'America' readies for test flight

PHOTOS PROVIDED 1. Volunteer Bud Krayer, a retired summer resident on Keuka Lake, continues the tedious hours of braiding the cables, an FFA rule to secure all the cables used to run the flaps. Krayer is one of about 25 skilled volunteers working to complete the flying boat for a test run later this month.

HAMMONDSPORT- The excitement is building in Hammondsport, New York and 'building' is the name of the game. Most days of the week a faithful, skilled crew of volunteers continues to work on the reproduction of The America, a flying boat that Glenn H. Curtiss built in 1914. 'It's the granddaddy of all multiengine flying boats," said project leader, Art Wilder. "Now that it's assembled you can see how big it really is!"

The America is being constructed in the restoration shop at the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum and museum goers can check out the progress of the America which will make a test flight later this month. Curtiss is known as the father of naval aviation and two of his other flying reproductions built in the workshop were the 1913 Model E flying boat in 1998 and the 1911 A-1 Triad in 2004. Recently featured on PBS, viewers got a close look at the NC-4 and The America and many of the other accomplishments of Curtiss who never received the notoriety that the Wright Brothers did.

2. Volunteer Ray Poehlein sits on a small scafolding above the fuselage of the reproduction of the American flying boat being built in Hammondsport, NY. He is surrounded by a jungle of cables that will help fly the boat later this month.

Much of the America has been assembled in the museum display area as cables, engines and fuel tanks are put in place. When fully assembled with fuel and including pilots, it will weigh about 3000 lbs. In the third year of it's construction, the flying boat is made of ash and spruce with a wing span of 72 feet.

The original America was intended for a 1914 trans-oceanic attempt. She was the world's first twin-engine flying boat with enough fuel capacity to complete the flight. But the outbreak of World War I quickly put a stop to any such attempts. The America was eventually sold to Britain's Royal Navy and became the prototype for anti-submarine patrol aircraft. About 60 improved versions of the American were purchased by Great Britain but none exist today.

3. Project leader, Art Wilder, in the small bucket truck, helps Ray Poehlein secure a section of the upper wing of the American flying boat. The original ship was built in 1914 by Glenn Curtiss who held the motorcycle speed record of 136 mph for 24 years.

'Rebuilding America' is the theme for the seaplane weekend slated for Sept. 14, 15 and 16 which features seaplane rides - schedule permitting.

Food and refreshments will be available at the Depot at the south end of Keuka Lake where all the flying festivities will take place including the first public flight of The America with pilots Jim Poel and Lee Sackett. Wilder hopes to get the OK from the FAA to carry two pilots and two passengers so they can transport project donors who have been exceptionally generous.

"We're getting closer as we put all the technical pieces in place," Wilder said. "People are fascinated with the flying boat, Curtiss and his many accomplishments that they didn't know about." He explained that they will use a crane to lift the ship onto a flatbed truck to transport it to the lake where it will be reassembled for the test flight.