Howard Henderson's Pietenpol and two classic automobiles - a 1931 Ford (maroon) Deluxe Fordor, restored and owned by Gene Cogorno III, and a 1930 Lombard Tudor Sedan (blue), restored and owned by Larry Shepard.

very few concessions made to modern materials in N444MH. The wing is connected to the two place fuselage with wire braced steel cabanes that can be adjusted fore and aft to fine tune the ship's balance. The crossed diagonal wires bracing the cabanes on the right side of the forward cockpit make for in teresting, and sometimes ungraceful, entries and exits for the front seat pass enger. Some builders, including Pieten pol in later years, replaced this set of wires with rigid diagonals from the front cabane tops forward to the firewall. Such tubes are fabricated and installed after proper location of the wing has been determined with the adjustable wires. Henderson just followed the orig inal plans. Most builders today agree that l'just follow the plans" is the Golden Rule of Piet building. There's never been a fatality attributable to the original design.

The wings' airfoil is Pietenpol's own high lift design. Its shape was derived emperically by Pietenpol and a friend. They just kept trying different sections until they found one that performed well with the 40 horsepower A.

Part of the lore of the wing section development is that Pietenpol, after try ing one standard design of the day, said, "I couldn't lift hen feathers with that wing." But more careful research attri butes that statement to Weston Farmer, pilot and colorful editor of Modern Mechanics and Inventions back in the late 1920s and early '30s. It was "Westy" who actually authored the MMI articles bearing B. H. Pietenpol's byline.

Those who knew Pietenpol (who died in 1984) are quick to tell you the language used in those articles was not that of the quiet, reserved, self-educated gentleman from rural Minnesota.

The wheels on Howard's ship are brakeless and mounted on a bungee sprung straight axle. Again, just like the old plans. Howard made the wheel hubs himself of 4130 steel. They're laced to lightweight 21" motorcycle wheels sporting 3.5" tires. The tail skid on the earliest Piets was a piece of Model T front axle leaf spring. Henderson used Pietenpol's later design. It's a hinged steel tube assembly equipped with a coil spring of a type and size readily available on hay rakes in the '20s and '30s.

The skid takes some getting used to. It serves as a great reminder that when Pietenpol first flew, airfields really were fields and take-offs and landings were almost always directly into the wind and on grass. Paved landing strips, crosswind landings, brakes, etc. came later. Anyway, it took Howard a few landings to get the hang of putting the Pasture Pilot's Pride and Joy just where he wanted it.

In the late '20s, Pietenpol experimented with many engines, but he finally settled on the Ford's. Although a bit heavy (he quoted 244 pounds as flown), it was relatively inexpensive, plentiful and reliable. Because it produces high torque at low rpm, it's very well suited to his high lift, low speed creation. A-powered Piets usually cruise about 65 mph with the engine turning 1600 rpm or so. They land and take-off at about 40; stall gently at 30 or less.

Henderson measures his airspeed with a spring mounted vane out on the forward jury strut just below the left wing. The simple but effective design came from a "Craftsman's Corner" page in a back issue of SPORT AVIATION.

Pietenpol turned the engine end-for end in his Air Camper, then bolted the propeller to its flywheel flange. The cast iron valve chamber and timing gear covers are replaced with lighter steel plate. Oil lines from pump to center and "prop end" main bearings are added. By the mid-1930s Pietenpol's specifications called for a high compression aluminum head (if you can call six to one "high compression"). Henderson couldn't readily locate one of these so he's flying with a stock four and one-half or so to one cast iron original.

The heavy exhaust manifold is discarded and replaced with four nine inch long steel tubes. It's amazing how quiet the engine remains, even with this radical change. A single magneto replaces Henry's ignition system. It's driven directly off the crankshaft. Timing is set about 28 degrees BTDC. An extra tube running from the (new) front of the head to a small radiator prevents steam poc kets from forming and improves cooling. The little radiator, located in the prop wash of a 76" x 44" propeller keeps water temperature about 100 degrees above ambient. An oil temperature gauge reads about the same. The radiator's heat feels luxurious to Piet pilots during cool fall morning flights.

Henderson made his own beautiful propeller of mahogany and maple from 1933 drawings of the early Pietenpols. His may be the only one flying today with this design.

There seems to be a healthy resurgence of interest in the Air Camper. Over the past six decades, uncounted numbers have been built and flown. Some with other engines, propellers, landing gear, etc. some builders have even changed the basic design while retaining its name. But today there is a strong and growing appreciation for the simple but elegant original design of Bernard Pietenpol. And skilled, experienced builders like Howard Henderson are opting for the straightforward purity of the early plans. Many of the Piets under construction today are to be powered with the engine it was designed for -- the Model A Ford's.

So the next time you hear the lovely "pocket-ta pocket-ta" of an old Ford engine - and there's not a wire-wheeled roadster or Fordor in sight - look up. There just may be an A powered Pietenpol Air Camper flying overhead. And, if it's Diane Blue and Cream and numbered N444MH, you can bet it didn't cost very much to build.

But Howard did have a cost overrun. His total receipts for N444MH came to almost $3500.