Pietenpol-List: Al Schubert, Al Kelch...

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Original Posted By: BARNSTMR(at)aol.com
Subject: Pietenpol-List: Al Schubert, Al Kelch...I was pleased to see Alvin Schubert's name mentioned in reference topropeller carving and his book "How I Carve Propellers." Some of you my know thatAlvin passed a few years ago. Following is a piece that I wrote shortly afterAlvins passing for the Galesville Republican newspaper. At the time I wasconsidering building a Volksplane, but once again, I came back to the Pietenpolinstead. In fact, at Alvin's estate sale, I purchased the Pietenpol plans thatAlvinhad purchased back in 1968. Anyway, here's my tribute to Alvin...I should also mention that Al Kelch, who kept his magnificent collection ofantique airplanes at Brodhead, passed away this last week on Sept. 21. SeeEAA's latest "Hotline."Last Flight: Alvin Schubert RememberedBy Frederick Beseler, La Crosse, WIWe lost a good friend when Alvin Schubert, rural Trempealeau, (Wis.) passedaway on March 9th, 2002, at 85 years of age. Alvin grew up during aviation'sGolden Age when pioneers like Lindbergh, Byrd, Hughes, Post, Doolittle, Earhart,Cochrane and Wittman blazed new trails across the sky=E2=80=94faster, farther andhigher. "Pushing the envelope," as the test pilots say. They inspired a wholegeneration of kids like Alvin to get into aviation.Alvin was born in Genoa, Wisconsin, in 1916. His family later settled on thefarm near Trempealeau where Alvin lived his entire life. I first encounteredAlvin when I was a kid, growing up in Trempealeau. I was always buildinggas-powered model planes=E2=80=94control-line planes that go around in circleson the end of40-foot long strings. My buddy, Claus Ryder, and I flew the planes in thesmall field below my parent's house on West Second Street. Around 1970 or so Idecided to try free-flight modeling and so I built a balsa wood model of a PiperCub that was powered by a little gas engine. Unlike control line models, freeflight model planes require a large, treeless field from which to fly. Onehot summer I pedaled my bicycle out of Trempealeau towards Centerville untilfinally I found a nice big, wide-open field just perfect for flying a free flightmodel plane.With a free flight model you set the rudder for a right turn, gas it up,start the engine and let her go. If successful, the airplane spirals upwards,circling left due to the propeller torque. Once the engine runs out of fuel=20andquits, it should glide slowly down, turning right in response to the bend in therudder. Technicalities aside, you mostly pray that the model and all yourhard work and the then expensive-for-a-kid $5.98 gas engine, doesn't simply=20flystraight away to the next county, never to be found. There was no danger of=20myCub flying over the rainbow on that day. She took off and climbed away okay,but once the engine quit the model went into a nasty, ever-tightening spiraland bored straight down into the soft farm field. Test pilots call it "auguringin." While cleaning the dirt from the engine I noticed a farmer coming across thefield, heading straight for me. No doubt it was the owner of the land that Iwas using for a flying field. I began packing up my tools, ignition battery=20andfuel as I was certain that he would chase me out of his fields."Nice day for flying, isn't it?" he asked. "I believe that you need to bendthe right aileron down just a little bit, and maybe bend the elevator up just alittle_then she should fly pretty well!"I was amazed and astonished. First, he hadn't told me to get the heck off hisland. Second, he spoke "airplane." But then I thought, "Who is this oldfarmer in the baggy coveralls, and how on earth would he know anything about flyingand aerodynamics?"Appearances are deceiving. I soon learned that Alvin Schubert knew more aboutairplanes and aerodynamics than anyone else I ever knew. He was Valedictorianof the Class of 1938 at Galesville High School and he was forever and alwaystinkering with mechanical gadgets and engines. For example, Alvin had built=20acouple of tractors and then a working electrical generator for the family farmlong before the power company came along. (Over the years I often wonderedwhat this latter day Wright Brother would have accomplished had he gone on tocollege.)We got the model Cub fixed up and flying. He thoroughly enjoyed watching thatlittle model fly. Standing there with