Giving wings to history

As he gazed out the right window at the landscape below, my friend Frank Schelling exclaimed, “Your Swift is really nice…and its enclosed!”

To appreciate the humor in this remark, you have to understand Frank’s perspective: He’s the owner and restorer of an award-winning JN-4 Curtiss Jenny, and overseer of two current projects, a Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 World War I fighter, and a 1920s TravelAir 4000.

Frank’s Jenny was a 30-year project that culminated with being awarded “Grand Champion Antique” at AirVenture Oshkosh in 2004.

With his penchant for open cockpits, it’s no wonder he was enjoying this morning’s comparatively smooth and quiet journey.

Our destination was Mark Lightsey’s AeroCraftsman restoration shop at Weakleys Field (6TN1), a residential airpark northwest of Nashville, Tennessee. A few days earlier, Frank called to report that the wings were ready to install on the TravelAir, which had been taking shape under Mark’s skilled hands for nearly four years. The choice between a three-hour drive from his home in East Tennessee or a one-hour flight with me was an easy one, and soon we were settling onto the smooth grass runway at 6TN1.

What met us in Mark’s hangar was an impeccably-restored TravelAir 4000, nearly complete, minus the wings. Three men and a forklift would soon remedy that.

Approaching the plane, I was struck by the beauty of her lines, the period-correct instruments in each cockpit, and the majestic 200-hp Wright J-5 Whirlwind engine perched on her nose.

A young airmail pilot would have been very confident in that engine, after spending countless hours behind one. And in May 1927 a similar Whirlwind would carry “The Lone Eagle” from New York to Paris and into aviation history.

Fast-forward from 1927 to 1985. Frank Schelling, a former Naval officer and aeronautical engineer, has just purchased a pile of TravelAir biplane parts and the paperwork for registration number 4264. It’s a challenging project that will assume historic dimensions when Frank uncovers the plane’s service carrying the mail for Robertson Aircraft Corporation in the 1920s.

Even more significant is a grainy photo he discovers showing one of her pilots alongside ship number 4264. He looks weather-beaten and weary, probably having just completed the run on C.A.M. 2 (the Contract Air Mail route 2 between Chicago and St. Louis). The young man gazing into the future is Charles Lindbergh.

To say it was a bit daunting to help install wings on “The Lindbergh TravelAir” is an understatement, but Frank and I set about under Mark’s direction, and by lunchtime, the right side was complete.

If you’ve never tackled such a project, here’s how it goes.

First, a top wing is gently raised by forklift and placed alongside the wing center section above the front cockpit. At this point, the wing, still supported by the cushioned forks, is carefully positioned by hand until the fore and aft wing root fittings are mated into fittings on the center section. Once aligned, each assembly is secured with a bolt.

With the top wing attached and still supported by the forklift, two helpers maneuver the bottom wing into place, gingerly guiding the wing root fittings through slots in the fabric fuselage. The helpers support the wing while the intrepid restorer submerges himself upside down into the cockpit, bolts and hammer in hand, to mate the fittings inside the fuselage.

Much sweating and wriggling about follow, accompanied by calls to his outside assistants to “Move it forward just a bit….raise the trailing edge a hair…a bit more….NOT THAT MUCH….good…it’s on.”

With both top and bottom wings bolted in place, one worker continues to support the lower wingtip, while the other two install a pair of “ground wires” between the top center section struts and the bottom wing. These wires carry the weight of the wings while the airplane is at rest.

Once the ground wires are secured, it’s time to install the vertical “N” struts that mate the top and bottom wings.

With the N struts installed, the ground wires are now carrying the weight of both wings, and the forklift can be freed up for work on the left side.

Now it’s time to wipe off the sweat and repair to a local lunch spot for a feast of meatloaf, fried okra, and turnip greens, washed down with iced tea. Folks in Tennessee know how to eat!

Attaching the left wings is a repeat of the morning’s labors, complete with inverted maneuvers, gentle persuasion, and more sweat.

By mid-afternoon the work is complete, and 4264 looks like she’s yearning to return to the skies.

Airborne on the flight home, Frank and I look down on the rush hour gridlock outbound from Nashville, and reflect on our day’s adventure.

I’m grateful to have been invited to work on a piece of history, Frank is grateful the restoration is nearing an end, and we’re both thankful for the gift of general aviation. It was the path to our friendship, and the magic carpet that will soon carry “The Lindbergh TravelAir” back into the skies.