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ISSUE 574 - February 2019
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| Slow and Low: Ontario to Illinois in a Stearman - Part I |
By Kevin Moore, Contributing
Editor & Photographer
Watford, Ontario, Canada |
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| Bruce flying his Stearman over southwestern Ontario in the fall of 2017. |
| During the summer of 2018 a friend of mine, Bruce Bond, a Stearman owner & pilot, asked me if I was interested in flying down to Galesburg, Illinois for the annual National Stearman Fly-in the first week in September. I admit, I did have to give it some thought as I always have an annual event I attend the second weekend of September that I've been going to, almost every year, for over 20 years. However, flying, aviation and aeroplanes won out. It usually does! |
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Bruce's Stearman, C-GSDK, pulled out of the hangar at Bruce's airstrip,
just a few miles south of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. |
| So, the trip is planned and I'm told to 'pack light' as the Stearman isn't known for it's luggage/storage capacity. Not an easy task as a photographer but I knew all my photo gear and camera bag wouldn't fit in the small luggage compartment of the Stearman, especially when we both needed clothes for at least 4 days, copious quantities of engine oil (as any radial owner knows), cleaning cloths, a couple of bottles of water as well as a few other essentials. |
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Bruce pulling the Stearman over to the fuel bowser to fill
the fuel tank in preparation for the flight. |
| The day before the trip from Bruce's farm strip in southwestern Ontario, about 10 minutes from Sarnia, Ontario, we spent the day readying the Stearman and making sure it was clean. A somewhat pointless act in-so-far-as cleaning oil from the windscreens, struts and nose of the aeroplane as it's usually covered within 10 minutes of getting airborne. However, the bug guts and dirt of a spring and summer's flying was washed away and the aeroplane was ready for our departure the next morning. Hold that thought. |
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| Filling the fuel tank, left. Looking down the length of the fuselage the previous fall, right. |
| As any pilot will tell you, you're only as ready as the weather. Our weather wasn't ready for us to leave first thing that morning. Low cloud, some rain, some fog and a few localized thunderstorms prevented an early morning departure... by several hours. Not something you want when, without a headwind, you're facing at least 4.5 hours of flying time and 2 - 3 stops for fuel. However, the weather finally cleared and we were off. |
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| Just passing the St. Clair River, the Canada/US border, looking southward, left. Our first stop, a short hop across the border to clear US Customs at St. Clair County Memorial Airport, Port Huron, Michigan, right. |
The flight would be done in stages with the first stop a short hop across the St. Clair River, south of Sarnia, ON/Port Huron, MI to the St. Clair County Airport (PHN) in order to clear customs. From take off to our shut down at St. Clair was probably about 15 minutes. The USCBP officers came out and had us get out of the aircraft. One officer checked out the aeroplane while we went inside with the other and handed him our passports. We filled out the necessary paperwork and, about 30 minutes later, we were back in the air, heading westward once again. |
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A long weekend, such as Labour Day, meant empty factories, left,
as well as empty school sports fields, right. |
| Flying at a height of around 3500 ASL you can see a lot of things going on below you - normally. However, this was the Sunday of Labour Day weekend so the only busy places seemed to be lakes. Schools, factories and other businesses were all but abandoned. However, it's obvious American's are big sports fans by the size of their high school football and baseball fields seen along our route. |
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| A shot of Bruce in the mirror on the upper, left wing, just ahead of the front seat, left, and a shot looking out over some of the green farmland and forests of eastern Michigan, right. |
Unfortunately, we were bucking pretty strong headwinds. Now, the Stearman doesn't fly particularly fast, depending on engine. Bruce's Stearman has a Continental 220hp (W670) so cruise is generally around 90mph airspeed. Our headwind was 15-20mph so that meant our ground speed was 70-75mph which meant a longer flying day. However, it had turned out to be a beautiful day and, any time you're in a beautiful old biplane, it doesn't really matter how fast you're going because it's the trip that matters!
Next week we complete our flight to Galesburg, Illinois to attend the National Stearman Fly-in 2018. |
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Bruce flying his 1941 Boeing Stearman, C-GSDK,
over the farmland of southwestern Ontario. |
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| Proof positive that sports is big in America, professional and at high schools, as seen here, left. Also proof that radials tend to spread joy or, as seen on the strut, oil, right. |
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You never tire of the view from an open cockpit biplane on a beautiful,
sunny summer day, flying over green pastures and forests. |
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