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DELAWitBECmJNTY (PA.) DAILYTIMESW«k**diy, April U, 1974% • • . . . I I• . • *\7• f •DARBY — Remnants of. childhood hobbies normally come to rest on dusty attic! shelves and in the recesses of'. our memories, rOnce that coveted scout badge is secured or that ship or airplane model is built, werelegate Y.the instruction, manuals and model, .glue to places where they fraternize • forever with riderless lov! horses and forgotten dolls in faded gingham dresse.But this is not the ensei_ though for four Delawarfe Coun- i » ly brothers who have not only ; preserved a hobby,., but .have1 1 refined their knowledge of;; model airplanes into an almost passionate quest for .achiev-.j . menl and perfection, -t. ‘In the post-depressiofi years,.when stickball and five-conU. movies consumed eT young i ; hoy’s leisure, George, Bob, Bill' /and Ron Vance had transformed dheir attic.a( 530 Spruce S^-Ynto the ‘neighborhood 'hanger', for a model airplane club.• 4 * . • . *Mrs. George Vance, mother of Six sons and a flying enthusiast herself, recalled the ■ hays when the, aroma of her famous potato soup . clashed with the pungency of banana oil cement used for the mbdol construction. 1“Evenings, after school and holidays, they were always up there building airplanes. I always knew where they were.I just hung, up a sign to remem-, her to clean once, a week.”The . boys’ achievement reached a pinnachlc when they supplied the Army with sii-, /houctIo planes used in inslru-ction of fighter pilots during World War .II. Rut the closest any of them came to an/actualplane was Bob Vance, whbv was,a control lower operator in the Army' ,Air Force.. • In 1971 the; Vance, brothers .knew iheir lime had arrived.“We were looking for an older, affordable plane to bijy ; 'and restore,*’ said George Van- i ce, second oldest , of the)' brothers and. a fabricator at . ,Westinghouse Electric Corp. jn Tinicum; ., • ,In, a barren field in Cross . Keys, N.J., near Pitman, they '■ found their rainbow’s end: a f 1940 two-seat Piper Coup .I-4-A which had 12 previous owner's, ; Abandoned now for four years, ■ the plane's condition wquid 'i have discouraged all but the lt;most persevering aviation enthusiasts* ,“You wouldn't have believed the bird’s nests and bees in that ‘ thing. George said, “We paidJ S400 for it look it apart, sluifedit- in a truck and took it to a garage in Glenoldeii.For the next 30 months, the men foresook all else but their _ jobs to transform this “pile of junk into an airworthy plane.Through their membership' with the Experimental Aircraft Association, a — monthly gathering of frustrated; Lind-bergs, the Vance .. Brothers bought and traded for many of the parts that were manufactured by Piper Aircraft Corp. in 1939 and 1940. One part, a wing'strut, holds she distance record after being mailed from California.Like bees in a hive, work was divided-according to individual skills with ‘queen’ status falling naturally to Bob Vance, oldest of the group.“He was the guiding force, the dynamo,” said George Vance,-chuckling.'‘Every once in awhile weld atari calling him Orville. -Bill' Vance, owner of an automotive business . hi Philadelphia, was_ delegated-chief engineer and supervised the engine and control panel reconstruction. For Bob Vance, a Darby mailman, Ron Vance who is employed: at Boeing Veitol,. and r GeorgeVance, duties rlt;jn the gamutfrom ironing the dacron cover to shrink it, to applying the 25 coats of paint over the steel1 tubing body. 'In January, 1974, die resplendent yellow-.bird was ferried to the Bridgeport (N.J.) Airport for .her maiden flight. It made i! with no problems.• The bro t hers h a ve com e q u i [ e a long way since the days when Bob Vance exchanged cornflake box tops for a cardboard mode)
Newspaper Details
Delaware County Daily Times
Chester, Pennsylvania, US
Wed, Apr 24, 1974
Page 25
Full Page
Clipped by
Jeanette R.
NA, 24 May 2019
Other Publications Near Chester, Pennsylvania
Chester Reporter
Chester Evening Times
Delaware County Daily Times
Chester Times
Chester Daily Times
