Mystery of crashed glider in Arizona

On Dec 9, 8:42*pm, Mike the Strike wrote:
On Dec 9, 9:17*pm, Terry wrote:

Could it be a one off HP-17 by Ken Bawden?

The current airport owner is listed as Dale J. Bawden. *Link?

Mike

I don't remember any entries for HP-17 in the files, but I'll check.
The name Bawden gives me something to go on.

Thanks, Bob K.

On Dec 8, 11:50*pm, gen wrote:
Possibly Oldshaw O-2 or its variant? I saw one at Soaring Museum at
Moriarty.

http://picasaweb.google.com/gens2000...36093452847633...

-Gen

I called Paul Oldershaw and he assures me this is no Oldershaw,
as they were wood and are both in the Moriarity museum.

Paul points out that the spar is enormously long, and remembers
Schreder building something like this. The spar was also a water
tank, and it looks like the flap/aileron is possibly hinged directly
at the spar.

Somebody out there must know the story !

See ya, Dave "YO electric"

On Dec 10, 6:13*am, Bob Kuykendall wrote:

I don't remember any entries for HP-17 in the files, but I'll check.
The name Bawden gives me something to go on.

Thanks, Bob K.

I scanned the files for likely candidates, no joy. I found three
folders for HP-17; one kit shipment overseas (Sweden, I think) and two
others that look like they converted to HP-18.

I'd probably have to go through the whole cabinet to find a shipment
to "Bawden." I'm in the middle of Akaflieg Douglas Flat X right now,
so it will have to wait.

Thanks, Bob K.

On Dec 10, 4:16*pm, Dave Nadler wrote:
On Dec 8, 11:50*pm, gen wrote:

Possibly Oldshaw O-2 or its variant? I saw one at Soaring Museum at
Moriarty.

http://picasaweb.google.com/gens2000...36093451373462.......

-Gen

I called Paul Oldershaw and he assures me this is no Oldershaw,
as they were wood and are both in the Moriarity museum.

Paul points out that the spar is enormously long, and remembers
Schreder building something like this. The spar was also a water
tank, and it looks like the flap/aileron is possibly hinged directly
at the spar.

Somebody out there must know the story !

See ya, Dave "YO electric"

I'm pretty sure the wing spar is not a Schreder thing. If it were, I
think I'd have seen signs of it at the Bryan shop or in Dick's design
files. All of the HPs numbered 7 through 22 are accounted for, and 23
was just a table of wing spar bending moments.

Thanks, Bob K.

When I was in the Tucson Soaring Club in 1973-1980 one of the members,
Jordan Reid was building a glider from scratch. I recall seeing it a
couple times in his back yard and the only thing I remember about it
was the giant nose vent hole. IIRC, he worked at the University of
Arizona in the aero department. He claimed the large hole with pitot
inside was clean according to some tests he had done.

Am pretty sure it was composite and a V tail. It's quite likely he
started working on it in 1971, so 71JR makes sense.

Perhaps a TuSC old timer or UofA faculty member could do some
digging? I did a quick Google search for Jordan, but nothing obvious
showed up. I believe he passed away in the early 1980's due to
illness.

-Tom

Excellent Tom!

It would be nice to independently corroborate your recollection but
that does sound very likely.

So the next question is why is she stuck to a fence post at Serene
airstrip...

Mike Stringfellow looked at an official airport database record for
that airstrip. The record indicates that there are two single engine
aircraft based there and one "operational glider" based there.

Perhaps then the owner of Serene had acquired 71JR from Mr Reid's
estate for personal soaring endeavors. Maybe a thunderstorm came
along one day when she was not tied down adequately. I'm thinking she
may have cartwheeled in the wind to her final resting place skewered
to the fence.

Very interesting search on the identification of this ship.

If someone is interested enough, and wants to spend $10, they can
request from the FAA all the information about a particular tail
number, either on paper or on CD. I did that with my glider and the
information went all the way back to the original German paperwork (in
German), 26 documents altogether. Very interesting.

Importantly, you will need both the tail number AND THE SERIAL
NUMBER. This second component may be the difficult nut to crack. Was
there a data plate on the glider and, more importantly, did someone
get the SN? I suppose both the SN and N number is required as N
numbers are reused (like in this case) and you would only want the
information related to "your" ship.

See http://aircraft.faa.gov/e.gov/nd/ for details.

Followup to my above post.

Out of curiousity I entered just the tail number 71JR. The system
rejected that - the only way you know is that your shopping cart
remains empty. I then entered a bogus SN of "1111". The FAA database
is immediately queried and I got the following message;

"The N-Number 71JF with Serial Number 1111 was not found. If you are
sure the information was entered correctly and would like to add the
item to your shopping card for Research, click the OK button."

So if the SN is not available, then this might be an option. I
clicked "add to cart". The "cost" is now shown as "Research" with a
total of $0.00. Hmmmm. Lets click "Checkout" and see what happens.
A dialog appears that says;

"Make and Model fields can not be blank. If you are unable to
identify the aircraft you are interested in, you may contact the
Aircraft Registry at 1-866-762-9434".

OK, I am game. I will give the number a call later today and report
back.

On 11 Dec, 10:33, ContestID67 wrote:
Followup to my above post.

Out of curiousity I entered just the tail number 71JR. *The system
rejected that - the only way you know is that your shopping cart
remains empty. *I then entered a bogus SN of "1111". *The FAA database
is immediately queried and I got the following message;

"The N-Number 71JF with Serial Number 1111 was not found. *If you are
sure the information was entered correctly and would like to add the
item to your shopping card for Research, click the OK button."

So if the SN is not available, then this might be an option. *I
clicked "add to cart". *The "cost" is now shown as "Research" with a
total of $0.00. *Hmmmm. *Lets click "Checkout" and see what happens.
A dialog appears that says;

"Make and Model fields can not be blank. *If you are unable to
identify the aircraft you are interested in, you may contact the
Aircraft Registry at 1-866-762-9434".

OK, I am game. *I will give the number a call later today and report
back.

If you enter Reid as the manufacturer (in the FAA database) there is a
Reid RGS-1 amateur-built sailplane listed. It is not accessible in the
records, only listed. The Mfg/Mdl code is 0564744.

I called the FAA registry. Looks like the Jordon Reid connection is
the key to this mystery. Tom "5Z" you are the winner.

A very nice lady at the FAA said that the tail number had been used
three times. A Cessna 421C (current), Moni before that (distroyed)
and then a "glider" which was registered to Jordon E Reid of Tucson,
AZ! Bingo.

She didn't have a model number but "Reid" as a manufacturer does show
up in the FAA database as a "RGS-1" glider as mentioned earlier, 1
seat. Serial number is 0001 so it is obviously a one-off homebuilt.
The detailed information on the craft is being sent to me but it is in
"Federal Storage" and will take weeks to be dug up.

RGS-1 = Reid Gordon Special #1???

Now the next question - how did it come to be lying next to a fence in
such disrepair. Wind storm as someone thought? It seems to be in
relatively good repair for something that might have tumbled end over
end.

- John DeRosa