First Aero Commander
Undergoing Restoration
Being
trucked on a flatbed to Bethany
Public Works before eventually
Public Works before eventually
The very first Aero Commander, the L-3805, is being restored by an Oklahoma City-area vocational school for eventual public display.
The airplane, known as the Blue Goose, has been perched atop a metal pole at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds since 1974. In 2006 fair officials announced that they planned to remove the airplane, along with a C-47, B-47, and B-52 also on elevated display, to expand the fairgrounds parking lot.
Tom Ray was an engineer with Aero Commander, later to become Rockwell Commander and then Gulfstream Aerospace, from 1962 through 1985, and is now a city councilman in Bethany, Oklahoma, site of the Commander factory complex. When Ray learned that the Blue Goose had been given to Oklahoma City, which then turned it over to the Metro Tech Aviation Career Center at Will Rodgers Airport, he contacted the school to find out more.
�They said they didn�t know what to do with it,� Ray said. Not wanting the airplane to be cut up for instructional purposes, Ray offered to take it off the school�s hands in favor of Bethany�s Public Works department. �I thought we would paint it and put in on static display at some park,� he said.
Instrument panel from the original
Commander, L-3805.
Commander, L-3805.
The airplane was offloaded at the public works building, but before any work was done another area school, the Francis Tuttle Technology Center, called and asked if they could restore the airplane as a student project. Several of the instructors at the school had worked in the Commander factory and knew the airplane and its history.
The school began the restoration in 2008. The wings were removed along with many corroded skin sections. New skin has to be hand-fabricated. Only advanced sheet metal students are allowed to work on the airplane. �They are doing an unbelievable job,� said Ray, who periodically drops by the school to check on progress.
The next home for the Blue Goose has not yet been determined. The city intends to display it in a city park, but Ray said he has mixed emotions about that plan. �It�s a tough old bird, but not tough enough to sit outside through hail storms like we had last night,� he said.
En route on nonstop flight in 1951
from
Oklahoma City to Washington
Oklahoma City to Washington
CHAPTER ONE IN COMMANDER HISTORY BOOK
In August 1946 Aero Design began fabricating parts for the L-3805, and nearly two years and 25,000 man-hours later the airplane made its first flight. Certification flight-testing began two years after that, and on June 30, 1950 the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Administration issued type certificate 6A1 for the L-3805, which now carried the registration N1946.
A few months later Aero Design and N1946 moved to Tulakes Airport (now called Wiley Post) in Bethany. The company was purchased by the Amis Brothers of Oklahoma City and George Pew of Philadelphia, who had put up the money for certification of the L-3805, and was renamed Aero Commander.
The decision was made to not produce the L-3805 design because of its relatively small cabin and low power. Instead, the company used the L-3805 wing, landing gear, aft fuselage and empennage as the basis for the Model 520, the first Aero Commander model to go to market.
Despite being orphaned, the L-3805 was about to make the front page of newspapers around the world. In May 1951 Bert Bantle and copilot/navigator Emmett Morris took off from the Oklahoma City Airport in N1946 with 160 gallons of gas in the tanks and the left propeller stowed in the baggage compartment, and in 7 hours and 55 minutes flew 1000 nautical miles non-stop to Washington D.C.
The flight made a dramatic statement about the safety and capability of an Aero Commander, even when flying on one engine. N1946 was subsequently evaluated by the U.S. Army, and eventually several 520s were purchased for use as government VIP transport, including for President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In fact, the Aero Commander 520 is the only piston twin to serve as Air Force One.
In April 1955 N1946 was sold to the first of what would become six private owners before Aero Commander bought it back in January 1963. For the next two years the airplane played a utility role for the factory, shuttling parts and people between Commander facilities in the Oklahoma City area. In June 1965 the registration number was cancelled, and L-3805 was put on display in front of the Commander factory building south of 50th Street in Bethany.
