E1 under restoration at PAE for Final Flight



Beech Staggerwing









Curtiss P-40  --  the Best!




727 E1 Wash and Polish Job at BFI




For my friend Gary in Scotland
A fine photograph of a fine looking aeroplane - Super VC-10  - JFK.



Mustang



Mustang and Spitfire



MD-95 / B-717   BFI
You DO know this is Boeing's Second Model 717, eh?
The P.R. folks didn't know - and didn't care.
The first - and REAL - Boeing Model 717 -  is the KC-135.




AA L-188  Electra   LGA



Awesome!
As Lockheed Test Pilot Tony LeVier said to designer Kelly Johnson:
"Where's the wings???"



My favorite Gold Scottish Lion - Renton



One fine-looking Beaver



Cessna Citation also at Port Townsend





CL-44s at SEA

N7002U
E3 - the third Boeing 727
I took this picture at BFI - September 1963



And, Yes - that's me in front of E3.....



N7002U - E3 - the third Boeing 727
I took this picture 48 years later - Jan 22, 2011 at San Francisco (SFO)
She was donated to SFO by United on retirement and then wore a bunch of different Titles.
Not sure she's still extant; pretty sad looking in my picture.

For Jim Hodges





Van Nuys



de Havilland Dove - Long Beach
a Real "Jetliner"
This Dove was the first to be both stretched and converted
 to TPE-331 turboprop engines - hence the "Jet".
Built in 1950, it was active until about 2010.

For fun, I looked up 3521 E. Spring St. in Long Beach, California.
Previous tenants were Airesearch, maker of the TPE-331 engine, and Gulfstream.
Current tenant is ... drum roll please:  The Boeing Company.



HNL



DC-2    PAE



OAK



787



Allison 501-D13 with Aeroproducts Prop
Convair 580

Dart Herald


EPA - Handley Page Dart Herald - CF-NAC  at Montreal   CYUL
British version of the Fokker F-27.  Only 50 were built.
Me and Chris Longridge (and Steve Udvar-Hazy) used to discuss (argue) the merits of each.
Initially a 4 engine piston airplane, it got converted to Rolls Royce Darts after success of the F-27.

Back to the Candy


JFK



Husky on Amphibious Floats



Super Connie at Kansas City

Avianca DC-4 at Bogota - 1968



Avianca Maintenance while I was working there



Hiking in the Andies

CF-NAL   L-1049H at Fort Chimo, Quebec



Landing PAE



Western 720B N93143 landing at SEA - Sept 1963 - my First Jet Flight!



LAX


IL-18   JFK



Lockheed JetStar Prototype  -  MOF / PAE
The only Twin out of 204.
Kelly Johnson's Personal Airplane for 25 years.
Click here for story




San Juan



C-119   Wendover AFB, Utah

War Surplus

These days you often hear about airplanes bought for a song as War Surplus (that's WW II) and Airlines that started with some War Surplus airplanes they bought on the cheap.

When I was growing up, such War Surplus junkers - today's solid Gold - were not just "stories", but the Real Thing!  At my local airport, White Plains, and others, where I used to hang out a lot, they were parked all over.  Like the ones you see below.  The airport Managers wanted them GONE!

Right from the war surplus yard.  A real Mustang!
Just spray paint the Reg. over the original war camo; find a new rudder and yell "CLEAR."


KHPN - 1962




Just imagine
A couple of hundred bucks and she's all yours!
Original tires!
Click here for history


P-38 anybody?  What would people give or pay for one of these today?


I checked - both of these airplanes survived and made it to the Reno racing circuit.

Roy Lundberg
My first Boeing boss and the man who made me who I am.
Click here for his story.



Jeff Akridge

Long time owner of Columbia Pacific Aviation - the FBO at Moses Lake - Jeff has been there for me a thousand times over, for both the 737 Restoration and the 727 Restoration.  For no money, he provided me a shop. aerostands, parts, pushouts, parking, nitrogen bottles, start carts, on and on and on.  Here he is with his favorite friend, sadly deceased.  I'd be a big fat nowhere without Jeff.

Steve Taylor
Flying in his Republic SeaBee
He let me try 12 water landings and we both walked away.

By Wingett

If you've been around Boeing for a while, you'll recognize By's name.
For 30-40-50 years, he was one of Boeing's main (Chief?) photographers.

