More Than An Incredible Restoration, This Aircraft Was Part Of The Author’s Young Aviation Experience

By Anthony J. Liberatore

As part of an evening stroll by the ANN team to survey the grounds before the show opening to look for stories, one plane stood out for this author.

There it was… a rare 4 Place Taylorcraft 15A.

It got me thinking, could it be?

Growing up as a seaplane kid at Walt O'Connor's Seaplane Base in Agawam MA, it was well known Walt was a died in the wool Taylorcraft guy. Walter held 2 STC's for the 12D's included one for a H & W Muffler Conversion and the other for a C-85 conversion that utilized the short engine mount with a dished firewall.

Adding to this, he owned two rare Taylorcraft 4 Place Model 20's with a 230hp 0-470 with its split Fiberglass covering the fuselage. Walter also had one fabric covered 0-300 powered model 15A Taylorcraft, the 20's lower powered sibling, but in many ways, they are almost identical.

Walt did get one of his 20's flying on floats -- which I flew in. At one point, Walter wanted to repair some wing damage to the 15A that he had purchased, that he had flown it in across the street from the Seaplane base (which is another story)! His goal was to get his 15A on Floats (which would have required an STC).

Sadly, that goal never materialized and the 15A fell into a state of disrepair. After Walter passed away, the T'Crafts were sold off in batches -- the 10+ BC's went to one gent, the 4 seaters to another, and the 3 Warner Powered Fairchild F-24's and Edo 2880's to put them on, went to another.

I left my contact information with the gracious volunteers with the Florida Sport Aviation Antique & Classic Association's where the 15A (N6645N) was parked. These good folks built the 1^st building on the grounds of Sun n Fun, and are known for their good food, and fund-raising efforts, as well being EAA Vintage Chapter No. 1.

They passed along the info to 45N's owner Chuck Tripp. Chuck called me, and I told him about the 15A at a seaplane base I was at as a kid, and he asked was that in Agawam MA?

I said yes, and he said yes, this is Walter's15A.

Knowing the state it was in the last time I saw in the 90's I was shocked and pleasantly surprised that it was restored to its current magnificent state, 45N was back.

In my interview with Chuck, with his dog Hazel by his side, I shared a number of things he didn't know about 45N -- but more importantly he shared his journey of restoring 45N.

Chuck got 45N from the gent who bought all the 4 seat T'Crafts from Walter's Estate. Both wings of 45N had damage from a covering issue, so Chuck found a donor, one that had been wrecked by hitting power-lines. He was able to salvage the ribs, and had to make new spars since the mice did a number on the originals. Chuck shared with me his restoration photo album, and the wing jig/rotisserie is an engineering feat unto itself. The Fuselage was also a labor of love, as he had to construct a jig and with 45N's fuselage  in it, and he  replaced the rusted tubing, utilizing tubes from the forementioned donor when possible.

The instrument panel is the original, minus a mod to fit updated avionics. Chuck’s labor of love included purchasing an automotive grade sewing machine, as he did the gray interior, with red piping, himself. It's not just the seats etc, when it came to 45N's restoration, Chuck did it all, including using a Piper Windshield as it was a close fit and he found a way to made it work.

Because of the rarity of this aircraft via the low production numbers, Chuck used the stronger 20A wing struts. I didn't know how rare, after all these years, the 4 place T'Crafts were. Actual production numbers are sketchy. 15 to 20 model 15A's were produced (one source has it at 31), but I had heard back in the day that the total number of 15's and 20's produced was around 200. Not so, Chuck said, as the best guess is possibly 20 or so 20A's for a total production run of both models of around 40. When I asked him about the total number of hours to restore 45N, Chuck said, “Oh, a Stupid amount of time, there is no logic to doing a project like that. It doesn't have any value when it was done, but it is one of 4.”

When I asked Chuck about 45N's performance vs the aircraft of the day he said, “It actually flies well, it is heavy enough, so it is stable. Comparing it to a stock 172 with a C-145, ah I think it is a little slower than the 172, but it also lands slower. It really likes to be slipped a little more and it has the slotted wings.”

He noted, “I always had a 170, a straight tail 172 I had for 25 yrs, then I have 180hp constant speed with a tailwheel 172, so I know the difference, this is adequate. You know I am from Maine and a 1800ft strip is a typical strip, and you know I didn't even realize you could put more than a ½ gas in an airplane for years” (he said with a grin). I thought that was all you were allowed to put in!

This is about equivalent to a 172, a 170, or a 108, actually I was amazed how well it flies, I didn't expect to go as well as it did.” Chuck also noted “it has a 38mph claimed stall speed and I'd say it's pretty accurate.”

In regards to the reaction to his restoration of 45N Chuck said “The typical answer is that I didn't know they made one.”

Many thanks to Chuck for this journey back in time, and an amazing interview.

FMI: https://www.fsaaca.aero