his hands in the pockets of his bibcoveralls, looking skyward as the tiny yellow plane floated upwards, Alvin said,"Well, you know, a model airplane obeys the same laws of flight that a fullsize airplane does."Alvin admitted that he had "monkeyed around with airplanes a little, now andthen." He had done more than "monkey around." Alvin knew about flying andaerodynamics and how to build an airplane just as surely as William Boeing andDonald Douglas knew how to build airplanes. We walked over to one of his farmsheds. Alvin rolled the old weathered barn door open. Lo and behold, nestledamong the straw bales was a real airplane! It was a trim little single-seat,all-silver plane that Alvin had designed and then built with his own two hands.Ithad a 21-foot wingspan and was powered by an early 36-horsepower Volkswagenengine, which was about the only thing on it that Alvin hadn't built fromscratch. Even the propeller was designed and carved by Alvin. "I call her Der Fledermaus. Just step up right there, swing your leg into thecockpit and then you can sit in her," said Alvin.I asked if it actually flew. Alvin replied, "Well...yep...she flies prettywell...cruises along pretty fast on 36 horsepower. Well...I'm going to carve anew propeller with a little finer pitch to give her a little more zip ontakeoff. Let's start her up."Before I could jump out, Alvin gave the propeller a couple flips and away shewent, the little four-cylinder VW engine barking away through the stubbyexhaust stacks. The wind from the propeller blew our hair. Alvin`s eyes sparkled.I was sitting at the controls of a real, running airplane! No disrespect toDer Fledermaus, but I recall looking through the Plexiglas windscreen and for amoment imagining that I was sitting in a World War II Spitfire or P-47Thunderbolt.And then I remember thinking that I'd have to keep the whole experience asecret as I knew that my parents wouldn't care for the idea of their kid at thecontrols of a real, running airplane=E2=80=94much less a homemade airplane!That little plane truly was, and is, an engineering marvel. With only threetimes the horsepower of the Wright Brothers` plane, Alvin's plane is capable ofcruising at nearly 100 miles per hour.I told Alvin that I had lived in Trempealeau nearly all my life and neverknew that he had an airplane and a grass runway just outside of town. He said,laughing, "Well...I don't like much publicity. When people hear that you builtyour own airplane, well...some folks think you're some kind of a crazy fool!"Even as a kid, I empathized with Alvin. I understood. Many people thought Iwas kind of goofy the way I was always building and flying model airplanes (30years later I still build model planes on occasion!). To me Alvin seemed likejust another big kid fooling around with airplanes=E2=80=94the only differencewas thehorsepower, wingspan and payload. What a wonderful August afternoon out at Alvin's flying field, 32 years ago.The sun was hot and the summer air smelled of fresh-cut hay=E2=80=94and thepossibility of flight!I got my pilot's license several years later in a 150-horsepower Piper SuperCub. On weekends I'd hop around to various fly-in pancake breakfasts, or overto The Big Show: the Experimental Aircraft Association's (EAA) Fly-In andConvention held at Oshkosh each August. At all of these fly-ins and at Oshkosh,inthe midst of some of the world`s greatest designers, pilots and airplanes,Alvin held court, talking about his airplane and propellers.I've been away from airplanes for a few years, and I hadn't seen Alvin inmany years. But recently I've been drawn back to airplanes and flying. Last=20yearI purchased a set of plans for the Evans Volksplane_a proven, simple designthat I figure even I can build. I also recently acquired a 1600-cc VW SuperBeetle engine. With the right propeller I should be able to get a good 50horsepower or so from it. (I know that my wife loves me because this past ValentinesDay she stuck a wad of cash in my hand, gave me a kiss and said, "HappyValentines Day! Go get that engine for your airplane!") I once thought about building a second Fledermaus, if only Alvin had made aset of plans. Ironically, on Saturday, March 9th, the very day that Alvinpassed from this life=E2=80=94"Gone West" as World War I aviators would say=E2=80=94Iwas visitinga fellow over near Winona (Minn.) who is nearly ready to fly his homebuiltplane. It's a real Cadillac for a homebuilt. With