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Many of you have followed the trial of resurrecting NC22211, an orphaned 1939 Model BL which had suffered for 55 years in various storage sheds. Last October I finally got her certificated and the Continental A65 replacement for the 55 HP Lycoming approved. To date we have logged nearly 24 hours of flight time, mainly trouble-free and tremendously enjoyable. Of course, I will always remember that first test flight, when she left the ground for the first time in 55 years, flying straight and true and eager to be back where she belonged.
Then, there was the long cross-country flight the next day to Camden, SC for the Carolinas-Virginia Antique Chapter Three Fall Fly-In. NC22211 had her day in the sun with some great antiquers who selected her as one of 4 award winners for the event - the Dolph Overton Award.
However memorable these hours were, the two hours flown last weekend will remain the most rewarding of my Taylorcraft adventures. The back story is that this Model BL lived from the 1940's until the early 1970's at Mexico Farms Airport, MD. The owner was Bernie Miltenberger. Bernie did local airshows in NC22211, performing a Flying Farmer act with mild aerobatics and screw-ball flying antics to please local crowds in western Maryland and the pan handle of West Virginia. His brother, Fiddle, also flew her. Bernie's son, Phillip, had his first flight in NC22211 at age 7.
Bernie has long since passed on, but Phillip and Fiddle still are around. Many years ago I met with Phillip and he showed me a faded color photo of NC22211 from the 1950's. The colors were Forest Green fuselage and International Orange wings and trim in the photo. When I stripped the paint off the cowlings, I also found traces of this same green and orange, so I felt pretty sure of its original factory colors. I decided to return NC22211 to these unique colors during the restoration.
Years passed with no further contact with the Miltenbergers, a 1911 Curtiss Pusher project interrupted the Taylorcraft restoration and then, in October, 2013, we awoke to find she was all finished except for the flying.
In early November I contacted Bob Armstrong about flying up to Cumberland, MD and Mexico Farms. We worked out a plan to get Phillip and Fiddle out to the field with a local historian and photographer, Brian Breigner to reunite the Miltenbergers with their old friend, NC22211. The Saturday morning flight was delayed by a persistent fog throughout the Shenandoah Valley. Fellow Taylorcraft owners, Steve Roth and Andrew King were grounded all day at Culpeper, keeping them from joining me for a 3-ship arrival into Mexico Farms. By mid-day I had enough visibility to head north and ended up flying into improving weather the further I flew.
I landed just ahead of Bob Armstrong and his Classic Aeronca Champ, taxied over and enjoyed a bit of quiet time catching up on old planes and our projects. Pretty soon a red VW pulled up and Fiddle Miltenberger, his son and Phillip got out. The first thing Phillip said was that he had a surprise for me. He retrieved a large patch of fabric taken from the fuselage of NC22211 way back in the early 1950's - something I had no idea even existed. That five foot by 3 foot patch of fabric held the secret truth about how NC22211 looked in 1939. As you can see in the accompanying photos, we had nailed the colors! I could breathe again!
Fiddle, Phillip, Bob Armstrong, Brian Breigner and a small gathering of Mexico Farms pilots spent the day remembering days long past, filling in a lot of gaps in what we knew about NC22211's history at this grass strip. When the time was right, I asked Phillip if he'd like to recreate his first flight by going for a spin around Cumberland in NC22211. He jumped at the chance and off we went. I don't know if this flight was more important for Phillip or for myself, but I do know we both were pretty quiet the whole time. We buzzed the gathered crowd, flying over Fiddle a couple of times - he wanted to see a high speed pass and a slow flight one, so we obliged happily. It was a bit rough, but the approach to land seemed smooth enough until right at touch-down. We were all payed out and inches from the ground when this miniature dust devil swirled up and pushed us up and a bit sideways. A touch of power and rudder and we landed further down the grass. I wondered at the time if old Bernie Miltenberger was there in spirit, giving us a little thrill just one more time. Perhaps it was Bernie and several of his fellow aviators poking some fun at us from their ethereal grandstand.
In 1958, NC22211 returned to Mexico Farms on a ferry permit after failing to pass her annual airworthiness certification. She was a tired out 19 year old by then, taken apart for possible repair at a later date. That may well have been her last flight, following in the footsteps of many small planes of the era to the scrap heap. For some reason a succession of owners decided to keep the bones around, but in storage. In 2005 I became a part owner of this orphan and Bert Williams, Evan Bender and I decided to invest the time and money into saving her. Fifty-five years later, we honored her legacy with a return to flight. A few weeks later, we went a step further and visited her old flying patch and the family who knew her when she was young.
That two hour round trip flight bridged a gap of 55 years for NC22211, Fiddle Miltenberger, and most importantly, Phillip Miltenberger. My roles were incidental in this reunion - the hands and heart who fixed up the mess and the pilot who reunited Phillip with the joys of his youth, but I wonder who in all this was more rewarded?
