Project #4 in trouble, calling it quits

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Project #4

New member
I am basically a small time real estate investor and landlord here in Central California. I bought 74412 because it was a excellent project. And I continue to think so. Some times a fellow has to fall back and regroup and that is what I plan to do. My rental income can not currently support the Cruiseair project, my Ercoupe(a finished flying aircraft, 188n) or the normal bills that one seems to generate every month. With that in mind, I shall now place my Bellanca 14-13-2 on the other side of this forum. FSBO.

Regards and best wishes for 2008..

Dan Skeeters
 
Sad...most sad indeed. More times than I care to remember I've been there, sometimes due to luck, sometimes due to miscalculation, sometimes due to personal failings I was blind to, and sometimes due to large and dark forces that have probably struck you.

Here's to better times for you, and to your regaining the sky.

Jonathan
 
I use to own 74412. It wasn't fast but a fun airplane to fly. I bought it at Casa Grande, AZ and flew it to NW Iowa on my first cross country with it.
The last time I saw it fly, it was headed to California with a new owner.
LeMar
 
Thanks LeMar for that info. What color(s) was it painted when you saw it last? The fellow that I bought it from gave me pictures that showed it painted up like a WW II German Fighter, ala Me109 in desert camouflage, complete with a German Cross on both sides. I liked the effect. I also noted in the electrical schematic a diagram for 5 flares along with a 5 position rotary switch. Just curious about what those might have been, if anything.
Dan ercoupehome@yahoo.com
 
I recall reading somewhere (no, I am not old enough to remember it firsthand) that once upon a time, flares were required to be installed if you were carrying paying passengers at night for commercial operations - air taxi and charter type flights.

Later, this requirement was dropped and a landing light became required equipment for night commercial operations.

Dave York
 
Ah...thanks for pointing that out, Dave. I became confused and thought the previous owner had taken the Messerschmitt 109 concept a bit far. They too had a five flare container, each flare a different color. They used them for Identify Friend or Foe (IFF) purposes. I suppose the color(s) fired were the code. Some drunken Finns gave me one of those containers with the empty remnant of one flare...silly Finns :roll:

Jonathan
 
Yes, I painted it that way. The Italians also used that cross and had airplanes in desert camouflage except I didn't like any of their paint schemes so I came up with my own.
One year I flew it to Oshkosh and arrived just before the air show started so there were thousands of people on the flight line. In fact, the crowd had to be parted so we could get to parking. It probably drove the Kodak stock price up.
Anyway, as I parked the airplane and started tying it down, a guy came up, almost on a run and said "Is that REALLY a German fighter?"
Not too many 4-place airplanes are confused as fighters so the Cruisair scored another victory!
 
My favorite of the Italian WWII fighters was the Macchi 200 series. There is a 202 - or at least there was (I've not been there a long while) - hanging in the Air and Space Museum. It does bear a resemblance to the Messerschmitt 109, and matching the desert camouflage paint scheme would have been difficult indeed. If the Cruisair looks like any Messerschmitt, however, I think it would be the side by side seating pre-war Me108. There are a few flying examples in the United States.

Jonathan
 
Lemar. It never occured to me that you were the ex owner until I saw your confirmation on the painting post. What a treat for me! I've never seen what 74412 looked like under your original paint scheme. Only the elevators have your desert scheme as the rest of the plane has been reskinned and colored in an not to pleasing red/yellow. Could you please share any pics or comments about your life and times with this ferocious German Fighter with me? I really would like to know more. Please email me at ercouphome@yahoo.com I shall try and update my profile with more contact info should this address be inadaequate..As a side note on painting: One of my out going rental tenants left behind 100's of WW1-WW2 German aviation books. Most seem to be involved depecting accurate color/insiginas/models etc. Interesting reading. Dan
 
Looked closer and it was not the spam filter but "delivery error: dd This user doesn't have a yahoo.com account"
 
Lemar. One would think that after owning an Ercoupe for 4 years that I might be able to spell it correctly. Please try again; ercoupehome@yahoo.com Sorry for the trouble. Dan :oops:
 
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