Boeing 40C Flies For the First Time in 80 Years
It’s 44 feet wide, 6,000 pounds heavy, and if you sat on the top wing, an African elephant would have to look up to look you in the eye. This is one big biplane, meant for heavy lifting, hauling 700 pounds or so of mail plus four passengers and a pilot. No matter how you divvy up the project, it was one massive undertaking, just the thing for a fellow who loves to tackle a difficult restoration. With 18 airplane restorations under his belt, Addison Pemberton was ready for “the big one,” and this biplane certainly lives up to that billing. After an intensive eight-year restoration, Addison and his sons, Ryan and Jay, along with his wife, Wendy, have seen the culmination of their efforts (along with those of more than threescore volunteers) when the big Boeing flew on February 17, 2007, for the first time since it crashed in the mountains near Canyonville, Oregon, in October of 1928. February has been an eventful month for the Pembertons and their Boeing. Earlier, its first engine start was done. In an e-mail to friends and family who have been kept posted on the progress of the restoration, Addison wrote: “[With] my son Ryan in the lofty cockpit, we engaged the inertia starter on the Boeing 40C for the first time in 80 years, ran it though six blades, and hit the mags. The 1340 Pratt lit off strong and smooth before he could even get to the booster coil on the first try! We ran the airplane for 20 minutes, which included an impressive full power run that rattled every window in town.”
Waiting for calm, clear weather, Addison flew the 40C at Felts Field in Spokane, Washington, earlier this week. Here’s part of what he wrote concerning the flight: “The test flight this weekend went perfect with my sons Jay and Ryan flying chase in our C-185 (Spot) loaded with video and camera.… I was able to fly the airplane hands-free within a few minutes of flight…. In all flight configurations I never used more than 1-1/2 degrees of trim change including slow flight at 55 mph. Cruise was dead center with the 29 percent MAC CG…. The airplane is very controllable and pleasant with excellent ground handling, good elevator, and very good rudder control and heavy but effective ailerons with a disproportionate amount of rudder needed for more than 50 percent travel. The visibility is very poor, but not difficult. The overwhelming surprise is stability! ‘Like a rock.’ “A wing lowered 10 degrees will right itself in 10 seconds without pilot input. A depressed rudder will center almost instantly when released. The speeds were much higher than we imagined. I had to really work to keep the airplane less than 110 mph, which was our safety limit for ride one. I had to really pull the power back. I am sure we have a 125 mph flying machine here. “Even with zero incidence the airplane flies tail high, even at low power settings in cruise. “I had the feeling that I could have crawled out of the cockpit and walked around the wings for a while if I had wanted to, then return to the cockpit when it was time to land! “Landing is a very pleasant final at 80, 70 over the fence, and hold 3 degrees nose-high and the big 36-inch diameter wheels and soft 11-inch travel oleo gear make a transport touchdown in the 50s almost imperceptible.” A few facts on the restoration from Addison: “1) The project required my wife, Wendy, to prepare 416 hangar meals with an average of nine place settings. This required 7,400 paper plates, 104 gallons of tomato sauce, and 1,000 bread rolls. 2) Two hundred twenty-one gallons of dope/reducer and 120 yards of 102 Ceconite fabric. Twelve gallons of polyurethane paint for the sheet metal. 3) The wings have 33,000 individual parts in them. 4) The airplane weighs 4,080 pounds empty and has a gross weight of 6,075 pounds. It’s 34 feet long and 13 feet tall with a wingspan of 44-1/2 feet. Wing loading is 10 pounds per square foot, and power loading is 10 pounds per hp (same as our Super Cub). It should cruise at 115 mph at 28 gph and 120 mph at 32 gph. It carries 120 gallons of fuel in three tanks. 5) We used 350 2-inch brushes, six gallons of West System epoxy, and 181 rolls of paper towels. 6) There were a total of 62 volunteers who worked on the project to some degree—21 volunteers who did a significant amount of work and nine that worked continually over many years.” Addison closed out one of his recent e-mails with the following message: |
Addison Pemberton stands next to the newest of the 18 restorations he’s been a part of, a Boeing 40C mailplane. The biplane to the right is another mailplane restoration, a Boeing 4DM Senior Speedmail. |
Newleyweds Ryan and Taryn Pemberton after Ryan presided over the first post-restoration start of the Boeing’s Pratt & Whitney Hornet engine. | |
Addison Pemberton, the driving force behind the restoration of the mailplane. | |
Detail shots of the Boeing’s large cockpit, and the interior cabin with seating for four passengers. The cabin to cockpit telephone you see hanging on the wall is fully operational! | |
With a 44 foot wingspan, and 13 feet tall, the Boeing 40C is a massive biplane, with a gross weight of 6,075 pounds. |
“Thank you all for the interest in this dream, and I will enjoy flying the airplane and sharing it with all of you. Look for the Boeing 40 to come to an airport near you! We will take the airplane to Oshkosh, Blakesburg, Brodhead, and then to New York, and then to San Francisco on the original transcontinental airmail route this summer.”
For video of the events leading up to and including the Boeing’s first flight in nearly 80 years, please visit this website: www.HangarBuddy.com/addisonpemberton.aspx.
For more photos of the restoration, as well as details concerning other aircraft in the Flying Pembertons’ stable, visit www.PembertonAndSons.com.
We’ll have more on this restoration later in the year in the pages of Vintage Airplane. Stay tuned!