 |
Here's John Ten Cate's
South African Fly Baby. ZS-UVV was eventually sold,
and suffered a fatal accident. |
 |
Jim Hulet sent me some pictures
and a 1973 article on his "Bi-Fly Baby ;" a biplane version
he designed himself, before Bowers developed the Biplane
plans. |
 |
 Hulet's
biplane is still active but in the intervening years,
received a welded steel-tube fuselage, landing gear, and
tail section...note the subtle difference in the shape of
the vertical stabilizer and rudder. Chris Eulberg, one of
the more-recent owners of N6131, named the plane airplane
"Punkin" and sent the tale of his first flight. He
sold it to Saundra Bolden of Pass Christian, Mississippi,
and in December 2004 it was purchased by Bert Burril of
Gulfport Miss. |
 |
Jim Houston sent me this
picture of his spiffy red N1584 . |
 |
  Bob Grimstead
is an aviation writer currently living in Australia.
He's written several articles about Fly Babies, most
recently about restoring Australia's one (and, at present)
only Fly Baby. VH-YFB was originally built by Ron
MacPherson, who unfortunately died before he got a chance to
fly it. It bounced around through several owners until
Bob bought in in 2002. He's painted it as a
"Bristol Balderdash," a fictional British fighter from the
between-wars era. It includes armament as well!
He sold half-interest to Rick Verwoood at one point.
In late 2019, Andrew Morley bought it. See the Photo Album of this aircraft. |
 |
Here's a rare one...a photo of
the original Fly Baby, before the fuselage was
lengthened. It has the original N-Number of N13P...
the FAA made Pete change it, as short numbers were
restricted to small aircraft that couldn't carry larger
ones.
In 2017, John Smutny found a trove of old Fly Baby photos,
in the records of Dave Gauthier. Another couple of
N13P photos were found.
|
 |
   Another South
African Fly Baby goes aloft, this one built by Renate
Reeve. She lives near Johannesburg, and bought this
plane as an unfinished project. The first flight of
this O-235-powered beauty was in January 2004. Says
husband Doug, "Now I can see my wife again- I don't know
what she looks like anymore and our dogs think she is a
stranger. She hijacked all the tools in our house-I am
very proud of her, she put in about 6 hrs a day every
weekday and about 14 hrs a day on weekends. The plane
looks fantastic- Well done Vulture." |
 |
  The Hevle Aviation
two-seat tandem version, the "Hevle Classic," is now
flying. You can buy a kit for a steel-tube fuselage,
or the plans to build a wood-fuselage version. That's
a picture of one of the builders, Eric Hevle. |
 |
Jack Hereford's HCI-radial-powered
Fly
Baby. This airplane flew in 1997, but I've had no
updates since since. According to a letter Hereford
sent Pete in 1997, the airplane had an empty weight around
506 lbs...that's 140 or so pounds lighter than the average
Fly Baby. Truss ribs, 3/32" ply (vs. 1/8"), mechanical
brakes, and he says the radial was 30 lbs lighter than an
A-65. |
 |
Dick Moga of
Kerrville TN bought this Fly Baby in late 2006. It was
built by Ronald Trom and made its first flight in May,
1999. It is powered by a 65 h.p.
Continental that was overhauled to 0 time by an A&P
mechanic. It includes a tow release to assist the
'Armstrong' starter. Update: John Wells bought the plane in
December 2009.
|
Fly
Baby Photos Page 6
Hulet's
biplane is still active but in the intervening years,
received a welded steel-tube fuselage, landing gear, and
tail section...note the subtle difference in the shape of
the vertical stabilizer and rudder. Chris Eulberg, one of
the more-recent owners of N6131, named the plane airplane
"Punkin" and sent the tale of his first flight. He
sold it to Saundra Bolden of Pass Christian, Mississippi,
and in December 2004 it was purchased by Bert Burril of
Gulfport Miss.
Bob Grimstead
is an aviation writer currently living in Australia.
He's written several articles about Fly Babies, most
recently about restoring Australia's one (and, at present)
only Fly Baby. VH-YFB was originally built by Ron
MacPherson, who unfortunately died before he got a chance to
fly it. It bounced around through several owners until
Bob bought in in 2002. He's painted it as a
"Bristol Balderdash," a fictional British fighter from the
between-wars era. It includes armament as well!
He sold half-interest to Rick Verwoood at one point.
In late 2019, Andrew Morley bought it. See the Photo Album of this aircraft.
Another South
African Fly Baby goes aloft, this one built by Renate
Reeve. She lives near Johannesburg, and bought this
plane as an unfinished project. The first flight of
this O-235-powered beauty was in January 2004. Says
husband Doug, "Now I can see my wife again- I don't know
what she looks like anymore and our dogs think she is a
stranger. She hijacked all the tools in our house-I am
very proud of her, she put in about 6 hrs a day every
weekday and about 14 hrs a day on weekends. The plane
looks fantastic- Well done Vulture." 
The Hevle Aviation
two-seat tandem version, the "Hevle Classic," is now
flying. You can buy a kit for a steel-tube fuselage,
or the plans to build a wood-fuselage version. That's
a picture of one of the builders, Eric Hevle.
