117 Planes on the books at WAAAM
The museum has just flown our new 1940 Rearwin Cloudster. On display now in M1 is this three seat cabin painted in "Stearman Vermilion with Insignia Blue Trim ".
WAAAM now has 4 of the 5 aircraft built by this company! We have the Sportster, Speedster, Cloudster and Commonwealth Skyranger 185. Missing is the "Junior" Keep your eye out for it!
Many thanks for the generosity of Bill Bremmeyer and Don Mayo for making this aircraft acquisition possible, to Terry Brandt and Lois Bowman for your volunteered time in the retrieval to get the Cloudster here and to all of the volunteers who got it ready to fly and display.
Learn more about the Rearwin Airplanes at this web site www.rearwin.com
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Bull Stearman... Hanging and rigging the wings.
Along with a huge airplane comes a huge project of putting all of the parts together.
1929 Bull Stearman Speedmail. One of just seven built. Alan Lopez had a dream to get it in the air again, he did so and now it is home in the Northwest again ... here at WAAAM.
Our "Bull Stearman" was so-nicknamed for its imposing physical size and extreme loudness compared to other airplanes. This was one of the six M-2's bought by Varney Airlines for use on Contract Air Mail route 32, Portland-Seattle-Spokane. Its 46-foot wingspan is the longest in the WAAAM collection, exceeding even the Boeing Model 40C. The M-2 was built to carry a pilot plus 1000 lbs. of mail. Stearman's selection of the unreliable Wright R-1750 Cyclone engine contributed to the airplane's downfall. Varney lost three of its six M-2's within months. Future orders went to Boeing for their Model 40 and no other operators ordered M-2 Speedmails. The seventh and last one built was for a private owner and used a Pratt and Whitney Hornet engine, the engine model installed here. United Airlines (of which Varney was a component) sold NC9055 in 1932. This airplane was enroute to Alaska in October, 1939 when it landed upside down in Teslin Lake, Yukon Territory. All three men aboard survived but the Bull Stearman lay there, unnoticed by all but locals until it was rediscovered in 1989 and recovered by an aviation historian. By 1999 Alan Lopez had taken ownership and invested ten years in restoring the airplane. In June, 2014 Lopez transferred ownership to WAAAM where its imposing presence can be appreciated by our visitors.
The Bull Stearman book by is available in exclusively in our gifts shop. Read Alan's story of this restoration.
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Model T Driving School : August is sold out. We are taking names for a possible September Class. If you are interested get your name on the list by calling WAAAM 541-308-1600
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See our stunning 1935 WACO YPF- 6 featured at the McAllister Museum of Aviation in Yakima, WA on August 16, for their Rare Aircraft Event. Displayed 10-12
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The Annual Hood River Fly-in is just 30 days away
September 6 and 7 (Pilot Night is Friday the 5th)
