Pemberton and Sons Aviation has recently completed restoration of its 1928 Boeing 40C.
The aircraft was test flown for the first time on February 17, 2008.
.Stories at: Wikipedia and Dreams take off with restored biplane
This is as it should be -- passengers in a closed cabin, the pilot in an open cockpit so he will stay awake.
OVER SEATTLE
SLOW FLIGHT - 50 MPH
READY TO DELIVER AIR MAIL
Following is from email sent to me.
| The airplane is in Spokane , WA , and is the oldest
airworthy Boeing plane in the World. After eight years of repair and rebuilding and
8,000 hours of toil the Boeing 40C rolled out last winter as a
finished airplane. They had to wait a few weeks for the snow
to melt to fly this baby. They received their
Standard Airworthiness Certificate from the FAA and completed the
engine pre-oil and fuel flow tests for the first of the taxi
tests.
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Wing loading is 10 lbs per sq ft and power loading
is 10 Pounds per HP. The wings have 33,000 individual parts
in them. It should cruise at 115 mph using 28 GPH, and 32
GPH at 120 mph. It carries 120 gallons of fuel in three
tanks. Over 221 gallons of dope/reducer and 120 yards of
102 ceconite fabric; twelve gallons of polyurethane paint for the sheet
metal; and three-hundred-and-fifty two-inch brushes were used
to apply six gallons of West Systems epoxy. One-hundred-eighty-one rolls of paper towels were needed for cleanup.There were a total of 62 volunteers who worked on the project to some degree. Twenty-one of the volunteers did a significant amount of the work, and nine of the volunteers worked continuously during the eight-year project |
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