The Spartan was back in the 70's. There is an old book written and photographed by an old TWA FA named Chris Sorenson. Took great pictures and Grandpa knew him from work. Dickenson is in it, my grandpa in a couple places (one neat picture of the airplane in my avatar in a formation take-off with a Waco YOC). The book is called "Flying the Old Planes" or something.
That Spartan Executive was still at Santa Paula when I worked there, I don't think the Dickensons still owned it at that time. I just remember someone opened a hangar door and I was gobsmacked at what I saw. Just a beautiful airplane from any angle.
They are gorgeous machines. There was a group of 450 Pratt planes - the Spartan, the Waco SRE, the DGA-11, and the Stinson SR-9F, along with the Stag and there were all just insanely desireable. Like almost impossible to choose.
I’ve been on the hunts float kits seem to be the challenge honestly- plane won’t and EDO kits are tough to source atm.
You are foolhardy to get a single engine airplane to fly your family around in - they are bigly dangerous.
Mr Widgeon entered the chat…
Knew a guy in Houston that had a Widgeon in the 70's. Always looked big to me to have 200hp Rangers on it. And I'm not sure the props feathered. The Fantasy Island plane was a Widgeon that had 985's and that would be fun. But for a Widgeon you'd need to STC some 985's or go with the bigger flat motors (EWWWW!) I would think. Not sure - have you flown one? I love the Grumman flying boats.
Got my multiengine sea in this when it was in Port Orange Fla.
www.waterwings.com
Ha, to be fair I’m not sure that there exists an amphib kit for the 195- which is a shame. I really do like the way they look.
That sounds awesome. How did it perform?Got my multiengine sea in this when it was in Port Orange Fla.
1946 Grumman Widgeon N86638 | seaplane training
Really good. Nice to have the thrust line (and throttles) in the right place. Climb rate not stellar but then you don’t need to always aim perpendicular to the tree/shore line on a hot summer day. Parallel works just as nicely.
Those are bigly neat. Also, from a former owner - not ideal if you lose one on take-off. 275hp Jakes and no feathering props. Not a great scenario, but I'd love to have one.
The Cessna 195 on floats is a dream machine, classic, rugged, and oozing character.
Or just buy a Beaver on floats and most of, but not all, of the headaches have been addressed and solutions have been implemented. I haven't actually looked into it but I'd suspect a 195 is more costly to purchase and operate, but so is a Staggerwing. How deep are your pockets? I love flying boats, back in the olden times there was a Piaggio multi engine something or other floaty bird that appeared to be abandoned near our hangar but it wasn't. Someone, somewhere had the same dream and when I'd drive past it I got what whoever vibe whoever was still hanging on to it was putting forth. If you've ever been around a PBY, an Albatross or the holy grail of seaplanes, a Mars, count yourself as fortunate. I'd add the H-4 but it never actually went into service. The period of our history when we had a requirement to haul a lot of weight and no runways long enough produced some classic aircraft.