TktU~SwaU~ May 1974 issue of <strong>Vintage</strong> Airplane has the story of the Swallow'sdiscovery in the uptown section of Chicago.See March 1975 issue of <strong>Vintage</strong> Airplane for the story where theydecided to re-enact the Cuddeback flight that initiated air mail 50 yearsago.The January <strong>1976</strong> issue of <strong>Vintage</strong> Airplane carries the story of theoriginal flight by Cuddeback.This issue carries the GRAND FINALE, a successful completion ofthe re-enactment by "Buck" Hilbert.By Edward D. Williams (<strong>EAA</strong> 51010) 713 Eastman Drive Mt. Prospect, Illinois 60056 11
The Swallow that Toffinette, Hilbert and Schroederunearthed in a garage in uptown Chicago, hasclimaxed its short two year career.The restored Swallow biplane on April 6, <strong>1976</strong>, reenactedone of the significant flights of aviation history,but not without a lot of luck in completing the 'restoration of the plane in time, and not without considerableflying skill and courage by the pilot in thefli ght itself. The flight was made from Pasco, Washington to Boise, Idaho by E. E. "Buck" Hilbert, of ·Union, Illinois, a United Airlines DC-8 captain . Itwas made exactly 50 years after a flight from Pascoto Boise to Elko, Nevada, in a Swallow by Leon D.Cuddeback, chief pilot for Varney Air Lines. Cuddeback'sfli g ht marked the beginning of p ermanentscheduled airline service in the United States.Having purchased the Swallow two years beforeUnited's 50th birthday, there seemed to be a lot oftime to completely restore the Swallow, but, as itturned out, the deadline was just barely met. The Hilbert-Toffenetti-Schroederbiplane is a Swallow Commercialjust about identical to the Swallow Mailplaneflown by Cuddeback. Edward E. McConnell, a FederalAviation Administration certified ins pector andan aircraft restorer, specializing mostly in Piper TriPacers, was assigned the restoration job. With McConnell doing most of the restoration work by himself,while Hilbert scoured the country for parts, thework went very slowly. Hilbert went to Oakland, Californiato visit Cuddeback and discuss details of thefuture re-enactment, and Cuddeback strongly recommendedthat Hilbert install at least a Wright J-4 or noteven attempt the re-enactment. The original K-6 engine was completely out of the question, Cuddebacksaid, even if one could be found .Hilbert, in California, located one of the few remainingJ-4s in existence and traded his OXX-6 forit. He then had the J-4 sent to Memphis, Tennessee,for a complete overhaul and sent to South Bend to getwhat might be the only existing J-4 engine carburetorin the world. He also went to Iowa to get the propellerand to the states of Vermont, Washington, Kansasand New York to get miscellaneous but vital parts.The instruments posed less of a problem becausethe few instruments available to pilots in 1926 didn' tfill up much of an instrument panel. A much neededreplacement was a reliable compass for the one in theSwallow, which Hilbert said " probably told the pilotonly if he were in the <strong>No</strong>rthern Hemisphere".It looked for a while like Hilbert would not be f1yingthe Swallow at all on April 6, <strong>1976</strong>, because restorationwork hit several snags as time sped by. Hilbertexplained that earl y biplanes like the Swallow werenot mass produced as modern planes in which everypart for one plane is identical to the same part onanothe r plane. " They were a ll pretty much custommade," he said. So a part that could be used on oneSwallow did not necessarilv fit another Swallow.Feeling the pressure O'f the deadline, Hilbert beganspending almost all his free time at Seneca, workingwith McConnell. He also pressed into service alongtime friend, Michael X. Drabik, of Chicago, an<strong>EAA</strong> member and a retired United Airlines mechanic.The almost impossible ta sk of locating vital parts longsince out of any aircraft firm's inventory put the workmore behind schedule.Hilbert appealed for help to United, which assignedtwo more of Hilbert's antique-expert friendsfulltime to the work at Seneca. They were RichardMoen of Dundee, illinois, a United pilot also flyingout of O'Hare, and Michael Branand of River Forest,Illinois, a furloughed United pilot who was workingas a mechanic at United's San Francisco MaintenanceCenter while waiting recall to flying status. McConnell,Drabik, Moen and Branand all hold current FAAairframe and powerplant mechanics licenses.Hilbert had originally planned to complete therestoration at Seneca in time to test fly the Swallowand then fly it to O'Hare for shipment by United DC8F Cargoliner to Boise. But the silver and blue planewas rolled out of McConnell's hangar on March 22,too late for any test flying. On that day the Swallowwas disassembled and trucked up to Chicago, about80 miles to the northeas t. On March 23, the 90 mile-anhourbiplane was loaded into the Cargoliner and flownto Boise at a speed of .8 the speed of sound.The United Cargoliner normally flies daily fromChicago nonstop to Seattle, Washington, but it wasflown March 23 with very little other cargo, with aspecial stop at Boise, to accommodate the Swallow.The 32-foot long wings and the tail assembly wereloaded easily in the Cargoliner's 106 foot long cargocompartment. But the 24-foot-long fuselage, on itsown landing gear, barely cleared the top of the 85"by 140" main cargo door opening. Inside, the topcylinder of the J-4 engine came within two inches oftouching the ceiling of the cargo compartment, evenafter the Swallow's tires were partially deflated .Although the DC-8F could have carried 80,000pounds of cargo, the Swallow - with an empty weightof only 1,570 pounds - and some miscellaneous boxesand cra tes were the only cargo.Previous to the completion of the Swallow at Seneca,Hilbert made a preliminary trip to Bosie to determinewhat facilities might be available for the Swallow si ncethere was still some work to be done before it couldbe flight tested. It also needed hangar space.At Boise, Hilbert met with Dean Wilson, head ofth e Bradley Air Transporta tion Museum owned byJoseph L. Terteling, Idaho indus triali st. In a moves taggering for its generosity, Wilson told Hilbertthat Terteling offered the use of a flat bed truck totransport the Swallow from the Boise airport on arrivalin the Cargoliner and the n the use of hangarspace in his museum northwest of Boise for reassemblyand other work needed for the plane for as long asneeded . Without these facilities, the Swallow projectwould not have been completed in time for the April6 flight.As it was, the United crew of Hilbert, Moen, Branandand Drabik worked long hours every day to getthe old plane ready. Finally, six days after its arrivalby Ca rgoliner, the Swallow was test flown by Hilberton March 29. The J-4 operated perfectly, and after a15 minute flight, Hilbert followed with another for30 minutes.The next day, on one of the test flights from Terteling'sprivate s trip, Hilbert was forced to land theSwallow at an abandoned dirt strip nearby because offuel starvation. After some readjustments, the Swallowwas flown again the nex t day, and what appearedto be a final blow developed.The J-4 was eating itself up and developed considerableroughness in flight, forcing Hilbert to setit down as quickly as possible on Terteling's strip.Close inspection showed that there were metal particlesinside the e ngine, indicating that completefailure would probably occur shortly if the Swallowwere flown again with the J-4.But luck was with the Swallow project, and againTerteling's people came to the rescue. Dean Wilsonpointed out that the museum's L-13A had a 220 horsepowerContinental engine built in 1942 that weighedabout the same as the J-4 and could easily be interchangedwith it. Wilson put his crew of 10 museumemployees working on the project, and the Unitedcrew, which had been joined by McConnell a few daysearlier, worked through the night. The J-4 had failed,and some authenticity was sacrificed, but at least Hilbertnow had a more powerful and more reliable enginefor the flight.12
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