AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2017 - 42

PILOT BRIEFING
SUPER CUB SWEEPSTAKES

Bare bones
It takes a village to restore AOPA's Sweepstakes Super Cub
B Y A LY S S A J. C O B B

42 | AOPA PILOT December 2017

John Anderson fits the
aileron false spars on
AOPA's Sweepstakes
Super Cub.

tubing that comprised early airframes. Univair's parts include
"minor modifications and
improvements" based on experience and customer input.
AOPA's Sweepstakes Super
Cub will include modifications as well, many of which
must be accommodated in the
base airframe before it is covered with fabric. For example,
the 1954 Super Cub will feature
extended-range fuel tanks and
a gross weight increase, both of
which require modifications to the wings. Dakota Cub Aircraft, a Super
Cub parts supplier in Brandon, South Dakota, is discounting 24-gallon fuel tanks for the Super Cub, providing about an hour of additional
endurance per tank over the standard 18-gallon tanks, according to
Dakota Cub Aircraft Partner Brian Morford.
Morford said the tanks also come set up for a headerless fuel system-which the Sweepstakes Super Cub will have-and the option
for sight glass or electric fuel senders (the sweeps airplane will have
CiES electric fuel sending units). Minnesota-based Wipaire donated
a 2,000-pound gross weight
AOPA thanks these generous
increase kit, part of which
sponsors for their contributions: has already been installed on
the wings. The gross weight
Baker Air Service
www.bakerairservice.com
increase makes a great addition
with Wipaire's donated Wipline
Univair
www.univair.com
2100 amphibious floats and the
Dakota Cub Aircraft
extra fuel-carrying capacity.
http://dakotacub.com
"Everything is coming
Wipaire
together nicely," Baker Air
www.wipaire.com
Service's Meggers said, adding
CiES Inc.
that the extra time spent makwww.ciescorp.net
ing sure everything is correct on
Visit the AOPA Super Cub
the airframe saves time because
Sweepstakes webpage (www.
aopa.org/sweeps) to see photos "once the cover goes on, you
of the latest work on the aircraft can't do a lot to change things."
along with a complete list of
generous contributors.

EMAIL alyssa.cobb@aopa.org

ROGER MEGGERS

RESTORING A 60-PLUS-YEAR-OLD aircraft that's been orphaned
by its manufacturer takes a network of general aviation companies from across the country.
Baker Air Service in Baker, Montana, has spent more than 500
hours disassembling, cleaning, repairing, ordering replacement
parts, corrosion proofing, and repainting the AOPA Sweepstakes
1954 Super Cub's airframe. The company's network of parts suppliers spans the country from Alaska to the East Coast. One of the
main sources for this project is Aurora, Colorado-based Univair,
a three-generation family business that specializes in parts for
older GA aircraft. Baker Air Service's father-son duo Roger and
Darin Meggers drove from Montana to Colorado to pick up
replacement parts for the sweepstakes aircraft.
"Some of our earliest PMAs are Super Cub parts," said
Univair owner and President Jim Dyer, whose grandfather cofounded the company in 1946. Univair owns type certificates
for the Ercoupe and Stinson 108 series and produces manufacturer-approved replacement parts for older GA aircraft. Univair
started building replacement parts in the 1950s when factory-new
replacements weren't available "We've got 98 to 99 percent of
all the parts to rebuild a Super
Cub," he said.
See the official rules for
details, entry limits, and
Univair makes its airframe
alternate method of entry
parts from industry-standard
in the AOPA Super Cub
high-strength chromoly 4130
Sweepstakes.
tubing, which is much stronwww.aopa.org/sweeps
ger than the type of steel

BAKER AIR SERVICE'S

http://www.bakerairservice.com http://www.univair.com http://www.dakotacub.com http://www.wipaire.com http://www.ciescorp.net http://www.aopa.org/sweeps http://www.aopa.org/sweeps http://www.aopa.org/sweeps

AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2017