Curiosity Running Wild. . .

I always liked this picture (below). Growing up, whenever I'd come across it, perusing the shoe boxes of family snapshots, old school pictures, the old sepia-tone portraits from Lisbon and Salem, Ohio, and others from Pennsylvania or West Virginia, I'd forget everything else and think about what it must've been like that day to have some pioneer aviator set down in your field. How exciting that must have been! I was concentrating on the children then, and I probably didn't even notice that the engine was missing until much later. My years as a Navy air traffic controller made me somewhat more observant, I suppose, and if that wasn't sufficient, my engineering training made the missing engine a real curiosity. Now, with the internet and my genealogical experiences to guide me, let's see what we can find out to satisfy that curiosity.

Forced Landing, Somewhere in Ohio

So, engine trouble seems to have brought the airplane down and it was a rare enough occurrence that it warranted field trips from the locals. Mother (third from left, in profile) didn't have many details other than that John Oliver and aunt Mary took them to see the plane. The kids, from left to right, are Helen, mother, and Alta; Mr Oliver is making sure that Jean doesn't fall from her perch on the wing strut, and the Beau Brummel sitting on the tire in necktie and overalls is likely Paul. I never asked mom who the dog was or to whom it belonged. And she never said where exactly the plane was, on my grandfather's property or not, but it could have been anywhere in the county (or the next county for that matter). Then, an afterthought: I hadn't accounted for the photographer. It could have been grandmother (or aunt Mary if that's grandmother in the picture), or one of the older boys, Jim or Arthur.

When I started re-scanning some of these favorite pictures at a higher resolution, there was no question this would be one of the ones I'd do. When I started restoring it I paid more attention to the airplane's details than I had before. I didn't know immediately what plane it was; the tail looked to me like a Stearman or a Cessna, I'd have to look it up on the 'net. I couldn't read the large logo on the underside of the wing or the smaller one on the vertical stabilizer and, until I'd finished working on it, I couldn't make out the registration number on the tail; when I went to the Internet, it looked kinda like NC677K. Continue below, but be sure to click on the links; there are more pictures (including interiors) that I like, but I didn't want to nab.

*****

I was planning to look at pictures of Stearmans and Cessnas to begin with, but decided to see whether that registration number brought up anything first. Imagine my surprise when my search yielded 55 results in .21 seconds (thanks, Google). The very first article in the list told me everything I expected to find (aircraft type) in its title, and more. I'll paint the picture in broad strokes and I've included links for those who are interested in the whole story. The plane is a Travel Air S6000B, produced by a manufacturer of the same name established in Wichita, Kansas by Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech, and Lloyd Stearman (I told ya, Cessna or Stearman, apologies to Mr. Beech). Cessna left the company in 1927 and incorporated Cessna Aircraft Corporation on September 7. Lloyd Stearman left about the same time and formed the Stearman Aircraft Corporation 20 days after Cessna. Travel Air was bought by Curtiss-Wright in 1929 after the advent of the Great Depression. Walter Beech, who had stayed on as vice president, left and founded Beechcraft in 1932.

Anyway, back to "our" Travel Air, NC677K. Travel Air 77K (as air traffic control would call her) was identified by the manufacturer's serial number 6B-2012 prior to its registration and it became the "flying office" of Harry L. Ogg, a washing machine manufacturer from Newton, Iowa. It seems he was also the prime mover of his company's sales force. After naming the airplane "Smiling Thru", a reference to his company's suggestion that with his washing machine you could easily do your laundry on Monday and "smile through the rest of the week", he traveled about the country in this precursor (some say the FIRST precursor) to today's "biz jets". With his office equipment and secretary aboard, he carried on business and demonstrated his washing machines (carried in the back) after drumming up his audiences. Think "The Great Waldo Pepper" here, with Robert Redford and Bo Svensson. Besides his dictaphone, folding desk, and typewriter, there was an onboard power supply for the washing machines, and his Travel Air was equipped with a siren. His pilot would buzz a town, siren blaring, to get everyone's attention then land somewhere close by and wait for the crowd to show up. Mr. Ogg would then unload a washing machine for demonstrations and give his sales pitch. He must've done pretty well. His Automatic Washer Company eventually became Maytag. His pilot did alright too; he later married Mr Ogg's airborne secretary.

*****

My www investigation had taken on a life of its own by this point. Googling "Smiling Thru" highlighted a few more details. Ogg's hanger, painted the same bright orange as the wings and horizontal stabilizers of the airplane, also carried the "Smiling Thru" logo above its door. Used as a warehouse north of town for years, it was dismantled piece by piece and rebuilt at the new airport south of town by volunteers led by the local Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) chapter. It's in the process of becoming a small museum celebrating the beginning of business aviation. At another website I came across the local EAA chapter again. They are educating themselves on computer flight simulation and developing a Travel Air model for the museum's simulator depicting "Smiling Thru" and adding local landmarks to the database, including the hanger. I wish them all the luck in the world on their undertaking. On another website, there was video of Mr Ogg taking/sending  two different wedding parties into the wild blue yonder above Caribou, Maine in "Smiling Thru".

And finally, I was led to another website (that's what surfing's all about) with some great pictures of a Travel Air in a more or less typical three-tone paint scheme, similar to 77K's. The EAA website mentioned the fuselage colors of "Smiling Thru" were dark green on bottom and a lighter green above. The orange wings and tail surfaces were presumably the bright orange shown here. Maybe I'll get back into PS and "colorize" the snapshot that started all this. . .