I have had the 1948 aircraft since 2017. At the time I was training to get my pilot's license with the intention of finishing out in the 140. Since it had no dual brakes, I had a terrible time finding an instructor toward that purpose and was advised to finish out in a more common type. It was good advice and that being accomplished, I then looked forward to flying the little Cessna as my primary aircraft and to obtain lots of tail wheel experience to further my goal of flying WWI biplanes.
- Cessna_140_3771V_Jan2018.jpg (260.71 KiB) Viewed 95551 times
- Cessna_140_3771V_1Nov2019_2.jpg (404.23 KiB) Viewed 95551 times
But what an opportunity. The aircraft always struck me as kind of ugly. You know, like a '57 Chevy painted with more 'modern' colors rather than letting it be what it is. The more I looked at it, the more I disliked the 1970s era paint scheme. So, knowing I was going to have to paint portions of it anyway and recover the left wing, and really not wanting to repaint an ugly scheme, I explored taking her back to the 1940s. I discovered she had a rich history with Sinclair Aviation. Without the emergency landing, I likely would have never taken on a restoration to bring her back to her service days with Sinclair Aviation in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Here is a link on the research phase of the aircraft:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=872&p=6834#p6834
The exact appearance of the pre-paint era of Sinclair 140s is still unknown to me. The log books show the planes were not painted until 1954 (at least mine) when they metalized the wings. By the interior colors, I have determined mine had red exterior trim on the factory aluminum. I was able to get a fair idea of a representation of how it might look from talking to a former Sinclair pilot who flew during that time.
- Cessna140_Paint2.png (281.45 KiB) Viewed 95551 times
My intent is to get the aircraft back in the air this fall. I will post some pics in the following posts of the progress to date.
Steve
