by (Ed?) Carlson

THE LONG HARD WINTER in the Pacific Northwest finally broke and with the arrival of spring, a newly rebuilt J-3 Cub rolled out of my shop. The first day my little sod field near Spokane, Washington, was dry, I was out shooting landings just for the sheer joy of landing on the turf runway.

After taxying to the hangar and climbing from the Cub, I heard another enjoyable engine sound. There was an Aeronca Chief in the pattern and it made a well-experienced three point landing. The pilot was Philip Timm of Polson, Montana. Over the usual cup of coffee, he told me of an accident near Ronan, Montana, which left an old 1929 Cessna AW monoplane with a new owner.

'The man doesn't want the plane', Timm said. 'I told him I would see if you were interested in it. You are the one guy I know who has a weakness for the vintage ones.'

'If he can use a J-3 Cub, I'm interested for sure', I answered ‹ almost surprising myself, for I had never even seen a Cessna AW. However, I had time in a Ryan B-1 which is about the same vintage monoplane.

Follow up

Fortunately for me, my line of work took me into Montana the following week. Arriving at Ronan, I wasted little time locating the airport and on it was a large old hangar.

All I did was peek through the gap in the hangar door and I was struck.... There stood a plane I just had to have. I opened the hangar and stood back for a panoramic view. The old bird looked all the world like the Lindbergh era. She had a huge, long, cantilever wing and a rugged looking gear. Her windshield was square much like the Ford 'Trimotor' and there were no cowlings covering the engine. To my disapproval, someone had painted her a zinc chromate yellow with a modernizing-type trim. Since Timm had said the fuselage would need covering in a couple of years, that would be the time to make her an authentic early Cessna color. Anticipating, of course, that she would be mine.

She was powered by a 125 hp Warner Scarab engine which designated her a Cessna AW. The same airframe with the Wright Whirlwind J-5 engine was the Cessna BW.

The windows were yellowed and dirty and when I walked up to her I found a liberal coating of Montana dust. Obviously, the plane had not been used in a long time which seemed to favor my chance of getting her. From the number of windows the bird appeared to be six place but she was four. The pilot and co-pilot occupied the front, two passengers sat at the second window, and the rear window was just for baggage.

The doors were on the right side of the fuselage, one for the passengers and the other to enter the cockpit. Comforts of the pilots were hardly considered with this unusual opening. Its door had a narrow window across the top, it was triangular in shape, and had been set into the frame with a point at the bottom enabling it to fall against the fuselage if not carefully opened. The vintage handle just turned open or shut with no spring tension. To climb into the cockpit, I had to maneuver up through the small unique opening and to climb out one had to bend over and squeeze down through. I thought then it would be difficult if I added any weight to my 165 pounds.

Like all old birds it was stick controlled and the dual part appealed to me. If it was as heavy on the controls as the Ryan B-1, a pilot would need an occasional spelling off. Though the instrument panel itself was large, it had only the necessary gages ‹ tachometer, oil pressure, oil temp, air speed, bank and turn, altimeter, rate of climb, and of course a compass. Naturally, I had to dry run her and the fit was comfortable to my size pilot. Noticing the overhead cockpit extending back to the spar was all a large window, I found it opened upward for servicing the plane and could be utilized as an escape hatch. The old girl would charm any antique enthusiast.

First impressions

Needless to say, I was soon minus a J-3 Cub plus my savings, but became the new and happy owner of the Cessna AW. Timm helped me to ready her for the ferry trip home. Mostly she needed a lot of cleaning and the eviction of many mice and wasps from their squatter rights.

The little Warner engine came to life without much complaining and was strong on all seven cylinders. Take-off was uneventful from the field of 4000 ft elevation. Her controls seemed heavy but the plane did remarkably well on 125 horsepower. Sitting ahead of the front spar, the seat of your pants tells you to put the side window frames on the horizon for level, but soon you are climbing like crazy at that angle. When it feels like you are diving, she is in level flight.

