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Swift
The Three Musketeers
By Swift 071 . . . .
8222
Visits
Updated Dec 25, 2009
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| Swift 42Kilo - Don Ackerman | Swift 071 - Bob Jaremsek | Swift 662 - Pete Molinari |
| HISTORY: The locals used to call us the three musketeers. Around greater New England airports we were known as the Swift guys at Plum Island, they heard us talking on the radio. We flew together, formation flying, for about three years. Every flight was an adventure. I was careful not to document too much of our antics in my log book. When you share a few cubic feet of air space with the same guys every week a special bond/trust is formed. Hard to explain, but all are so interdependent on each other's every move, no matter how slight. Don led most of the time. I was at his left and slightly low. When the weather got bad I moved in very tight and focused on his left aileron so as to anticipate his next move. Pete was to my left.
Plum Island grew into a happening place while I was there. When I first got the Swift I was able to get hangar space for that winter, cheap too. At some point that winter I was told no more hangar, all three had been rented to an airplane restoration company owned by Girt Frank. I decided to remove the wings and trailer the plane to my body shop for a new paint job. Girt Frank set up shop and specialized in restoring Tiger Moths imported from England. While working on the Swift I added gull wing doors, rear side windows, rear seat, new radio, and overhead console with eyeball vents. We got the first batch of Imron paint from Dupont, expensive with no labels. During the next few years Dick Hordan's Air Plum Island added a Stearman biplane and Switchzer glider to its air plane rides stable in addition to their Cessnas 206 and 172. Wayne Mansfield relocated his banner towing and skywriting business to Plum Island. The FBI guys began parking their confiscated airplanes there as well. One was a '58 Cessna 310 that did a few Sky King buzz jobs. Actor, Cliff Robertson's ME 108 got fully restored there along with several Tiger Moths for the movie Battle of Britian. We brought the Swift back to the airport in late spring. A few months later a new Swift showed up, it was Don Ackerman's. We started flying together and ran into Pete Molinari one day at the Lawrence airport resturant. He had just bought it and was flying out of Duttin's airport in Haverhill. Soon the three of us started flying together. Don and I used to leave Plum Island together and meet Pete in the air over Lawrence and form up and go places in a group, which soon developed into a close formation. We would fly together to many places around greater New England. We often would encounter other Swift owners and recruit them into our gaggle for the afternoon. We organized the New England Swift Association with our new friends from Lawrence, North Central RI, Fitchburg, Orange, Gardener, Athol, Worcester, Plymouth, Minuteman, etc. One guy from the Fitchburg area was Paul Lavin who flew Corsairs off the carrier Ticondaroga. His Swift was painted dark blue and bore Ticondaroga markings. His friends told us his plane had an aresting hook when the plane was first painted. Pete Molinari, one of the 3 musketeers, chummed up with paul for a couple of months one summer. Instead flying with Don and I he went flying with Paul. When he returned we noticed a change in his landing approach and the way he parked his plane. His landing approach became carrier type, a low sweeping arc from downwind, in other words not the safer, square, downwind, base to final type that the rest of us flew. The way he parked was like an old pro that flew several sorties per day. For a kick the old pros would kill the engine just as they throttled up to swivel the tail around, the trick was to have the prop stop when the plane stopped turning. Needles to say this became the new standard for Don and I. We all remained connected and had several fly-ins at Plum Island. On one occassion eight or nine of us met at Fitchburg MA. Such a large airport, we did a formation take off, memorable. I was in the middle and had someone's prop and/or tip wash. Having horsed it off early I nearly lost it. It took full aileron against the stops and it was still leaning the other way, but eventually straightened out, obviously. During one of the Plum Island Fly-in's we chased Dick Hordan flying the ME 108 over the ocean off Plum Island. It must have been quite a site for ocean goer's at the time. He was tough to catch, but we kept closing in, eventually forcing him to split S away from us. During another Plum Island Swift meet the three of us did a buzz job for our guests. My wife filmed the event. It was one of our 200 mph 10 footers. It was breezy that day with the wind from the west, turbulent, and I hit a bush with my left wing. Never felt a thing but the dent was a great conversation piece afterwards, never mentioned it to the wife. We still have that film and if it's any good I will post it here. They let me lead that day, probably the only time I ever led. Don and I flew together several times a week since we both lived or worked within a few miles of the airport. On one occasion we got a taste of what it was like for a rookie to fly combat. There were two DC-3s that sprayed the marsh from Hampton to Gloucester and back to Hampton just before dusk, about 6 or 8 miles each way, every two or three weeks. When they flew over the airport they looked low and slow, like easy prey. We decided to go up and chase them. It took two tries. The first attempt was a pitiful miscalculation of speed and timing, they were faster than they looked. We did get to them eventually and flew off their wing tips back to Hampton. I recorded all of my flying time that first year of flying with Don and Pete in my log book like any good airman should. The next year would see less acurate log book entries. We were getting known around the air waves, channel 122.9 for our antics, and was concerned someone, FAA, might want to see my log. One time we were on our way back from somewhere and someone from Plum Island called and suggested we land elsewhere, not Plum Island, for a while. When we got home we were told the FAA was inspecting all planes for some new sticker indicating a new tax had been paid. Another time we were invited to the air museum at Skyhaven Airport, Rochester, NH and were told it was a fly-in. We were the only ones invited. Guess they wanted to meet us and show us their collection of highly restored antique airplanes. Paul Lavin showed up for that one. He arrive about 1/2 hour after us. He flew the entire pattern doing rolls. When he taxied up to where we were he motioned Pete to come over to his plane. He needed Pete to help him get out of his plane since his right leg was in a cast up to his hip. You'd never know it from watching his rolls. It's been 30 years, and I still feel funny going public with some of this stuff. It was a great time.
