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BILL SCOTT'S
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In the late 1960s I had the good Over the subsequent years, I've wards, the family moved to Oklahoma
fortune of owning a 1946 Bellanca watched the Classic show lines at City where the elder Scott had taken a
14-13 Cruisair for a couple of years fly-ins across the nation for an au- job flying C-46s . . . and through a
and some 250 hours of pleasurable thentically painted Cruisair . . . and, series of lay-offs and recalls all too com-
flying. Had I kept the sleek little 4- finally, I spotted one this year at Sun mon to smaller, non-scheduled opera-
placer, my intention was to eventu- 'n Fun. Ironically, it was from Ker- tions, they ended up in Miami in 1964.
ally repaint it in its original red and nersville, NC, only 35 or 40 miles Bill grew up there, and attended Osh-
white factory color scheme, as de- from where I used to base mine. kosh for the first time in 1972 . . . just
picted in the Bellanca ads of the late - Jack Cox before his 15th birthday. He had always
1940s you see reproduced here. I lived with airplanes and flying, but this
never got to do it. When Paul Pobe- was his first real exposure to sport avi-
rezny offered Golda and I positions
at EAA in December of 1969, we were
faced with a quick move to the Fro-
Cox ation - and he was hooked instantly.
When he reached high school age,
Bill chose the option of a vocational
zen Nawth . . . in the depths of winter school in order to study aviation mainte-
with no prospect of renting a hangar nance. His father owned a Cessna 140
for the wood winged Bellanca. Bill Scott has never known a day in at the time and he began learning to fly
Rather than leaving it outside for his 31 years when aviation was not a it in January of 1973. He soloed it on
who knew how long, we reluctantly part of his life. His father is a pilot and his 16th birthday the following August
sold the airplane, and my plans for a was working for Boeing in Seattle when and later went on to earn his Private
factory paint scheme went with it. Bill was born in 1957. Shortly after- license.
SPORT AVIATION 19
THCBEUMCAlMfBMU/M!
Three Bellanca ads that appeared in Skyways magazine in early 1947. They provided Bill Scott with the inspiration and guide to
paint his airplane. Interestingly, the Cruisairs in the ad at the left are all in the 86000 block of NC numbers, so the possibility
exists that Bill's NC86934 is somewhere down at the far end of the row.
In the summer of 1974 Bill and his cal from his job and flew the Stinson ventorying the boxes of parts and
friend and fellow aviation enthusiast, from Miami as far north as Toronto, vis- scrounging around for a new tailwheel
Bob Prince, paid a to visit the shop of iting friends and relatives along the way. assembly, some cowl pieces, a new in-
Mike Melfa to look over his latest home- Eventually, a second Stinson 10A was strument panel and a few other items.
built project and noticed he had a Stin- purchased, a basket case that had been A lot of the things in the boxes simply
son 10A tied up in the rafters of the in storage since 1950, and the plan was could not be identified when first viewed,
building. Asking about it, they were sur- to restore both of them. but, later, as the restoration progressed,
prised to hear Mike say that if they By this time, still another project had a time would come when a particular
would put it together and fly it, he would been purchased by Bill and his partner. part was needed and Bill would go
give it to them! In 1976, a Bellanca Cruisair had been rummaging through the boxes and
"Sur-r-r-e, we thought, somebody is advertised in Trade-A-Plane and after
going to give us an airplane . . . and all talking to the owner by phone, they had Left - Bill Scott's Cruisair after its first
we have to do is put it together and fly Bill's father fly to Bridgeport, CT to in- cover job in 1955 and, below, as it was
it," Bill recalls with a chuckle. spect it. The airplane was in storage in purchased and hauled to Miami in 1976
. . . then in its 1965 cover and paint
scheme.
