Posted on 11/06/2010 5:25:07 PM PDT by csvset
NORFOLK
It was not an everyday sight on the flight line at Norfolk Naval Station's Chambers Field.
A spindly little aircraft - essentially a motorized tricycle with wings - emerged from the clouds, touched down and puttered to a stop outside a hangar Tuesday.
The 1,000-pound plane is a replica of those flown by Eugene Ely, the first man to take off from and land on a ship in 1910 and 1911 - the birth of naval aviation. It's in Norfolk for next week's centennial observance of Ely's first shipboard takeoff, which occurred in Hampton Roads on Nov. 14, 1910.
Bob Coolbaugh, a retired Navy aviator and commercial airline pilot, has spent 2-1/2 years building the replica near his home in New Market, in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.
He and a colleague, Andrew King, took turns flying it from New Market to Norfolk - a two-day trip with stops in Culpeper, Ashland and Williamsburg. While one flew the replica, the other stayed close in a Cessna escort plane.
Coolbaugh pronounced the 150-mile trip a success.
"Aside from the fact that I was freezing to death, it was wonderful," he said. The open-cockpit aircraft flew as high as 4,800 feet to clear the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The duo chose their flight time carefully, so rough weather wouldn't pummel the tiny plane.
"It's so light, every little wind gust really throws you around," said King, an antique-airplane restorer and movie stunt pilot.
Coolbaugh built the plane from scratch, using drawings and photos of early Curtiss biplanes such as those Ely flew. He used some of the same construction materials. The bamboo for the replica's outriggers came from the same importer that manufacturer Glenn Curtiss used in 1910.
Since the aircraft was built to fly, however, Coolbaugh made some concessions to modernity. He added brakes and a radio, neither of which Ely had, and used a 60-year-old engine from an early Cessna. The fabric stretched over the wings is Dacron, a more durable material than the linen used for the Curtiss planes.
Nevertheless, flying the plane is physically punishing, said Coolbaugh, 61.
"It's squirrely," he said. "You never let go. You never stop fighting it. I should have done this about 20 years ago when I was young and strong."
Weather permitting, Coolbaugh and King hope to fly the replica over Willoughbay Bay at the Ely centennial ceremony on Nov. 12 and at several air shows around the country over the next few months.
"I'll tell you, Eugene Ely was nuts, doing what he did," Coolbaugh said. "I've gained a lot of respect for him."
Bill Sizemore, (757) 446-2276, bill.sizemore@pilotonline.com
Just plain cool.
Ping
Thanks for the Ping. I am am busy looking back at pings I missed while in the desert.
ping
Thanks, that is awesome.
Mr Montanabound and I went to the Reno Air Races in Sept. A young LtCdr was manning a booth promoting the 100th year of Naval Aviation. I stopped in my tracks and told him that I had attended the 75th anniversary in Pensacola. It was a huge production with Bob Hope and Sammy Davis, Jr. plus ceremonies, fireworks, and an air show. He said he had heard about it (a Brit Harrier pilot had landed without putting his landing gear down, so it is still talked about). He gave me a decal and apologized because that was all he had. He said they are sending him all over the country to promote Naval Aviation, but they didn’t budget anything for it. I felt bad for him.
That’s really cool.
Absolutely. A job well done. It has to be a thrill to fly.
Considering the stuff that does get funded, that's shameful.
That's an artist's sketch of X-47. Coming soon.
Only 100 years! Progres make it seem like eons.
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