After earning his pilot certificate, John Limbach, EAA 602992, took a 13-year “sabbatical” from flying. As happens to so many folks, life got in the way and fly-ing fell by the wayside. With his kids now grown, it was time to get back at it. And what better way to do that than with a Breezy.
Painted in the classic blue, yellow, and white EAA colors, John’s Breezy is believed to be the second ever built and attended the EAA convention in Rockford, Illinois, in 1968. But when he purchased it in October 2021, it had seen better days.
“It was very dilapidated when I bought it,” John said. “It was totally not flyable. I bought it out in Idaho and trucked it back to northern Illinois. When we did, on the ride home, we were reading through the log-books and stuff, trying to figure out its history. The previous owner had gotten dementia and wasn’t able to tell me anything about it. I was basically buying it on a wing and a prayer.”
John performed an extensive restoration on the airplane, spending about 10 months tearing it down and building it back up, as well as swapping out the original Lycoming O-290 for an O-235.
“I tore it all the way down, put a new motor on it, bead blasted it, inspected all the welds, made sure all the tub-ing was good,” he said. “And then powder coated it, re-covered the tail, and basically went through the entire plane. Any bolts I took out of it or nuts, [I] measured them, threw them away. … I wasn’t putting any used hardware back on it. Everything you see that’s onit is new.”
John’s passion for aviation comes from his grandfather, who restored seven Piper Cubs from the ground up. His relationship with his grandpa was his inspiration for the color scheme he went with.
“I chose the color pattern because of the classic EAA logo and the Young Eagles logo. Grandpa always wore his EAA hat and everything, and it’s just part of holding on a little bit.”
John anticipates giving a lot of rides in his Breezy, carrying on the legacy of longtime Breezy pilot Arnie Zimmerman, who gave countless rides over the years. In fact, he has a silhouette painted on the wingtip of Arnie waving from his Breezy.
“I nicknamed the plane the Memory Maker because everyone that gets on is going to remember it. Everyone that stepped on Arnie’s plane remembered it.”
The last time this particular airplane attended an EAA convention was that Rockford show back in ’68. John doesn’t anticipate it will be another 55-year gap between conventions.
“I anticipate that it’ll come back next year for the 60th anniversary of the Breezy. That’s already in the planning, to do a fly-in of as many Breezys as we can get going.”