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Thread: Shortwing history and historical photos

  1. #21

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    Default Re: Shortwing history and historical photos

    In June of 1950 , commercial flight would not allow transportation of smoky the bear, Piper aircraft heard about this and volunteered a Pacer for the task of moving the little guy. They adorned the aircraft with the pic of him with arm in sling. And on June 27 he arrived in style in a pacer, to Washington DC. There was a stop in St Louis overnight for refueling and rest. He passed away Nov. 9th 1976 .

  2. #22

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    Default Re: Shortwing history and historical photos

    The original Pacer was flown I think by B. F. Hines. Will Schuster did the painting on it of smoky. Later a inexperienced pilot ran her out of fuel . did not know how to switch tanks . and destroyed the aircraft. One side of the fabric with smoky was sent to the Smithsonian and the other hung in Hines house .

  3. #23

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    Default Re: Shortwing history and historical photos

    Flying magazine of February 1977 had a article on page 21 and 22 . about Hines and his exploits.

  4. #24

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    Default Re: Shortwing history and historical photos

    Haha! Just reading that. Fascinating stuff. This I why I dig this kind of thing....forces you into learning about all kinds of characters and events that would otherwise be off the radar. Each plane has a history and in that history there are characters and events....that simple. Get those FAA Record CD's and start researching the names and places!! No such thing as "no history" on a plane....just a history that hasn't been researched.

  5. #25

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    Default Re: Shortwing history and historical photos

    I have two four inch binders of documents that outline a lot of the maintenance history of my PA 22/20 but nothing about the people. Prompted by this thread I looked at several sites used for N number searches and found one where a researcher took the time to leave a comment that I found amusing.
    Roland

    User Comments
    Babb, 2010-04-13 00:00:00

    When I came across N1684P while researching another Tripacer I couldn't resist posting a comment.

    I first flew this airplane in 1955 when it was nearly brand new. It was owned by a gent named "Alabam" Powers FBO at Airhaven airport Glendale AZ. This was back when this airport was a 3200' dirt strip. Alabam was a genuine noted local character who ferried B-29s in WW2.

    He and N1684P achieved a measure of fame when a local Stinson owner said there was no way it could outrun his 108-2. His challenge was answered and within 15 minutes a race to Avondale and back with $100 prize money was forthcoming and off they flew. When they hove back into view Alabam and the Tripacer were a quarter mile ahead which only goes to show you can never count the little short fat buggers out.

    I wound up buying my first airplane from Alabam, a 1941 T-Craft for $650 thereby achieving local fame myself as a 19 year old who owned an airplane before he owned a car. I used to trade time in my Tcraft for the use of a friends brand new 1955 T-Bird.

    Oh for the golden days of our youth.

  6. #26

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    Default Re: Shortwing history and historical photos

    fossil,
    That is the coolest story!!! Love that!! Exactly what I'm talking about. These planes all have stories to tell. Like I said before, the shortwings tend to not have many folks pouring over their histories, for many reasons not least of which is that they remain great, useful performers, whereas a lot of the value in many vintage planes of not-so-modern performance rely on their history and nostalgia for their value. Nonetheless, its a shame because I bet there is a lot of interesting stuff packed into these "little short fat buggers."
    I've been doing a real good amount of aviation research over the past many years, and a lot of writing....usually on local aviation history topics (Hudson Valley, NY) from the golden age. I will say that an enormous amount of the absolutely amazing stuff I have come across has come from finding a particular plane's identity, then getting the FAA Records, and then going through the owners. Sometimes there is even more stuff packed away in those FAA records....letters, statements, etc. I wrote an article on aerial bootleggers awhile back and the Border Patrol documents in some individual plane records are hugely interesting. One plane's records had a letter from a woman claiming some ownership in a bunch of airplanes that a guy had based on a child he never knew about! haha. Anyway, they can be dry, but when there are gems in those records, they jump right out. Owners names, then plug those names into some newspaper databases for the nearest town/city (there are quite a few online now, for so many states and regions of the country, going back decades...full PDF copies of the papers in many cases), and you'll be surprised what pops up.
    I bet there are some real interesting stories like the one above on so many more shortwings.....interesting commercial uses, shady uses, crazy-character owners, etc. Vaughn Loveley's Vagabond's history for example is so fascinating, as is how he really highlighted it in the restoration. Too many people think that its "no history" if its not a huge major event/person/etc. I see it differently....its the stories and characters we don't know about but should that are real motivators to dig!
    Anyway, I'll shut up now.

  7. #27

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    Default Re: Shortwing history and historical photos

    Here is an interesting story from a quick newspaper search of a New York State old newspaper site that is searchable. I hope they can open and are readable:

    Left side of page, halfway down "FBI Checks Sprenz Clue in Mexico" ....FBI Most Wanted bank robbing Pacer pilot! :
    Attachment 10348


    Center, top "Flying Bandit.." : Rochester NY Democrat Chronicle 1959 - 7184.pdf



    Another little story, with photo, from a crash landing not related to the above flying bandit (wish I could make out the N#):
    Attachment 10347
    Last edited by CPC94V; 04-14-2016 at 08:13 PM.

  8. #28

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    Default Re: Shortwing history and historical photos

    Awhile back in a large batch of photos I obtained, there was a thick folder. That folder contained an enormous amount of papers and photos of what was a Piper dealer between 1949 and 1952. Factory sales photos, price lists, bills of sale, factory literature, etc etc. Anyhow, this Piper factory brochure was in there. The back page, referring to the Korean War no doubt, is interesting. I'll post some more stuff too.

    IMG_3000.jpgIMG_6659.jpgIMG_5924.jpgIMG_7911.jpg

  9. #29

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    Default Re: Shortwing history and historical photos

    Piper factory sales photos from the dealer paperwork binder I have. These are all 8.5x11 size glossies. Sorry if glare messed them up a bit. PA-17, a few PA-16's, and finally PA-20s.
    IMG_9226.jpgIMG_4053.jpgIMG_6175.jpgIMG_8489.jpgIMG_7450.jpgIMG_6362.jpgIMG_0691.jpgIMG_3199.jpgIMG_8100.jpg

  10. #30

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    Default Re: Shortwing history and historical photos

    The photos are interesting to me. They came with a little souvenir card for a flight in a Clipper in April of 1952 from the Stroudsburg-East Stroudsburg Airport in PA. The pilot on the card was named "Hal" Hamlen. The photos that came with it showed a Clipper, some people, and some in flight photos near the Delaware Water Gap. This led me to do some research. Harold T. "Hal" Hamlen ran the Hamlen Flying Service at East Stroudsburg Airport in East Stroudsburg, PA. A former school teacher, he moved into aviation and founded his flying service during WW2. From newspaper articles I found, he bought this Clipper new or very nearly new. Used it for sight seeing flights, instruction, and charters. In fact, it was the first airplane to land at the re-opened Newark Airport, NJ, when it reopened in 1952. Hal lived until he was 100 in 2006. I've been trying to figure out the N# on this plane since I obtained the photos and started researching. It seems to be a fairly early Clipper (no "Clipper" logo on fin). Anybody out there know? Maybe someone owns this plane! Anyway, kind of interesting. I like the souvenir card for the flight....that was a practice going back to the 1930s. Shows you that even as late as the early 50s, going to get an airplane ride at the local field was still a "thing" and was something that put some money into these guys pockets.

    IMG_3988.jpgIMG_6310.jpgIMG_6307.jpgIMG_2440.jpgIMG_9259.jpg

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