By John Conrad, EAA 1235876
This piece originally ran in the July 2020 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
Back before the turn of the century, aircraft kit manufacturers began offering a single part of an aircraft — a rudder, elevator, or aileron — that could be purchased separately, usually at a discounted price. This allowed the potential kit buyer and builder to have a go at the required construction method, be it composite, wood, metal, or fabric covering. Once completed, this single piece could inspire the builder to carry on, piece by piece, until the aircraft was completed. If a journey of a thousand miles is begun with a single step, so it is with an aircraft of several thousand parts. Be it a kit or a rebuilding project, it begins with a single part. A single aileron re-covered can be a life-changing experience. That was the case for two high school students in Rubidoux, California.
The plan was simply to provide these boys with jobs so that they could get into a different environment and have some success. The district approached former U.S. Air Force and Delta Air Lines pilot Jon Goldenbaum, EAA 318294, owner of Poly Fiber Aircraft Coatings. Jon was among the first local business owners to accept the challenge. Through a grant, the school district would provide the wages and Poly Fiber would provide the materials and supervision — all with the hope that these boys from the barrio would learn some discipline, responsibility, and self-respect. He took an initial class of eight boys. He confessed he went looking for the “hard cases,” among which were the Mendoza brothers.
The class of eight was set to work re-covering an aileron for a DC-3. With training provided by Jon himself; close supervision by Ken Brown, an A&P mechanic and an experienced aircraft fabric refinisher; and, of course, a lot of rework, the aileron was completed by the end of the six-month program. By that time, four of the original eight had washed out. Jon told the remaining four, “Come and see me.” He created an LLC and set them up in the aircraft-covering business, advertising re-covering at half-price. Their first customer was an inside job, re-covering a J-3 Cub for Tom Wathen, the president of the Wathen Foundation, owner of Flabob Airport. The agreed price was $8,000 (a cover job like that today would cost $25,000-$30,000). Jon had them submit time sheets for their labor charges, and they soon discovered that they had grossly underbid the project. Lesson one learned. When the money ran out, Jon told them that in business you honor your commitments. A deal is a deal. Their choice was to either finish the project as promised or walk back out through the gates. Lesson two learned. At that fork in the road of life, two boys of the former eight chose to walk away. However, the Mendoza brothers chose to live up to their commitment and, as the poet Robert Frost observed, “… that has made all the difference.”
One of the lessons Nando and Hualdo learned early on is the difference between a re-cover and a restoration. The Wathen Cub needed a lot of restoration work, which is what drove the labor costs well beyond the estimate for a simple re-covering. When an airplane comes in for a re-cover, there are all sorts of interesting things hiding under the old fabric. A recent Super Cub that came into the shop was flown in from Alaska and obviously hadn’t been properly maintained. The airplane made the trip without incident. However, when the wires were removed from the horizontal stabilizer and the fabric was cut, one half literally fell onto the shop floor. It had rusted through at the fuselage. That was only the beginning of the surprises. Eventually it was discovered that it would be cheaper to buy a whole new fuselage rather than doing the cutting and welding necessary for a repair. A word to the wise when buying a vintage or classic aircraft with steel tubing inside of fabric: the fabric might be all that’s holding it together. But I digress.
At the end of a summer working for no pay, the Cub was now re-covered but had yet to be assembled and flown — something the brothers weren’t qualified to do. Enter Brian Newman, an A&P mechanic on the airport willing to oversee their work. While Brian coached and supervised the completion of the Cub, they got their second paying customer — Dan Espensen, EAA 199950, who brought them his 1942 Funk. Now that they had a little cash flow, they were back in business. A series of covering jobs followed, including a Caudron racer replica that would go on to be displayed at the Paris Air Show; a Husky; and their first complete restoration, Jerry Barto’s 1937 Cabin Waco. The basket case arrived at the Flabob Airport in 2002 and a decade later in 2012 won the Customized Aircraft Runner-Up award in the Vintage category at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.
Another young man who had come from difficult circumstances got involved. Justin Taylor had risen through the years to become a U.S. Air Force KC-135 tanker pilot and an A&P mechanic. He had several restoration projects underway and worked with the boys in both assisting with their projects and having them do the fabric work on his restorations, including a T-6 and a Twin Beech.
People don’t go far in the world of aviation without the blessing of the FAA. The brothers needed A&P certificates to continue their work unsupervised. They also needed pilot certificates to test, transport, and enjoy the work of their hands. Like many things in their story, all this came about in reverse order and via a circuitous route. Freshly graduated from high school, Hualdo was sent to England on behalf of Poly Fiber to assist Tony Markel with re-covering the control surfaces of a blimp. With a wry smile, Hualdo describes walking through Heathrow with a shaved head, sporting some interesting ink on his arms, and wearing a Raiders jersey and Levi’s.
