Airplane For Sale

It's official .. the CallAir is for sale.

I love this airplane and it's for that reason I'm letting it go .. there are just not enough hours in the day or square feet in the hangar for me to justify keeping it, only to let it sit on the ground far too much.

A little history.

The design for my CallAir was put on paper as the world was on the verge of World War II, starting as a project for Interstate Engineering, a company in El Segundo CA engaged in the design and manufacture of aircraft components. When the U.S. government published a request for bids for training airplanes for the Civilian Pilot Training Program, Interstate hired Ted Woolsey to put a team together to design and offer such an airplane. They were in competition with established manufacturers, primarily Taylorcraft, Aeronca, Piper, and Stinson. 

On the ground with my friend Steve's Interstate Cadet

Interstate built and sold some 300+ Cadets, mostly to flying schools for the CPTP. Piper and others claim to have given most of the pilots in WWII their primary training, but in reality their "Cubs" had become a generic term for all similar light planes and Interstate Cadets certainly trained their fair share. As it happened, there were a lot of mishaps too. The Call Aircraft Company in Afton WY employed its mechanics to repair a number of those broken machines. (Mr. Reuel Call had a fleet of trucks from his other businesses ready to work, picking up bent airplanes from all over the western states to be flown out after repair). 

The sturdy construction of the Cadet had caught Call's eye, leading to the eventual acquisition of the type certificates for both of the Cadet and the later, military L-6 and plans to put the Cadet back in production. They built two - one as an Interstate that was written off a long time ago and this one as a CallAir. On this one they put a 90 HP Continental engine for performance in the thin mountain air at Afton WY (over 6,000' MSL).

The owners before me were two families in Black Mountain NC - they passed the airplane back and forth between them for 55 years. When the patriarch of the family died I bought their "Jezebel" in 2012.

We held a family reunion picnic for the previous owners

When I bought the airplane in 2012 it had been idle in the family hangar for a long time. The engine had just been overhauled and a new prop put on so they could sell it as a flying airplane.

My first look at the CallAir Cadet

I flew the airplane for a little over a year before deciding to enter a full restoration project. 

At a fly-in breakfast

Little did I know what the job might entail. What began as a job that might take a few months turned into 3 1/2 years.

Stripped down to the bare bones, November 2013

A key contact turned out to be a fellow named Tim Talen in Oregon. Tim has restored some prize winning Cadets and knew of my airplane but had never actually seen it. He has been a lot of help all through the project, working from pictures exchanged online. He is also a good source for parts, which are interchangeable between the CallAir and the Interstate.

One thing we didn't know was the color scheme. Luckily, a retired USAF General once worked at the CallAir plant as a teenager and had a picture of his favorite airplane still hanging on his wall !

1952

2017

As taildraggers go, this one is pretty tame. The tailwheel is steerable. I added some length to my taildragger-dragger to accommodate the inset.

The weight on the tailwheel is only 80 pounds or so and it's easy to move.

As for flying, the airplane is a piece of cake, very stable and honest. It was quite a selling point in the 1940s that the airplane could be flown without a lot of attention to rudder. (until you start a turn - it demonstrates adverse yaw quite well).

It's a nice looking bird coming and going .. the wing dihedral makes for great inflight stability

Landings are straightforward. The huge vertical tail is, again, stabilizing. 

I'm advertising in various media at $55,000 (NEWS FLASH - I've lowered the price to $45,000 - 2/20/21), or about half what I have in it. For that you have an almost new 1952 airplane and a classic. (or you can spend a cool couple hundred thou for a new Cub). If it doesn't sell for that, it's going to a museum.

Performance numbers:

Aircraft empty weight:           869 pounds
Max Gross Takeoff Weight: 1250 pounds
Fuel capacity: 15 Gallons
Airfoil: NACA 23012 (same as T-craft)
Max Speed @ Sea Level: 112 MPH 
Cruising Speed:                105 MPH
Landing Speed:                  38 MPH

Aircraft and original engine total time: about 1750 hours (I'm still flying it)

C-90-8 Engine time since major overhaul is a bit over 110 hours. Same on the prop - new at engine overhaul.

Some restoration features:

Marvel-Schebler carburetor with mixture control 
Cleveland Wheels and Brakes, new 7.00x6 tires 
PolyFiber process cover (PolyTone finish) 
Instruments rebuilt by Keystone
Bendix Magnetos rebuilt 
Brackett Air Filter
All new windshield and windows 
All new interior with shoulder harnesses

My contact info:

Alex Nelon
828-595-5950 (text preferred or leave message, I don't answer unknown numbers)
Airplane is located at Hendersonville NC