Waco UBF 2 Words of Recognition
As I spent time in northern California I wanted to be in the air flying over the beautiful scenery in what seems like perpetual sunshine. I needed another Waco biplane and decided either a UPF 7 or a QCF 2 would be just the ticket. In fact, I began to wonder if I might collect all the Waco F series biplanes of the 1930’s?
Looking at several QCF examples Barry (the owner of a QCF 2 himself) told me he’d rather I found a UBF 2 as they had bigger vertical fins and got out of spins more easily. That was a needle in a haystack proposition for sure but the very next week I ran across a 4 year old email in which a UBF owner had indicated a willingness to sell. As entrepreneur coach Dan Sullivan says “the eyes only see and the ears only hear what the mind is looking for” and this was proof! Another email, a quick visit to Virginia and I had another Waco!
I had met Rob Lock in an unsuccessful effort to purchase a Stearman. I asked Rob if he’d clean up some cosmetic issues, I’d found on the plane due to exposure to salt air: corroded fittings, propeller damage and so on. Also, the wings were covered differently than the fuselage and tapes were beginning to bubble and lift. So, Jared Calvert flew the plane to Florida to begin what turned into a year and half long restoration project and ultimately awards at both Sun N Fun and Airventure.
With all that in the past the F2 is based in Sonoma County California and is a stunning stopper of foot traffic passing my hangar, a surrounded object of veneration at fly ins and an absolute joy to fly over the mountains, vineyards, and sea.
The history of this plane is unusual not because of the exploits it undertook in its heyday, or the fame of its original owner, but because of the number of hands it passed through before it was finally complete. A couple of bankrupt business men, a loan to noted restorer of antique airplanes Forrest Lovley who used it as patterns to help build or restore a number of other Wacos, a stand off with the IRS, a partial restoration by the noted Woods Brothers restoration shop and ultimately being “finished” by new owner Woody Woodward who due to age and ill health enlisted well known professional restorer Joe Fleeman to get it in the air. After all those hands we discovered we needed to tear it apart after a decade in a tough marine environment and Rob Lock’s cosmetic repair job turned into a full on mini restoration. After six decades it is finally “finished”!
The reason I bought it is because of serendipity. I was looking and it was there! But it was also very well done beneath the surface, it was beautiful, it was practically new in the sense of time on airframe and engine and it had the bones of a future champion.
What I love about this plane is that rolling back the hangar doors to contemplate this amazingly beautiful work of industrial art lovingly restored by the hands of many talented craftsmen would be enough to make anyone’s day. But strapping in the comfortable cockpit to taxi to the hold short line, after you’ve done it once, is a time of quivering anticipation. Release the brakes as the power comes up and this thing leaps into the air in under 200 feet. To climb at 70 miles an hour is to go nearly straight up between 1500 and 2000 feet per minute. It’s nimble, its fast, its stable and it lands in a straightforward manner. In short, its enormous fun to fly!