a 160-horsepower Lycomingengine it will cruise at nearly 170 miles per hour. Like any bunch of pilotsstanding around talking about airplanes, our conversation got around to the=20subjectof propellers and then, of course, to Alvin Schubert. And so we talked aboutAlvin and his self-taught skills as a propeller maker and airplane builder.I said, "Yep, I'll have to get over to see Alvin one of these days and askhim what propeller he recommends for a Volksplane=E2=80=94maybe he'd even carvea propfor me." On Monday morning, March 11, I saw the notice of Alvin's passing inthe newspaper.I suspect that had I contacted Alvin several months ago, he would haverecommended just the right propeller diameter and pitch, with a little finer pitchfor more zip on those warm summer day takeoffs. More likely, Alvin would havetaken the time to teach me how to figure out for myself the correct diameterand pitch for a given RPM, horsepower and airspeed. And then he would havetaught me how to carve that propeller. Alvin was firm believer in self-reliance.Building and flying your own airplane is perhaps the ultimate expression ofself-reliance.As far as I know, Alvin never lived anywhere but on his farm. Some might evensay that he never really got out and experienced life. I disagree. Here onthe ground what we do with our life is, for the most part, up to us. We can=20evendrift along day to day with few serious consequences. But up there, how wellyou built your plane, how well you fly it, and the decisions you make, totallydetermine whether it's a successful flight or a disaster. Up there, lifeitself is in one's own hands. Richard Bach once wrote, "Why do we fly? We fly toknow what it is to be alive!"Some say that Alvin never kept real close track of how many total flyinghours he had accumulated flying Der Fledermaus and that he only kept track of howmany takeoffs and landings they had made. I don't know if that's true, butit's just like Alvin. What difference does it make how many hours are spent=20aloftwhen what's important is whether you got off the ground in the first place,and even more critically, whether you were able to successfully land onceagain? Forever more, Alvin has now logged one more take-off than landing. I'm surethat he's out at some little flying field where the grass is always green, thesky is perpetually blue with "severe clear" visibility, and there's a lightbreeze that never varies from straight down the runway=E2=80=94always a perfectday forflying. I`d also bet that Alvin's probably got St. Peter and a squadron ofangels cornered over at the hangar teaching them all a thing or two that eventhey didn't know about flying and aerodynamics. Maybe even how to carve apropeller. Happy landings, Alvin!###________________________________________________________________________________

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Original Posted By: "cgalley"
Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: Al Schubert, Al Kelch...Frederick,Wow....thanks for sharing this with our group. Alvin must have been a joy of a person to spend time around. I only hope someday someone looks back at my life with half as much respect. GOOD STUFF.TLB________________________________________________________________________________

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Original Posted By: owner-pietenpol-list-server(at)matronics.com
Thank you for sharing Alvin with us. I have been too busy lately to readall of the posts or reply, let alone play with my Piet project. Inspiring stories like this one about Alvin are really good inspirationnot to give up to the demands of today's busy world.My regards to you on the list,Thanks,John-----Original Message-----

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Original Posted By: Rcaprd(at)aol.com
I remember attending several Pietenpol Forums at Oshkosh in the 1980's. FellowPietenpol builder Roy Wadson and I particularly remember Al Schubert and his greatsense of humor at those forums. He had the group in stitches when he spokeor commented on a particular point, and he always had our undivided attentionwaiting for the next "zinger".He was a veritable fount of information about propellers and airplanes. Roy andI still talk about Al Schubert at those forums and we will never forget him.Graham Hansen (Pietenpol CF-AUN in Alberta, Canada)________________________________________________________________________________