Part 1 - The Fly Baby Home Page

e
THE
'issue No, 1 July, 1963
Khen PETE; BOWRS designed FLU BABY, proved it a safe, stable airplane, and
made the plans available at a reasonable price, he brought flying within
reach of a lot of people who otherwise would never have flown or owned an
airplane. We have a lot to thank him for, Consequently, any publication,
however modest, dealing with Fly Baby, should begin with an introduction
by Pete.
A mSSAGE TO ALL FLY BABY BUILDERS AND PILOTS
from PEER M. BOFIERS, FLU BABY designer,
This is the first issue of THE FLY BABY BULLETIN. UPDEN FERGUSON Ss to
be commended for his initiative and industry in offering to compile, edit,
and publish such a document on a monthly basis.
It is his hope and mine that the BULLETIN will, with the help of the builders
and flyers, become a valuable publication and a worth-while and interesting
source of information about F"LU BABY builders, their problems, and their
accomplishments, While some information can be provided by the designer,
most of it will have to come from YOU, the reader. Don't feel that you have
to be a "Pro" writer in order to have something published, You're among
friends and the BULLETIN will be as informal as a bull session out in thb
shop. If you are having problems in finding materials, or have stumbled onto
a good source, send in the word. If you had construction problems and licked
them on your own, others will be grateful for the information. If you just
want to sound off on the joys of flying your own FLU BABY, here's your soapbox!
One personal benefit that I expect to derive from the existence of the BULLETIN
is a great reduction in ,the personal "Problem" and "Where'hail that has to be
answered. Now that Xayden has all of the file cards that I compiled with each
plan sale, he will have the job of answereing all the letters that ask "'Who is
building a FLY BABY near my town?", This chore might not leave him with enough
time to get out a monthly magazine and build his airplane too, He may have
to cut back to a bi-monthly publication! In any case, the transfer should
enable me to get out in the shop again and finish those biplane wings that I:
started a couple of years ago!
In the statistics department, there are at least 32 PLY BABIES that have been
completed, I have definite knowledge of 24 in the form of photos and reports
from the builders and indirect knowledge of eight more that 1 have heard about
second-hand, At this writing, I have personally flown 10 and made the first
test flights in five. The most I have know of in one place at one time was
at the EAA Chapter 105 Fly-in at Portland, Oregon on July 14/15, 1967, where
five were on hand. As a project for an early issue of the BmLETIN, I would
like to compile a list of the completed and flown projects. If yours has
been completed, please send the information, including registration and serial
numbers and FIRST FLIGHT DATE, to Hayden. If you know of others, send that
word along, too. The builder might not have heard about the BULLETIN. Additional
information, such as powerplant, color scheme, modifications, Btc. wil be -
welcome but is not as essential as name and location of the builder and the
first flight date. Good pictures, suitable for our photo page, are welcome.
Page One
1

I
As you who read UA's magazine SPORT AVLATIOiii know, I have put up a trophy
over the last three years for the best FLY BAEY appearing at the annual
EAA Fly-in at Rockford. My arnbitlon is ~o be there for the Fly-in that
sees more FLY BABIES on hand than any other single homebuilt design, When
that day cones, I promise yoii, there xLl1 be a special FLY BABY award for
every pilot who has a FLY BABY therp: Here are past attendance-toppers,
just to give you an idea of the nuqbers T am tdlking about:
1960 - 15 Corben Baby Ace 1963 - 21 Corben Baby Ace
1961 - 12 Wittman Tailwind 1964 - 27 Wittman Tailwind
1962 - 17 Wittman Tail~iind 1965 - 23 Smith Miniplane
1966 - 21 Smith Miniplane
I can only make it to Rockford with my own ship every other year (even
numbers), so I won't be there in 1967 b!~t will look forward to meeting
many of you in 1968. If the desired FLY BABY numerical superiority shows
up in an odd-numbered year, Iql hop an airliner and get back there for
a day or so if someone will send me the word that the FLY BABIES have
topped the List.
Ed, Note: If taking some of the correspondence load off Pete will speed
up the development of the biplane wing, then we will have made a lot of
friends. Some fellows plan to build the biplane from the start and many
others have incorporated the fittings for later addition of the top wing,
As soon as Pete gives us the word, you will know. - - Hayden.
BIRTH OF THE "BULLETIN"
As we outlined in the original letter about the Bulletin, the idea was
born several months ago. It was not until ?larch, this year that we
really got serious and contacted Pete with the idea. He bought the whole
idea irkmediately and things got underway. Pete sent us his card file and
the work began in earnest. Our shop looked like a fresh snowfall for weeks
with paper, cards and envelopes covering every availab3e space. Finally,
the last envelope was dropped in the m ~ i chute, l The weeks of typing,
folding, stuffing, stamping and mailing were over, Now all we could do was
wait, And then the waiting was over, Day by day the replies came in,
slowly but surely, Slowly to be sure, witb rarely more than 2 or 3 in one
day. However, as we read and re-read the replies, a definite pattern
emerged. We were among our own kind, Xhese people loved airplanes and
FLY BABY in particular. This we more or less expected, but more important,
these were people who liked to talk about their airplane and were anxious
to help others and in turn asked for help, To sum it up, they not only
love airplanes, but they like other who love airplanes, Needless
to say, this is exactly the type individual we wanted to reach. Without
them, t'he Bulletin would be a miserable fail-zre. So, let us say a
heartfelt "T%NKSf' to each and every one of you for your wonderful reception
of the Bulletin,
This first issue of the Bulletin is going to be somewhat lighter than we
had planned, for several reasons. We want to keep it light so it can go
first class mail to escape the rail strike enbargo on third class and also
to get it into your hands before the Rockford Fly-in, Also we don't yet
have a lot of information in from the builders to include in this issue.
We ask everyone who has something to contribute to please get it in to us
as soon as convenient. As Pete said, you don? have to be a "Pro1' at this,
It is obvious that we are not experienced, so dont shy away from sending
us material, We are all in the same boat, and if the literary and grammar
critics are so moved, they can have a field day grading our "papers".
Page Two

