Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/307497
18 Vol.3 No.5 / May 2014 BREEZ Y AT THE HALF-CENTURY MARK Editor's note: In 2007 Sparky Barnes Sargent interviewed Carl Unger about the Breezy and how it came about for the December issue of Sport Aviation. Unfortunately, Carl passed away on September 24, 2013. Carl's words follow: IN T HE BEGINNING BACK IN 1964, fellow Corporate Air Transport captains Charley Rolof , Carl H. Unger, and Bob Liposky were fl ight-instructing on the weekends at Midway Airport in Illinois. The threesome decided to design and build an airplane that would let them get back into the basics of fl ying. "We never had any plans; we just had the design in our heads," Carl recalled, explaining, "We made a little wire model out of welding rod just to see what we wanted. I did all the welding and engineering, too. Charley had previously built his own gyrocopter, all by hand, so we knew we wanted to fl y out in front of the engine. And I had always wanted to build something like an old Curtiss pusher; so we got together and Breezy is what we came up with." They scrounged around for parts, and Eleanor Schumacher, who was involved in local aviation, helped out by selling a set of PA-12 wings (from a wreck) to the threesome for $200. Her inter- est in the project continued, and one day she stopped by to check on its progress, just as Carl was measuring the size he was going to make the bench seat. "She said, 'Will it hold me?' So we made it to fi t her, and that's why we call it a Schumacher seat," Carl said. All told, it took them about six-and-a-half months to build the airplane from the time they made that welding-rod model to the test fl ight of the full-scale version. It was Charley who made that fi rst fl ight on August 7, 1964, at the Chicago- Hammond Airport (now the Lansing Airport). "He had the most instruction time of the three of us, so we gave him the honor," said Carl. "And we all knew we were going to do it the fi rst week in August. Back then, when we were through instructing on the weekends, we'd all go to the Lansing bowling alley and bowl and have a couple of Manhattan drinks," Carl recalled, laughing, "so we had Charley's 'wake' there—a party for Charley just in case something didn't go right! That way, he could be there with us rather than in a box. Then I fl ew it second, and Bob fl ew it after me. We knew it would fl y, and I loved it!" The airplane, N59Y, was of cially registered as an experi- mental amateur-built Breezy RLU-1. It had a wingspan of 33 feet, measured 22 feet 6 inches from nose to tail, and had an empty weight of 698 pounds. It carried 10 gallons of fuel and was powered by a 90-hp Continental with a special pusher crank. It cruised 80 mph at 70-percent power, with a maximum speed of 105 mph and docile stalling characteristics at 28 mph. Throughout more than four decades, numerous sets of Breezy plans have been sold and hundreds have been built in many countries, much to the amazement of Carl, who bought the plans rights from his partners. "We never knew that 43 years later it would be fl ying like this," he said. "I went to the fi rst EAA air show in Rockford in 1965, and people had never seen anything like Breezy. We started giving rides that fi rst year. It was Governors' Day, and Governor Knowles from Wisconsin and Governor Kerner from Illinois jumped at the chance for a ride, so I took them both—that made the front page of the Rock- ford newspaper!" NUMBER ONE BREE Z Y PIL O T When he was 10 years old, Carl started building 5-cent stick-and- tissue model airplanes. He went for his fi rst (albeit scary) airplane ride on a windy, bumpy day in a J-5 when he was 12 years old. In one of life's little ironies, 13 years later, after earning his certifi cate and ratings with the G.I. Bill, he found himself instructing in that very same J-5. As an ATP-rated pilot, his aviation career grew to include fl ying jets for Corporate Air Transport and later fl ying King Airs. Carl fl ew another Breezy, N79V, for years. It is a Breezy with a bit of history behind it. More than three decades ago, Carl met 12-year-old Jay Vieaux, who "came to every air show, and I'd fl y him on my Breezy. He fell in love with the airplane, and one time, he showed up with a control-line model airplane, complete with a little man sitting in the pilot's seat with a red vest! So for his 15th birthday, his father—who was EAA Chapter 260 president then—got a set of plans from me for a Breezy, and I went down in his basement and gave him a few gas welding lessons. That's the airplane I'm fl ying today, and it is immaculate—he did a great job." (Editor's note: Carl's son, Rob, is still fl ying that airplane, and it will be at AirVenture 2014.) Carl taught his son, Rob, to fl y in 1977 and soloed his two other sons on their 16th birthdays, as well. Today, Rob is a Southwest Airlines pilot who enjoys fl ying his father's Breezy on the side. "Dad fl ew people for well over four decades, all for the cost of a handshake, a smile, and the memorable look left on their faces—something that he enjoyed and never forgot," Rob said proudly, "and he never charged for a ride." Carl's joyful devotion to aviation, his irresistible ef ervescence, and his personal generosity haven't gone unnoticed; he was en- shrined in the Illinois Aviation Hall of Fame in May 2006. At the time, Carl remarked, "I was shocked, and very honored. I never even knew they were considering me—and the reason they did that is I'm taking people for rides, young kids, too, and everything's free. I pay for everything myself; that's my donation to general aviation to get young kids and other people into fl ying who would never have a chance to fl y otherwise. The Hall of Fame people fi gured that since 1964 I've fl own about 8,000 people." It's doubtful that Carl could have imagined that we'd be celebrating a half century of Breezys in his honor, and it's likely there will be a similar celebration at the century mark. Clas- sic airplanes fl y forever, and Rob Unger is helping to keep the legend alive by continuing the sales of plans for the Breezy; the cost is $175 (14 sheets). Contact: Janet Unger 8751 S. Kilbourn Ave. Oaklawn, IL 60456 The 50th Anniversary of the Birth of Breezy E A A E X P _ M a y 1 4 . i n d d 1 8 EAAEXP_May14.indd 18 5 / 5 / 1 4 3 : 1 6 P M 5/5/14 3:16 PM