NC337

TIMM C-165 COLLEGIATE

According to the official FAA record, this airplane was manufactured under Type Certificate 2-202 and flight tested April 24, 1930. It wore S/N 101 and left the factory flying behind a 165HP Comet engine, S/N 559. It was a two-place, fabric-covered, parasol monoplane. The photograph, below, is courtesy of aerofiles.com. The airplane pictured is not NC337, rather its sister ship NC887E (a Grand Central Air Terminal Register airplane). As far as I can determine there were only two of this model manufactured. NC337 has lived a hard, long life.

Timm Collegiate NC337 (Source: Aerofiles)

 

NC337 landed twice at Santa Monica, first on Thursday, August 20, 1931 flown by Henry Ohye. It landed the second time on Tuesday, January 21, 1936, almost five years later, under the control of pilot H.W. Strong of Pomona, CA.

A year later at its semi-annual inspection on October 27, 1931 it was listed as owned by Agnes Kelso. It moved through several California owners over the next decade, including Jerry Fairbanks, R. Leland Fullerton, Roy Torrey (as of September 6, 1940). Torrey performed a series of major repairs, including new rudder, elevator, aileron and brake cables, new wiring, floor boards and upholstery, and a new stainless steel firewall and new paint. It had accumulated 1,561 hours of flight time, or about 150 hours per year, a good amount of use.

Almost immediately during WWII, NC337 was modified with crop dusting equipment and re-registered NR337E, restricted to agricultural dusting, under the ownership of ag pilot Arthur W. Stevens of San Dimas, CA. The record shows that it received a foreign flight authorization to be in northern Mexico from November 10, 1942 to March 1, 1943 in order to dust crops there. Stevens returned to the U.S. and continued dusting for the duration of WWII. The airworthiness record shows during the period at least two engine overhaul/exchanges, as well as additional modifications to the dusting equipment.

Clearly, from the record, the airplane was a workhorse on behalf of Allied food supplies during WWII, with Stevens at the controls. It was maintained well, with the fuselage fabric replaced with Alclad aluminum in 1944. As of February 16, 1945, the empennage was also clad with aluminum, the wing fabric replaced, and the entire airplane repainted. The availability to Stevens of these war-rationed materials - aluminum, paints, engines - is testimony to the importance of agricultural work at the time.

NR337 continued its dusting work after WWII. Stevens transferred the airplane to William E. Sargent ca. 1947. It carried operating limitations for, "Visual Contact Day Crop dusting and seeding. Only personnel essential to flight may be carried. Hopper maximum 500.5 lbs."

NR337 was transferred to Homer Gutchow ca. 1951 and the wings were re-covered with fabric and painted. An interesting modification was performed on March 26, 1952. "Reworked landing gear of airplane to install hydraulic breaks [sic]. Axle stubs and wheels removed from a Consolidated Vultee BT-13 and installed on reworked gear as shown on reverse side of this form." The diagram showed welds and modifications necessary to "press in" the BT-13 axles. The BT-13 was a WWII single-engine trainer aircraft, known among pilots as the "Vibrator," because of its stall buffet characteristics.

Step forward thirty years now to May 25, 1985 and the airplane was owned by Boardman C. (1913-2012) and Lorraine M. Reed of Brownsville, CA. The registration number is back to the original NC337. They had the wings completely rebuilt with new ribs and spars built up from spruce, birch and mahogany plywood. New fittings and hardware were installed as well. A new center section fuel tank was constructed of aluminum in accordance with original factory drawings. As of July 11, 1985 the Boardmans had the engine certified for operation with automotive gasoline via a Supplemental Type Certificate. The installed engine was a Continental W-670-16, S/N 16630. Boardman Reed wrote a book in 1992, reviewed at the link. The Timm is mentioned near the bottom of the review.

The Boardmans sold the plane in 1988 and, as of the upload date of this page, the airplane is still registered with the FAA (registry expiring April 30, 2016), and the new owner is located in St. Louis, MO. Photographs, below, courtesy of A.I. Stix, IV, the new owner. Note the pilot and passenger in leather helmets. The propeller is turning.

Timm Collegiate NC337, Ca. Late 1980s (Source: Stix)

Owner Stix says about NC337, "...the plane is in our museum now and while it is out of annual, it is still technically airworthy." The photograph below shows NC337 at left with its only known sister ship, NC279V, the "City of Los Angeles." Incidentally, NC279V was logged in the Davis-Monthan Register on Saturday, August 2, 1930.

Timm Collegiates NC337 (L) & NC279V, Phoenix, AZ, Late 1980s (Source: Stix)

Mr. Stix says about this photo, it is, "... the day it stopped in the Phoenix area on its way to St. Louis and was photographed with the only other known Timm Collegiate." Note the differences in tail wheel geometry, and in vertical stabilizers and rudders. How fortunate we are to have this workhorse airplane with us today.

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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 06/13/13 REVISED: 06/18/13