'A
.rr
ONE FATAL ACCZDEST
On September 6, 1905, a Canadian b~ildzr of TZY BABY was kil-led in a
takeoff accident. Because of the unf'ortcnsce way this accident was
handled in an American magazine, the FLY EASY plans business was just
about wiped out for a couple of months. both aspects of the story
should be explained.
The magazine ran a two-part article on dccrdents involving amateur-
buil; airplanes as a safety feature. As a lead shot for the series,
it ran a photo of this particulzr crash, it was not identified as a
FLY BABY, but it didn't have to be - char trademark tail was identification
enough. The harm to the program resulted from the fact that no information
concerning this crash appeared in the same issue. It was mentioned, with
insufficient supporting information, in the following issue, which was a
month AFTER. the unexplained (and spectaculzr) crash picture had scared
With the remark that "I hope it flies as well for me as it did for you"
the builder/owner climbed into che shrp to make his own first flight.
He strll had only 33 hodrs, all of it iive years in the past. His friends
and the D3T officials all had crged him to take some refresher flights in
a two-seater first, but he ignored rhe ad7;rce and stepped into a felatively
lrvely single-seater when all of his cxperienci hzd been in docile two-seat
trainers.
According to eyewitnesses and an amate-~r movie of the event, he never caxghc
up ~ ~ i the t h airplsne. It got into rhe air q~Lckly, thrashed around for
about 20 seconda, and went in nesrly vertical,
The DClT contacted Bowers for his oprnion as to whether the elevator tab
could have introduced a control problem, Fere bolted a big fixed tab to
one elevator of his oI

Left and - This beauty belons to Clarence Brueggeman of Norfolk, Nebraska,
r Le ft. Clarence finished his project in the fall of 1965'and from the
photos and articles appearing various magazines, he has been
flying it ever since. Powerplant is a 65 Continental and is
finished in gold and white with hlue trim. We are planning an
article on his canopy as soon as we can get him out of the cockpit
long enough to tell us about it.
Top Right. - Our apology to Mr. George Noble of Richmond, British Columbia,
Canada. Our reproduction of a photo of a truly fine fuselage
leaves a Lot to be desired, Take our word, the workmanship is
beautiful in the original snapshot. We will improve with time
and experience. This ship is 70% complete and the spinner is
going to give it a rather sleek appearance.
Lower Right. - Again we have a nearly complete fuselage belonging to Lowell D,
Morrow of Yorktown, Indiana, This job has already passed two
FAA inspections with flying colors. Note the sharp clean line
of the scarf joint on the fuselage side. Again our apology for
a poor reproduction oi a good print. Maybe by the time this
ship is complete, we will be able to do it justice with better
quality pictures of the first flight,
If you have photos you would like to see in print, send them in. We will do our
best. We would like to keep the photos in our files for future reference but
will return thek if you insist. See you next month - - - - - -
Page Four

THE
issue So 2 August , 195 7
If the mail received In resparise xo ?-he flrsz 3 ssue -,f xhc
Bulletan is any ~ndica+;sn cf rhe fuxure, ehen ~t 1s a brrght
one lndeed Our sincere thanks tz ail those who t ~ tlme ~ k to
wrire us. The lceli xq:lshez and c3ngratulae~ans are appsez:ared,
We have nae 5s yet recelved an)- p~ss~ve replies from the supp1;ex-s
1ih9 have been c,onr_aczed ?.laybe befase we zC1-5p ap 1311s rssue we
may have samethlng defznite 14:e did gez ra rslk ts a c:upie ~f
the exhibitors at Ra~kford, hut tt1t.h the rush and c~nfusign 3f rhe
Fly-In in full swing, we couldn't zarner rhem long enough t9 talk
abous any Fly Baby specials The sz9zh- ansb-e-. IG~S, "wri"i me a
Jester about it", and :his rs whsr tie are dolng
AL JOHNSON, out In Nenatchee, hash senx us a sketch for i%ing
tip modlficar;on ?\-liicll he claims szmpl~f ~ e s t ~ rs3nsxruc.r~1cn
p
considerably, It shortens the ~t~zng span slightly, but Al and the
local E M Designee, BILL UUKCAN do nat expect any appreciable
change in performance, So fax we haven't hbeard fpon PETE BOII'ERS
on this, {maybe because we haven't asked him), but -A1 savs Pete
has agreed to fly the proxotype "Cry Baby" S~nce our draw~ng
ability rs even xorse than our comp3s1slan, we wDn't try to
reproduce Alfs drawing bux xCrl1 be glad ~2 msll phot9-copies tc
anyone who wants hem, Thanks a ia? Al f2r the klnd xfosds and
if you come across ansther pair ~f zhnse "'free lor nosh~ng" Scctt
brake cylinders, keep us In mind. The only stray pair we have
been able tc~ dig up zre st, zPd and ccr-rsded tha~ the) are -~.~ehout
doubt the first pa;r Scott ever p-13d~~sed-
ROGER DUPERROX of Ssntee, Calif* is w9rk;ng on a :3t73 seaeer and
has promised to keep us pasred as he progresses, Cockp;: will be
3 ft wide. ?+lore 3n th;s as we hear fxom Roger- Cansider&bie
lnteresr; has been shown in zhe two sea".,-e;sioa, even zh~ugh Pete
has notgiven too much eneoriragenien: up x3 p31nr,
JOE POPE, Lynchburg, Va bas drifting equipment and has cffered
to draw sketches of any modlflczti.sins yszl mzghc have- If s;, send
them to us and we it111 forward them and mak~ eaples airellable re
everyone Since xeproduclng all ske~ches zn the BuSberin wouid
take a lot of space, we wall in mist instances, describe rha
m3daflca~ion dnd make the -ketch roples a$-allsblr on a re;ue-t bas:s
It would be appreelated ~f ysu ~3:~i.d send a?3ng s sxarnped enrelope
~~chen requesting copies and alsa specify whlch .ketch you want,
Ii'hile on this subjeir, we woxld 14ke tc add zhat the offer zf help
frgm Joe Pope 15 typical of the aicirude 2f m3sz cf thc bulliie~s
Everyone vdants to help and needless tc say, we need and apprec;aze :t
DAVID STODDXRD, a "Fly Baby" burlder has wrlb:en us adcrislng thar
he has a llrnited supply cf small. hazdxcare suzh as washers, nuts,
nut plates, clevis pins, etc , ichach he 1~111 sell Ear half 2s le5
of retarl prrze, Dzve sa): to send hzn! z. Irzr sf the small pazts
you need and lf he has xi-iem, \\ill quate
-
you a price Plesze handle
these antjulrier direct ra19;h hJm ihe addre: i 1s 268 Golzx-3dz AYE: S
Torringt3n, Corm- 06790
Page 3n5
5-

