This piece originally ran in the August 2024 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
I am writing this on behalf of a small group of aviators in southern Ontario, Canada. We call ourselves the “Flambros” — a reference to the small grass strip we operate out of called Flamborough Centre Aerodrome (CFC8). We are a diverse collection of characters — Brian Kenney, a retired engineer and aircraft builder; Kirk Tilley, EAA 1213044, a businessman; Olivia White, EAA 1417190, a young new professional pilot; and me, a longtime airline pilot and homebuilder. What we all have in common is our collective love for open-cockpit, fabric airplanes and a passion for barnstorming and camping out with our homebuilt or vintage aircraft.
We can often be found at one of our many surrounding airports in the warmer summer flying season, typically peering inside open hangars at unfinished projects or derelict aircraft after a belly full of bacon and eggs or pancakes. One such Saturday in the spring of 2022 saw our crew in the hangars of the Guelph, Ontario, Tiger Boys. Tom Dietrich and Bob Revell were two collectors of a multitude of vintage aircraft both certified and homebuilt. Tom had passed on, and Bob was becoming a little more motivated to move some of the fleet along to new owners. The airplane that caught our eye this particular morning was a faded yellow Bowers Fly Baby biplane, otherwise known as a Bi-Baby.
The fuselage sat crookedly atop one full and one empty tire, covered in dust with the cowlings off exposing a propeller-less engine. I peered up into the rafters and could see four wing panels of the same faded color, and propped up against the hangar wall were some weather-beaten interplane struts. As much as the tired bird appeared to be all there — minus a propeller — it looked like bringing it back to life consisted mostly of elbow grease and enthusiasm. A price to take it all home was presented to us by Bob, and after a brief group huddle we collectively made the decision to add the Bi-Baby to our fleet.
A week later we carted the project home to our field and began an inventory, cleaning, and repairing process that confirmed our hunch — a few weeks of hard work would yield us a flying airplane! In Canada, our basic ultralight rules are very generous. One can produce a data plate and apply for registration to the Minister of Transport and for 110 bucks receive a basic ultralight flight permit for an aircraft weighing up to 1,200 pounds with a stall speed of 39 knots (45 mph) or less. Rather than attempt to reregister the aircraft in the amateur-built category, we hopped on board the basic ultralight regulations and soon received our permit from the minister. While this process was taking place, we checked over the engine, installed a new propeller, stripped and varnished all of the woodwork, touched up the fabric, and applied fresh latex paint in a new scheme and color. With the arrival of our permit, we were able to affix the new registration letters on the side of the aircraft, and our new bird, C-INCO, was both legal and airworthy. We couldn’t help ourselves with the registration sounding very much like the Spanish number five, so we applied a “5” to the tail. While the paintbrush and rollers were wet, we also did a little bit of nose art with “Flambros” on one side and “Fly Baby” on the other.
We fired up the 80-hp A80 engine and tweaked the idle and mixture to achieve a nice-running engine. Taxi tests and some high-speed crow hops followed, and we concluded that we had nothing really left to do other than take Cinco flying. We are thrilled with both the look and performance of our Bi-Baby and can honestly say we have little hard-earned money in the aircraft. We have been to a few fly-ins with the machine being flown by our youngest Flambro, Olivia, and have received a lot of encouraging and positive feedback from fellow pilots and fly-in participants. Our summer project yielded a satisfying and fulfilling experience and was a reminder that recreational aviation need not be expensive. C-INCO is a great example of cheap, grassroots flying, and I am certain there are many examples of this category of aircraft just waiting for a group of like-minded people to bring them back to life.