AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2022 - 52

Where the ambitious seven-seat airplane
went and what it did during its youth
is unknown. But by the 1970s it was finished
flying, disassembled, and stacked in
pieces at an out-of-the-way crop duster
strip near Caldwell, Idaho. There, the
irascible owner, Eugene O. Frank, kept it
under lock and key along with the bones of
a couple Ford Tri-Motors, Curtiss Jennies,
Wacos, Stearmans, Stinsons, a couple
Brunner-Winkle Birds, a rare KeystoneLoening
K-84 Commuter flying boat, and
the first PA-18 Super Cub ever built.
A guard dog kept visitors out, and anyone
who inquired about the many antique
airframes piled hoarder-style in dusty,
corrugated metal buildings was brusquely
turned away.
One pilot who wouldn't be denied,
however, was Greg Herrick, founder of the
Golden Wings Flying Museum in Blaine,
Minnesota. Herrick knew of Frank's collection
and made multiple trips to Idaho
to get to know him.
Herrick befriended Frank's German
shepherd by bribing it with treats, then
made inroads with the iconoclast himself,
eventually getting invited to drink coffee
in his office. After Herrick had been
there a dozen times or so, Frank gave
Herrick a guided tour of his airplanes and
Herrick ended up buying several, including
the original Ford Tri-Motor, which his
museum painstakingly restored to betterthan-new
status.
" Gene was gruff, and he was paranoid-but
he was fascinating, and certainly
nobody's fool, " Herrick said of Frank. " He
knew exactly what he had and how irreplaceable
it was, and he drove an incredibly
hard bargain. I'm sure I overpaid for what
I bought, but I grew to love and admire
the guy. "
Herrick was the first to buy any of
Frank's relics, and that seemed to break
the logjam. The crotchety collector sold a
few more airplanes to restorers before he
died in 2004 at age 92. The Fairchild 71 languished
another year before Frank's family
liquidated the entire collection.
That's when Marlin Horst, a general
aviation pilot, business owner, and amateur
aircraft restorer in southern Pennsylvania,
stepped in. Horst owned a company that
52
AOPA PILOT / April 2022
specialized in making high-end cabinets
for luxury homes. He decided to apply
some of those skills to the Fairchild 71,
which had folding wood wings, wooden
formers in its fuselage, and ornate wood
window frames among other accessories.
Even the elevator trim wheel was burnished
wood.
" I'd restored a few Piper Cubs and
other relatively simple aircraft, " Horst
said. " I wanted to do a museum-quality
restoration on a big, historical airplane,
and the Fairchild was it. Restorations had
always been a hobby of mine, and when
the Fairchild came along, my hobby got
truly out of control. "
Obsessive attention to detail is a hallmark
of the Fairchild restoration, and the cockpit
is especially ornate. The Fairchild Aircraft
winged-horse logo appears on the throttle
quadrant (far right) and the rudder pedals.
The instrument panel (below) is mostly
original but contains a modern radio, fuel
computer, and transponder. The wicker seat
was painstakingly recreated with the help of
a local basket weaver, and the leather covers
were stitched by hand.
AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2022

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