TEE BULLETIX' S "FIRS7 L,J.BL'"
As nsiz of you knov;, $$tz hzse amang us onlj- one lady ballder a:
rhe presenz, and it 2ppeaxs rhaE any gr3up c,f a half dzzen 2:
1~.3re viaste no: tlme in namlng a "princess", "que5nw, "ilrst i ady"
or some such Why sh2uld v:e buck the trend- Pernrlr us t;! ~ntzsd~ice
:4RS HAROLD ROUTLEDGE, zr" Almsnte, Alberta, Canada, th2 Bulle~ln's
"F~rst Ladyi', Sirs Raii-tledge 15 a h~useriife and work on her px-;;etr
"mostly on he kzrchen r;sblei'- She chose "Fly Baby" because IT
"looks llke an airplanei', i3on'r. zmlle at ?;bar- Ph;: -itas a z;.rnmcin
answer Dn mgst of the repl~es Sanetj-nes i~-Tias v:3xded differen?,
but the meaning rias zhe same, A t b;he momenz, Flrs, Routledge 1.5 the
only lady among us, bur Jnze the word gess around, y;e expecz x3re
to szep out of the shad~ws A 3-92 of plan sets have been 502d TO
ladles and they were n9t all gifts to husbands and bs;fr~cnds,
Mrs,. Routledge in her ier-ter of iraccep~ancer' passed an what be
consider some valuable ;nf2rmsti~n. it seems she lives near an area
of boatbuilding iicti-\ir~,y ~~'ilere
hat the builders eonslder scrap 1s often la~ge enough ta be used
on her project, Those thick pieces of plywood czme high, so y3u
fellows who live near 2 b3atbuilding area take note and let us
\chat you come up v;itlh Thank you Jlrs Routledge and cte will be
looking forward to heaslng from you as your airplane progresses.
marine plj)wozd 25 used She says 'that
JI3I COX, down In Houston, Texzs has -tsha~ 1s probably the s-il-eeest
set-up a homebuilder couid ask for, Jim is a commercial phgzagrapher,
licensed aircraft mechanic, commercial pllot , 2nd oms a F-kA Cerrif led
Repair Shop. At the present he 1s 1~1th the Housrgn Post 2s a ncici
photographer, and uses brs shop zo work on hls own airplanes,
Probably the only FAA certxfied hobby shop xn exlsrenee- Once he
starts a project, he really moves as evldeneed by a photo sent of
the major part of the fuselage bulls In eight days, including iayouz,
At zhe momens however the "Fly Bzby" project is shelved in favor ot
some antique restorztlon and the neceesary evil st making a Ilving,
The photo of the "exght dzy fusel&gei" iiill be included as soon as
tee get it out of hock 1~1th rhe pl~temaker for printxng
PETE GOCVERS tesz hopped anoxher completed "Babyi" the lasz week of
July, This one, xirh langer wxngs, 30 gallons of gas, and a 425 hp,
powerplant zceighed in at i240 pounds Peze sajs thls comblnarion
makes a two seater look przct~cal and I~XII look into it further, He
also promised some photos as soon as a-vailable and we w ~ l pass l hem
on as soon as we gee zhen- Take heart E?io-seat enthusiasts,
PAUL LiOKROS df Carllsle, _'lass sends along a rip zhat you mlghe
\cant to use and save a Ilztle time, On page 1-11, Flg 1-5, dezail
' 3'' E I'Drr show a cross member as ti$o separaxe pieces, Paul says
make lt a slngle piece of wood Also detall ''-4'' of Fig. 1-10 ~ I ~ O I ~ T S
an Insert in the b o ~ Paul made a solld bait. lns-ceacl The exza
weight he says 1s neglrglble,
Page Two
1

