Welcome to the Kelch Aviation Museums! Join Hannah Shickles, Archivist and Events Coordinator, as she starts a new series called History With Hannah. We hope you enjoy it!
I bought my plans from Bernard in Cherry Grove in 1977 after going to his hanger on a farm field just out of town. Watched his Corvair powered version fly and fly very well. Sharing hanger space was one that he built in 1934 or 1937. He had had recent surgery, gall bladder or some such. behind the little shop next to his home, he had a Piper fuselage on which he had built the first Corvair installation. Next to it was a Corvair Automobile which he had customized by adding the front fenders and hood from a '56 Chevy. Cut down and blended to fit the 'vair. Insert a key in the center of the 'hood', turn & open to see the Corvair trunk welded to the fenders. It was quite clever. He had small steam engines on the shelf in his shop along with old Victrolas and dozens of rolled recordings. It was amazing to see all the inventions and ways his mind worked.
In Britain we also had an aircraft powered by a modified Ford A engine a thing called a Kronfeld Drone which was a Slingsby sailplane where it was mounted on top of the wing. I have no idea if it was thruth but I've heard it said that they had a tendency to overheat and drop the hot overflow water down the back of the pilot's neck. Love your obvious passion for what amounts to a potted biography of all the people involved.
Great to see someone actually do a history of Pietenpol. You did a great job, young lady! You should write your stories down and self-publish a book of them using the Kindle Direct Publishing tools at Amazon.
Nice job, Hannah! I live near a Pietenpal that was built with a Ford model A engine and as much as I can see, was pretty true to the original plans. The builder and his wife have died and a son would like to sell it. If you are interested, I could email you photos of it that I took a couple of weeks ago. It needs a good home and I have to small experimental already.
Hi Joshua, our apologies for not replying sooner. The museum is open five days a week right now, and you can always view our updated hours or special events on our website: www.kelchmuseum.org. Thanks!
