I DISCOVERED Hangar Full Of Abandoned Airplanes

come with me and check this out I am here in Texas and I got an email from a guy John about another guy that passed away a few years ago and they have a few airplanes that they need to find new homes for uh this is one come here and check out this one oh by the way the guy was an engineer at Lockheed Martin and these are real models that locked Martin used for different things more about that later you can see it's just insane all around here look at this one this is Ryan sta also a build one there are four airplanes he actually had more that there's more in that room over there it just keeps going so we got the Ryan sta models everywhere we have a build room here which that's not Jim stuff his is in the Next Room over just the models look at the models in this place it's insane this is a fly baby that he had we're going to go over all these airplanes we're going to see maybe if some of them can make some noise I don't know what the story is the these are not gyms back here but they're still pretty cool airplanes but I am joined by Jim's brother Hayden Hayden thank you so much for coming out so we talked back and forth uh via email one phone call you told me about your brother his love for Aviation he had a few airplanes I had to come check him out to see him maybe we see what we can do maybe see some life in some of them uh what who was your brother what was was my brother had a passion for Aviation that became a parent even when he was a little boy he started off with a little ball of wood airplanes and at the end of his life he was working on a space shuttle for loed Martin go so that span a long period of time in aviation this was his first fullsize airplane oh this one was this one the fly baby was and he probably put 500 or more hours on this aircraft and flew it all over this part of North Central Texas and up into Southern Oklahoma but that was only the number one airplane yeah how many airplanes can you guess that he owned throughout his his life I'm going to guess that he probably owned actual airplanes that that he could have flown himself I'm going to guess maybe six or seven oh wow um there were a couple of unpowered aircraft but that was only because those were a donation to a nonprofit Museum that he wanted to start a 501c3 organization and uh most of the airplanes that we'll look at today are aircraft that he actually flew at one time or another oh wow strange this one if I understand the story Jim actually owned this airplane twice is that right so he bought it brought it up here to Texas flew it around for a little while and then talked you into to buying it what happened was he bought it and flew the Wings off of this thing he was in this airplane constantly he probably put 500 hours on it but then he found another airplane that he just couldn't live without and that was that champ that you're going to be looking at uh so he sold this to a fellow in Brownwood Harold steber and one day Harold said told Jim said I'm going to sell the fly baby and uh Jim said we sell it back to me because he didn't want it to get out of his orb you know and he said well I'm going to sell it to the first guy with the money so that night Jim called me and he says um hey I want you to buy a fly baby and I said well you buy it I I really don't want it and he said I'm buying another airplane beside the champ and he said I don't want it to get away so the next weekend we went down flew the champ down and uh I looked it over and bought it and we flew it back and uh the rest is history but then I found my Cub up in Ohio so I had to sell it I sold it to a fellow V Roberts over in godle and V kept it about about 4 years and got sick and uh told Jim that he was going to sell it so Jim bought it back and we brought it over here and parked it and this is where it's been sitting ever since so when was the last time this airplane is flown about four and a half five years probably okay and did this other gentleman V do any changes or anything since you're work to it no okay so this airplane is just the way it was when it left your hands right except it's dirtier sure what do you think and I I know that you you never really know till you tear into it but what do you think it would need to be able to to fly again it's going to need a new prop now what happened was when Jim parked it it had a cage propeller on it mhm well he parked the airplane and uh he was fly buying a pet and pole at the time and so one day we were out there hand cranking it and my fingernail dug it it it had dry Rod so we took the old prop off gave it back to the original owner of the peton pole because he wanted a wall hanger Jim took the cenic off and put it on the petting pole and he said when we get around to it we'll buy a new cin for this but he was wanting to fly that pet ball uh anyway some fellow came along and donated this this propeller I I don't know if it's a or not it's a cinic I don't know uh it's old it could probably be made air worthy again yeah but okay so a prop definitely a prop the Magneto probably need to yeah yeah cuz it's just sitting on uh the magnetos need to be sent out and gone through uh there's some uh holes in the exhaust back up here that need to be welded up okay yeah and then just a good thorough annual and I think it'd be ready to go yeah so I'm honestly it doesn't sound like anything significant it's and when I look at these you know I'm looking at fabric work the rot and corrosion those are the cancers that will just kill an airplane and there's nothing you can really do about it without a huge amount of work right yeah this one I think with you know throw a little money at it couple of bolt-on items and inspection go and it's it's one heck of a good flying airplane uh Hayden you said this was his first this was his first