August, 1957
At zhrs pornt v;e l,B:ant t o give a proud salute ro GEORGE R CARRETI,
formerly of Sprmngfleid, Dhlo and presently serving in 'i'retnam,
Llying helicopters George b3ught L set of pims In June, 1965,
but this other litzle chore came up and took prlorlty. Hxs mother
was kind enough to retuin ehe quesexonnalre, advisrng the mlilt5ry
status of her son, We are sending her a copy of th15 rssue and
asking that she foribard it to George From v:hat lie have heard
about chopper pllots In lrier;nam, the '"Fly Baby" should prove rdtker
tame to George. If he should so decide, we 1~111 welcome hlrn aboard
on hrs return In the meanrlme vce ?/ir~sh h~m the best of everything
and r,be are proud to hafe one of "oui krnd" doxng hrs farr share
for all of us
ROBERT CiOli, Inglewoad, Calif say; that he hdd 2 felio~i buiidei pass
along a set of drawlxgs foi bulldlng a subsrxtute for a PiS" XICOPRESS.
These things go for $35 -00 per, so here 1s a chance so save ii few
bucks. Bob says the dra~rngs are naw In the E-A,A -publlcat_2n,
"Tips", which 1s available from headquarters $2 00, IVe don't
have a copy as yet bur w11l bex even money that 1-c rs a good inves:ment
and wlll have a lot of handy hints and kinks Thanks for the tip: Bob.
PAUL COFIEAU, of Leomrnster, lilass, suggests lie inrtiate a "Buy, Siiap, t;
Sell" section, lire are all for 1t All we need rs ammunlei9n. If yau
have an Item that fits the descriprisn, send it xn. This section
however is not open -to commercial type adverzlsrng, even though zhe
person migh e a "Flj Baby" builder It ns rnzended zo serve the
people who mlght wind up with surplus parts, wrong type parts, ar
looking for a hard to find Item,
LONDO'S "FLY 3ABYi1 ADVENTURES
The Sunday Supplement of the SEATTLE TIMES for Aprrl 9, i967, had a
color cover and a four-page Inside spre~d featuring FRANCIS LONDO
and his beatitlful ~-hlze-and-yellor,~ "F1) Baby" whrch klrst fie~z! :n
February, 1957, You need a glmmrck to get a homebullr written up
rn the papers these days, and Francis had a good one - he had bult
an alrplane but he didnk know hoii to fly"
Because of this, deslgner PETE BOIYERS made zhe test fl:ght, ~ih~ch
was covered by the paper. Anoxher pxlot flew the orlglnal "Fly Baby"
as a chase plane and Francis went up as a passenger in a "Cub" and
sook closeup pictures of his bird on ~ t first s flight when Pete
moved in for some close formaraon fij-rng- No adjustmenrs were
necessary after the test hop and a relay of other pilozs started
putting time on the new shlp, wh~ch ended 1x5 firsr day with nearly
four hours flylng trme in ehe logbook
Franels, meanwhrle, went rn search of ~lylng lessons. After an
unhappy experience wrth one of ehe local pilot factarles, he hnd
a friend bought a Luscombe 8-4 and he took his lessons rn ~ t - He
soloed rt on June 17, 1967, 2nd on the weekend of June 24/25 tgok
~t 300 miles to a Fly-in in southern Oregon Iie felt that he was
ready to solo hrs "Fly Baby" at the time, but his Instructor r,vasntx
available to slgn h~m orf for it, so he had to use the Luscombe
(Con' t next page) Page Three
1

in discussing the problem with Pete, ~ h had o his own FLY BABY at
the Fly-in, Pete offered the use of his ship for some tail high
fast taxy runs down the runway for familiarization, As a further
check on Francis-lying ability, Pete flew formation wirh him
all the way back to Seattle, It was still early in the evening
xhex they got back, so Pete offered to ride around the pattern
a few times with Francis in the Luscombe to see how he handled it
on the landings.
The first landing was completely routine, so Pete told Francis
to do it again, this time from the right seat, This was quite
a change for Francis, who had been doing only left-seat flying,
which meant that he used his left hand on the stick and his
right on the throttle. This change gave him some readjustment
problems and he decided that maybe he wasn't quite ready for
FLY BABY after all, A couple of hours-ight-seat solo time,
however and he was ready. With his regular instructor still
not available for a sign-off, Francis drove 30 miles to Pete's
place to get his student permit signed off for FLY BABY (Pete
has been an instructor since 1949) and then droye 30 miles
back to his own airport to solo his FLU BABY,
From there it was strictly "Cloud 9" - no problems at all.
P;othing to do after a few trips around the pattern but drive all
the way back to Pete" to tell him about it,
--
FOR SALE
GLEN C, PALMTARY, writes as follows; With much regret I am
forced to sell my project because of financial reasons, Therefore,
I am asking you to notify other builders through the Bulletin,
that it is for sale. I have the fuselage about 2.1'3 to 3/4
completed. Everything from the cockpit rearward is completed
except rudder and elevators. The aft turtledeck and stringers
are on and ready to cover, The firewall is complete with
asbestos and galvanized covering, f do not have it on gear, nor
do I have any controls or instruments. I have the tailwheel and
fittings ready to install. I have the upper wing landing wire
supports and aluminum blocks ready to install.
1 also have 1 full sheet of lf8 plywood, 2/3 sheet of 1/4 inch
narine plywood, 1 sheet of ,065 sheet 4130, all the capstrip
stock for wing ribs, enough spruce to finish the ship except
the wing spars, and misc, bolts, nuts, washers, glue, nails,
C-clamps, etc. All is aircraft grade material with receipts
and the ship has been inspected and the log signed by the FAA"
I would like to recover my cost which is about $200,00,,
Sincerely, Glenn C, Palmatary. (end of letter)
Ne regret also that Glenn will not be able to complete his projzcd,
Maybe at same future date, he will again be in a position to bulid.
For those who wish to contact Glenn, his address is 1403 Marylee
Drive, Columbia, llissouri. 65201, Please handle all corresponden~e
direct with him,
Page Foui
1

