A new engine this spring made the trip home possible.
Pemberton made an emergency landing at the airport last July when the plane developed engine trouble while he and his family were flying to an air show in Oshkosh, Wis.
The four- to five-passenger custom cabin “executive transport” was built in Troy, Ohio, by WACO (Waco Airline Co.), a builder of U.S. civil aircraft in the early 1900s. This EQC-6 was originally used by Northwestern Airways Inc. for U.S. Airmail Express and Passenger Service.
Pemberton, an amiable man, enjoys sharing his passion for old planes. He said restoration of the EQC-6 was a family affair that took three years. The fuselage structure of welded steel tubing is typical for the period, the wings are made of spruce, and the aircraft is sheathed with a coated nylon fabric. His wife, Wendy, a master fabric worker in the aviation world, did the exterior fabric cover.
Pemberton and two friends arrived in Deer Lodge Wednesday to install the rebuilt engine and then gave it a first run to assure all was in order: it ran perfectly.
He is pictured inspecting the plane, without the engine cowling, before that test. Because most parts are no longer available for the 320hp Wright R-760-E2 engine, Pemberton said rebuilding took seven months and required machining some of the parts.
After test flights on Thursday, the trio returned home to Spokane.
Pemberton is president and director of engineering at Scanivalve, a leading supplier of Intelligent Pressure and Temperature instrumentation, wind tunnel testing and more.
“My livelihood is in the future, but my hobby is in the past,” he said. “ I love these old planes, and have total of eight, including a Boeing 40C and a Grumman G-21 Goose.”
Story and photos: http://mtstandard.com
Above is the control panel of Addison Pemberton’s rare 1936 WACO EQC-6 custom cabin biplane.
