Wings for a Warwick Bantam

[Ron Wanttaja]

Buddy called me up a couple of weeks back... "I just bought a vacation house,
and there's some airplane parts in the basement. What should I do with them?"

Turns out they were wings, windshield, and instrument panel for a Warwick
Bantam, an all-metal plans-built design from the 1960s. The wings are in
excellent shape...didn't even look like any mice had taken up residence. Looks
like very good workmanship, too.

We're toying with what to do with the wings, but before we convert them to wall
decorations or desks, we thought we'd check and see if there's anyone out there
trying to restore a Bantam.

Drop me an email if you know of someone who could use them. There's only six on
the registry, but....

Ron Wanttaja

[Morgans[_1_]]

"Ron Wanttaja" > wrote

> Turns out they were wings, windshield, and instrument panel for a Warwick
> Bantam, an all-metal plans-built design from the 1960s. The wings are in
> excellent shape...didn't even look like any mice had taken up residence.
> Looks
> like very good workmanship, too.

Ever see any pictures of one of these on the web? I sure couldn't find any!
--
Jim in NC

[Ed Sullivan]

On Sat, 1 Jul 2006 23:14:41 -0400, "Morgans"
> wrote:

>
>"Ron Wanttaja" > wrote
>
>> Turns out they were wings, windshield, and instrument panel for a Warwick
>> Bantam, an all-metal plans-built design from the 1960s. The wings are in
>> excellent shape...didn't even look like any mice had taken up residence.
>> Looks
>> like very good workmanship, too.
>
>Ever see any pictures of one of these on the web? I sure couldn't find any!

As I recall they are a small low wing, tri-gear creature about
the size of a Teenie Two.

[Ron Wanttaja]

On Sun, 02 Jul 2006 05:21:32 GMT, Ed Sullivan > wrote:

> On Sat, 1 Jul 2006 23:14:41 -0400, "Morgans"
> > wrote:
>
> >
> >"Ron Wanttaja" > wrote
> >
> >> Turns out they were wings, windshield, and instrument panel for a Warwick
> >> Bantam, an all-metal plans-built design from the 1960s. The wings are in
> >> excellent shape...didn't even look like any mice had taken up residence.
> >> Looks
> >> like very good workmanship, too.
> >
> >Ever see any pictures of one of these on the web? I sure couldn't find any!
>
> As I recall they are a small low wing, tri-gear creature about
> the size of a Teenie Two.

Yep, that's the beast. The hard part was figuring out WHAT the parts were from.

After letting me know about the parts, my buddy emailed me pictures. Both
wings, an upper and a lower cowl, the windshield, an instrument panel (no
gauges, just the panel), and a set of wheel pants.

The pictures made one thing clear...the wing panels were too small for a
production aircraft, it had to be a homebuilt. The cowling pieces were for an
exposed-cylinder mount ala J-3. The wheel pants could have been from anything.
The windshield was a weirdy...very rectangular shape, really unusual, but I
couldn't place it.

Me and a buddy from work (my former partner in the Stinson) drove to the old
vacation cabin where my other friend had found the parts. I went there thinking
the wings were from an RV-3...about the right size, and the right shape. I
thought, maybe, the cowling and windshield came from another airplane.

When it got there, it was obvious that wasn't the case...all the parts were
painted the same shade of Cub yellow (except the windshield). The wing wasn't
an RV-3...no flaps, for one thing. The wingtip was fiberglass, but it was just
a cap, not any sort of low-drag fairing. The airfoil shape was obviously
different from that of a typical RV. The instrument panel was nearly a straight
rectangle, with just some rounding at the upper edges....not the curved RV-3
shape.

But the main wings were all aluminum, assembled with driven rivets. The wing
was still so clean that the alloy markings (and the builder's Sharpie-Pen parts
identifier markings) were still visible when we removed an inspection panel.
The ailerons were pushrod activated, with nice rod end bearings.

I thought, "Maybe a Stits," but the wings were cantilever with no strut attach
points, and Stits wings were usually fabric covered.

Trying to trace down the provenance was impossible. No N-Number, no data plate.
Ask the guy who previously owned the cabin? Died two years ago. Run his name
through the FAA registration database, look for a homebuilt registered to him?
Man wasn't a pilot...bought a lot of junk at garage sales, and the next door
neighbors said that's where he got the wings.

I shot some pictures and went home stumped. I started paging through some old
books on homebuilts, hoping to match the wings and that strange square
windshield. I haven't been able to buy my own copy of "Jane's Homebuilt
Aircraft" and my buddy who has one was out of town. Instead, I used two of my
favorite references for old homebuilts: Budd Davisson's _The World of Sport
Aviation_, published in 1982, and Pete Bowers' _Guide to Homebuilt Aircraft_
ninth edition.

Two minutes after starting to page through Pete's book, and I hit pay dirt.
Page 96 had a rear quarter view photo of a plane called the Warwick Bantam. The
lighting was such that the airfoils shape was highlighted, and it was the shape
of the wings in the basement. The Bantam's windshield also matched what we'd
found, and the fuselage shape looked perfect for the windshield. The plane in
Pete's book didn't have wheel pants, so there was no way to check the shape.

Like Jim, I immediately hit Google for pictures and came up dry. But I own the
EAA Sport Aviation on CD-ROM set, and ran a search there. I found an article
dating from when the Bantam was first designed, and it was obvious the parts we
had came from a Warwick Bantam.

In fact, it occurred to me that the background in Pete's photo of a Bantam
looked a LOT like one of the local airports. I ran the N-number, and found that
Giles Bantam N2806 was listed as "Sale Reported," but the last address was in
Renton, Washington...just a few dozen miles from where the wings ended up.
Pete's black and white photo makes the plane look white, but that could just be
how it was reproduced.

So...after ALL that work, it'd be nice if there were a Bantam rebuilder out
there who could make use of these.

Ron Wanttaja

[Morgans[_1_]]

"Ron Wanttaja" > wrote

> So...after ALL that work, it'd be nice if there were a Bantam rebuilder
> out
> there who could make use of these.

Cool info, thanks.

Seems like someone with some determination could "forward engineer" the
rest, if they were determined.
--
Jim in NC

[Montblack[_1_]]

("Ron Wanttaja" wrote)
> So...after ALL that work, it'd be nice if there were a Bantam rebuilder
> out there who could make use of these.


<http://www.aircraftone.com/aircraft/models/warwick_bantam_w_3_0560156.asp>
Would a call to one of these two be a good starting point?


Montblack