Sky Siren
This morning we rolled the “Sky Siren” TravelAir outside for the first time. We’ve been doing some pre-assembly, verifying the fit and rigging of the major components. We’ll leave the airplane assembled so it can participate in the TravelAir reunion the weekend of October 2nd -4th. More images of this airplane here.
It’s a good thing the Comet is a two place airplane, since it had an unexpected passenger coming back from Oshkosh this year. The airplane was the winner of a Bronze Lindy award for best replica. Congratulations Tom!
We’ve got a couple of new completions to be happy about. On Wednesday July 22nd, the N3N took to the air for the first time after it’s rebuild. Everything worked great and we’re glad to get this fun bird back in the air. Pictures of the N3N during and after it’s rebuild are located here.
The following afternoon, Robin Reid arrived to take the Comet to Oshkosh. On Friday morning Robin departed Flabob with John Lyon acting as chase in his Meyers. After an uneventful (although bumpy) trip, they arrived at Oshkosh Saturday evening. With it’s beautiful new Ranthane paintjob, the Comet is looking better than new. You can check out more Comet pictures here.
After a series of local test flights at Pontoise airfield, the Caudron was flown to Le Bourget on Thursday evening June 18th and displayed over the weekend for the thousands of enthusiats attending the 100th anniversary of the Paris Airshow. On Sunday evening the airplane was flown back to Pontoise where it will be based for the summer season. Additional photos of the airplane taken during it’s reassembly and during the show are posted in the Caudron gallery. As additional airshows are confirmed for the season, they will be posted here. Very special thanks to everyone who helped with this adventure. Stephane Lanter, Jean-Noan, Jean-Marie Klinka and his staff at the DGAC, Phillipe Moniot (Issoire Aviation) and Alain Bugeau, Rob Gold, Olivier Maes, Wilfried Tosseyn, Christophe Marchand, Laurent Detroyat, Sheila Lightsey, The Ameridair staff, especially Herve and Meziane, the AeroCraftsman Crew back home and the Poly-Fiber staff, and especially Tom and Kathleen Wathen for rolling up their sleeves and jumping in to help. Thank you one and all!
On Thursday June 11th, the last screw was tightened, the final checks were made. The permit to fly was delivered by the DGAC. Fuel and oil were added and the airplane was flown. I was at the controls for the first flight and Christophe Marchand made the second flight. Every went great with no problems or issues. Our good friend Wilfried Tosseyn was on hand for Christophe’s first flight and took some great video.
After successful completion of our test flying, the Caudron has been disassembled and is on it’s way to France. We built special fixtures to hold the components during shipping that are also used for reassembly. The airplane is scheduled to arrive in late April with Rob Gold and myself following a week later to begin reassembly.
Things are looking up around here - no? We just finished updating our photo galleries and you can now check out some of our latest projects as well as some of our past builds.
You can check it out here.
We know… Things are a bit messy at the moment. BUT, give us time - big things are happening at Aerocraftsman.com! Soon, you will be able to browse our galleries, check up on our latest projects, and much more!!!
Stick around - you’ll be glad ya did.