(NASM (SI 75-5010))

Restoration: Beech Staggerwing

A true story with an O.Henry ending.

  • By Mark Huber
  • Air & Space Magazine, May 01, 2009

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Restoration: Beech Staggerwing

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    Lloyd Cizek points at his chest. "I had a little electrical problem, so they had to install an auxiliary power unit," he says, joking about his cardiac pacemaker. Cizek retired as a Northwest Airlines 747 captain in 1990, and since then has been in an on-again, off-again battle with the Federal Aviation Administration over his pilot's medical certificate. Now the only way he can get it back is to run nine minutes on a treadmill while hooked up to a heart monitor. "I just can't do that," he says.

    Behind Cizek, in his hangar in Amery, Wisconsin, sits his 1940 Beechcraft D17S Staggerwing, serial number 398, which he has owned since 1979. Its nine-cylinder, 450-horsepower Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior radial engine slowly leaks oil into a drip pan on the floor.

    Cizek calls his Staggerwing Lais, after the fourth century B.C. courtesan from the Greek city-state Corinth. A plaque inside the door notes that she was "known for her beauty and fine lines and also had a reputation for being somewhat fast." "Can you think of a better name for a

    Staggerwing?" Cizek says with a grin.

    The aircraft type was called Staggerwing because its top wing is set slightly aft of the bottom one. Aimed at the corporate market, it debuted in 1932 for $14,000 and up. During the aircraft's 15-year production run, Beechcraft built 785.

    Construction was largely spruce and fabric; interiors offered leather, mohair, and mahogany. The 200-mph biplane also served as a racer, a bomber for Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War, and a VIP transport for the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II. The Army and the Navy bought 260 and commandeered as many as they could find from private owners. Such was the case with Cizek's airplane, which flew courier duty for the Navy along the U.S. East Coast and later was sold as surplus.

    Today, the 200 or so Staggerwings that remain are regarded as flying works of art. A rare G model in mint condition can fetch perhaps $525,000.

    Cizek became enamored with Staggerwings as a boy when he saw a model in a hobby shop. In 1979, he read an ad for one in Trade-A-Plane and called the seller, Tom Todd, a cotton broker and World War II PBY pilot. Todd explained that the airplane "was a basket case," in pieces in a barn on his Mississippi farm. Undeterred, Cizek lashed the Staggerwing's remains to a borrowed trailer and headed home.

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    Lloyd Cizek points at his chest. "I had a little electrical problem, so they had to install an auxiliary power unit," he says, joking about his cardiac pacemaker. Cizek retired as a Northwest Airlines 747 captain in 1990, and since then has been in an on-again, off-again battle with the Federal Aviation Administration over his pilot's medical certificate. Now the only way he can get it back is to run nine minutes on a treadmill while hooked up to a heart monitor. "I just can't do that," he says.

    Behind Cizek, in his hangar in Amery, Wisconsin, sits his 1940 Beechcraft D17S Staggerwing, serial number 398, which he has owned since 1979. Its nine-cylinder, 450-horsepower Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior radial engine slowly leaks oil into a drip pan on the floor.

    Cizek calls his Staggerwing Lais, after the fourth century B.C. courtesan from the Greek city-state Corinth. A plaque inside the door notes that she was "known for her beauty and fine lines and also had a reputation for being somewhat fast." "Can you think of a better name for a

    Staggerwing?" Cizek says with a grin.

    The aircraft type was called Staggerwing because its top wing is set slightly aft of the bottom one. Aimed at the corporate market, it debuted in 1932 for $14,000 and up. During the aircraft's 15-year production run, Beechcraft built 785.

    Construction was largely spruce and fabric; interiors offered leather, mohair, and mahogany. The 200-mph biplane also served as a racer, a bomber for Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War, and a VIP transport for the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II. The Army and the Navy bought 260 and commandeered as many as they could find from private owners. Such was the case with Cizek's airplane, which flew courier duty for the Navy along the U.S. East Coast and later was sold as surplus.

    Today, the 200 or so Staggerwings that remain are regarded as flying works of art. A rare G model in mint condition can fetch perhaps $525,000.

    Cizek became enamored with Staggerwings as a boy when he saw a model in a hobby shop. In 1979, he read an ad for one in Trade-A-Plane and called the seller, Tom Todd, a cotton broker and World War II PBY pilot. Todd explained that the airplane "was a basket case," in pieces in a barn on his Mississippi farm. Undeterred, Cizek lashed the Staggerwing's remains to a borrowed trailer and headed home.

