| Restored Plane Rose Like Phoenix |
| Port Area Pilots Started with Buckets of Parts. | ||
Ozaukee Press, May 13, 1971 Two years ago Francis Schanen, who lives on Lake Shore Road south of Port Washington, bought a Piper Club J3 manufactured in 1946. The plane had not flown for 10 years and was completely dismantled. Francis transported the parts in boxes and baskets from Milwaukee, along with two copies of the original factory manual. On Sunday, April 18 the plane shimmering white and orange, trimmed like the legendary phoenix rising from the ashes lifted off from the Flying S Ranch Field and climbed into the sky. It was perfect. |
||
 |
This is a dream come true. It's been two years since Francis Schanen purchased the dismantled Cub and brought it to Port Washington in pieces. At last, on Apr. 18, Francis is at the stick ready to take the rebuilt plane into the wild blue yonder. | |
| Co-owner Gene (Dutch) Schultz at the stick is ready for the first takeoff of the reconditioned Cub. Like the busman's holiday… when Dutch had a day off from his job as corporate pilot for Dart, he worked on the reconditioning of the Cub. It's a great change of pace, Dutch say's going from the Lear jet, the fastest corporate plane he files for Dart to the Piper Cub, the slowest corporate plane. He enjoys and finds them both challenging. |  |
|
About a year and a half ago, Gene Schulz, Lake Shore Road, who works as a corporate pilot for Dart Industries became interested in rebuilding of the small plane and bought into it. By February, 1970, in a new hanger built on the Ranch, the remodeling began in earnest. An unbelievable full year followed. Earlier Francis had enlisted the services of Jon Allen, another Lake Shore neighbor, who was then attending the Spartan School of Aeronautics at Tulsa. Jon took the engine there in his car and completely rebuilt it in air frame and plant mechanics courses and in his spare time. When he was graduated from the School in February, 1969 he brought the engine back – like new and completely overhauled. Now the plane is better than it came from the factory. Every part has been replaced. The fuselage was completely exposed, the frame cleaned and primed, new covering was put on the outside and stitched. The rebuilders put in all new bolts, gas tanks, control cables, shock cords, instruments and panel, tires and tubes, brake blocks and new glass. Fitting it all together was the biggest problem. The reconditioned J3 has no electrical system and has to be propped. Francis has had the flying bug all of his life. He took flight instructions back in 1948 when he as 16 years old. Earl Stier and the late Al Haen were his instructors. He has a private license and has logged over 300 hours. He once owned a war surplus Fairchild P.T. 23 which he flew for six months before he went into the Air Force for a 10-month period. His other hobby and also his business, which he and his wife Delores, share, is their 36 acre Flying S Ranch where they board about 50 horses and breed champion quaterhorses. Gene Schultz studied at Milwaukee Institute of Technology, working out of Timmerman Field. For five years he has worked as a corporate pilot, flying first for West Bend Appliance service. When it was taken over by Dart Industries, Gene went with them and for the last two years has been piloting Lear Jets out of West Bend airport and regularly flies to airports all over the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Gene’s rating’s include single, and multi-engine, instrumental, commercial, flight instructor. He also has a glider rating, air frame and power plant rating and air transport rating. |
 |
Jon Allan gives the Continental 65-horsepower engine a final inspection before the test flight. Jon rebuilt the engine at the Spartan School of Aeronautics in Tulsa. |
Huckleberry Rose, one of the Schanens' registered quarter horses and the foal, come in for a bit of admiration, too. The Schanens board and breed horses and make the horse show circuit with their prize winning quarter horses. Their home on the ranch has a room full of trophies and ribbons they've won. |
 |
It certainly doesn't show its age. The Piper J3, originally built in 1945, now glistening white with orange trim and looking better than new. The Flying S. Ranch hangar is a far cry from the famous landing field in Ireland, but the Schanens' friends thought it a good pun. |
They've done it, so Francis and Gene can offer a little free advice and approval to Don Eckman of Milwaukee, as he works on a recovering job on the wings of a Piper J4, which he keeps at the Flying S. hangar. Next to Don is George Mike, Milwaukee. |
| Back to History |