Photo Page Captions.
V
Front Slde:
Upper Left; This is a siigl~tl;; no2ifled FLY BABY by hes !lay
of Portland, Oregon, Steel tube divlded axle,
landlng gear and 7.xheel pants, plus one-plece
b,~ndshield. Photo by Pe-ier ?l Bowers
Upper Rlghz; Francis Londo of Seattle burlt hls FLY BABY before
he learned to fly, Now he's making up for lost
Elme on a X-C from Seattie to Portland for a
fly-rn. Ph;izo by Peter )Is Bot\:ers
Loicer Left; The ariginal FLY BABY ~vlrh ~ t ' s arlginal fuselage
and short registration nui-bei taken In 1960
Photo ay Peter V Bohers,
Lower Xight; Dzl;e Smith of Seattie 1s burlClng a FLY BABY and
1~111 use a fiberglass turtledeck, Iiere he tries
it cut on the orlglnal, Photo by Peter j\l, 3ohers
Back Slde:
Top : Although five FLY 3*IBIES have been in one place
together, three are the most Pete has been able
to ye"Logether for a ~ hoto, Left to right,
\Yes P.Iayts, Pete's, dndABert Copp's, Photo by
Peter ?I, Bowers,
Bottom; -4nother "gatl-ierlng of eagles", thls time at an
Abbotsforcl, B.C, fly-ln, Shown are Pet's shlp
and Bernie Brlcklebank's, CF-SNA. The other
ship co~ld not be ldentifled as the registration
markings \\ere hldden it definitely is Ganadlan
hov;ever from what is visible, The photo came
fron Bernle, t- portrait. Pre dld get individual
shots of each, but the finished prrnts have not been returned
from the processol, If tile photos are riTorthyr, they tcill be IR
an upcoinlng iss~le The Flv 3ablc-s that niade 11 to Rockford are
listed beloi+,, \%lth reglstratlon number and builder,
CF-KXL George P;eish N-3742 Jim Qurek
CF - SUT horrnan Kelly h-59365 Johnson-Porter
C F - LIYC Ed Cook N-4629T Ed Sampson
1-6542D John irlllenue\/a N-86681 Hal Gler
Thats IE for thls r-onth, dnd slnce it li so late gettlng out,
we plan to get >rLirred right aiiay on the nev, ~ssue See you
in about four weehs,
$1

THE
Issue i;o. 3 September, 1967
L;sr nionth ice set a precedent by getting the Euiletln out late
a ~ d ZT thzs ~ g z n t st appears that Ice wlll do the same agarn
this m~)n.th~ ~ ~ O SmgazAnu. L sad pe~iudlcals stay at least one
rnonrh ahead and a Zat dready- have ehe Decernber Issue on the
r,estsctands_. You must admit-we are drfferent , Pete I3owers sald
that ~ ce bere h.i9132g, off qul-te a chunk hheu- rtre f~rst broached
thls ldea and dld he exer knox what he was talking about, Sure
cuts into our bullhng tlme, No, compla~nts however, since we
enjoy every rninutc of IZ, (well, almost*)
ihase ha ale nernbers u-t EL4.A he on the lookout th~s month or
i:=,~t for an artzrle In Sport Aviation about "Fly Baby, Five
x7 ,CAI s Later", or sornc,rhing to that effect, by PETE BOICERS, The
article may not make it dae to the Rockford coverage, but should
shoii up soon, in rhe same issue we hope to see a notice about
the Bulletsn, and maybe rt will reach some of the fellows
who dldn't gex the initeal letter, About a third of our letters
were returned, undellvered and a lot of guys never got the word,
There have been several responses to our offer of copies of
prints sent in by AL JOHNSON. At the moment we are experimenting
~ ~ l a t photocopy h
machine to make a prrofing master dlrect from
the prints you fellows send in, XTr this w~r7r;S out, we will. be
able to print exactly what is mailed. in and nothirzg will be lost
in the translation, Kill know for sure next time.
-4s p u my have guessed, the Bulletin 1s made up- a little at a
time as mail comes- in and tine becomes avaf lab le , 1 f it
sometzmes seem$ a little dis-jointed, this is the reason, 14ihile
on tire subject of rna~l, it has been a little light Lately and
Ice would llke to hear from some of you guys that have been
iloldlng back until you see how his tb~ng is guhg to work out,
lije really need you felloxs and your ideas .and "ioug2lts- We heard
several rdezs at Rockford that'were going to be nailed-in, but
haven? heard _fr~m you yet, Ezirhile at it, we-mrght mention that
all contrlbutioas donf r. have to be brainstorms and new innovations.
Constructive crlfiiclsm is certainly welcome and if you have
something to safi lets hear it, That is what we are here for,
Here are just a few irem that we have had requests for help
and questions about, If you can help on any of them, let us know.
A slnpie radf o installation.
Clue types and working charaeteristlcs of various glues,
?\lodlfscal;ions uslng salvaged light plane gear,
Experiences in makrng or using wheel pants,
Sliding removable canopy plans.
hlod~f-rclat~oiis for wears% a parachute, [seat and back pack.)
Xio~i t.0 get xhe wife interested In "Fly Baby"',
These are just a few, blore next month
Page One,