    Cizek spent the next 18 years learning woodworking, metal forming, and wiring and obtaining an airframe-and-powerplant mechanic's license and an aircraft inspector's license. He stripped the airplane to the frame, replaced the engine with a rebuilt one, and upgraded the electrical system from the original 12-volt to a modern 28-volt so the airplane could carry modern radios, GPS technology, and autopilot. However, the replacement avionics and radios were narrow and long, while the originals were wide and short. Cizek made 10 instrument panels until he got it right.

    Employing a borrowed English Wheel, a device for forming flat sheets of metal into compound curves, Cizek fashioned a more aerodynamic cowling. He modified the retractable landing gear to make it more reliable, upgraded the brakes, and changed the tail-wheel setup to make the airplane easier to tow. He installed modern fuel valves and fuel monitoring systems, gutted and re-covered the interior, and designed and installed an all-metal firewall—"The old one was fabric," he says incredulously.

    Finally, in 1997, Cizek ran out of things to change or fix and the FAA signed off on his work. "They gave me an 'A' for airplane and an 'F' for paperwork," Cizek jokes. However, by then Cizek's medical issues had squelched his opportunity to fly. "When I could fly, the airplane couldn't, and vice versa," he says. Over the last decade, Cizek has flown the Staggerwing only 12 hours. But he's not bitter. "It was a lot of fun. I got more joy out of solving the problems and making things," he says. "Everyone has to stop flying sometime."

    He pulls on the cowling and notices water leaking out, leftover rain the Staggerwing encountered on the way home from the Experimental Aircraft Association annual fly-in at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, just a few days earlier. Cizek's friends flew the airplane there, parked it in the vintage aircraft section, and threw a "for sale" sign on the propeller. Asking price: $375,000. There were no takers. As Cizek tells me this, I get the feeling that he is not entirely disappointed.

    Mark Huber has written about the old, the odd, and the obtuse for Air & Space since 2000.


     
    Comments

    I would love to own this beauty. I have loved the Staggerwing since I was a child. The best gift I ever recv'd was a ride that my buddy's chipped in to buy me. I will never forget that experience. When I took the yoke in my hands, I wanted to cry. What lovely flying machine. If I could afford this Lady, I would ask if it was still on the market. A beauty like this needs a home not only with someone who could afford to care for her but also to love and cherish her.

    Posted by Tom on April 3,2009 | 08:16AM

    When I win the lottery that plane will be mine! I've always loved that beauty, what a plane...

    Posted by Shafford Henderson on May 5,2009 | 05:53PM

    A friend of my Grandfather owns a bright yellow one of these, and I got to fly it over winter break. Incredible plane, incredible experience.

    Posted by Will on May 15,2009 | 12:38AM

    is this photo avail for purchase? EDITORS' REPLY. It is a Smithsonian photograph. The number is SI 75-5010. Go to this website http://photo2.si.edu/policies.html to find out how to get copies of Smithsonian photographs.

    Posted by troy on May 19,2009 | 08:25AM

    Amazing plane! My dad use to enjoy flying around the country to airshows with his friend that had done an beautiful restoration on one we called the "Yellow Bird" (N911). I got to go with them a couple of times, and even was able to log a few hours piloting from the right seat Understandably, he would not let me take off or land the plane, as it is quite a handful of torque, with the huge radial engine and tail dragging configuration. Arriving in one of these classics is like arriving in an old Rolls Royce. Heads turn and gaze admiringly at the beautiful craft.

    Posted by Dean on July 14,2009 | 10:36AM

    Spent many years and hundreds of hours as an vertical aerial mapping photographer in the D-17. One of our ground crew people overheard a USAF pilot who checked us out telling others of "This ancient old biplane at 28,000 feet!". This aircraft had both left wings catch fire while being refueled by the FBO (fixed-base operator). I believe the aircraft is now in England where it has been restored and flown.

    Posted by W. Burns-Wong on August 12,2009 | 11:18AM

    having owned S/N6704 for many years, but regrettably sold about 17 years ago, I'm looking for another D17S. regards Heinz Peier

    Posted by Heinz Peier on October 11,2009 | 05:15PM

    In the late 1970s I was a charter bus driver in Seattle. One of our contracts was with the OX5 Club which was a group of pilots whose licenses were issued pre-WWII. On the ferry to Bremerton, several of the members had to stay on the bus rather than go on deck. Old age and war wounds kept them from doing a lot of walking. One of the old pioneers brought out a scrapbook full of old pics. A lot of the pics were from the South Pacific, where he flew with the Marines. One of the pics, which really stands out in my memory, was of his commanding officers Staggerwing. It was pure white with just the outlines of the letters U.S.M.C. on the side. Very artistic.

    Posted by Jim Bowman on November 15,2009 | 01:14PM

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