Seeking Porterfield 35-W photos

[fhhuber]

N18520
N20705
N16401


From appx 1967 to 1971, my father rebuilt an airplane in our house, in Richmond, MO. (205 E Royal)

Final assembly I believe was done in Chilicothe. (SP?)

Due to a house fire in 2005, the only remaining picture our family has of the aircraft shows my father in the front, myself (at age 11) in the rear, preparing to fly from Lexington, MO to the fly-in at Ottawa, KS in 1971. (that should date the picture to within less than one week) The picture is a 3X3, black and white (scorched) that shows from appx mid-cowl to just behind the wing (not showing any part of the registration number)

I have the participant plaque and a "Hard Landing Analyzer" trophy from the Ottawa event.

I also have a final setup reference drawing for the aircraft which says it is a Porterfield Model 35-W.

The aircraft's colors were cub yellow and black. The black was just the numbers and trim, including 3 stripes on the fuselage side with arrowheads near the engine cowl.

Unfortunately, I don't have the registration number. (possibly one of the above... )
I do remember that we had a line of people who wanted to be the one to flip the prop to start the engine when we were leaving the event at Ottawa. The radial engine didn't have an electric starter. I don't remember for sure if it was 5 or 7 cyl... the drawing seems to indicate a 5 cyl.

I am interrested in photos of the above aircraft for the purpose of making a flying radio controlled scale model.
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FHH

[Ztex]

Looks like N18520 was destroyed in a fatal crash in California in 1980...

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=30064&key=0

I can't seem to find any other info for these....
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There I was at 20,000 ft, upside down and out of ammunition.

[Doug Robertson]

Your father's Porterfield 35-W Flyabout was the Warner Scarab Jr. 5 cylinder radial engine model of 90 horsepower. I have a number of photos here of N17029, a beautifully restored 1936 Porterfield 35-70 Flyabout with Leblond 5 cylinder radial of 70 horsepower. I also have an illustrated article here on N17029 "Spinach". Go to the A-D Home Page at bottom to More Articles, then click on Aircraft History, then click on Vintage Aircraft to find the article. The two models were very much alike except for the engines. My article has some specifications.

Joe Juptner's Vol. 7, "U.S. Civil Aircraft" has far more info and specs including wing airfoil, etc on the Porterfield 35-W with two photos of ATC #611 aircraft, granted 10 July 1936. Porterfield manufactured 150 Flyabouts, most were the 35-70 model.

You might also try the Smithsonian Institute. They have a website with old aircraft plans in their possession to aid builders. I have not checked whether they have a set of Porterfield 35-70 or -90 plans. If you can get a set of plans, then it is just a scaling job to whatever size model you wish to build.
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PP ASEL