If you saw First Flight pix, in-flight pix, any pix - his name (and Vern Mannion's) were usually on the bottom credit.
We became friends at work, stayed friends afterwards.  Visited him in his retirement home in Freeland on Whidbey Island (in fact, almost bought his house); later after he moved to Anacortes where he had a 1931 Ford pickup truck, a ham radio station (like me), and a huge camera collection in a mini-museum.  That's where we took the above photo.  He came to see the last flight of E1 at BFI.

We went to his daughter's restaurant on the Anacortes waterfront where I took the following photo.  Working boats - the kind I like.   He liked it too, my photo, that is - which meant a lot to me - he was a great booster of my photographic skills.  When you get it from "the Best", you know you're getting it "Straight".  By Wingett lived life to the fullest and died when he reached 96.  He was "young" until he died.  I hope I can emulate him.   Wish I could be sending him my Eye Candy right now......  Maybe he's seeing it anyway.

Anacortes Waterfront
The colors, the reflections, the subject matter - I love all of it.

T.C. Howard

T.C. was a colleague during our Boeing days and my Crew Chief on the E1 727 Restoration after retirement.
He kept us on the straight and narrow when it came to the paperwork and engineering approvals.  He knew his stuff!  T.C. just turned 90.

Catherine Scott with the Connie in Toronto January 2006.

Catherine sold us the Super Connie in front of the Museum.  After the sale in 2005, she remained as the "hidden  spiritual" owner of the Connie and has come out here several times to visit the airplane - and me.  She has been the source of incredible support in my aviation - and my personal life - activities.  A true, true friend.

Tom Cathcart (with my wife Dot)

My neighbor Mort from my RV-12

Rome - 1961



737-100   N2286C  -  Nbr 3 in Cert. Test Fleet
BFI  --  1967


86 Charlie landing BFI
She became D-ABEB at DLH
I did most of my 737 test flying on this aircraft.

The 737 was certified in 8 months.
9 April - 15 Dec 1967.
It had lots of problems - high drag, high stall speeds, L/E slat issues, MLG shimmy.
The problems were overcome.
Things were done differently in "those days."
That's why they called it "Flight Test".....
















I took this F8F Bearcat picture in Bridgeport, Connecticut - 1960
Lost in a CFIT in 1967.

57 years later, I took this Bearcat photo at Paine Field in 2017
The wings were designed to snap off at the fold line beyond 7.5G's leaving the airplane still flyable, however this scheme proved problematic and was abandoned leaving the airplane with a 7.5G Load Limit.


The Bearcat arrived too late for combat in WW II....
.... but it flew (after the F6F) for the newly formed Blue Angels


The Bearcat could fly at 455 mph in level flight and reach 41,000 ft,
but later modified racing versions hit 528 mph.










Douglas AD (A-1)  Skyraider





Flown by USN, USMC, USAF and RN, FAF.

15 external hardpoints, able to carry 10,500 lbs of munitions.
Used in multi wars - successfully shot down jet fighters.
In service 40 years.


Departing Honolulu - N4714U - named Justin Dart

I've mentioned how these pages trigger Memories in many folks.
The above pretty simple picture is an example.
Some people get out their magnifying glasses - and sure enough - N4714U.

My good friend Capt Dan, who flies 737s for a major airline, wrote me this:

Thanks Bob! I love the last one- Justin Dart. I flew on that airplane when I was in the second grade when my folks took us to Hawaii.

FYI, N4714U suffered a catastrophic failure of Nbr 2 engine on T/O from Rwy 8L at HNL - right in front of me.  I had watched the airplane push out, and the take-off.  Just after rotation, there was an enormous bang.  The engine had suffered an uncontained disc failure and had a sudden stop.  She did an ATB and was in HNL for about 2 months.  The engine pylon was all broken up internally.  Boeing wanted an arm and a leg for a new pylon so UAL elected to repair it themselves (with me as the advising engineer.)  They sent over a crew; we disassembled the pylon extensively, spliced in new structural repair components.  On the outboard side, I designed big skin doublers and triplers.  Ever after, when we'd see that airplane and the big skin patches on the outside of Nbr 2, they'd all laugh and say "there goes Bogey's Tripler job!"

It turns out my good friend Steve Huemoeller, who helped me on the 727 and 737, was on the repair crew that UAL sent over there.