i -i
Last month as you it iii recall, rce introduced our "First Lady",
?.Irs, \:,AUREFX ROIJTZEDGE, and we thought we dld a pretty fair
lob ci: ~ t . itell, is our face red, In one fell srioop, we moved
he1 ali the way across Canada, Her locatl~n \.;as given as
L!iimonte, Alberta, This is wrong dear Sriends, Xlmonte is
In OKTARFO, isizlch 1s oilly about 2000 miles to the East, Our
apologies , :laurecn, Nhile on the sub3 ect , our only lady
nernber 1s ausdexing u:hg_stse bsace_-~.;lres such as
used on r'lo~ts, tall surfaces, etc, , instead of control cable
for her- r\.ing bxaces, She is asking for advice on this if anyone
can help. Spee~f:ically_ske needs to know the exact distance
betweel;: attach points for cach brace-, This same ~dea was brought
up at Rockford and lf anyone has done any work along this llne,
bet us hear fror you.
ED JORDAN, -riurora, ill. iias kind enough to let us borrorc his
1945 issue of: ltlodei Airplane Xe~t~s, rchieh conzasned the plans
for the orlginal "Fly Baby", a model airplane bullt by a
Lieutenant Peter ?\I, Bowers, The article also carrled a photo
of Lt, 3owers which evoked a smile, 22 years and he still
hasn't got over airplanes.
REV, G,lS, SXEERES, our only minister, sent in the following
concerning the rudder of our Baby, Since there are several
"orilys" and "firsts" among us, why not here and now appoint
Rev, Sheeres our unofficial, official Chaplain. Now that we
haye that bst of democratic proceeding out of the way, we can
uet down to the serious part of his letter which follo~~s,
0
Ruddernost Talk
hJel13 another FLY BiUY Monday has come and gone (Monday is my
day off), znd rce're just a wee bit closer to the big day when
Fl)- Baby will take to the ais, that is, if you take the 1 o n g - - -
pers~ecti-~~e, for it will probably be atleast two more years
or so before all ?he spruce and the plywood and the fittings
and the bolts whreh make up Fly Baby will hopefully defy gravity
Yet every nall driven thry the ply~;ood and every batch of Aerolite
glue mixed brlngs .the ideal a little bit closer,
:!aulng flnished the fln recently I'd like to bring a small Item
to yous azzention which may be of benefit to those who still
haye to build their rudderpost, According to b1r- Bowers plans,
icf, page 1-15, Fig. 1-10] the rudderpost is to be built with
the following f i ller blocks,
it nrght be ice1-l to consider adding OSE MORE fillerblock to
the rulderpost to act as a back-up for the illire support, Uouql
ha\-e to flgure out for yourself \$here your wire support Eittlng
-i:ill be located. If the figures on page 3- 3 of the drawings
are accurate 1-t s3iEGId be approx. 11-1/2 Inches from the top;
the neasureyents of I;I~ rudderpost are sl~ghtly different here,
I,.
Ihe polnt 15: add a flllerblock as a back-up for your wire support.
(continued)
Page two

Rudderpost Talk: (cont .)
September, 1967
A second item pertaining to the rudderpost is this -- you may
want to -consider adding- sLee3. tube bushings thru the- rudderpos t
where the bolts of the tailh-heel- spring-f itting go thru the
rudderpos-t jcf, page 2- 12, Fig. 2-61 . A friend of mine who
has a sharp eye for possible weak spots in plane construction,
and who. is a- regular lecturer. on- this- very topic at our monthly
EUL meeesigs, suggested that some play migk2 develop-without
bushengs there, He made this suggesti~n some months prior to
the _'htia-,R~xkSord Fly-in, Lo and behold, when* T looked over
one of- the maay Fly Babies. on the RockPord field, and questioned
the owner on the tailspring etc,, he told me that some play had
developed where the tailspring fitting was attached to the
post. He suggested that bushings night prevent this. So I
am merely passing on what I have been advised to do and what
I have consequently done myself, i.e, add steel tube bushings
thru the rudderpost where the bolts of the tailspring fitting
go thru the filler block of the rudderpost. (end)
'The above item requires no further. comment, but we would like
to add that we had the pleasure of meeting Rev, Skeeres at
Rockford and it would be difficult to find a more personable
likeable fellow, We had always figured it would be rather
difficult to be a minister and a "nice guy" at the same time.
There is a combination and this man has found it, You had
better know your airplane pretty well if you plan to argue the
fine points with him.
ED SAMPSON Of Belview, Minn. had 2 flying airplanes at Rockford,
in addition to his completed Fly Baby, he had his Headwind,
which he built himself, and a friend flew in, Now, Ed is
working on a 2 hole Fly Baby and says he has the plans all
drawn up. Completed so far are the stabilizers and rudder,
Wing ribs are. next. Wing area will be 136 sq, ft, and the
fuselage will be 21 inches longer and 4 inches wider. Seating
ivrll be tandem, Wings svill be strut braced from a cabane
mounted at the present location of the landing wire fitting,
Tail surfaces will be i~reased in size and squased off,
Landing gear will be of the J-3 type using 700 x 6 tires,
Wings will use routed ribs and one inch tbish spars, A J-3
zorque tube will be used if it can be adapted.
Ld also added that the advent of cold weather will "ground"
his "Headtt~ind", and anytqay it should have Sees called the
'"All Wind'" Those familiar with the plane can see why.
i{iOODROlV THOFIPSON, Eureka Calif,, sent us a snapshot of the
Trinity Alps taken on a cross-country while working for his
ticket. The mountains make our foothills here look like sand
dunes, Thos of us living in flat and semi-flat areas should
pause and coud our blessings, Woodrow is a Music Instructor
and uses his 3 months off in the summer to good advantage in
worksng on his ship and building hours toward his private
ticket, Oh! for the life of a teacher,
Page Three