The old gal built my confidence readily and a practice landing was next in order. We touched down. The moment of truth was here but the tail stayed firmly down and the rollout was not the least bit hairy. The gear pivot point on the Cessna is unusually far ahead, causing the tail to stay on the ground where it belongs when landing. You had better be serious too, for the old girl is no touch and go bird. The cable brakes worked better than some hydraulic ones I have experienced and when we were fully stopped, I sat listening to the sound of the Warner. For me this airplane deserved the respect of a classic antique.

The Cessna flew well the rest of the way home even encountering one storm that kept me more than busy with that size wing. The day was May 3, my birthday, and an appropriate time I thought to acquire an antique airplane.

I wanted to restore the AW right then, but she was still in license so that summer I took her to several airshows though not especially proud of her appearance. The following year it was necessary to store her awhile. I hung the big wing to the top of the hangar and put the fuselage at the back. She was hardly forgotten because frequent visitors were taking pictures and the mail had numerous requests for information as well as pictures. I heard from three owners of fuselages who needed wings and from a man in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who was building a wing.

From these men and others, I gathered some history on my bird. She was one of 50 built during 1929. Many had been ordered, but production was cut owing to the economic depression. Her serial number is 167 and registration number remains NC8782. Originally, she was sold to a California company in May of 1929 by Cessna Aircraft Company at Wichita, Kansas, when Clyde V. Cessna was engineer and president. After several California owners she went to Oregon, including a stay at Portland. An article in a 1934 Aero magazine described her arrival at Felts Field in Spokane, Washington, where she flew for Lamb Flying Service. In a few years she was back in Oregon and then had numerous owners again in California.

The late 1950s found the AW in Montana and my purchase based her again at Spokane, Washington. I was her twenty-first owner. She was a real old work horse making exceptionally long trips across the country with quite a few into Mexico. The logs show many night flights, which must have taken a good pilot in 1930. Her gas capacity is 40 gallons, oil 4.5 gallons, and her range of 630 miles will outdo any pilot.

Approved Type Certificate number 72 was given to the Cessna AWs. Since NC8782 was an early one, she originally was powered by a 110 hp Warner. Somewhere along the years this was replaced by the 125 hp Warner Scarab engine that she has today. Her performance on a mere 125 horsepower is tremendous but she was designed that way.

The fuselage is very compact for what it will carry. It is narrow and the seating is chummy. Those in the cockpit find the wing spar is their headrest, and the little window below the leading edge of the wing and the one in the door are necessary for pilot visibility. The passengers' heads fit up into the wing where ribs have been omitted. Their visibility at eye level is good and the cantilever wing with no struts makes it better. The length of the wing is 40 ft, making the wing area 224 sq ft, yet the plane is only 6 ft 11 inches high and 24 ft 9 inches long. I could see why the Cessna AWs won many victories in the early air races, especially in economy performance.

Deadline

A few years ago a group of pilots, of whom I was one formed the Scarf & Goggles Club for the purpose of flying our old planes just for fun and sport. To belong, one thing was absolutely necessary‹you must own an antique open-hole biplane. I was diligently working on the rebuild of a 1930 Student Prince. It takes a lot of weekends to refinish a bird and I was hoping to test the biplane late in 1970.

However, May 1 of that year, the Scarf & Goggles Club decided to make an Oregon Air Tour similar to a fad of the 1930s. There was no way to finish the Student Prince in time for that tour, so once again I found myself sitting in the cockpit of the Cessna AW. I figured that in the time allowed before the tour date, I could refinish the fuselage. Remembering the logs showed a shorter time on the wing fabric, I hurriedly ran a test. Luck was with me: the fabric was airworthy, so the wing did not need a re-cover. A check with the Scarf & Goggles leader gave me a special waiver to go on tour with a monoplane. Immediately, the Cessna fuselage was in the shop and a drive started. There were fifteen weekends to get it ready, and not a minute to lose.

Stripping the fuselage down, I found the basic frame was all steel tubing. One thing that really stood out while cleaning and sanding all the pipe and clusters was the beautiful welding that had been done on it. I kept the tail wheel fork on the bench to show off the piece of art. Obviously, the Cessna was built with lots of care. It was necessary to replace all the wood in the fuselage‹the stringers, window frames interior trim, and floor boards. Each piece was cut, fitted, and varnished.

