By Randy Shields, EAA Lifetime 847505
This piece originally ran in the May 2026 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
I have lusted after a Gullwing Stinson Reliant for decades, mostly based on its beautiful art deco lines. In the fall of 2017, I saw one that needed to be restored for sale on Barnstormers.com. This is a 1943 vintage airplane with a 300-hp radial engine. It served in the British Royal Navy during World War II before joining the civilian market postwar. I was initially reluctant to buy it due to an NTSB report of a ground loop accident on landing in 1976. But it was repaired and continued to fly, so it must be okay — right? The last annual inspection was in September 1981. My friend Jim Wilkerson joined me in December 2017 to truck home the various parts from Florida to Kansas.
Key to the success of this restoration was my mechanic, Wade Jones. Wade helped with the previous restoration of my 1947 Stinson Voyager. Wade is a great friend and an A&P/IA mechanic.
The first few years of our restoration were focused on the control surfaces and wings. While almost all had new Dacron covering them, there was no UV blocker. When we removed the fabric, we found much of the damage from the accident in 1976 was either never repaired or was repaired incorrectly. For many of the parts, it was easier to find a replacement than invest the time and money to properly repair what we had.
We ended up needing spars for the left wing, a different left horizontal tail, and a different fuselage. It was surprising someone previously thought the structure was good enough to install new fabric covering on. Fortunately, the people with the parts needed were always willing to sell them reasonably to help get another Gullwing flying. As Wade finished the structural repair of the control surfaces and later the wings at his shop, I would bring them back to my hangar and cover them using the Poly Fiber process.
The last major piece of structure to work on was the fuselage. Wade determined the left landing gear attachment on the fuselage was bent from the ground loop accident in 1976, and the leveling marks needed for weight and balance determinations were also missing. We located a straight fuselage nearby in Oklahoma. We combined parts from each fuselage to make one good one, as we had done on the left wing and left horizontal tail. Wade made new tubing runs for the fuel, hydraulic, pneumatic, and pitot-static systems. Also, new control cables, pulleys, and electrical wires were added. All new hardware (nuts, bolts, etc.) was used everywhere.
We dropped off the engine at Radial Engines Ltd. in Guthrie, Oklahoma, in April 2022. We were in line for two years, but it was worth the wait. That engine is an amazing piece of art!
A lot of people lent a hand along the way. Friend Steve Gyuro, EAA 570838, helped with most of the rib stitching. In addition to helping retrieve the airplane, Jim Wilkerson made various replacement interior wood parts. Another friend, Justin Kneisel, brought his truck and trailer for the many local moves between my hangar and Wade’s shop. We also used his tractor with a forklift attachment to raise the fuselage when installing the landing gear, mounting the wings to the fuselage, and later attaching the engine. My wife did some rib stitching and made the headliner. I hired out various tasks, such as the reupholstery of the seats and side wall panels, construction of a new tail wheel strut piston, and construction of a new set of stairs by Vintage Aerofab that permanently mount to the side of the airplane.
Starting in 2024 and running through 2025, the various components started coming together as we mounted the wings and tail surfaces to the fuselage and hung the newly overhauled engine. Connecting the engine required new engine controls (throttle, mixture, prop, and carb heat). We ran new flight control cables and hooked up each surface; installed the interior; installed new window glass; added new brakes, wheels, and tires; added new instruments and radios; made new landing gear fairings; and completed a thousand other small steps.
I assisted Mark Wiebe as he repaired the engine cowling, one of the last major tasks. Mark is a local expert A&P/IA mechanic and is great at working with sheet metal. He repaired broken structural elements inside the cowling and replaced sections of cracked external cowling pieces. It was impressive to watch him shape flat metal into compound curved surfaces using the planishing hammer and English wheel.
Our last task once assembled was to weigh the airplane in late November 2025. The empty weight is 2,587 pounds. We ended up with 18 FAA Form 337s for various repair work or modifications we made and 14 pages in the airframe logbook summarizing the past eight years.
I had flown with Jody Jones, EAA 1080526, in his V-77 over the past year. Once you get used to the different sight picture, the V-77 is straightforward to fly. I also flew with local pilot Bret Chilcott, EAA 177302, in his V-77 a month before the first flight to get tailwheel current.
The first flight in my airplane was on January 3, 2026, and it flew great. Since the airplane was completely taken apart and then reassembled over a time span exceeding 40 years, you triple-check everything ahead of time. This is where Wade really shined. His attention to detail to make sure things were done right is superb.
I chronicled the entire restoration of the V-77 and the Voyager on my blog: Stinson9598k.blogspot.com. It’s a good feeling to have returned a piece of art deco aviation history to the air after being grounded for over 43 years. It will be fun to show the airplane, knowing we had a key hand in its resurrection.
Attention — Aircraft Builders and Restorers
We would love to share your story with your fellow EAA members in the pages of EAA Sport Aviation magazine, even if it’s a project that’s been completed for a while. Readers consistently rate the “What Our Members are Building/Restoring” section of the magazine as one of their favorites, so don’t miss the chance to show off your handiwork and inspire your peers to start or complete projects of their own. Learn more ->