Taken somewhat aback by the offer, a garage, had been partially disassem-
Bill and Bob said they would think it over bled but including a lot of stuff in boxes,
and get back to him .. . and rushed appeared to be complete. Bill's father
home to consult with Bill's father. Get a gave them a thumbs up on the airplane,
clear title and bring it home, he advised so they bought it and trucked it home . . . "Aha, that's what that little piece is
them .. . and the following morning they to Miami. There, the 30 year old air- for!"
were knocking on Mike's door. frame was completely taken apart, the All that was several years and a lot
"I know what you boys want," Mike necessary repairs were made to the of travelling around in the future, how-
said with a grin when he saw who his steel tube fuselage, it was sandblasted ever. In 1980, Bill moved to South
callers were. "You want my airplane." and primed . . . then put back in storage Carolina to go to work for Bill and Jim
It took about a year and a half to get for another 7 years. A 165 Franklin was Stoia at their Precision Air operation on
the 10A flying, but fly it did. With it, Bill bought and overhauled to replace the the Clarendon County Airport near
and Bob became regulars on the East 150 Franklin that had come with the Sumter. Formerly from Miami, them-
Coast fly-in circuit, and in the summer airplane, but little else was done selves, the Stoias are known to EAAers
of 1978, Bill took a five month sabbati- throughout the late 1970s other than in- as the restorer of the beautiful Lus-
20 JULY 1989
combe that was the Classic Grand 1947, incidentally, is the only significant
Champion at Oshkosh in 1982. After a prang that is recorded in the airplane's
little over a year with the Stoias, Bill was records. There is no evidence of its ever
able to get a job as a mechanic with having been bellied in, which, if correct,
Piedmont Air Lines in Winston-Salem, is rather unusual. Cruisairs were expen-
NC ... and settled down in nearby Ker- sive airplanes when new and generally
nersville. (Piedmont's maintenance were flown by experienced pilots, but
shop has subsequently been moved to as the years rolled by and they became
the Regional Airport near Greensboro bargains on the used airplane market,
and Bill works there today.) they were purchased by less and less
With the two now so far apart, Bill experienced pilots, many of whom were
and Bob Prince decided to dissolve flying a retractable for the first time. In-
their partnership on the Stinsons and evitably, someone, somewhere would
the Bellanca, with Bill buying them out- forget to lower the gear for landing. For-
right. "You could never have a better tunately, that usually resulted in little
partner than Bob, but he is flying damage, because the Cruisair's main
freighters for Miami International now gear legs fold straight back and up into
and it just wasn't practical for either of the wing, with about half the wheels re-
us to continue the partnership," Bill says maining out in the slipstream to provide The Cruisair's tubular fuselage frame
today. protection for the belly. The prop and completely stripped and ready for sand-
After moving to North Carolina, Bill sometimes the bottom of the cowling blasting.
quite naturally hooked up with the local and boot cowl usually bear the brunt of
EAA Chapters . . Chapter 8 in a belly landing in a Cruisair. Those who 32 turns are required to fully retract the
Greensboro and EAA Antique/Classic have done it claim one can actually landing gear, but on most Cruisairs the
Chapter 3 which covers the Carolinas steer the airplane as it skids to a stop, handle can be cranked an additional 4
and Virginia. It was through these affili- because the brakes remain fully func- to 6 turns. These extra turns are simply
ations that he met Dave Spencer of tional. taking up the slack in the bicycle chains
Martinsville, VA, the person he credits The Cruisair's landing gear is un- and can put undue tension on the sys-
with providing the inspiration he needed iquely Bellanca. It retracts and extends tem, so experienced Bellanca pilots al-
to get the Bellanca restoration going by means of a hand crank driven sys- ways count turns and stop at 32. When
and who, along with Pete Covington, tem of bicycle chains and torque tubes lowering the gear, one simply cranks
provided the most help, particularly in that turn jack screws mounted in the until the knuckle joint in the actuating
the refurbishing of the wings. wheel wells that actually push and pull strut thunks into the overcenter position
The work began in a nearby barn in the gear legs. Although it involves a lot and the handle can be moved no
1982, but really kicked into gear the fol- of parts and the driving force changes further. With the jack screws, there is
lowing year when Bill and his wife, direction several times between the no need for up locks. The gear remains
Michelle, bought a home that just hap- hand crank and the gear legs, it is still in place whenever the pilot stops crank-
pened to have a full, unfinished base- a rather simple system and if kept in ing . . . but one would likely begin to
ment with a garage door entrance. The decent shape, is relatively trouble free hear some rather expensive noises if a
initial projects were the replacement of in day-to-day operation. The major landing were attempted with the gear
most of the control pulleys and all of the maintenance item is keeping the jack half retracted.
