A Blast From The Past... Not Far From The Latest And Greatest

by ANN Correspondent Jeremy King

As the latest Very Light Jets and Light Sport Aircraft shared the limelight on the opening day of AirVenture 2007, a tent on the edge of the antique/classic aircraft parking area served as a time machine for those who may yearn for a simpler time.

Bob Bartell -- president of the Wisconsin wing of the OX-5 Pioneers club -- hosted a tent with a table, some photographs, and an engine on a wooden stand. If you know what you're looking at, this engine stands out as one of the legends of aviation. If not, it might just pass for a Rube Goldberg design to convert fossil fuel into noise, and coax an airplane skyward in the process.

The OX-5 pioneers strive to maintain the notoriety of an engine that helped give America her wings. Originally, the club's prerequisite for entry was a common one. Applicants had to have flown an OX-5 powered aircraft before 1940.

"Now, anyone can join. We have historian members who've never flown an OX-5," Bartell said.

The OX-5 engine, produced from 1913-1918, powered a number of planes including the notable Curtiss JN-4 Jenny. The engine officially made 90 horsepower at 1400 RPM, but Bartell says the engine could only turn that fast on a good day. Still, this was in a day when planes were light, with plenty of wing area -- so it didn't take much to accomplish the task at hand.

The OX-5 was stout, but it wasn't bulletproof. Pilots who flew it 300 hours between overhauls were doing really well, or lucky, Bartell said.

Bartell said the club, comprised of about 1200 members nationwide, will come to Pioneer Airport on the AirVenture grounds in September for their national convention.

So, what does a group of pilots do to foster the memories of an engine out of production for nearly 90 years? Hangar flying works just fine. Bartell told his favorite such tale, a story from his friend Freddy Stripe, a story that helps us remember how flying changed in the last 50 years. Stripe, 94, is a retired airline pilot.

"Freddy was on a flight from New York to Milwaukee, and they had to stop at an airport on the shores of Lake Erie. Freddy and his co-pilot went to eat lunch, and they came back to the same bay where they'd left their plane on the lunch layover.

"Well, they just climbed right in, and took off with a load of passengers and off they went to New York. The pilots had no idea that ground crews had moved the planes during the lunch hour. They were on the wrong plane," Bartell said.

Over Lake Erie, Stripe walked back to visit the passengers and one of them asked how many times it took flying over the lake to get to Milwaukee -- all of a sudden, Stripes realized that he and his passengers had two different destinations!

FMI: www.ox5pioneers.org