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Crash Ends Stearman Pilot's Cross-Country Adventure
Posted Jan. 20, 2009

Webmaster's Note: Antique airplane owners Larry Tobin, Addison Pemberton and Ben Scott crisscrossed the United States in August and September 2008 -- in part to discover what pioneer air mail pilots experienced on the Transcontinental Mail Route. All went well until, after 7,000 miles and nearing home, Tobin’s plane crashed. Here’s his story, written for TARPA Topics, a magazine for retired Trans World Airlines pilots.

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By LARRY TOBIN
Spokane, WA

Planning for this trip started two years before. I was restoring the world’s oldest Stearman, a 1927 C3B, and my friend Addison Pemberton was restoring a 1928 Boeing 40 which had crashed in 1928.

We had a dream to fly the Transcontinental Mail Route and see what it was like for mail pilots of that day. We invited a friend, Ben Scott, with his1930 Stearman 4E to join us. He had with him Al Holloway, who builds our engines. We also invited George Perks from Spokane to ride, assist in the flying and take pictures. He also sent e-mails.

The aircraft were positioned in New York at Republic Field, Long Island, on Sept. 8, 2008, for departure Sept. 10.  I had not been back to New York since 1997, when I departed JFK in the left seat of a TWA 767 on my last flight to SFO.

I had already learned from flying my Stearman across the country to get to New York that this would be a hard-to-handle aircraft due to the pitch instability of the early Stearmans. Any rough air made this a very difficult plane to fly. Within a year Stearman had fixed the pitch problems with the C3-R.

Beautiful Day, Rugged Terrain

We departed Republic Field on a great morning, Sept. 10, with a flyby of JFK tower at their request at 400 feet. From there we went to the Statue of Liberty at same altitude and flew around the statue for pictures. From there over EWR at tower request. The route took us to Bellefonte, PA, a 216-mile flight over the rugged hills of Pennsylvania with no place to land if the engine quit. Those airmail pilots earned their pay on that stressful leg. A crowd of 400 was there to greet us and we stamped the mail we were hauling. Then on to Cleveland Lakefront for the overnight, where a huge crowd greeted us. The weather was great the first day.

On Sept. 11 we left Cleveland in the morning for Bryan, Ohio.  Another nice weather day. We landed at Bryan mid-morning and departed for Chicago Lansing. Another big crowd. We were now fighting weather to our next stop at Iowa City, so we got in the air as soon as possible. The old planes are very blind ahead, so running weather is a problem. We had good GPS with weather so we knew what was ahead.

One thing the mail pilots did not have to fight was towers and wind farms, so they could run low over the railroad tracks to the next stop.  Weather finally forced us to the ground at Rochelle, IL, 140 miles east of Iowa City. It was very windy and we had our hands full getting the planes on the ground.  We were able to get a nice hangar and we sat for five days waiting for the weather to clear. We got to know the people of Rochelle very well.

We finally got going on Sept. 15 and had to run some weather to Iowa City. Got in the clear on the way to Omaha and had great weather to Grand Island, NE, for the overnight. It was a long day but we were glad to escape the weather of the Chicago area and resume the journey.

Long Day for Westward Flight

Sept. 16 found clear skies and light winds for a long day to North Platte, NE, Cheyenne, WY, Rawlins, WY, and finally Rocks Springs, WY.  We were whipped by the time we got to the hotel.

We picked up Mary Weber of the USPS to ride from Rocks Springs to Reno, NV, and handle the mail.  She rode the Boeing 40 and had the time of her life. The C-3 was very hard to handle on this long day as the Wyoming airports go to 7,000 feet and I had to fly alone because of density altitude. Normally I would have had George Perks with me to help fly. The air was rough and I fought the plane all day.

