Planes For Sale

For Sale: 1940s Pitts Special S1 project. 

Pros: Small DIY (do it yourself) project, can fit in your garage. Acro-superstar.

Cons: One seater. Experimental.

Good start on build. Fuselage, landing gear, empennage, original lower wings, ailerons, upper wing wood kits, and metal propeller. Complete drawings set. High time Lycoming O-320-A2HD 160 hp engine in good condition with good compressions running fine off of C-172.

For Sale: 1943 Cessna T50 / UC78 “Bamboo Bomber”

Pros: Full restoration in 1993. Needs repair, not restoration.

Cons: No engines, no propellers, no radios.

This Cessna T50 / UC78, serial 6644 was built in March 1943. It went through a very thorough ground up restoration in May 1993. The airframe hours are 2398.2 and it has only accrued 15 hours since the restoration. In 2008 the airplane was exhibited at the Lone Star Air Museum located in Galveston, TX when Hurricane Ike flooded the hangar with waist deep water. After the water receded, the fabric was removed from portions of the airframe and cleaned with fresh water. The airplane then sat in the climate-controlled hangar until we disassembled it and transported it back to our facility near Portland, Oregon ten years later in 2018.

We found the airplane in excellent condition except for aft lower longerons that we have since replaced. We have begun a cleanup / inspection program addressing superficial corrosion and minor repairs.

The ailerons, flaps, and empennage have been fabric covered in Poly Fiber, stitched and taped ready for spray applications. The wooden wings are in excellent condition, with no cracks, bad glue, rot or any other problems. A check list has been created notating the necessary maintenance before fabric covering. The motor mounts and aft tubular structures are in place and in good condition. The landing gear system is in good condition, the flap and gear motors will need to be disassembled, cleaned, lubed and tested before installation along with the chains, cables, pulley and bearings. All very straightforward with no complex repairs. The wing and fuselage aux fuel tanks have been pressure tested and are ready for installation.

The fuselage has a very nice interior and headliner in place. The wiring and instrument panel was professionally done and is in place. The flight and some engine instruments are missing. The throttle quadrant and control cables are lubed and in good condition. Wheel brake master cylinder’s and plumbing are in place and in good condition. The windows are in good condition. The avionics trays, intercom, altitude encoder and wire bundles are in place. The avionics are missing. The aircraft is currently set up for the following avionics, Nav Com, ADF, DME, Intercom, ELT, TX and encoder. A checklist for necessary maintenance is in place for the final preparation of the fuselage for fabric covering. All engine cowlings and sheet metal components are with the project and in excellent condition.

The Lycoming R680-13, 300 hp motors and three bladed Hartzell feathering propellers are not with the project but all accessories such as alternator, induction components, ignition harness, vacuum pump, exhaust segments, prop spinners are with the project.

We are selling the aircraft for $19,900.00, which was our cost to save it from destruction. The fine print includes a contract with us to return it to service in airworthy condition. We would estimate 10 months to produce a flyaway, Standard Category aircraft. The aircraft has a current Airworthiness Certificate and Registration Certificate. We are currently finishing up a total rebuild of a Howard DGA15 and could start the UC78 in spring of 2021. The quality of the completion will make it a contender for trophy recognition.

It is said that there are less than 20 airworthy examples of the type flying. This is an opportunity to collect a rare aircraft of significance. And there won’t be too many Bamboo Bombers restored in the future at the cost of replacing that wood wing. The wing is a large complex single piece wood structure, and we at Big Sky Stearman have the tooling to build new wings and empennage for the T50 / UC78, but the labor costs make it very expensive. This project, on the other hand, has excellent wooden wings ready for cover.

Contact John Pike if interested.

phone: 503-6311-3206 

email: john@bigskystearman.com