"Something On Steel"
September, 1967
Mr. G,E, blUITOG, bic?.linnviile, Tenn. sent us the following item
which should prove of value to those who have yet to face the
mdiag of fittings. The article is reproduced as sent in by
Flr, blultog, who we met a t an Alabama Fly-In a couple of years
ago.
'"When I undertook this Fly Baby project, 1 thought 1" soon
burn out and with this in mind 1 bought a whole sheet of 4130
p1ate.W thick, 18" x 72"- 1 had the notion thaL by the time
1 chopped up this piece of steel. and made a few fittings, IPd
come to my senses and quit before I got in too deep. I am no
youngster and it has been many years since I did any flying.
Pete's material list isn't much help, so how many pieces or
square inches of steel do you need? T have all my fittings made
lacking just a couple items that are of different stock or best
made later "'to fit'" Of the .090 sheet I have one foot left and
from an 18" x 335" (1/2 sheet) of ,063 steel these is about eight
inches renainjng,. There are a few scraps, but not much. Pete
calls for ,090 and also -093 in some places. I couldn't find
.093 and did obtain an O.K. from Pete to use of .090 throughout,
I had the steel sheared at a local plant and unless you have
access to shears, it would be best to buy your steel in strips.
It's a Poagsaw by hand and you will do plenty of that anyway.
Following is the way 1 had my steel cut up.- - - -
Pcs. (Out of ,090 - 4130 steel plate)
1 - 4-iJ2" x l8", cut 4- 4-1/4" pcs,
I - 2'" l8"', cut 2 - 3-1/4"6 2 - 4-3/8"
1 - 2-5/8'? x 118", l - 121'
1 - 5-3/16" x l8", 4 - 3-3/8"
2 - 3-1/8'h 118" , 2 - 7-l/8", 2 - 4-3/4"
1 - l" X. 18" ( an extra one needed - maybe)
I - 2-1/4" x 118"
(Out of ,063 - 4130 steel plate
2 - 3-3~h" x 18"', cut 8 - 3-3/8"
1 - 5" x l8" cut 4 - 3-718"
I - 2-738" x 18" cut 4 - 3-7/8"
I - 21' l8'" cut 2 - 5"",aalance 2-114"
2 - 1-1/2" x 18''
3 - I" x 18"
5 - 3/4" x l1"
_--_--______-___-__-------
,4 few remarks on wrking steel that come mder the classification
of "Same Old Stuff", may be of some help if you are not an
"expert" or it has been awllile since you trted yow hand.
Page Eour

C , E, ?!u'i-tlog (coKt. )
It 1s not too d ~ f f ~
September, 1967
culr TC ~UZ-~L out say one elevator hinge
that looks pretty good, b ~ ~ake t eigh?: P.ore just like i-t, If
YOU aye goomg to diipiicate parts, .-one klnd af a template is
needed as rt IS mosr d~fflcult to make bends to a mark or line,
IT-cn ycu layout the ZITS% piece iron ~&:hlch you ill drill the
+I- ,,iers,_ don't use the full size di~.il, D n 1 1 pxlot l-ioles with
a sm3ll drlll, say 5/3YiS 1Tlt.h. a small drill, you can set it
lnza a center punclr bcr1:: mo~e aicurocely- If your are drilling
~iim stock lrke ,063, ex-en ,090, ;~nd try to use IC. as a template
\~.ith say a 114" dl-sll, even tk~ugh the pleires are clamped together
he hole r n l l tend tc riander, IOrtll the small pilot hole, the
larger- dxlll r4.xll -irolilo-1< r t and 1711 the pleces will come out
;rltll the holes in tile dasired place.
Setthe drill very lightly in the punch nark and don't hold
the steel, Let tile drill cencer itself, then hold the piece and
lubricare after taklng a llght cut" 1 llhe to start the drill-
press after I have set the drill In the punch mark,
Even an sreel, a scrlbe mark ax a bendlng place T'ILL~ tend to
caue a breaic, I£ you have to scrxbe, bend to the mark inside.
On alumi-mm, scrrbe marks are prohibited I don't like them
even on 4130.
in naklng the Fly Baby Rudder-elevator hlnges, after the kinge
pleces are shx-ped and drlil LO slze, make TWD slmyle templates
of say 1/8" f latstock, Round the bend edges- with a nice easy
radius and ma2r;h drill the .t;.;o lrttle templates wi"t a hinge
piece , so the template can be bolted to the hinge piece to
he bent, The templazes are to be a llttle wlder than the hinge
and of course to the length betrt~een the bends, I used a drill
shank thvu one hole and tighxened a bolt In the other- Then
remove tile drill and set zhe part ~n the -vise dorsn almost to
the bend lsne as the Ilght steel template will not zake the
bending unless supported by the vise jav;s You can bend the
end over witk the hammer; put the bolt In the other hole,
holding the two pleces In the corner of the vlse so the template
does not shlfz whlie changlng he holding bolt from one hole to
another. 8ly templates for the hinges were 2 - 5/32" for the
outsicle hlnge and 2- 1132" for the Inside hlnge part, You mayhave
to adjust the template length a b ~ with t a file after bending a pair,
The plans do not sho-ii \char these hinges Lurn on and nothing
In the hardware lisz is indicated. I boughe: a deal for what was
supposed to be all the hardware requirements for Fly Baby and
~chlle
the items furnished conformed to the l lst, I f ind many
items short, wrong slze, too long, too short or just not there,
So donlr: go by yor~r plan "Bill of Jiar-esla1s"too much, In my
notion, liad x-zirious sheets shown tile needed hardware items, one
could have ruin OUT rhesr own lisz. Bolts were used In the
Fly Baby I haye seen, i chiilk the h~nges could stand a l~ttle more
p11l area and the hlnges should be hushed,
Page Five
1-7