Sept. 17 found clear skies and smooth air for the leg to Salt Lake City, UT. I had George to help me fly. The Wasatch Range into Salt Lake is very stressful in a 1927 airplane, and we were glad to get over the range to lower ground.  SLC tower requested a fly-by and we obliged on the way to the Salt Lake 2 airport.  We had lunch at Salt Lake and continued to Elko, NV. The terrain is still pretty high out of Salt Lake, but I was able to take George. We had a great flight across the salt flats. Speed week was going on, so we saw the cars running from overhead. The air got very rough the rest of the way to Elko and George was a big help flying the C-3. The last leg of the day was Reno, NV, for a good home-cooked meal and bed at Ben Scott’s house. A big crowd at Reno for our arrival.

We awakened to clear skies and no wind for the last day to San Francisco.  The climb to altitude was difficult over the mountains out of Reno, and we flew the freeway all the way. I was very glad to get over the lower terrain.

We arrived at Hayward, CA, in the East Bay to complete the transcontinental flight. Had a good crowd. After lunch we flew the three aircraft by the Golden Gate Bridge at 400 feet for pictures, and then landed at SFO to visit the museum. I had not been back to SFO in the cockpit since I landed that final TWA 767 there in 1997, so I came full circle in my 1927 Stearman.  A nice flight from SFO to Hayward over the Bay and we were in for the night. Many TWA people to greet us.

The weather was clear for our morning departure north for home. Having completed our mission, Addison and I said goodbye to Ben Scott and headed for Oregon. We flew over the crash sight of Addison’s Boeing 40 at Canyonville, OR, on the way to overnight in Portland. The Boeing crashed there 80 years earlier running weather up what now is I-5.

“Don’t Quit Now”

The morning of Sept. 20 we awakened to cold air and clouds at 3,000 feet for our trip through the Columbia River Gorge. If you have flown the Gorge you know how rough the terrain is. We had just passed the airport at Cascade Locks and the next field was Hood River, 20 miles ahead. This is the area where you say “don’t quit now” to the engine. . 
All of your life flying single engine you are always looking for a place to put it down. At the halfway point the unthinkable happened and the engine quit. 

My pal Addison was on my wing as I tried to get it going to no avail. I headed for the only green field in sight on the Washington side of the river. It was small -- about 10 acres with big trees on the edge.

I was coming down like a rock. Old biplanes don’t glide well with the engine windmilling. My airspeed was 40 MPH and it seemed I was headed straight down to keep flying speed. Addison kept an eye on me and kept saying “Push over, don’t stall.”

As I neared the end of this flight I found the field’s last half sloped away severely and I couldn’t get on the grass. A short road was ahead and I turned to get on it. I was looking at a barn and a big tree to the left of the road. I banked sharply to put the left wing into the tree to keep from hitting the barn.

“I Am Dead”

I told Addison just before I hit ”I am dead.” He watched my plane explode into little pieces as it flew into the ground and tree at the same time.

The noise was awful and the jolt severe, but in two seconds it was over. I still had my thumb on the transmit switch and told Addison ‘I am alive and OK.” I shut down and got out, as I was worried about fire. It did not burn.

The homeowners were there to assist me. I was not hurt except for a sore shoulder and back. The wood wings absorbed the crash and saved my life. I had also turned into a 25-knot headwind just before impact, so I was going very slowly.

The time from engine quit to crash was 50 seconds. Addison called in the emergency people and flew overhead until they arrived. He then landed at Hood River and waited for me to fly home in the Boeing.

I flew the C3B 7,000 miles and 110 hours during this trip. It just about made it.

On the test run we found a piece of gasket got into the main jet of the carburetor and shut off the fuel.

I am rebuilding the plane and it will fly again in two years.

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Of  Special Interest: Tobin’s C3B was honored with three of the National Stearman Fly-In’s most significant honors – the Best Civilian, Deed Levy and Silver Legacy awards – during the 37th annual Fly-In Sept. 1-7, 2008, at Galesburg, IL, Municipal Airport. Tobin, Pemberton and Scott left Galesburg on Sunday morning, Sept. 7, on a 2-day-long flight to the East Coast to begin retracing the Transcontinental Mail Route.