cables, a little fuselage woodwork and screws clean and switching to a lighter Bill removed the entire gear system
making up of an all new firewall, boot
cowl, and baggage compartment . . .
which brings up some interesting
points. In pouring over the airplane's re-
cords, Bill found that while his Cruisair
was built as a model 14-13 in late 1946,
it was not sold until sometime the fol-
lowing year. The "Straight" 14-13s, as
Bellanca aficionados call them, had
large fixed fins on the tips of the hori-
zontal tail, a free swivelling tail wheel
and just a canvas sling behind the rear
seat for a baggage compartment. The
next model, the 14-13-2 had a revised
horizontal tail with more area and smal-
ler fins, and a baggage compartment
with an outside door. Before Bill's
NC86934 (Serial Number 1296) left the Before and after shots of the fuel pump/
factory, it had been converted to the bicycle chain hand cranked gear retrac-
tion mechanism. Note that an electric
new tail .. . and later that year, after a boost pump has been added to the fuel
ground loop accident made it necessary system (right).
to do some extensive repairs, the out-
side baggage compartment and a steer- lubricating grease in winter. 1/16 inch
able tailwheel, both factory options, cables are used to limit the travel of the
were added. Technically, then, the oleo struts, and if they break, the
airplane had been converted to a 14-13- wheels will not fit up into the well. The
2 ... and, in fact, that is the way it is hand crank is located down between
listed in the FAA's civil aircraft registry the two front seats and just ahead of
today. That groundloop damage in late the main spar carrythrough structure.
SPORT AVIATION 21
years. Cracks and corrosion had ruined
most of them. The brakes are marginal
even when they are working perfectly,
but with a steerable tailwheel, he is not
totally dependent on them for ground
steering as I was on my Cruisair, which
had a free castoring tailwheel. Taxiing
in a crosswind was always an adven-
ture. The tailwheel that came on the
airplane when Bill and Bob bought it
was modified to accept a pneumatic tire
and was in terrible shape. Several years
were spent hunting for an original tail-
wheel assembly with a solid rubber tire,
r
were replaced and some parts of the
jack screw drive had to be remanufac-
tured. All the metal parts were
sandblasted, inspected, repaired as re-
quired and repainted. An electric motor
was an option on the later versions of
the Cruisair, but Bill chose to retain the
manual system that came on his
airplane. He also thoroughly checked
out the three gear warning systems: a
little metal tab that sticks up out of the
left wing with green (gear safe) and red
(gear unsafe) segments to allow the
pilot to visually check the gear position;
a red light on the panel; and an honest-
to-gosh electric doorbell that rings any-
time the rpms are reduced below 1,700 der tube brakes, although he had to and one was finally purchased from
with the gear still up. Bill also retained make up a good set from parts of sev- Jack Niland in Augusta, GA. The best
the original Hayes wheels and expan- eral wheels he had collected over the parts of the two were combined to come
up with a good, original tailwheel setup.
Early in the restoration process, the
165 Franklin was installed so all the
plumbing and wiring could be done prior
to covering the fuselage. Bill completely
reworked the fuel system, installing new
lines. As delivered from the factory,
Cruisairs had an engine driven fuel
pump and a back-up hand wobble
pump . . . mounted down on the front of
the spar carrythrough about under the
pilot's left knee. Part of the engine start
procedure was to wobble up a few
pounds of fuel pressure, then hit the
starter. Allegedly, the engine could be
kept running, in the event of the failure
of the engine driven pump, by furiously
stroking the wobble pump until an air-
1974 1989
14-13 100 105
14-13-2 180 176
14-13-3 25 29
Total 305 310
Obviously, the Cruisair is a treasure
to be sought out, showered with tender
loving care and enjoyed to the fullest.
Ask Bill Scott.