headaches flying at night. I checked the aircraft over and noticed an exhaust streak from a small dia pipe exiting the bottom near the firewall. I traced things and discovered the outlet dumped the hot air from cockpit heat overboard unless it was selected to heat the cockpit. I pulled the heat muff apart and under the muff was an expansion coupling between 2 sections of exhaust collectors on the R/H side. I had to have these 2 sections welded together and the headaches along with potential disaster went away. I had to rebuild the L/H horizontal due to ribs cracking just 2 yrs after the R/H was rebuilt during its 1st annual after Ed bought the thing. The fuel gauge only worked on occasion. I pulled the stress doors (held on with 6/32 screws) and found no ground wire to the fuel tank and blue goo from fuel oozing from rub marks from the stress door. The stress door rubbing provided the ground for the fuel senders to work. It also had a constant small oil leak. Thats what happens when you have pin holes from corrosion in the bottom of the oil tank. When I had the fuel tanks out I found margarine tubs with hardware in them along with a bucking bar or 2. To cap it off gross errors had been made in the weight and balance.
Rich