The Ford Barn

Baldeagle · 11-30-2014, 05:53 PM

A friend of mine and I recently saved a 1934 Pietenpol Air Camper airplane and are in the process of rebuilding it to fly again. It showed up on a trailer at the Pietenpol fly-in at Brodhead, Wisconsin in July, and had we been there a day earlier we would have saved a lot of money. As it was we were surprised to find out that another person, a supposed fellow antique airplane nut who will remain un-named, had bought the project, removed the good stuff, instruments, wheels, radiator, etc., and had given the airframe back to the sellers to do with whatever they wanted. They were selling off whatever other parts they could get a few bucks for, and undoubtedly the rest was going to end up in a dumpster somewhere, as they clearly had no intention of taking it back to Texas.

Bob and I decided that it had to be saved, whatever was left. The wing was long gone, long before they got the project, but the rest of the airframe was there, if pretty dirty and dusty looking, and they still had not sold the engine. We gave them $600 for the engine and what was left of the airframe, and then went around the airport trying to buy back whatever we could find of the other parts. We made a deal to get back most of the good stuff from the person who had taken it off the airframe, and who made a nice profit overnight, and managed to track down a few of the other parts, including the control stick and torque tube, and the original seat belt and buckles (those guys were nice enough to sell the parts back for what they had paid). So now most of those parts that had been together for 80 years were back together again.

By happy coincidence a friend of ours in Minnesota had a spare Pietenpol wing, built by Pietenpol guru Ed Sampson about 10 years ago but never used, and he agreed to sell it to us for less that what would be the cost of the materials to build it, so we now had a complete airframe.

11-30-2014, 05:53 PM	#1
Baldeagle Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2014 Posts: 8	1934 Pietenpol with Model A engine A friend of mine and I recently saved a 1934 Pietenpol Air Camper airplane and are in the process of rebuilding it to fly again. It showed up on a trailer at the Pietenpol fly-in at Brodhead, Wisconsin in July, and had we been there a day earlier we would have saved a lot of money. As it was we were surprised to find out that another person, a supposed fellow antique airplane nut who will remain un-named, had bought the project, removed the good stuff, instruments, wheels, radiator, etc., and had given the airframe back to the sellers to do with whatever they wanted. They were selling off whatever other parts they could get a few bucks for, and undoubtedly the rest was going to end up in a dumpster somewhere, as they clearly had no intention of taking it back to Texas. Bob and I decided that it had to be saved, whatever was left. The wing was long gone, long before they got the project, but the rest of the airframe was there, if pretty dirty and dusty looking, and they still had not sold the engine. We gave them $600 for the engine and what was left of the airframe, and then went around the airport trying to buy back whatever we could find of the other parts. We made a deal to get back most of the good stuff from the person who had taken it off the airframe, and who made a nice profit overnight, and managed to track down a few of the other parts, including the control stick and torque tube, and the original seat belt and buckles (those guys were nice enough to sell the parts back for what they had paid). So now most of those parts that had been together for 80 years were back together again. By happy coincidence a friend of ours in Minnesota had a spare Pietenpol wing, built by Pietenpol guru Ed Sampson about 10 years ago but never used, and he agreed to sell it to us for less that what would be the cost of the materials to build it, so we now had a complete airframe.