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Spin Doctor

New Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2019
Messages
3
Regarding the Wittman Tailwind for $4,000. I have 20 photos. I can only send ten at a time, so I'll send the other ten in a few minutes.
If you are interested in this airplane, I did 4,000 miles of legwork to look at and photograph it for you. Drove there from northwest Indiana. This machine is in a hangar on a dust spot halfway between Kingman, Arizona and Boulder City, Nevada (by Las Vegas). Identifier is AZ50. Triangle Airpark. It was 106 degrees standing outside in the wind. About 142 degrees inside the hangar. Everything was hot to the touch. And darkish. Not many windows. There is no electricity in the hangar. It was shut off a while back.

I was told that the gentleman who built the airplane (Frank Partridge) put about 150 hours on it and died in a car crash a couple of years ago. His family decided to sell it, and Bill Reid is handling the sale.

Did I mention how hot it was?

Bill is not a fountain of information. Quite the contrary. Apparently he is an I.A., but doesn’t know much about the logbooks; does know it has an airworthiness certificate. Do not ask him to inspect it or give any information regarding its condition.

I shot pictures until I was panting. Airplane is not really a tailwind. It is a modified version of a tailwind. It was registered in 2010 as a Frankenstein I, serial #001.

When Frank died, I was told he was chasing a fuel leak. As you can see from the photos, his tools are still laying right where he left them, along with the fasteners and other bits.

The airplane has a couple of years of dust on it and the tires are flat. As you can see from the photos, the passenger door, front panel and cowl are off. Those pieces and the cowl are there. I was told there is a com radio. It is not in the panel, nor does there appear to be an electrical system other than a battery and the pull-the-T-handle-in-the-dash starter. There are no nav lights.

Welding that I could see looked ok. I climbed into it and pushed the rudder pedals and the brakes. Controls worked. Brakes had some feel to them, but with flat tires, I couldn’t move it to see.

I had a full three-gallon air compressor with me, but the wheels have hubcaps on them and I didn’t want to fool with them in the heat.

Getting out was another story. I don’t have arthritis, back pain or any other ailments, but with the airplane leaning way back on its tail, it was a project getting my leg over the stick, and climbing out.

I tapped the fabric in several places and it is tight. Didn’t see any tears. Vortex generators on the wing are a nice touch.

Pulled the 3-blade composite prop through eight cylinders. Three had good compression. One not as much. Impulse couplings appeared to snap at the right time.

It is going to take a some time to put this machine back together. The nearest room is in Kingman or Boulder City, both about 45 minutes away. There is n o electricity in the hangar. Don’t go out there without talking to Bill Reid. Airport has a card-operated gate. I was told they have had some theft problems, so the folks who live on the airport are armed and dangerous. Though who would steal a Corvair body shell or the remains of a VariEze… I don’t know.
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