We want books from both Jim Stanton and Red ---
On Wednesday, April 23rd, 2025 at 11:24 AM, red via groups.io <redswing@...> wrote:
I hope so, Jim Cunningham?
Red
?
?
I wonder if there is going to be a Jim Stanton memoir??
?
On Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 7:19?AM Bradley List via <bradleylist=[email protected]> wrote:
A book is exactly what I was hoping for, so that I may list references. The library at the school must simply not have found it when I inquired. If I can, I will order a copy for The Jerry Falwell Library so that other aviation students can find it. Considering Wittman spanned the ENTIRE era of aviation, it would be nice if they had this resource. Thanks again. Brad List
On Tuesday, April 22, 2025 at 08:11:16 PM EDT, Tailwind14855 via <tailwind14855=[email protected]> wrote:
Search "Steve Wittman" and you will find a lot of info. For the early history "Steve Wittman Legendary Uncle' is a two part article with a lot of history. Perry Anderson was Steve's partner in their first airplane. They were mostly self taught in that airplane and? Steve soloed himself and then Perry soloed. Perry married Steve's sister and the article is written by Perry's grandson. That first airplane was a Standard J1. A couple of days after his solo Steve flew his sister, his first passenger. A few days later he was carrying passengers for hire. That was in 1924 and in 1926 Steve flew in his first air race at Milwaukee in that airplane. After a few years in the Fond du Lac area Steve took over as Airport Manager at Oshkosh in 1931. He talked about the early days of sleeping in the hangar and allowing himself a dollar a day for food.? At Oshkosh he built his first successful airplane in 3 1/2 months. The Chief Oshkosh became one of the most successful racers in its class. After problems at Cleveland, a few weeks later Steve won several races at Schnectady NY. The Chief was flown all over the country, no brakes, a tailskid, a chart and compass. The compass likely did not work.? The Chief had three different engines and four different sets of wings. The final wings were only 13' span. In that configuration it had a top speed around 255 m/h.?
In 1947 the Chief fuselage with a new set of wings was modified to "Goodyear Racer" specifications. With Bill Brennand s pilot the airplane, now named Buster, won at Cleveland,, at Miami early in 1948 and again at Cleveland in 1949. By Clevel;and 1948 Steve had completed a similar racer that he named Bonzo. He placed at Cleveland and then won three times at the Continental Races at Miami and later Cleveland. .
In 1954 Buster became the first homebuilt airplane displayed at Air and Space.?
After many years of Goodyear/Formula one racing Bonzo was modified for cross country racing on a course starting at Fond du Lac. After several years of cross country racing, Steve had a spinner fail and the spinner badly damaged the wood prop. The airplane was damaged in the off airport landing. After several years of storage Forrest Lovley rebuilt the airplane for Steve. It is now in the EAA Museum, hanging up in formation with its namesake, the 1934 Big Bonzo
Hardly Ableson powered by Harley Davidson engine. did not fly?
Big Bonzo-unlimited class racer
Tailwind #3 tri gear, 0 320 with Hartzell C/S prop
V Witt-VW class racer similar to Little Bonzo
Tailwind #4 with Olds V8 engine
O&O Oshkosh to Ocala nonstop, 1120 statute miles
In 1924 there were no aviation regulations. When the regulations first arrived around 1927 Steve was issued a pilot certificate probably a Commercial