“It makes it easy to tell who is friendly,” he quipped.
Tony and Hualdo worked together on the blimp project and became fast friends in the process. Along with being a renowned aircraft restorer, Tony was a flight instructor with more than 38,000 hours, most of which was in taildraggers ranging from the behemoth U.S. Air Force Skyraider to the diminutive Taylorcraft. After finishing the blimp project and upon return to the United States, the brothers struck a deal with Jon. Upon completion of the Wathen Cub, he would sponsor them (fuel and airplane) and Tony volunteered to come from New York and teach them how to fly.
It should be noted that Tony was a flight instructor from the old school. He had an “Everybody who runs in the race doesn’t get a trophy” type of attitude. No slack. No failure. My way or the highway. He taught primary flying with the instrument panel covered so the student learned to fly with control pressures, wind noise, and how things looked out the window. The airspeed indicator was introduced to the student as a gift, not long before first solo. Nando shared an example of his teaching technique. The brothers were supposed to have the preflight inspection completed, NOTAMs and weather checked, and be ready to go at 0600. They were ready on time for the first couple of lessons, but then one day Tony arrived and they weren’t quite finished with the preflight. He waited and watched for about 10 minutes. When they were ready to go, he said, “Now that you have wasted my time, I’m going to waste some of yours. If you want to learn to fly, wait here.” Tony went to the coffee shop, treated himself to a leisurely breakfast, drank some coffee, and read a couple of airplane magazines. When he walked back to the Cub more than an hour later, there were two very contrite young men sitting in the shade under the wing. The airplane and students were fully prepared at 0545 for each lesson thereafter.
Each soloed in 21 days with 13-14 hours of instruction. Tony went back to New York, and the boys went on to complete their private pilot certificates. They built time flying the various airplanes around Flabob, completed their private pilot certificates, and got their high-performance endorsement in Jon’s Bonanza. Hualdo would go on to get a multi-engine rating and a DC-3 second-in-command type rating.
It is often said that the most dangerous part of flying is the drive to the airport. Though this doesn’t hold up statistically, it proved true in the Mendoza brothers’ journey. Justin Taylor died when he blew a tire hauling two engines across Texas and was launched into oncoming traffic. Tony died when he was struck by a drunk driver. When talking to Hualdo and Nando over lunch at the Flabob Café, there seemed to be a clear sense of duty and responsibility to live out the promise that these two men brought to their lives.
All of these events occurred on the shifting sands of Flabob Airport over the course of two decades. The grandfather of aircraft restoration was Bill Turner, whose restored aircraft and scratchbuilt replicas are world famous. It was these aircraft that attracted Tom, who bought the airport literally in the 11th hour and saved it from a housing developer’s bulldozer. Ray Stits sold his aircraft finish company to Jon, who took the company to the stature it holds today. Tom created a foundation dedicated to aviation and education. The business of aircraft fabric covering and the necessary structural restoration is deep in the DNA of the airport.
When Bill Turner died, the responsibility for the tradition of aircraft restoration on Flabob passed to Brian. Brian inherited the unfinished Wathen Cub, the unfinished Cabin Waco project, an unfinished Caudron replica that was built from model airplane plans, several other projects around the airport in need of re-cover, and two young men who were becoming accomplished aircraft fabric artists. The brothers worked for Brian for a couple of years, and then he moved his shop to Boise, Idaho. Enter Mark Lightsey, EAA 217015.
Mark owned a shop in Hemet, California, about 25 miles southeast of Flabob, as the J-3 flies. At the time, Mark was putting the finishing touches on a 1929 Command-Aire and was near finishing his first of what would prove to be several Travel Air 4000 biplanes of differing years and models. A couple of those biplanes became prize winners at AirVenture.
Finishing the Cabin Waco was the most time-consuming project. When it arrived, it had been sitting in a barn for decades and had all the damage birds, rodents, and other pests could provide. As the option of just getting a new steel cage didn’t exist, it became necessary to cut, splice, and weld hundreds of areas. Between 85 to 90 percent of the wood in the aircraft had to be replaced, as well as window frames, instruments, and more. The boys settled into learning the craft of complete aircraft restoration.
The Caudron project proved to be a different challenge because it was a scratchbuilt airplane — built from model aircraft plans. The wings, fuselage, and engine had never shared the same hangar, and the means of attachment hadn’t been worked out. Also, because the engine wasn’t present during the lofting of the fuselage, when the engine was weighed and calculations were made, it proved necessary to saw the front off the fuselage and move the firewall back for weight and balance (model aircraft engines have a much higher power-to-weight ratio). From aircraft re-design to test flight, Nando and Hualdo were exposed to all elements of aircraft development, from a design on paper to a prototype in the air.
