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| Page Views: 6,536 | SANTA PAULA AIRPORT-MUSEUM TREASURE by Tugboatguy - last update: Oct 27, 2009 |
Aviation Museum of Santa Paula | "White Bear" Howard DGA-15P |
"I've seen the northern lights over Greenland and I've seen the mountains and deserts bathed in magnificent colors. If I hadn't been flying, I would have missed it all" Ralph Dickenson 1894-1985
Founder, Santa Paula Airport
Santa Paula Airport at Santa Paula, California is a local treasure. In 1928, local ranchers Ralph Dickenson & Dan Emmett had ranch airstrips & decided a single airport would benefit the city of Santa Paula. Just the year before, Charles Lindbergh made history flying solo non-stop across the Atlantic to Paris. Ralph obtained $1,000 each from 19 local ranchers & businessmen & they began building, with their own hands, the Santa Paula Airport along the Santa Clara riverbed between South mountain & the Topa Topa mountains to the north. The airport opened in August 1930 with a dedication celebration that included many famous aviators of the time.
Throughout the years, Santa Paula Airport has been widely recognized around the world for its antique, classic & experimental aircraft. Just last year the Smithsonian Air & Space magazine called the airport one of the nation's "Greatest Little Airports".
Many talented & famous pilots have flown in & out of the airport including the 'Lone Eagle' Charles Lindbergh, Chuck Yeager, Roscoe Turner, Pancho Barnes, Barry Schiff & actors/pilots Steve McQueen & Cliff Robertson. Actor Kirk Douglas crashed here in a helicopter accident Feb. 13, 1991. (Not famous, but I flew single engine aircraft out of the airport between 1967 & 1974, no crashes). I've maintained a life long interest in aviation history, flying & airplanes, probably the ultimate personal transportation.
The aircraft shown is a Dickenson family airplane, a 1944 Howard DGA-15P owned by Bruce Dickenson, Ralph's grandson. Powered by 450 HP nine cylinder Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior radial air-cooled engine, this was the 5 seat premier business aircraft of its day. The DGA-15P aircraft was introduced by The Howard Aircraft Corporation of Chicago in 1939 stemming from the Bendix Trophy race winner, Benny Howard's "Mr. Mulligan" of 1934. This fully restored beautiful creamy white & blue aircraft has won many awards at West Coast Fly-ins. It is not the only Howard based at Santa Paula. There is another more recently restored beautiful DGA-15P also based here, and also a DGA-11, the third of only three ever built.
This aircraft & many other classic, antique & homebuilt aircraft are displayed outside free to the public on the first Sunday of every month, weather permitting, at the airport between 10 a.m & 3 p.m., or group tours by appointment. You're free to walk or there is a shuttle to take you to different areas including eight Museum hangers where tours are conducted. The first Museum hanger contains a Stinson aircraft , many aviation memorabilia & shows a worthwhile short continuous historic film. You can receive a free repro copy of the Santa Paula newspaper of 1930 announcing opening of the new airport at the marked entrance to this hanger.
Added features of the First Sunday are aircraft type-club fly-ins, automobile clubs, airplane rides & the national Young Eagles Program that offers free airplane rides for ages 8-18 & the Museum's gift hangar selling t-shirts, hats, & other Aviation-related items with all proceeds going toward the Museum, which has a building fund & has purchased a new Museum Hangar near the airport entrance. Plans are also underway for an aviation village of unique condominiums, which would include hangers on the ground floor and residences above.
The airport marked its 75th anniversary on August 6-7, 2005. Located off the very scenic 126 Freeway, the Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway, south between Palm Avenue & 10th street. Follow the marked Airport turnoff signs.
Aviation Museum of Santa Paula, Inc. P.O. Box 908 Santa Paula, Ca 93061 (805) 525-1109
Email: am.szp@gte.net
Amszp |
|  | Recipe for an Airport Memory With thanks to Kris Dawson-- and Neal Fowler and the volunteer pilots of EAA Chapter 723, who fly Young Eagles (introducing kids 8 to 18 to flying for free), and to every pilot who's ever taken a kid for a first flight.
Ingredients:
A good running airplane
A willing pilot
2 hours of southern California sunshine
A few gallons of Av gas
A dash of history
A pinch of excitement
The sounds of airplanes taking off
Several yards of a good local airport
Great scenery
Appropriate amounts of lift, drag, pitch and yaw, as needed
A kid with a fascination for airplanes
Preparation:
Introduce pilot to kid. Combine with airplane and Av gas. Season with a little history and excitement. Add airplane noise. Taxi this combination on to the runway. Add lift. Reduce drag. Stir into flight. Climb into sunshine and limitless blue sky. Unroll scenery. Repeat as needed. This recipe freezes well as a moment in time that can be stored in memory forever. |
The EAA Young Eagles Program The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) headquartered in Oshkosh, Wisconsin started the nationwide Young Eagles Program to foster aviation interests among youth ages 8-18. Free airplane rides are offered by volunteer FAA -certificated pilots to introduce children to their first flight in general aviation aircraft. The free ride program is wildly popular.