actual airplane full scale plane that you could fly as most people think of an airplane he'd had thousands of models that he had built over the course and and some of those are here and some of these are built by other people but just all the way from very simple to very complex he did control which is with a control line he did radio control he did wait hold back up a second What U control with a control line for a remote control like one of these airplanes it was a u control is the one where people fly in a circle and they stand in one spot and they fly it around and around you control the elevator oh yeah we're not able to pull this one out get it you know fired up because primarily the the propeller is just sitting on here it's not the right one we can't start one of these engines without propeller on it because it just messes and does all kinds of bad stuff so we can just visually look around this thing and enjoy it now I'm curious good story fun story about Jim and this airplane to to remember is that Jim loved to fly more than he loved to eat and a lot of times we would take off I'd be in the Cub or he'd be in this or I'd be in the champ or he'd be in the champ and I'd be in this whatever one day day we were out flying formation and U I think I've got some uh video on my YouTube channel of this airplane flying but we were flying along and we had all always commented back and forth that this airplane has such light controls that it would be just a pleasure to do a Aeron roll in it but it only had one single Bel you know and uh open cockpit and you know I don't know about that well we were out in formation one day and I saw Jim pulling that nose up I thought I thought he's going to do it and he did and he did the most beautiful Alon roll in this airplane that you've ever seen but that's the kind of guy he was he just loved that kind of stuff the big thing nowadays is back country flying and the stole competitions and these guys getting on YouTube and landing on water you know and all of that kind of stuff well back in 1985 I had a Pete and Paul der derivative that I built and an airline buddy of mine lives over in Godly and I'm not going to mention his name but but he used to tell me about Landing a tea Craft on water you know real land and we thought oh man you're full of baloney so we were out in the uh Pete and Paul one day and there was a stock tank down there and he fueled off and did a wheel landing on it well I was telling Jim about it I say we all know where this is going and so one day Jim and I was in something may have been his champ and he was in this or I may have been in my cup we were out over Benbrook Lake right out here and uh Jim peels off and he's going down thought what in the world and he flew right down there and did a perfect wheel landing on that water in this airplane oh my god wow skimmed probably 200 yard and then back up wow uh okay we got this one and then U and this room over here now any of these models in here gems these uh most of these belong to the museum okay Jim was responsible for getting the uh arrangements for locky to donate those models to the time to fly Museum and some of these other models are you talking like this F16 here yes like the F16 other one over here but also you see some of these VTO models this one over here and there's some more over on the other side over here oh yeah those TOS over there uh he would helped Bell design those uh engineer named wari and they were some concept models they were working on and they kept getting a little bigger and a little bigger the bigger one is over there in that little Al Co over there let's go take a look Jim didn't actually own this cuz it was donated the museum but Jim blew this PE hole right here for quite a while as well until he sold it but you see they get oh wow wow kept getting bigger model look at that thing he he's got some pictures of this somewhere flying T oh yeah cuz it I guess started oh I see there the smaller model the mockups and then it gets bigger and bigger and then I mean these it has a gas engine in it so it looks like it might actually should have been made kept getting little I say larger and larger the strings on it to show the air flow over the air foil and stuff they Jim actually flew this thing they had it tethered I don't know how high they got it but it was you know tethered he told me he said it was basically fairly unstable but is it a Lockheed Martin prototype this was this was when he was working for a a Aviation engineer named Ken wori okay and Ken was developing valls of various kinds gotcha okay wow that is neat I think Ken was uh one of the engineers responsible for that ospr oh very neat that ster right there the red airplane up there yeah Jim designed that model and was kiding actually making kits and selling kits to that airplane oh wow cuz that looks like all of the real hardcore aerobatic airplanes that you see today yeah wow and then the big F-16 back there that another mockup model yeah holy yeah you got to have the Texas flag on the uh they had that model at George Bush's uh first inaug oh so this was at George Bush's uh inauguration oh wow man that is just neat oh goodness all right lead the way gentlemen I'll follow you around this is this belongs to Hayden this is a Switzer 126 and it's claim to fame is that it was owned by Neil Armstrong at one time so I this one to me is got one of the more fascinating stories behind it walk me through uh the story with this airplane what this airplane was and I guess you know why why it's sitting here why it's sitting here now there was a gentleman in the in in the Carolinas that really admired this aircraft the original aircraft or aircrafts were built back in the late 30s and in fact just preceding World War II the army aircore bought some and put a different engine on them so it