Dream Wacos Collection

Waco YMF 5 Restoration

Restoring the Waco YMF 5

It appears that NC 14134 last flew sometime in the 1950’s as a crop duster in Idaho for the Western Company. Mike Kelly bought the project in 1959 with the intention of restoring it and actually began the restoration sometime in the 1990’s.

Mike built a new upper wing center section and built a number of ribs for the wings. During the time he worked on the project he corresponded with Barry Branin as Barry was restoring, with the help of Dave Allen, his own F5 (and Dave was restoring his UMF 3 which I now own). When Mike died, the project was sold to Barry who purchased it with the intent of finding a “good home” for it. Barry ultimately sold it to Mike Tracy who in turn sold it to me.

During this period the main landing gear was overhauled by Jon Nace who also built a new tail wheel assembly and fabricated the jack screw for the horizontal stabilizer.

Barry, during his ownership, purchased a set of Cleveland wheels and brakes for the project.

Four new ailerons were purchased from Tom Brown.

When I purchased the project in 2023 all these pieces and parts were present as well as just about all the various parts and fittings for the plane. From a parts perspective it is almost all there and restoring the plane will just require either refurbishment or replacement with new parts using the old as templates.

One thing I didn’t purchase from Mike Tracy originally were the floats. This plane was apparently flown on floats early in its life. I don’t intend to restore it as a float plane, but I ultimately bought the floats from Mike to keep them together.

Once the project was moved to West Coast Air Creations we went though it carefully. What has been done up until now includes:

The wings have been shipped to Scott Shue who will build new ones and evaluate the center section built by Mike Kelly and either use it or replace it.
All the plane’s sheet metal was included but not salvageable, so those parts were sent to Scott Gregorsen in Minnesota to be remade.
We sent the existing instruments to Legacy Aviation allow with a number of others Barry Branin gave me to be evaluated, overhauled as required and refaced with period correct faces and pointers.
Nando had the fuselage X rayed and tested to ensure its integrity.
We ordered a new engine cowl from Roger James as the one included with the project is in very rough shape.
I got two Jacobs engine cores and a collection of cylinders with the project. Those were shipped to Radial Engines, LTD who will overhaul one of them into a useable engine.
I also got two variable speed propellers with the project, but they aren’t listed on the TCDS, and I want the plane to maintain its Standard Airworthiness Certification, so they won’t be used. I had sold a 102-inch Hamilton Standard prop I got with my Travel Air project to Barry who decided he didn’t need it after all who has sold it back to me for use on this plane.
I found that Dave Allen had compiled a list of the drawing numbers for all the original Waco drawings for the F3/F5 aircraft and Nando now has that for measurements and fabrication of parts as required.

There is a lot to do! But we have made a good start and many of the more time-consuming parts of any restoration are in process. Our target date for completion is July 2026 so stay tuned for more progress!