September, 1967
Speaking .of hhges, the plans call for AN 257-2-300 aileron
hinges, That is what I got in this stuff 1 bouat and it is so
stamped right-ax -%he hinges. But, if you will lo-ok at plan
Fig. 4-23 which scales 1/2" - l", you will see that the hinges
shown are I" easb-half or 2" flat out, The AN 257-2-300 hinges
1 have are just 1-1/16'9lat open or 5J8" to the side, This
puts the boll-boles right close to the edge and while there is
enough woad _at -the. es ia__ the wkg, spar, the wood in
tlze sbwd -tapF"_ a& the aileroa spar- is prety margiwl, which X
didn't waise _urp-ta mtil after 9 had already fitted rap the wing
with the double=, nuqpiates, etc, 1 belieye" the AN 257 hinge
1s obsolete anyway,
Back "c thz-t ake or j ig deal; a ~ectaagular- piece of steel
(L/8" ta. 3/fK1 k) ~~'as-used to b~ad- up "tb~ eight landing
gear hmx. sup fktiags, Pigure -2-2, As these are left
and rigb-t hnb_fi.t-tdgz7- all-four- sides of - the template were used
the difference-being k-locafsian of the hales bp which _the part
was bolted-to the templaze for bending, The area of the part
ithi~h is Later_.&rimecl-and rounded off .was drilled for the holding
-bolt and _the template drilled ta match, These fittings are
drilled in place on the fuselage, or at least marked at the time
of assembly.
T also made up a jig for welding the end fitting on-the tubes
for the c~j ssion ribs, It isn't emy La weld .03f tube
to -090 or thicker plate and 1 couldn!t find anybody here who 4 -
cau3.d-do. it, The welding ixs tructor a2 the trade school suggested
IZelca-17-FC h_i_gh ~"cexgtth allap.,and that Ls what was used. This
allay has a-.tensil~. of 100_,000 P",S,I,, har-bss af 208' B, andbonds
at 1550' F, I dqnlt know if itqs legal, but it is a very
strong weid and I couldn" twist a sample weld loose, All I did
was wind up the tube,
I was very careful i n making up-the components for the compression
ribs; that is, that the tube ends were square and a6 exact length,
that the end fittings were a ll drilled alike and the fittings
square, also. I center drilled-the end fittings 3/16" - used
a washer in each end of the tibe to center a 3/16'>rod, threaded
at both ends which held the fitting to the tGbe. These washers
viere some 1 had and a bit oversize so that I had to put a few
on a bolt in the d rill press and take a light cut with a file;
very little for a snug end fit in the tube ends, The washers may
be an Auto-Lite generator part, I couldn? find any more of them
around here. If you had a taper reamer, a light cut would let the
washer i n enough, The tube with ends held by the rod were lined up
in a simple jig made of a couple 4'9hardware-store steel angles and
a piece of J/4" angle iron I got off an old bed frape. The steel
angles were bolted t o the base angle iron, squared and lined up and
drilled at the top to take two 3/16'' "bolts spaced exactly as the end
fieting is drilled, These,bolts projected 118" so that by springing
the angle a bit, the tube and end fittings could be slipped in between
the two ends of the jig, The base of my jig is 26-3/4" h ng and there
bas t o be two positions for the angle a t one end as the compression
ribs are of two - actually three lengths, (cont, next gage)
1% Page Six

C.E, blultog (Cont,)
September, 1967
G-4 rib was not put in the jig, but held with the rod and
squared or lined up by putting on a flat plate. The washers of
course stay in after the weld, The rod is removed and I put
""Texacoi' Rust Proof Compound inside and sealed the end holes
with a piece of tape,
I think I am running out of "herbs", but there has been a
couple articles about adheqives - glue if you prefer; in Sport
-&viation and every time you read something of this nature, you
wonder who is right, I made archery bows some years ago and have
had a little experience with this stuff, 1ql go along with the
W,S, Evans tests and experience as opposed to the "'Dont Believe
All You Read" in the April issue, See Evans comments under letters
Page 3, July issue, I have made a number of "break tests'" mostly
like Mr. Evans suggests, trya few tests of your own, Resorcinol
is waterproof ail right, but it won? stack up for me with plastic
resin glues and I have know this for a long time; - my experience.
I don" go along with some of the things that have been written 4'
about wood, Somebody will have to prove to me that aircraft woods
get special treatment at the mills, This is lumber country around
here, not fir or spruce, but I know something about how mills
operate. I'd like to see h~w P get .70 to .90 per foot certified
aircraft grade spruce, fir or anything else delivered here, It's
your move. C,E, Multog. [end)
_ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - - _ _ - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Notes on >lodifications: (From Pete Bowers)
One of the most extreme modifications under way is by Eugene Wise,
of Saugus, Calif, He's converting FLU BABY to a shoulder wing,
something like the old Buhl Pup or the Church, with the wing
attached to the upper longerons, He realizes what this does to
the pilot? down~qard visibility, so he's putting windows in the
wing roots, My major concern is the extremely shallow angles of
his wing brace wires - the flying wires attach to the bottom
longerons and the landing wires to the top of the turtledeck ahead
of the pilot, While this worked fine on the Buhl Pup, that design
had an extremely deep belly to give good flying wire angles and
had a pylon above the fuselage to give a good angle to the landing
wires,
Quotation from a letter received 19 July, ordering a set of Fly Baby
plans: " I am ordering a set because 1 can no longer put up with
the way George Welsh [CF-RXL) has been living it up since he com-
pleted his FLY BABY :'....That from Garth Elliot, Meadowvale, Ontario,
Canada. - - - - - Ed, Kote: George fnielsh won the "'Best Fly Babyi"
award at Rockford this year as reported in the August issue,
JOHN J. HOFF31.4NN, of Iqaco, Texas sends in a report that hhe Sherwin-
Williams Company has a Polyurethane varnish that he believes is far
superior to the traditional spar varnish, He mentions a friend who
started a Pietenpol and had to leave it uncovered and out in the
weather for a year. No visible ill effects on the wooden frame,
Tips like these are just what we need for the Bulletin, Keep 'em
coming: (All above from Pete.) i?
Page Seven

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