Waco S3HD's

[cvairwerks]

Anyone have any material on the S3HD's? I'm in the process of ordering the drawing list, but would like to find more data on them. I know that there is one surviving, but haven't made contact with the owner yet. Haven't had time to query the Waco Club either, but that will be done soon.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Was it ever profiled in Paul Matt Historical Aviation Albums?

 

[cvairwerks]

Capt. Vick: I haven't found anything in all the published Matt drawings. I'm going to order the drawing list from NASM for both the S3HD-A and the S3HD-6 and bounce them off the drawings that I have. I think I've got electronic copies of about 30,000 WACO drawings on a thumb drive around my office somewhere.

 

[Skyediamonds]

Capt. Vick: I haven't found anything in all the published Matt drawings. I'm going to order the drawing list from NASM for both the S3HD-A and the S3HD-6 and bounce them off the drawings that I have. I think I've got electronic copies of about 30,000 WACO drawings on a thumb drive around my office somewhere.

You mentioned mostly drawings of this unique S3HD not photos. Many (really like, many) years ago one such Waco painted with a Black fuselage & yellow wings flew into Oshkosh for participation of EAA's AirVenture.

I was there with my camera & just as soon as the propeller stopped & before the pilot/owner could even climb out of the plane, I asked for permission to photograph his plane in detail (both inside & out).

I should qualify that this was long before digital cameras & Internet even existed, so I was using b+w film at the time. That's how long "many years ago" it was.

Not sure if this would be of any value since you mentioned "drawings" but just putting the word out there.

I used to have success converting the negatives into digital format but lately my (now) antique laptop has been given me trouble. Just to keep you informed of all this ahead of time.

If memory serves me correct, both cockpits appeared original, save for the obvious portable updated avionics in the form of transponder & radio (this was looong before the FAA mandated ADS-B).

The aircraft was immaculate. What drew my attention to this plane in the first place, before I even knew it was a Waco, was its unique mounting of the top wing on a short pylon.

Anyway, I rambled long enough. Let me know if this is anything worth pursuing & we can go from there.
Cheers,

Gary

 

[cvairwerks]

Gary: That would be N14048, owned by John Ricciotti. I'd love to see the photos you have, whenever you get a chance to scan them in. I'm contemplating an S3HD-A scratch build, but I currently have two restoration projects in work now. Always have to have something in the back of the mind to work on when the others are halted for chasing down parts or materials.

Aircraft Photo of N14048 | Waco S3HD | AirHistory.net #486069

Aircraft photo of N14048 - Waco S3HD, taken by Jack Poelstra at Oshkosh - Wittman Regional (KOSH / OSH) in Wisconsin, United States on 29 July 2022 during the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2022.

www.airhistory.net

 

[Skyediamonds]

Gary: That would be N14048, owned by John Ricciotti. I'd love to see the photos you have, whenever you get a chance to scan them in. I'm contemplating an S3HD-A scratch build, but I currently have two restoration projects in work now. Always have to have something in the back of the mind to work on when the others are halted for chasing down parts or materials.

Aircraft Photo of N14048 | Waco S3HD | AirHistory.net #486069

Aircraft photo of N14048 - Waco S3HD, taken by Jack Poelstra at Oshkosh - Wittman Regional (KOSH / OSH) in Wisconsin, United States on 29 July 2022 during the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2022.

www.airhistory.net

Cvair:

Excellent. In that case, I'll access my storage facility & dig out the b+w negatives. I had no idea you're thinking of restoring or replicating a full scale aircraft, as nothing was mentioned of that topic. It only mentioned "scratch build." I thought if nothing else, it would be a model.

Just one itsy bitsy question. Since your user name is cvairwerks or in my mind: Convair-werks, by any chance do you have detailed access to say a Convair-340?

In my case, I'm an avid model builder. I've seen dozens of the Convair in military uniform (T-29) but few, if any, in airliner scheme & definitely none that I'm aware of that feature the side-mounted folding stairway.

I've reached out to San Diego Aerospace Museum (home of Consolidated/Convair) & several other sources & they don't really have the details I'm seeking of the folding stairway.

Anyway, if you don't have such details no worries. I'll proceed retrieving my negatives & we'll go from there. It'll be a couple of weeks but we can keep in touch. Got email?

Cheers,

Gary

 

[J4F-2]

Search for images on DuckDuckGo. There area lot of them, mostly N14048, but also a link to the WACO page on the airplane inc. the prototype and some of the Cuban and other users S3HD's too.