Irish linen was used for covering, and to obtain the true color I wrote Cessna Aircraft Company of Wichita, Kansas. They referred me to their chairman of the board, Mr Duane L. Wallace, who is Clyde V. Cessna's nephew.

Mr Wallace's quick answer was, 'All Cessna airplanes of this vintage were painted one color - Red. I remember the red as being very similar to the old fashion barn red.'

So the Cessna became 'all' insignia red. Mr Wallace also sent helpful pictures of Cessna AW serial 157, which was ten airframes ahead of mine, and a view of a Cessna BW showing details of the original manufacturer's emblem.

The emblem is unique all by itself. It is a design drawing of a monoplane in flight with its fuselage spelling out C E S S N A. Using the pictures and old magazine ads, my daughter skillfully copied the emblem and painted it on the fin. She hesitated when putting it on the right side, for there it appears to fly backwards, but nevertheless that was original.

My calendar said it was one month before start of the Oregon Air Tour and time to tackle the big cantilever wing. There were a few repairs to make after a thorough check. The design for its strength proved that of a real craftsman. After viewing the two huge spars and the internal bracing, one has no trouble putting full weight in the seat while in flight. During the repair work and painting that wing was turned ten times. Many mercy calls were made to friends and neighbors, for it was a miserable thing to handle even with six to eight men battling it.

Assembly time was another day for neighborhood assistance. After supporting the wing as high as possible, we dug two trenches for wheels in the dirt floor and rolled the fuselage beneath the center section. Meticulously, we lowered the wing and slid it into place. It is fastened to the top of the fuselage with sixteen 1/2 inch x 14 inch bolts, much like the shackle of a car. As soon as we hooked up the controls, which was only the push rods and the rudder cable, the assembly was complete.

Pride

During the wing work the Warner engine also saw a top overhaul, so all was near shipshape. The test hop was without a dry throat, since I had flown the bird before, but now the Warner had a sharper crackle and the Cessna looked as proud as I was of it. The little bird started down the runway gathering enough speed in about 400 ft for a three point position take-off. She climbed out at 500 fpm, her performance seemed much improved but she still needed a good firm hand. Circling the field several times, I gave her the usual checkout and the landing was just like before. This successful test put us two days within the deadline so we all rejoiced.

Ed McCoy and his 15 year old son Mark were among my many appreciated helpers. They were to join me on the tour and we used the extra day to ready ourselves as well as the Cessna.

The redo of the Oregon Air Tour was 1800 miles of flying with fantastic views interrupted by lots of humor. Beside the three of us, the AW carried tools, lunches, our gear, and extra baggage to help out the biplanes. Even if she was near gross she never hesitated, just flew with her tail high and proved herself a true four-place airplane.

The trip made me a well-experienced AW pilot. I learned she is a rudder airplane and you need lots of it for all maneuvers. Ailerons are effective but heavy. It is the hardest mouthed airplane I have ever flown and needs constant physical supervision. She still cruises around 100, lands at 45, and gets more out of 125 horsepower than any airplane yet built.

The eminent old Cessna is still winning trophies, not for speed or endurance of yesteryear, but now for the oldest and rarest antique. She is the only registered Cessna AW still flying. Looking at her I realize luck was on my side when Timm flew in to tell me of the old monoplane no one wanted.

Photo Captions:

CENTRE: Original emblem was re-created and painted on fin by Author's daughter, using pictures and early magazine ads as reference (Photo: Ralph Nortell)

BELOW LEFT: AW's 1929 type gages, compare with panel (on?) the 1973 Cessna (on?) page 5

RIGHT: The pint size door is great for pint size people, but not (so? as?) easy for the pilot

OPPOSITE, ABOVE: After restoration to Cessna 'barn' red of the period. The metal propeller was $215 extra at the factory 43 years ago (Photo: Ralph Nortell)