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| Swift Model: Modeled after original, N78071 illustrated above and with same modifications. The model is 1/4 scale, 88" wingspan, three piece wing, retractable landing gear, slats, removable flaps, two main
spars, dihedral, and is built in three sections like the original. The wing construction was designed precisely for Robart 636GSWIFT. Cockpit features original type dash panel sections and Gull Wing doors. Engine cowling styling is fashioned after the Corbin type of the '70s with a blend of today's Extra 300. Great lengths were taken to optimize strength/weight ratio, uncommon to today's production ARFs. Fuselage bulkheads are made using balsa sandwiched between 1/64" ply. Test panels proved 3 times stronger than lite ply with the same weight. The three piece wing was designed for authenticity and ease of handling. There are a number of unique construction techniques used here to minimize weight and building time without compromising integrity. These methods are uncommon in the model airplane industry today but utilized greatly in others. The balsa core & molded plywood method was used in WW2 on the British Dehaviland Mosquito & first prototype Swifts (see Classic - Stock Swifts, Company History). We want this to be a quick build kit. We are having the skins laser cut as well and plan to shape them over fixtures for quick kit assembly. Royal kits were done this way years ago, that was impressive, they were considered the best kits. Their formed skins lost about 30% of their shape sitting in their boxes over time, still a great time saver. To maintain 100% of the formed skin shape and contribute to strength while preventing the need for builders to fiberglass, (mat and resin), the finished fuselage, we intend to coat the underside of our skins with epoxy resin before shipping. When the builder paints the finished fuselage with a product such as Z-Poxy, recommended, the resulting skin will be a product with very similar characteristics as our bulkhead and spine laminates. The fuse plan w/bubble canopy pdf file now includes the dash in great detail, including instruments. The dashes will be included in the kit and in laser cut kit form along with instrument faces and lenses. We had new lower original Swift dash panels to help achieve this degree of accuracy and detail.
Specs:
Three Piece Wing .
Click Image to Make an Inquiry Swift Kit Developement Progress:
UPDATED: Thursday, 11-Dec-2008 09:12:05 EST
Dash pieces - instrument facia moldings are molded fiberglass. We were also successful in replicating the off-white, ivory color of the originals right into the fiberglass parts. Labeling & placard decals were also produced.
Balsa core Fuse bulkhead laminate close-up. Note "F2B" part id etching, not uncommon, but we have exploited this etching capility to assist the builder to achieve perfect alignment at a glance throughout the entire process. Note the etch aid above the large spine cut-out.
Balsa core Fuse laminate Part number F2B
Laser Cut Fuse Parts Dry Fit, No Glue, 4 Pins, 1 Clamp, 30 Parts
New Laser Cut Fuse Parts Close Up
New Laser Cut Fuse Parts Close Up
Aligning Preformed Fuse Skins
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Canopy STC # SA4-761 used by Swift Magic Team
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   To create a one piece fiberglass belly pan w/integrated fairing kit part that will assemble in several minutes.Wing bolts ended up as flush mounted, (top of bolt head even w/wing skin). Belly pan fairings similar to ME 163 Komet. Now we have construction technique, (balsa cored bulkheads) similar to De Haviland Mosquito and belly pan fairings similar to ME 163 Komet. Not bad company.  |
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