This retractible-landing gear aircraft, a 1948 Navion four place, reengined with a 285 HP six cylinder Continental air cooled engine and three blade propeller, has given over 300 Young Eagles rides. A hanger just to the east of Logsdon's Restaurant on Santa Paula Airport is open for information on the Young Eagles Program rides on the first Sunday of every month. The Navion aircraft was a post-WWII development of North American Aviation's Edgar Schmued, who designed the famous P-51 Mustang aircraft. Note the resemblances. The Navion has a high lift wing with a lot of dihedral and large flaps, and can make very steep and short slow speed landings in the hands of a skilled pilot. This upgraded Navion cruises at 165 miles per hour, and is painted in pseudo-warbird colors.
More than a thousand Navions were built by North American Aviation before selling the design to Ryan Aeronautical Corporation in 1947, who built also more than a thousand before terminating production in 1951. Other Navions have been subsequently constructed, including a Rangemaster fastback model in 1960 with over wing door entry and wingtip fuel tanks. Riley modifed early Navions to produce twin engine aircraft, using 170 Hp engines. And there are the the rare Camair twin engine higher powered models, the C480s first flown in 1953 and C560s, named for their combined engine horsepower.
Note the interesting early afternoon cloud buildup over the Topa Topa mountains in the California wild condor refuge just north of the city of Santa Paula. The visible front range Topa Topa mountains rise to 6,244 and 6,704 feet. | | | Over 300 Young Eagles Flown |
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| | Foreign and Unusual Aircraft Many foreign, unusual, rare or 'oddball' aircraft are seen or based at Santa Paula Airport, adding to its charm. This is one of the oddest, a German Fieseler FI 156C Storch (Stork) short takeoff and land (STOL) monoplane, shown demonstrating a very short takeoff (less than 300') and climb. Named after its extra long landing gear, the Storch dates to a 1936 requirement to meet a Reichsluftfahrtministerium specification for an army monoplane with STOL characteristics.
The Storch had the dual distinction of being both the last dogfight victim on the Western front of World War II and the only plane downed by pistol fire during the war. Involved in many precarious wartime missions, a Fieseler Storch of Captain Otto Skorzeny, leader of Germany's Nazi Special Forces, made a mountaintop rescue in a harrowing flight to safety of Benito Mussolini to escape his Italian guards, who were holding him in protective custody in a hotel on Gran Sasso mountain in the Abruzzi.
The Storch has an unusual long (46'7") high lift wing with full span leading edge slots, extra large ailerons and flaps. Power: 300 HP Jacobs R755 radial air-cooled engine. Max speed, 109 mph; cruise speed, 93 mph; service ceiling,15,090 ft.; range, 236 miles at 93 mph.
More than 2,500 had been produced by the end of WWII. After the war, production continued in France with three different engine versions, including a radial by Morane-Saulnier known as the M.S.502 Criquet. The Criquet used a 230 Hp Salmson 9 AB nine-cylinder radial air-cooled engine. Storchs were also manufactured during the war in the Mraz plant in Czechoslovakia. The Mraz plant also continued production after the war of the Storch; the Mraz-built version now being known as the K-65 Cap.
There are also different Belgian, Canadian, German, Chinese, Czech Republic, English, French, Italian, Swiss, Romanian and Russian-built aircraft based here. Getting FAA-required annual inspections sometimes means taking the aircraft out of the USA!
There is an annual fly-in for Bucker Jungmann and Jungmeister owners. These high performance aerobatic biplanes were made in Germany, Spain and Switzerland with several based here and one mechanic, Joe Krybus, specializing in maintenance of these prized aircraft.
"If there's one thing I've learned in all these years, it's that an airport means people even more than planes. The people who never fly a plane-the people who come to watch or work or eat in the restaurant-all contibute to it."
Ralph Dickenson 1894-1985, Airport Founder |
Meyers OTW Biplane The Meyers OTW (Out To Win) tandem seating primary training biplane was developed by Meyers Aircraft Corporation of Tecumseh, Michigan in 1939. A considerable number were produced during 1940-44 for flight schools operating under the C.A.A. War Training Service. Power: 125, 145 or 160 HP engines depending on model. The 160 HP model is the Meyers OTW 160 with Kinner R-56 five cylinder radial air-cooled engine cruising at 105 miles per hour with an initial climb rate of 1,200 feet per minute.
