Members of the Experimental Aircraft Association 534 recently visited JKE Works, Inc., in Mount Dora to view the progress on the restoration of a 1929 Lockheed Vega 5C airplane.
Jim Kimball Enterprises is a family company that Jim Kimball started in the 1970s that specializes in restoring single-engine vintage aircraft to museum standards. The business is currently operated by Jim’s son, Kevin, and grandson, Kallin. EAA Chapter 534 member have made numerous visits to the shop over the last several years to check out restoration projects, including this one.
The Vega is owned by Kermit Weeks, owner of Fantasy of Flight in Polk City. Although the plane looked pretty good on the floor of the museum, it was no longer airworthy. Weeks knew of JKE’s reputation and hired the company to do the restoration.
This plane is a single engine, monocoque fuselage or single wooden shell, with a large cantilevered parasol wing, all covered with plywood. This was then covered with fabric and painted. The Vega was a popular seven passenger aircraft, and in its day was used by notable aviators such as Amelia Earhart and Wiley Post. There were close to 135 Vegas aircraft built and now only six are known to exist.
This specific plane was built by Lockheed as the first “Executive” Vega for an oil company. The plane later flew passengers and cargo in Mexico. It also was used for aerial survey work and as a test plane with General Electric refining radar.
Back in the 1920s and 30s, many aircraft were constructed from wood – usually spruce, birch or mahogany. The use of aluminum in airplane construction came later. Strange as it may sound, some amateur aircraft builders – including many EAA members – are still using wood, adhesives of various types, and Dacron fabric to construct small general aviation planes in their garages or hangars.
Currently the Vega’s wing and vertical and horizontal stabilizers have been restored, varnished and will at some point be covered with a more modern fabric and painted. When the old plywood skin on the large 41- foot wing was removed, it was found that the old glue once used had pretty much failed and the old fragile plywood peeled off quite easily.
Surprisingly, the supporting structure and ribs were still sound and could be reused. New plywood and current FAA approved adhesives would hold it in place much better.
Then comes the plywood story. Since this aircraft’s construction was certified by the government in 1929, it must be restored to the same specifications approved at that time. The plywood specified was vertical grain Sitka Spruce. The Kimballs checked with their aircraft plywood supplier to see if vertical grain spruce ply was available. The supplier said it is not common, but he could make it if the proper veneers were supplied. He provided the name of a veneer cutter for the job.
If the company had tried to use what was available on today’s market, they would have to get a new certification from the FAA and that could take years, with no guarantee they would ever it. The only solution for JKE was to find vertical grain Sitka Spruce plywood on their own, which was going to take time and money.
Kevin spent several months in search of large Sitka Spruce lumber required by the veneer cutter. In the end, he bought trees still growing in Alaska. They were harvested, cut into cants, dried, and barged to the lower 48, and then trucked to the veneer cutter in Indiana. Once the veneers were cut, they were shipped to the plywood manufacturer and pressed into 60 plus sheets needed for the wing and tail repairs. The search and acquisition took 16 months.
“There are wood parts in the Vega’s wing that came from Sitka Spruce trees that began growing before the United States was a country,” Kevin Weeks said.”
While some of the substructure of the old aircraft was still reusable, the plywood wing and tail skins were not. Nearly all the hardware also was removed to be used in the refurbished plane. However, when the old plywood skin on the fuselage was removed, they discovered that many of the bulkheads, or diaphragms that supported the skin, were in bad shape. It appeared this airplane had been in some accidents in the distant past and some questionable repairs would never pass muster. In a nutshell, all the wood in the fuselage had to be replaced.
Currently, all new laminated bulkheads and other underlying wooden structures have been reproduced using factory drawings and some of the cabling and controls have been put in place. The right side of the fuselage has its molded, laminated skin attached. The left side will be completed when all cables, controls and seats are in place.
The instrument panel will contain the instruments you expect to find in the original 1929 version of the Lockheed Vega. The exact engine has yet to be determined but it will be a Pratt and Whitney R1340 – 500 hp engine that was available at that time. The plane will likely be painted in Wiley Post’s livery as Winnie Mae, just as it had been at Fantasy of Flight.
People keep asking Kevin Weeks when the plane will be finished and returned to flying status. That is always a hard question to answer when you are rebuilding a plane like this to such exacting standards. It will be finished when it’s done to the satisfaction of the crew at JKE and Kermit Weeks.
The members of EAA Chapter 534 appreciate the opportunity to follow the development of this project and look forward to seeing the finished product someday. We know it will be worth the wait.
If you would like to learn more about JKE and the Kimballs, visit www.jkeworks.com.
For more information about National EAA or EAA Chapter 534, visit www.eaa.org and www.eaachapter534.org.