By 2016, Mark had purchased some acreage on a private airport northwest of Nashville, Tennessee, and he was ready to leave California behind.
“It was time for me to get out of their way and let them grow,” he said.
This forced the issue with the Mendoza brothers because neither had yet acquired an A&P ticket. They both studied, took, and passed the written exams, and there was no doubt that they had certainly acquired the level of experience required for the certificate. During that same time, Steve Kelly, a designated examiner for the A&P practical test, turned up at Flabob Airport to get a DC-3 type rating in the Flabob Express. Discussions followed, and eventually Steve spent a week living in the visiting officer’s quarters at Flabob (a single-wide trailer on a dirt lot), completed his DC-3 type rating, and reviewed the subject areas necessary for their A&P certificates. When the brothers sent their letters of recommendation and documentation to the Riverside Flight Standards District Office, a red flag went up. The feds were presented with two different aspiring A&P mechanics, but their letters of recommendation and documentation read exactly the same — because they were. Throughout the last 15 years, both brothers worked and finished exactly the same projects. Once that was sorted out and proven to the satisfaction of the FSDO, each flew back to Groton, Connecticut, passed the practical examination with Steve, and received their certificates.
When Mark moved his business, AeroCraftsman, to Tennessee, he did so in such a way as to set Nando and Hualdo up in business at Flabob. Along with several pedestrian restorations for vintage-era aircraft, he left a Beech Staggerwing project to be completed. He told all his customers that he had absolute confidence in the Mendoza brothers, but if anything went awry, he guaranteed that he would haul the projects to Tennessee, at his own expense, and complete them. With that basis, the brothers formed West Coast Air Creations and carried on. Over the years, along with many re-covering jobs, the completed Beech was flown to AirVenture 2012 and won the Transport Category Runner-Up award in the Vintage category. West Coast Air Creations won the coveted Silver Wrench award for workmanship.
The Mendoza brothers work well together. Each brings particular gifts to the business. Though both are active with the craft of re-covering and rebuilding classic and vintage aircraft, much of the management and oversight of operations has devolved to Nando, whereas Hualdo is more of the frontman. It works well, and they seldom get in each other’s way. Hualdo still does a lot of traveling on behalf of Poly Fiber. He has become a fixture at the fabric covering forums at AirVenture. He traveled to Australia last year to teach fabric covering, and he went to China.
Over the years, several Chinese manufacturers built licensed versions of the Antonov An-2 but used cotton in covering the aircraft. That means the aircraft need to be re-covered every five years or so. Jon saw the opportunity to introduce Poly Fiber. Once everything was paid for in advance, he shipped fabric, dope, and Hualdo to China and taught them the process. At lunch, he said, “I’ll never sell a thing to China. By now they have reverse-engineered the entire process, and they are making it themselves. But the point isn’t profit; the point is making aircraft better and safer.”
Hualdo’s most recent adventure put him aboard the Flabob Express C-47 as it was flown across the United States, the North Atlantic, and into Scotland, England, France, and Germany in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.
There was only a four-person crew for much of the ferry flying, and the Express has no autopilot, so Hualdo got plenty of practice holding heading and altitude. His presence was invaluable in dealing with both the routine maintenance and the occasional breakage inherent in a 75-year-old airplane. Last year at AirVenture, he divided his time between speaking at the forums and workshops and changing out a cylinder on the DC-3.
Since last summer’s excitement, business has been brisk at West Coast Air Creations. The company is currently putting the finishing touches on a Waco UBF and a Super Cub, and it has a Travel Air in the midst of restoration. Also, in smaller projects West Coast has a rare Pitts S-1-11 variant and Anthony Oshinuga’s Pitts that just set a world record by flying underneath a jumping super truck (what some people won’t do for entertainment). Far from the original underbid of $8,000 on the brothers’ first Cub project, today a full restoration of an early classic will cost between $200,000 and $300,000 and will take a minimum of two years to complete. If you recently won the lottery or sold your Southern California two-bedroom, one-bathroom fixer-upper, and if you feel that your life won’t be complete without flying a classic to AirVenture and winning a Lindy, there is a Cabin Waco in a hangar at Flabob just waiting for you. The brothers haven’t forgotten the opportunity they discovered two decades ago. Hualdo now supervises the same “youth opportunity program” that opened the gates of an airport next to the barrio and provided an opportunity so long ago.
John Conrad, EAA 1235876, is a freelance writer, pilot, poet, stand-up philosopher and Episcopal priest. He has logged more than 5,000 hours and given more than 1,000 hours of primary flight instruction in taildraggers. Through the years he has been published in most aviation magazines. Email him at FrConrad@gmail.com.