I will post photos from Mexico Farms next. Thanks! Bob Coolbaugh
Then, there was the long cross-country flight the next day to Camden, SC for the Carolinas-Virginia Antique Chapter Three Fall Fly-In. NC22211 had her day in the sun with some great antiquers who selected her as one of 4 award winners for the event - the Dolph Overton Award.
However memorable these hours were, the two hours flown last weekend will remain the most rewarding of my Taylorcraft adventures. The back story is that this Model BL lived from the 1940's until the early 1970's at Mexico Farms Airport, MD. The owner was Bernie Miltenberger. Bernie did local airshows in NC22211, performing a Flying Farmer act with mild aerobatics and screw-ball flying antics to please local crowds in western Maryland and the pan handle of West Virginia. His brother, Fiddle, also flew her. Bernie's son, Phillip, had his first flight in NC22211 at age 7.
Bernie has long since passed on, but Phillip and Fiddle still are around. Many years ago I met with Phillip and he showed me a faded color photo of NC22211 from the 1950's. The colors were Forest Green fuselage and International Orange wings and trim in the photo. When I stripped the paint off the cowlings, I also found traces of this same green and orange, so I felt pretty sure of its original factory colors. I decided to return NC22211 to these unique colors during the restoration.
Years passed with no further contact with the Miltenbergers, a 1911 Curtiss Pusher project interrupted the Taylorcraft restoration and then, in October, 2013, we awoke to find she was all finished except for the flying.
In early November I contacted Bob Armstrong about flying up to Cumberland, MD and Mexico Farms. We worked out a plan to get Phillip and Fiddle out to the field with a local historian and photographer, Brian Breigner to reunite the Miltenbergers with their old friend, NC22211. The Saturday morning flight was delayed by a persistent fog throughout the Shenandoah Valley. Fellow Taylorcraft owners, Steve Roth and Andrew King were grounded all day at Culpeper, keeping them from joining me for a 3-ship arrival into Mexico Farms. By mid-day I had enough visibility to head north and ended up flying into improving weather the further I flew.
I landed just ahead of Bob Armstrong and his Classic Aeronca Champ, taxied over and enjoyed a bit of quiet time catching up on old planes and our projects. Pretty soon a red VW pulled up and Fiddle Miltenberger, his son and Phillip got out. The first thing Phillip said was that he had a surprise for me. He retrieved a large patch of fabric taken from the fuselage of NC22211 way back in the early 1950's - something I had no idea even existed. That five foot by 3 foot patch of fabric held the secret truth about how NC22211 looked in 1939. As you can see in the accompanying photos, we had nailed the colors! I could breathe again!
Fiddle, Phillip, Bob Armstrong, Brian Breigner and a small gathering of Mexico Farms pilots spent the day remembering days long past, filling in a lot of gaps in what we knew about NC22211's history at this grass strip. When the time was right, I asked Phillip if he'd like to recreate his first flight by going for a spin around Cumberland in NC22211. He jumped at the chance and off we went. I don't know if this flight was more important for Phillip or for myself, but I do know we both were pretty quiet the whole time. We buzzed the gathered crowd, flying over Fiddle a couple of times - he wanted to see a high speed pass and a slow flight one, so we obliged happily. It was a bit rough, but the approach to land seemed smooth enough until right at touch-down. We were all payed out and inches from the ground when this miniature dust devil swirled up and pushed us up and a bit sideways. A touch of power and rudder and we landed further down the grass. I wondered at the time if old Bernie Miltenberger was there in spirit, giving us a little thrill just one more time. Perhaps it was Bernie and several of his fellow aviators poking some fun at us from their ethereal grandstand.
In 1958, NC22211 returned to Mexico Farms on a ferry permit after failing to pass her annual airworthiness certification. She was a tired out 19 year old by then, taken apart for possible repair at a later date. That may well have been her last flight, following in the footsteps of many small planes of the era to the scrap heap. For some reason a succession of owners decided to keep the bones around, but in storage. In 2005 I became a part owner of this orphan and Bert Williams, Evan Bender and I decided to invest the time and money into saving her. Fifty-five years later, we honored her legacy with a return to flight. A few weeks later, we went a step further and visited her old flying patch and the family who knew her when she was young.
That two hour round trip flight bridged a gap of 55 years for NC22211, Fiddle Miltenberger, and most importantly, Phillip Miltenberger. My roles were incidental in this reunion - the hands and heart who fixed up the mess and the pilot who reunited Phillip with the joys of his youth, but I wonder who in all this was more rewarded?
I will post photos from Mexico Farms next. Thanks! Bob Coolbaugh
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