L-9 Restoration

L-9 Restoration Progress

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Here is what we started with.

Civil Air Patrol color scheme that we are restoring our L-9 to:

May 2007 news:

Watch a short video clip here

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THE L9 SWINGS A PROP, FIRST TIME IN OVER 50 YEARS!
Well some good news! No check that, GREAT NEWS!! Saturday May 5 at about 9:30 A M the guys rolled the L9 out of the hangar and tied the tail to the steel door post of the hangar next to us. After five or ten minutes of preparation and a few knocks on the carburetor with a crescent wrench, the L9 sprung to life. It took about three tries for the engine to relinquish its deep sleep and decide to run. As it warmed up it became ever smoother. It was a real thrill to see that old airplane come to life again. All of the instruments worked also. Great job guys! This is what makes putting up with all of the other BS worth while. Pictures on the next page.

We did an airport tour for a YMCA Indian Guides group on April 21st. They were a good group and were very interested. Thanks to Col. Bob Klingensmith for the donation of the belt of .50 cal bullets and especially the 20 mm shell. You should have seen their eyes when I pulled that one out. They were amazed!

Indian Guides with our L5

Col. AL Utzig getting ready to start the L9

The tachometer registering 1100 RPM

Col. Leo Miltenberger makes adjustments while the engine runs.

Our “Rube Goldberg” way of holding the tail.

The “after glow” of a successful engine run.

February 2007 news:

An update on the progress of the L9 from Col. Leo Miltenberger.

Work on the Model 10 (L9) is nearing completion. At this time the entire aircraft has been completely recovered and painted the final color, cub yellow with blue trim around the cockpit area. The cowling is not finished yet so it has not been painted. The wing lift struts still remain to be painted along with the landing gear and fairings. The installation of the Comm. radio and the Transponder is completed except for tying up the wiring harness. The wiring of the electrical system is about complete along with fuse panel and circuit breakers. The wiring for the landing light still needs completed.

All of the instruments are in place in the panel. We are working on the wing tip navigation lights also. We had to modify the fixtures as we can not find the two pin light bulbs for a 12 volts system. One of our newest members, John Goodnight did the wiring for the Comm. radio and intercom circuit’s. Many thanks to John for his help.
Another of our new members, Col. Chris Henry brought us some radio connector pins after I messed up fabricating the connector plug. Thank you Chris.

Our long time and loyal members, Col. Rip Campbell and Col. Al Utzig are mainstay workers. Without their dedicated help, we would not be nearly as close to finishing as we are with this project. Although Al has had some health problems, he still comes out whenever he can.

Col. Bob Klingensmith has been a lot of help in the past but with gas prices what they are and Bob having to travel so far, has put a damper on his help. But I want to say “Thanks” to Bob for all of his help in the past.
We have just about everything we need to complete our project. The Crew seats have been recovered and look pretty good! The present cold weather is really slowing the progress. We don’t like working in a cold hangar.

The hard part is still ahead. The “PAPERWORK” so we can register the plane. The job is not completed until the paperwork is done.

Leo

December 2006 update: