Spent the morning recently with Scott White of Orient, Ohio, who has an incredible Terraplane pickup that I photographed. Scott also owns White Aero Ltd. and specializes in the restoration of fabric-bodied aircraft, especially Boeing-Stearman biplanes such as the above 1944 PT-13, built to both Army and Navy specs for World War II pilot training.
Now, lest you think I’m delving into planelopnik territory here, there’s an interesting automotive tie-in with this plane: its nine-cylinder radial engine was built by Lycoming, the same company that was once part of the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg empire. Scott rebuilt the engine himself and noted that the Lycoming was definitely built to the same lofty standards as any Duesenberg engine, much more refined than the Continental radials that powered the PT-17 variants of the Boeing-Stearman.
Oh, and it flies like a dream. Scott’s a very lucky man to be able to take this biplane up anytime he feels like it.