would be a trainer but most people like this with an inline engine very clean cow and all the gentleman in in the Carolinas that built this was a friend that's made by the Ryan company the same people that produced The Spirit of St Louis the gentleman in the Carolinas that made this airplane would became friends with the publicist for the Ryan family and got a set of the original blueprints so this aircraft was actually built from the original blueprints of the Ryan sta Jim when he saw it for sale had to have that aircraft so he made a trip got to the Carolinas uh I picked him up and we went and looked at this airplane I called him later there was a little problem getting the engine started I thought he'd given up on it I said what are you going to spend your money on now and he said I'm coming to get the airplane this was in February with an open cockpit airplan man so he uh he came out and uh I actually got in the aircraft with him we flew once around the pattern and then I got out and he headed for Texas it was about 28° so kind of a cool trip first leg or two in an open cockpit aircraft I understand he told me he landed down at I think Orangeburg South Carolina and there were two guys standing outside actually working on a regular aircraft with one of these Forest Heat fans and they actually had to lift Jim he was so cold they had to lift him out of the cockpit and stand him in front of the forc of the forc air heater to warm him up a little bit the weather thank heavens got a little warmer as it got down through Georgia so turned out to be a good trip for it oh man that's fantastic just fantastic and this is all metal fuselage fabric wing and control surfaces back here right yeah and and now this my understanding is one: one scale from one to one scale it is it the original Ryan and this one are exactly the same size and it's gorgeous of just for an airplane and then I think I don't does it have the wheel pants still on it it does this thing I mean you sent me pictures and honestly this was the reason I'm like yeah we're coming to Texas as spoiler alert we're not going to be able to start this one up either because it's got a strange engine in it that had an issue and you were telling me some were you are you were you here you or what's what's the story with the engine got a check Czech a Slovakian engine a larm LOM they don't make that particular engine anymore and you can't get parts um I came out here one day and Jim had it out here and he started it and he motioned for me to come over I climbed up on the wing walk I said what's the matter with you I don't have any oil pressure I said well kill the engine shut it off he said well it's not running H right he went ahead and we checked out the gauge and it wasn't it and we pulled the uh engine manual ual to try to figure out where that oil pump was we uncalled it and dug into it and sure enough it shared something on the oil pump but you can't get parts they're building the new LOM engine but the parts won't interchange now I'm sure there is somebody out there with parts that you can get just going to have to you know Chase it down Machinist yeah yeah or yeah make the part again exactly and it's a beautiful flying airplane it's a just absolute joy to fly now have you flown this one M oh you have yeah okay and two-seater which an open cockpit two-seater there's nothing better than that there were a number of times that people asked Jim to deliver aircraft for them and they were unusual they weren't your standard uh uh there a lot of stories there too yeah he he uh was a gentleman in West Virginia that bought an aircraft and the gentle and the person he brought it from here in Texas was reluctant to deliver it himself he asked Jim so Jim brought it over here to Spinx flew it for about two weeks to build up familiarity and then he flew it to West Virginia to this gentleman's Airfield so he was he was considered a really good Aviator from a practical standpoint one of the best flying sticks I'm aware of oh man and I see the uh F1 117 stealth back there was that another model that Jim was able to uh to bring for display yep man it's crazy it's amazing I forgot to mention this airplane is rather famous it was in a Range Rover commercial that they filmed in Mexico where some special Hollywood pilot was the only one on the film studios insurance that could fly it so Jim flew it down to Mexico you can see this is the airplane here and they flew it down there so they can do the commercial uh and then flew it back so I'm sure maybe we can research and put in the video a segment of that commercial if we can find it so behind me is a pits s1c is that corre y okay so this is a is this one the aerobatic one catic aircraft it certainly is and so tell me the story behind Jim and this airplane here here this was an aircraft that was built from plans uh or a kit Mark I plans plans it was a planb buil aircraft gentleman up in Arkansas built it and I think because he no longer had a valid medical certificate he could not fly this aircraft anymore and Jim went up to Arkansas and picked up this airplane and flew it back and he liked this as much as this was the last aircraft of all of several we've looked at this was the last aircraft he was flying so we've seen one the fly baby two the Ryan this is not part of the four uh this was an extra bonus one and then across in another hanger we have a Stinson 108 and then at a completely different airport we have a aona champ is that right that's correct all right well let's go take a look at the uh Stinson the Stinson and I think this one we'll we'll have to see I know it was in the middle of inspection I'll be by tomorrow oh there's more not sure really oh there's something what's that right sir oh there's the engine log book this is more engine stuff aircraft engine oh the plans whoa