Hood River

C170BDan · **Posted:** Fri Dec 05, 2008 3:46 pm

This Thanksgiving was my first one away from home (Texas) in many, many years. My wife's family is from Vancouver, Washington so we spend the holiday week up there. Flew (airlines) into Portland, Oregon. To make some time for ourselves we drove up the Columbia River to Hood River, Oregon. A friend of mine had flown into Hood River to visit the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum earlier this year and told me to add that to my must see list. Great museum, very nice hangar and worth the trip. Check out their web site here... http://www.waaamuseum.org/

The hangar is not great for photos but I did my best.

One of the highlights for me was Curtiss JN-4. Very nice restoration!

One of my other favorites was the Dart

Pretty cool to see another Franklin Sport. A friend of mine here in Texas has one of these rare birds too.

Nice little Eaglet. Second one of these I have seen. There is also one of these based in Texas too.

To see more pics from my visit here is the link to my gallery page.

http://picasaweb.google.com/dtlinn/WAAMNov2008

Hope to make it back up there next year for their fly-in in September.

stumac · **Joined:** Tue Nov 23, 2004 11:19 pm **Posts:** 185

The Robin came from Joe Erale on Long Island. Joe had two Robins a Challenger and an OX5 Robin that went to Hood River. He still has the Challenger Robin.

wacoykc · **Posted:** Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:01 pm

The Franklin Sport was restored in Michigan. I watched with interest as the price kept dropping month by month. We had discussed purchasing this but the thought of another airplane with another engine that was tough to support was the deal killer for us. Sold for around $40-45k

Baldeagle · **Posted:** Sat Dec 06, 2008 1:03 am

And the Jenny is not s/n 1, no Jenny ever was. Curtiss used consecutive s/n's dating back to well before the Jenny. This one is actually #5137 ordered Oct 18, 1917. At some point it was registered in Ohio and the owner at that time gave the FAA the s/n as 1 because he didn't know the actual number.

DougB · **Posted:** Sat Dec 06, 2008 2:07 am

And to think I missed out on that Dart in 1987, but it sure didn't look that way when they pulled it out of the chicken coop. The fuselage had been cut at the cluster at the rear of the cockpit so it would fit in the coop, the wings were in surprisingly good shape but needed work. The biggest project was the Ken Royce 120 which was sent to a well known engine guy in the midwest who passed away before anything could get finished. I think the guys who owned the plane finally drove back and picked it up in a basket, They had bought and restored an Aeronca Champ while waiting for the engine to be finished and were almost killed when the glass bowl on the gascolator broke in flight, the field looked like smooth tall weeds but hid berms and a truck frame which they hit. The Dart was finished but I don't think it had ever been certified with a KR 120 so there were problems getting it cleared to fly. A friend did finally test fly it and it was put up for sale after I left San Diego. By the way if you see a movie with Robert Stack as an air racer this is the Dart that he flew in the movie.

C170BDan · **Posted:** Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:27 am

Baldeagle wrote:

And the Jenny is not s/n 1, no Jenny ever was. Curtiss used consecutive s/n's dating back to well before the Jenny. This one is actually #5137 ordered Oct 18, 1917. At some point it was registered in Ohio and the owner at that time gave the FAA the s/n as 1 because he didn't know the actual number.

Thanks for clearing that up. Interesting that they advertise it as such. I will edit my info to reflect the # you posted.

Charles Neely · **Joined:** Thu Aug 21, 2008 6:53 am **Posts:** 18

Did you happen to see my old Aeronca KCA? Serial #19. It was purchased by WAAM and made the trip from Woodlake CA (35miles SE of Fresno) in the same truck as the Dart. Crew said they were headed to Colorado to pick up another before heading back to Hood river! They managed to get my bird loaded and suspended alongside the dismantled Dart, but I would have paid money to see another complete airframe loaded in that van!

When I had her:

http://www.popularaviation.com/PhotoGallery/3646.JPG

How she appears on WAAM's site:

http://www.waaamuseum.org/exhibits.php# ... 20Aircraft
Scroll down to second from last photo.

C170BDan · **Posted:** Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:26 am

Charles Neely wrote:

Did you happen to see my old Aeronca KCA? Serial #19. It was purchased by WAAM and made the trip from Woodlake CA (35miles SE of Fresno) in the same truck as the Dart. Crew said they were headed to Colorado to pick up another before heading back to Hood river! They managed to get my bird loaded and suspended alongside the dismantled Dart, but I would have paid money to see another complete airframe loaded in that van!

Yep... nice bird. I remembered looking at it because it had the up exhaust. I am a fan of blue airplanes too.

I am kicking myself because I didnt take the time to shoot pics of every airplane in there. My focus was on a few certain types.

Charles Neely · **Joined:** Thu Aug 21, 2008 6:53 am **Posts:** 18

Boy, I hope a bit of self serving pride won't show too much , but I think "my" old KCA is the best representation of a factory original. Except for the Stits covering, it has single ignition A-50 (!), no carb heat, stock intrument panel, 5-tuck navy spiced cables thru-ought, remote oil tank (sits on spruce pillow blocks on firewall), Flotorp prop, non-sterable tail wheel mchanical brakes(?) God I miss that plane! It's like a time machine that takes you back to 1938 everytime you climb in.

Canso42 · **Posted:** Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:08 pm

I think one of the vintage/warbird mags had a short feature on that museum in a recent issue.

C170BDan · **Posted:** Mon Dec 22, 2008 3:19 pm

Canso42 wrote:

I think one of the vintage/warbird mags had a short feature on that museum in a recent issue.

Yep... Classic Wings did a short write up on it. Another reason I went to see it. Want to see some of these machines fly in person some day!

C170BDan · **Posted:** Mon Dec 22, 2008 3:21 pm

stumac wrote:

The Robin came from Joe Erale on Long Island. Joe had two Robins a Challenger and an OX5 Robin that went to Hood River. He still has the Challenger Robin.

Have any pics of his Challenger Robin?

stumac · **Joined:** Tue Nov 23, 2004 11:19 pm **Posts:** 185

JoJo's Robin was restored in the 70's by he and his dad. The airplane flew all over the place and even went to Oshkosh were it won grand champion. The airplane was disassembled for many years and just stayed in JoJo's shop (still beautifull). A few years ago he brought it out to Bayport and re-assembled it. You wouldn't be able to tell that this airplane was restored over thirty years ago. Here is a link with some pictures that were taken of it about a month ago.

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/6533621_ ... 5962_w3jSX

This airplane has quite a history. In 1929 it set an endurance record that is very well documented. JoJo has so much documentation with this airplane and the airplane is so origional, there probably isn't a finer Robin in existance.

stumac · **Joined:** Tue Nov 23, 2004 11:19 pm **Posts:** 185

Want to see somthing kind of cool. Look at those pictures of JoJo's Robin. The one of the instument panel. See the six plugs on either side of the panel. Those are holes that were drilled and lines run from the cockpit to the engine so they could grease the rocker shafts during the endurance flight in 1929.

wacoykc · **Posted:** Mon Dec 22, 2008 9:52 pm

Nice shots of the Robin. You certainly do not see many Challenger-powered airplanes of any type.

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