Waco UPF 7 Words of Recognition
The Waco UPF 7 is, apart from Waco Classic’s highly modified YMF 5, the most well known Waco biplane. In part this is because so many have been restored, because so many were made (over 600) and in part because of the well deserved reputation of Rare Aircraft of Faribault, Minnesota who’s primary business is restoring amazing examples.
I looked for an F7 on and off for 15 years. Every time I went looking I ended up finding something else. Not long ago I went looking again – this time for an F7 in military livery. This not because I wanted to start wearing a green flight suit with wings on my chest and become a “warbird” poseur but because these things owe their existence to the purchase of over 600 of them as military trainers in the run up to WWII. But those, more original examples, are hard to find. Most UPF 7’s are “sporterized” with civilian paint jobs and the blue and yellow versions are so rare they look odd. It’s the exact opposite of the Stearman biplane.
Over the years at Airventure I’ve visited with Ben Redmond a number of times but we’d never had a compelling conversation that I couldn’t say to no to. In 2023 I was very busy for most of the week keeping my UBF 2 and UMF 3 clean. But after the judges finished we me I finally had time to walk down the flight line to see everyone else’s Wacos. Wouldn’t you know Ben was down there with several! The red one caught my eye, and the price compared to the green one sitting next to it, had my attention. It took Ben about 15 minutes and now I had 3 Wacos at Airventure. If that’s not a record let me know! I’m going to try again in 2026 and bring five…
Anyway, I picked it up in September in Faribault and Clay Adams came over to check me out in it. Then Rob Lock, who wanted to fly with me back home, and I flew it to OKC on the hottest day of the year. Rob is a big guy. A former NBA player we knew the front hole would be problematic so he took the rear cockpit. Our division of responsibility meant he did take off and landings and I flew it the rest of the time. Landing in Emporia, Kansas it was 107 degrees. That was bad. But taking off the density altitude was about FL 180. Not really but we couldn’t climb out of the blast furnace and gave up at about 3,500 feet. I say about because my altimeter crapped out and I had to settle for an estimate. Just like the old days, low and slow by feel.
The F7 is a fun airplane to fly. Check out my PIREP HERE. Its easy on the eyes too as you can see in the gallery below. It seem bigger than it is because you sit further back in the fuselage and because the upper wing is mounted higher than the other F’s. They did this not because they thought antique aficionados of the 21st century would be so huge but because they needed to make it easier and faster to swap training crews in the feverish effort to get pilots trained for the meat grinder. Rob, who as I say is a big guy, likes Travel Airs and Stearman’s because, among other things, he fits comfortably. After flying mine, and ferrying another one, he has bought his very own UPF 7. Chalk up another convert! As Waco used to say back in the 1930’s “Ask Any Pilot!”…even Rob Lock!
I am unaware of any special history for this plane except that it, like thousands of others trained the pilots of the Greatest Generation to fly. When Clay and I took off from Faribault we headed straight to KSYN Stanton Field in Stanton, Minnesota which was a UPF 7 primary training base in WWII. Coming over the corn and landing on its immaculate grass runways we were transported back in time nearly 85 years to a place once abuzz with youth, excitement and nervous energy. The white clapboard base operations center, with its small two story tower, is still there and still being used to train pilots, and to provide a brief respite from late summer heat.
I wasn’t even looking really. Though I do have a dream of owning an example of all the Waco F models I was really not planning to buy an airplane that year, and with two at Airventure I had no thought that I’d buy another one there and have 10% of the Wacos be mine! But it was perfect and the price was fair. Oh, and it was red too. That never hurts.
What I love about this airplane is the absolutely unmatched quality of its restoration. Its beautiful to look at and it’s a pleasure to fly. Mechanical things break and we’ve had some teething issues but it’s hard to find a nicer 84 year old airplane anywhere.