look at that come on you'll be looking right trying to be very gentle with this straight down the street whoa there's a there's a fence look at that fence there's a nice other fence that is just cool M that is neat that you'll be driving along then you'll have a chaining fence there'll be a gate and I'll open up the gate for I'll get there you'll see uh it'll say easy I don't want to open it up anymore but oh yeah that's that's the engine there side of it front view or back view I guess it wow right through this way wow some Moonies some uh vils bananas we got cool stuff over there there this is the mighty Stinson it's a good looking good looking airplane wow uh it's in the middle of its annual inspection or 100h hour inspection so that's why all the panels are taken off and everything's open because it's in the middle of the inspection we're not able to start it up right now but we can definitely take a look at this thing it looks pretty good from here so walk walk me around and what's the story with this how what's Jim's story with this airpl okay there was a member of the local EAA chapter named Jim Peterson who was a real Craftsman at rebuilding and restoring aircraft and He restored this aircraft uh unfortunately he became ill before he could really enjoy it and the aircraft was purchased from his estate it was flown several times and then because not because of Any deficiency with the aircraft other things happen and it just hasn't been flown in a period of time and that's why it needs to be fully annuled right now uh there are some there are some minor things with it and it does not have the latest avionics and so it would have to be updated with avionics to a little to an extent but it's really a pretty good pretty solid aircraft I believe it was restored uh sometime around th completed in 2010 I don't know how long oh so yeah I was going to say it doesn't this looks really good so it could have been very long ago it it was flown very very little my brother and Marcus moon have a a um YouTube video of flying this aircraft oh fantastic looking I don't know if if the lighting will be good enough but come in here and look they told me that the engine was a zero time rebuild gone through engine and it looks like it everything on this looks new it's kind of it's just impressive yeah this me man man those smooth flight controls too very smooth very very little give to them very tight interior looks new he was a Craftsman yeah he was holy moly just looking up all the hardware the cables the frame the bars that run inside look at the look at the instrument panel beautiful work on the instrument panel yeah oh yeah I see what you're talking about the avionics yeah the avionics is going to have to be [Applause] updated there we go oh wow look at that in there here yeah stick the camera down in there [Applause] oh wow fabric up to metal metal here yep and metal there okay wings okay yeah so these fabric there were some where the wings had been Metalized covered with metal but on this aircraft they're still covered with with fabric oh yeah I feel how that's light man that just moves so good oh my Lord look at that here got to get a little flashlight on that look that is brand new holy moly check this out we're here to see the other airplane and look what is right next door just a quick Glimpse inside the museum that's right next to where we're going to check out the champ uh they're in good company this this place is awesome apparently they all fly as well hello this is Paul and he was a good friend of Jim's as well and we're here in his hanger where he's got a lovely 320 that I'm going to see if I can't negotiate maybe try to get off his hands is that is that is that possible I mean this pretty nice for the right price someone someone of your stature oh know it is oh man but this is hisil yeah just real quick and it's basic this is a running airplane though so I don't that's true that's not for me this is yeah too nice for me well it's a beautiful airplane but yes so the reason we're here is uh the champ all right what are we looking at here Hayden this is an ironica 7 Ac champ built in 1947 it originally was equipped with a 65 horsepower engine and this one has been modified to a 90 horsepower one of the complaints about initially about this aircraft was that it was underpowered so a number of them and it was an STC it was an it was an authorized upgrade to a 90 horsepower engine which this one has there were a few other changes to the aircraft fuel tanks and so forth but that essentially makes it a much better aircraft from the standpoint of carrying weight not so much on speed of course that's primarily determined by the airframe shape but still a good air a good general purpose aircan probably a lot shorter takeoff some shorter takeoff than the 65 horsepower yeah and tell me the history with your brother in in this airplane this was the second second aircraft that my brother owned he bought a Bowers fly baby and probably put 500 hours on that Bowers ply baby over three or four years and then he heard about this airplane here I think it came it's probably someplace in Arkansas it was owned by a gentleman there and he went up and picked up this aircraft and brought it back to Spinx in South Fort Worth do you know about what year that was I'm going to say it was approximately 2012 okay I think that was about right okay um and uh there's been very very few changes to the actual aircraft it is a non it is a non-electrical system aircraft and by that I mean of course it has magnetos to provide spark to the spark plugs but it does not have a generator or an alternator for radios or lights this aircraft has no lights on it and uh so when you travel with this if you need radio communications which you do most places now you have to have a handheld or one strap to your