Of unusual mixed construction with an aluminum monocoque fuselage and wooden wings, fabric covered. Note the large area rudder and large ailerons on lower wings only, features that build control coordination in a budding student pilot! The speed ring engine cowl is lacking on this airplane; the easier to show off the beautiful old radial engine. Radial engines have a distinctive certain sound that is music to most pilot's ears. | | |
| | Mike Dewey's Museum Hanger Mike Dewey is the son of the late Jim and Gwen Dewey who were pioneers at the airport, operating Dewey Aviation Service training pilots and maintaining aircraft. Gwen Dewey, a pilot since the 1930s, was a member of the Ventura County chapter of the Ninety-Nines International Organization of Women Pilots. Mike is a noted Hollywood movie stunt pilot appearing in many, many movies detailed in hundreds of pictures in his elaborately detailed hanger, not to be missed on your tour. This hanger is next to the McWilliams hanger toward the far west end of the airport. Mike was also a midget airplane racer and dirt track racer. Shown is the restored cream and blue Porterfield FP-65 fabric-covered high wing taildragger he learned to fly in. It is the second oldest-based airplane at Santa Paula. The Porterfield was designed in 1939 as a two place tandem trainer. There is no electrical system so it must be hand-propped to start the engine. There were 4 aircraft in his hanger including the midget race plane (red, white and blue rudder shown) when this picture taken plus several of his race cars.
Jay Leno, comedian host of The Tonight Show has signed Mike's Guest Book. Don't you forget to, also, on your museum tour. Budget some extra time to take in all that is in this colorful, crowded hanger. |
Czech this Airplane Out! This Is a Moravan Zlin 242L all metal two place side by side aerobatic aircraft rated at positive 6 Gs and negative 3 Gs. Made in the Czech Republic in 1996, the McWilliamson's rare aircraft has a 200 HP Lycoming engine & three blade prop. The side by side seating with stick controls & 'full panel' makes aerobatic instruction or aircraft checkout simplified. This is one of only a few Zlin 242L models that are registered in the United States. Kept 'pampered' in this amazing hanger with a tiled floor, full kitchen, lounge, powerful terrestial telescope & huge picture window overlooking the runway & South mountain. Look at my album on Old, Rare or Precious Aircraft for the inside of this hanger. Plush, personified! | | | Zlin 242L Aerobatic Speedster |
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| Van's RV-9A Homebuilt Aircraft |
| | Build Your Own Airplane This beautiful Van's RV-9A all aluminum aircraft was completed by Bob & Marion Nauman after four and one half years labor in March, 2005. Both are FAA certificated pilots; they met and courted while Bob was thinking of building an airplane. He found out Marion had a business with a large empty room, and as important, a lot of metal working tools. He asked her if she wanted to build an airplane? and did she want to get married? I'm not certain of the order of his proposal! LOL
This Van's RV-9A two place side by side seating tri-gear design is the first Van's design with matched-hole tooling in the kit. Richard Van Grunsven is the most successful homebuilt aircraft designer with over 8,000 Van's RV-3s through RV-10s flying. Another 5,000+ are under construction. A later design, the RV-10, is a four place aircraft, unusual in a homebuilt design, with many already flying. Marion told me adding the "A" makes it a tri-gear, without it would be a taildragger, which is substantially harder to fly. So there are also RV-9s. Other Van's homebuilt aircraft are shown in my Santa Paula Travelogues. Newest design is an RV-12 Light Sport Aircraft.
The Naumans' flawless work was inspected and signed off by the FAA. The plane is aerobatic-rated, with a very large rudder for controllability. Picture taken 7 August 2005 at their Santa Paula Airport hanger. There is an Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 723 at a nearby airport, and Marion is a member of the "99s", a woman's pilot group.
I commented that every Phillips head screw on the canopy frame is precisely aligned, a sign of their dedication to detail. Marion did all
the detail work Bob didn't want to do, including hand striping the bright golden-yellow paint finish with blue and red. The plane has a 'full panel', dual stick controls with a new 160 HP Lycoming engine. Cruise speed: 165 miles per hour.
You are required to build 51% of the total airplane yourself to be legal and they certainly did! Isn't it a beauty?
Marion asked me if I ever think of returning to flying? My answer "Every day!". But hey, at my age I know my limits. |
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chocolatecake Thu Oct 22, 2009 14:15 UTC
Hi, Doug, TQ for the compliments. I shall eat more and taste more from A to Z to update my 'Food Paradise' to make VTers like you 'hungry'! :0) Have a great 'flying' or 'sailing' day! | deecat Wed Oct 21, 2009 06:37 UTC
Hi, Doug. Long time since we've been on at the same time. Hope all is well with you. Things are pretty good here. | allikat Mon Oct 19, 2009 20:10 UTC
Thanks Doug, and it's great to hear from you. Hope you are keeping well! We are loving parenthood, our little man is a real joy :-) | allelli Mon Oct 12, 2009 16:46 UTC
Doug thank you so much |
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