I do not have a date but the sooner the better. I understand that the bleeding of $$$$$ stops when it's finished!

Aubie, she's looking great! I'm excited for you.

Mine was down for a year a while back, recovering from a bad case of hail rash. I'll never regret having the ship completely restored. The quality of craftsmanship by Bill Milton, John Barron, Pete Jones and others is beyond compare.

I heartily agree with your comment about 195s being well supported - I have zero concerns about keeping mine airworthy for the next half dozen or so decades!

Can't wait to see the ship all together.

I'm not sure Aubie will be flying her. Think Ms L will claim the new bird and proceed to fly the wings off her.

But get it done soon please. By the way does drool help the polished skins stay bright? I'm not allowed in good company otherwise, I slobber on all birds my age or older that still fly.....

My prediction is she '"Ms Les" will stick to a nose dragger for the time being! Then start slow with a Cub, if the decision to venture in to the realm of tailwheels ever made. She has long claim on the rear seat of the 195 by the door!

As most know, Aubie and I are friends, and we talk regularly. I told him the other day that I rarely envy anyone anything. This is the exception. The bad instance of his engine failure and close encounter with trees turned out to be a "once in a lifetime" opportunity. Of course, Aubie is fortunate to have an A&P, real skills for such work, and lots and lots of knowledge about the 195.

I truly envy his opportunity to have what will essentially be a new Cessna 195. The ironic thing is that an almost identical circumstance happened to Wayne Roberts, a friend of both Aubie and me with his 195 as the result of a gear failure. Wayne, like Aubie, is going to rebuild his as well and I will have two buddies with new 195's.

An old friend of mine, who has now passed, used to say "The sun don't shine on the same dog's ass all the time." But it sure has on Aubie and Wayne.

Jgreen

That is a totally false premise but I don't want to burst your bubble and dishearten you.

Instead of packages from AS&S and other vendors arriving on a daily basis your mail is credit card invoices for:

1. 100LL
2. Hotels, motels at exotic locations.
3. Various avionics vendors You don't have an IFD 550 yet shame on you.
4. Registrations at flyins.
5. Advanced pilot seminars, checkouts, etc.

Just stay on BT and we will seduce you to keep your aviation spending at a totally unreasonable level.

What a nice post JGG ! Well I can sure feel the heat of sun shining on this dog's ass. But that is just fine because This considerable effort will produce a new airplane that I am my family will enjoy for years to come! Thanks for the kind words of encouragement.

Sun shining on Aubie's big ass is called a lunar eclipse!

Chip I'll bring this lunar eclipse to Texas and sit on you

Thanks Chip, I needed that.

Jgreen

Aluminum Aileron hinges eliminate the recurring AD on the original hinges which are made of magnesium

I think I need one of these. Dang neighbor keeps rubbing it in.
Got a link to a bunch of build pics?

Aubie, and soon, our friend Wayne are going to, almost, single handedly, reignite a fervent interest in 195. That is not an over statement.

A little on Wayne. He is about my age and retired from the construction business. I love him, as does Aubie, but he is an "anal retentive perfectionists". In fact, he just got his A&P so he could sign off the work he does on the 195; of course Aubie is as well.

Aubie helped Wayne find a nice 195 that Wayne then poured over a year's work in refurbishing before the damn gear broke. Pic included below. Wayne will be as meticulous as Aubie and then some. We, Aubie and me, are trying to dissuade him from doing the airframe rebuild himself, but if he does, it will be perfect.

The problem is that their misfortunes gave them this opportunity. So, those of us motivated by them to have a new 195 will not have the advantage of owning an otherwise damaged airplane and the insurance money to fix them to perfection. Both Wayne and Aubie are exceptional pilots, and I mean exceptional. I took Wayne on a flight one day almost thirty years ago while I shot approaches with one of my sons asleep in my lap. He got the fever and learned to fly. I taught him to do his firs aileron roll in a Decathlon and a few years later, he won the Sportsman class of the IAC competition.

Aubie can fly a bathtub, yes, even with his big ass in it. The engine out he suffered in his 195 would have been fatal to most pilots. Aubie pulls out a damn win and gets a new 195 out of the deal. Go figure.

So, I will never own a 195. No matter what I bought or the money I poured into it, it would still look like your ugly cousin compared to what the two of them are going to produce.

Like my old friend said many years ago, "The sun don't shine on the same dog's ass all the time.", but it is likely not to shine on my ass or anyone else's ass with such a rare opportunity.

Thankfully, I am close friends with both Wayne and Aubie and they will let me fly their airplanes anytime.

To tell the truth, it is going to be fun just watching.

Jgreen

Flying warbirds for collectors, I get to know several of the people who undertake these kinds of projects. Almost without exception they understand from the outset that it will be a money losing proposition and yet they do them anyway.

By definition they have to be successful to afford a project like restoring a Mustang or a Corsair, or a building a brand new -195, and almost without exception they are amazing people is so many other ways...

These are the same types of people that restore and maintain iconic old houses, just because it needs to be done.

I am richly blessed to be able to hang with and call several of these people my friends. Our world is a better place because they exist.

Thank you Aubie for what you are doing. Of all the airplanes I have owned, I probably miss the -195 the most....

Doug,


You should come over and visit us sometime. I have a nice cabin at the ranch, 5 miles from the airport, and an extra vehicle for your transportation.

Just let us know.

Jgreen