leg or you've got a portable system yeah and the biggest you got to just man up grab that throw the prop and without chopping your fingers off that's that is a real important part of an aircraft without an electrical system that also means there's no battery and no starter he never wanted me to Prof it so that I I his wishes but I would be sitting in the aircraft when he propped it and it was it was an easy starting aircraft oh yeah oh yeah the magnetos look brand new on this thing well that's a good sign and the cylinders the orange band on the bottom Chrome cylinders so that means there's very little rust if any on the inside 90 horse so what what would it take for this one to fly out of here from what we know about it it would take to fly it out with a ferry permit it would take just a good General inspection of the aircraft the control surfaces the control cables uh throttle cable uh um probably uh an inspection of the fuel system to be sure and when was the last time this one started or flew uh October of 2019 I believe is what we decided okay and anyway the late fall of 2019 and it flew over here from Spinx okay 4 and 1/2 years roughly yep all right okay well yeah let's uh any well in any other history and you said you had reviewed the log books and found some interesting history with it is that correct all right well come on over let's I want to I want to hear some interesting history stories I might add that it does need to have with a 90 horse it is supposed to have one additional fuel tank installed mm and when this aircraft is sold it will come with the hardware and the extra fuel tank yeah we found that over there by the STA and it had the STC paperwork sitting on top of it as well and it matched the fuel tank so it's not like you have to go out and try to find this stuff it's it's ready to go yep but so there's still a couple of things to make it fully compliant with the 90 horse upgrade but we think we may have all the stuff that's needed it just needs to get done correct it needs some TLC as we say that's right yeah this is yeah these are fantastic airplanes and with this 90 horse upgrade that is that makes it a real really great airplane this airplane started its history at the end number 6030 Tango uh in the late '90s a gentleman took an airplane that had probably been involved in an accident and bought parts and pieces put it together took it to the FAA the FAA said okay we're going to start it off as an experimental going to fly it check it out it started as an experimental and interesting and then they a little while later they stamped it as a normal type certificate oh wow so it was normal type certificated something happened and then rebuilt out of of other Champs and stuff a a Franken airplane if you will yeah parch planes and stuff yeah and then they said okay experimental put some hours on it right and then a little while later it it had an incident again uh another incident and so it was down and then uh about the time let's see about the time Jim bought it there was another incident I think and then that's when the the 65 horse engine came out and this engine went in the 90 horse that a prop strike or a probably something that that took the that other engine out ground Loop or something I think Jim bought it with a 990 horse in it I think I think it came as a 90 there was an off airport landing with this aircraft after Jim bought it and then Jim off airport landed it as well and there's a there's a report on that in uh in the in the books oh okay in the records all right do we know what year that was I I would have to look at records I'm not sure I can't remember well you were just looking at do you remember what year that was 2004 I believe Jan July 4 2004 something like that is what my memory says okay well you were saying 2012 is when he got this airplane he got it a lot earlier actually okay oh okay so yeah July 4 2004 4th of July my birthday there you go is it really oh that's pretty neat Neato Neato all right well so we got complete airplane needs to be gone through for sure uh we do have records of all this with engine logs and airframe logs all the way back to 90 is that right or well whenever the new Air um air worthiness certificate was stamped it as a certified aircraft regular category right yeah okay yeah let's take a take a peek around it wow P really really is not a whole lot happening in here simple we'll put in the comments for those people that know these Arona Champs really well what's the story with the pilot is single pilot are you able to fly in the front or in the back what's the story with that we'd love to hear I mean basic basic stuff man this it is what it is I'm not buying all of them so the ones that you are interested in I'll put your email down in the description and then you can just contact him directly uh help us find these Airplanes new home so they can go to somebody who's going to care for them bring them back to life I would love to but I don't want to take it from everybody and want to share the love and I frankly also don't have the room in the space to put them for four more projects with that being said such a pleasure Hayden sir thank you so much thank you so much uh and EAA if you don't already know them check them out uh and here's here's a little bit a video for Jim fly West brother blue skies and Tailwinds more than welcome and anybody that sees this and notices the red and white check doors there that's the chapter 280 meeting area there's lots of airplanes and displays in there and a good place to eat cheeseburgers on the second Saturday of every month at noon so you're welcome to come oh

Channel: Jimmys World

Views: 257,029

Keywords: abandoned airplane, jimmys world, save the 310

Id: VtqQVyywkmw

Length: 37min 39sec (2259 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 28 2024