MAINE ATTRACTION

Air Classics, Aug 2004 by Auliard, Gilles

According to Grady Sharpe - one of the very few pilots who ever dared to take on the challenge of flying this type of machine - the Taube is "very stable in calm air, but starts being unstable with any hint of wind. It then becomes very hard to control."

OHTM is not limited to "pioneer-era" reproductions and there are some original gems. One of them is the Curtiss JN-4D Jenny. Built in 1917 by the St. Louis Aircraft Co., it was part of a batch of 450 produced there during 1917-1918. After delivery to the US Army Signal Corps, it was assigned to training duties and was withdrawn from military use at Souther Field in Georgia on 25 June 1923. Frank Schelling, under the auspices of Aero Meridian Aircraft, bought the remnants of the Jenny in 1979 and restoration started in 1980.

Following a very strict set of guidelines, the Curtiss was returned to its original condition as defined in the US Army and Curtiss contracts. After completion, the airplane was delivered to Owls Head.

Daren describes the Jenny: "The Jenny was restored specifically for us after Tom Watson acquired the airframe. The work is up to the highest standard, with as many original parts as possible. It is magnificent, with its original Curtiss OX-5. It flies little (around 5- to 10-hrs a year), because of the changing weather in Maine. We cannot take any chances with such a rare machine. As a general rule, we cannot endanger our rarest pieces. If we have a mishap with a replica, we repair and that is the end of it. If the same happens with the Jenny, the Standard or the Fokker, we still can repair, but in such cases, the aircraft loses some of its authenticity, without mentioning the possible loss of a precious artifact or human life. That's why we fly these only in a couple miles radius of the airport, and keep it constantly in sight, so we can make it back safely in case of a mechanical incident."

Even more precious than the Jenny is the Standard J-1, one of the only two flying in the US, and the only one on the East Coast. Designed for the same purpose as its cousin, it is a Jenny look-alike and only a very sharp eye could tell the difference between the two. The Standard was intended to supplement the Jennies that could not be produced in enough quantity to satisfy the training needs of the US Army. Postwar, the J-I became the darling of the barnstormers, before sinking into oblivion.

The museum's example, N22581, was built in 1918 at Standard's Plainfield plant, in New Jersey. Nothing else was known about the aircraft until it resurfaced in 1960, when Niels Sorensen found it and began a 13-year restoration process that culminated in a first flight on 15 October 1973. The Standard became part of the OHTM collection in 1979, and has been flying regularly until its second restoration, initiated in 1999. It has been flying in the colors of a local barnstormer since 2002.

OHTM operates a fleet of World War One vintage airplanes, all reproductions, including the F.E.8, already mentioned, a SPAD XIII, a Nieuport 28, a Fokker Dr.I and a Sopwith Pup. The Pup, built by Dick King uf Old Rhinebeck fame, is equipped with an original 160-hp Le Rhone rotary engine, which according to its data plate was built for the Anny and delivered in 1918.