nostalgia

[russell]

Thought some of you guys that are a bit long in the tooth as myself would get a kick out of these.

[russell]

scan 2

[russell]

scan3

[russell]

scan 4

[JPXman]

man those are groovy. I am particularly interested in the invoice, where in the letter it says you are customer number 52, but invoice A9...I wonder if this is where the crossover in kit numbers happened....russel which kit number did you say yours was?

Tyler

[russell]

Hi Tyler, a good time ago I asked Dale K. about the numering system. This is his responce.

"Hi Russell,

I'm sure both numbers are correct.

My memory was that we built the first 50 and then started using A#'s.

It appears from your numbers that we may have double numbered for a while and actually started assigning A#'s at 44.

Someday I might get all the paper back and confirm this.

Dale"




Looking at those papers really brings to light just how old I've become!

[Shannon]

Russell if I had to take an educated guess I'd say your plane is A-52. The date of purchase and configuration of your plane and my Dads kit A-75 are very close.

This plane (unknown owner or kit number) is of the same early configuration.

[russell]

Because A9 is on the invoice I just assumed it is A9. As indicated in Dale's response, his memory of that period is not clear.

As for the photo, what did the owner of this plane do to correct the CG after installing the larger fuel tank?

[Shannon]

Russell I'd say it's highly unlikely you have A-9 based on the fact that Dale recalled starting A-numbers at 40 something. Also your plane seems pretty far in set-up from the original kits. The sling seaters like yours seem to be "second generation" early Series I's.

Right after my Dad made his initial two flights (and minor crash) in the "sling seater" "spoke wheeler" he converted it to this configuration. This is the same basic seat and wheel set-up of the Series II. Lets call this set-up "3rd generation" Series I. Given this I don't really know what could have been done to change the W&B with the sling seat Series I set-up. I can tell you that with the set-up in this pic he initially added a little weight and later some small trim tabs if I recall correctly.

[russell]

Shannon, have you a photo/picture of the first generation you can post? If no, comment on the differences between mine and it. I know very little about the different configuration that emerged.