The airplane was later given to the Oklahoma Historical Society, and in June 1973 moved to the Wiley Post terminal area for display. A little more than a year later it was moved again, this time to the fairgrounds, where the wheel axles were removed so the airplane could be mounted to a pedestal. It remained on display at the fairgrounds for the next 22 years until it was taken down and given to the city of Bethany.
WHAT�S IN A NAME?
Why was the L-3805 called the Blue Goose? Actually, historical accounts say that Aero Design/Aero Commander employees referred to it as �the old Blue Goose.�
The story goes that the name arose when Ted Smith and his engineers began gathering materials to fashion a wooden mockup of their design for a piston-twin business aircraft. One source of that wood reportedly came from crates used to ship oranges�Blue Goose oranges grown in Corona, California.
The distinctive blue goose logo on the crates apparently made an impression on the employees, who adopted the name as an informal moniker for their project.
Smith reportedly hated the name and did all he could to shake it, but to no avail.
Blue Goose oranges can still be found today. Blue Goose Produce is located in the historic Blue Goose fruit packing shed in Loomis, California. The company logo is the same Blue Goose that led Aero Design employees to confound their boss.
The Blue Goose on display at fairgrounds
before it was taken down.
before it was taken down.
A few months later Aero Design and N1946 moved to Tulakes Airport (now called Wiley Post) in Bethany. The company was purchased by the Amis Brothers of Oklahoma City and George Pew of Philadelphia, who had put up the money for certification of the L-3805, and was renamed Aero Commander.
The decision was made to not produce the L-3805 design because of its relatively small cabin and low power. Instead, the company used the L-3805 wing, landing gear, aft fuselage and empennage as the basis for the Model 520, the first Aero Commander model to go to market.
Despite being orphaned, the L-3805 was about to make the front page of newspapers around the world. In May 1951 Bert Bantle and copilot/navigator Emmett Morris took off from the Oklahoma City Airport in N1946 with 160 gallons of gas in the tanks and the left propeller stowed in the baggage compartment, and in 7 hours and 55 minutes flew 1000 nautical miles non-stop to Washington D.C.
The flight made a dramatic statement about the safety and capability of an Aero Commander, even when flying on one engine. N1946 was subsequently evaluated by the U.S. Army, and eventually several 520s were purchased for use as government VIP transport, including for President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In fact, the Aero Commander 520 is the only piston twin to serve as Air Force One.
In April 1955 N1946 was sold to the first of what would become six private owners before Aero Commander bought it back in January 1963. For the next two years the airplane played a utility role for the factory, shuttling parts and people between Commander facilities in the Oklahoma City area. In June 1965 the registration number was cancelled, and L-3805 was put on display in front of the Commander factory building south of 50th Street in Bethany.
The airplane was later given to the Oklahoma Historical Society, and in June 1973 moved to the Wiley Post terminal area for display. A little more than a year later it was moved again, this time to the fairgrounds, where the wheel axles were removed so the airplane could be mounted to a pedestal. It remained on display at the fairgrounds for the next 22 years until it was taken down and given to the city of Bethany.
WHAT�S IN A NAME?
Why was the L-3805 called the Blue Goose? Actually, historical accounts say that Aero Design/Aero Commander employees referred to it as �the old Blue Goose.�The story goes that the name arose when Ted Smith and his engineers began gathering materials to fashion a wooden mockup of their design for a piston-twin business aircraft. One source of that wood reportedly came from crates used to ship oranges�Blue Goose oranges grown in Corona, California.
The distinctive blue goose logo on the crates apparently made an impression on the employees, who adopted the name as an informal moniker for their project.
Smith reportedly hated the name and did all he could to shake it, but to no avail.
Blue Goose oranges can still be found today. Blue Goose Produce is located in the historic Blue Goose fruit packing shed in Loomis, California. The company logo is the same Blue Goose that led Aero Design employees to confound their boss.
Discuss this article in the forums...
