destined to be melted down. The Stearman,
however, was spared the cutter’s torch and
was drafted for a different kind of war.
“Had it not been for crop dusting, the
Stearman might have become extinct,” said
Robert Novotny of Dusters and Sprayers
Supply Inc. of Chickasha, Oklahoma, the
were abandoned in old dilapidated barns and
sheds or left to rot outside in the elements.
But the Stearman’s story was far from over
as a new group of individuals, “restorers,”
emerged to give the plane new life. Today,
an estimated 1,000 Stearmans are still regis-
tered, with flyaway aircraft starting around
“It is a pretty easy airplane to fly once it’s
airborne, but bringing it back to earth
largest Stearman supply house in the United
States. “They were cheap to buy, some for
under $500 bucks with full fuel.”
Most were converted to crop dusters by
placing a hopper in the front seat as they
sprayed our nation’s bread basket through-
out the 1950s and 1960s. Air show
performers also took note, and many of them
installed larger engines to excite crowds.
By the early 1970s many of the Stearman
dusters were retired and cast aside; some
ROD’S RESTORATION
Rod is one of those
restorers. When he
bought his project
he had never flown
in a Stearman, but he was passionate about
the airplane.
“Maura and I were married in 1988,” said
Rod. “Maura loves to fly also, and I told her
about the history of the Stearman. I told her
how it trained tens of thousands of aviators
and how it was such a venerable design; legendary in strength and ruggedness, yet
elegant and simple. She agreed it’s the type
of airplane we would enjoy, and we ended up
buying a basket case later that year.”
requires a deft touch on tailwheel flying.”
The Hightowers’ Stearman was built in
1942 and served with the Royal Canadian Air
Force in Winnipeg, Canada. It was mustered
out of service in 1945 and went on to tow banners over the beaches of Cape May, New
Jersey. In April 1967, the Stearman lost power
on takeoff and crashed inverted into a group of
pine trees. The pilot walked away, but the aircraft was a complete mess. It was taken apart
and tossed into a tool shed, where it languished undisturbed for more than 20 years.
“The first thing I did was catalog what I
had and what was usable,” Rod said. About
80 percent of the parts were there, but many
had to be scrapped because he wasn’t comfortable with the quality.
“I don’t begin anything without having
a good idea of how it’s going to end,” Rod
said. “Once you’ve established the stan-
dards of quality of the outcome, then
everything you do from that step forward
you have to apply that standard. I wanted
as high a quality restoration as I was capa-
ble of producing with the advice and the
assistance I was getting, with me doing
most of the work.”
Restoring an aircraft has a lot of parallels
to the business world and life, Rod noted.
You have to manage complexities, and the
