About Us. Brief (well started off brief) history of Southern Aero
Hi, my name is Wayne Dickson and this is an abbreviated history of Southern Aero LLC. Southern Aero LLC has is roots going back to the early 1980s in Spartanburg/Cross Anchor, South Carolina where I rented hangar space from John Roberts on his beautiful 4000’ grass runway in Cross Anchor, SC. John was the distributor for the Helio Courier at that time along with Helio demo and missionary pilot Larry Montgomery. I had met John and his sons, Brant and Charles, while working for Mario Rossi in Spartanburg, SC in the late 60’s. This lead to us becoming friends. Some of you may remember Mario Rossi, a pilot and builder of NASCAR #22, last driven by Bobby Allison. (BTW, this car has been located and is being rebuilt by Mario’s son Billy!) I was in the military from mid 1967 to end of 1970 and after returning to “the world” I resumed my association with the racing with Rossi and John (Skip) McCarthy of McCarthy Engineering until it began to fade away due to the loss of the factory backing. From a very early age, I also worked with my father that ran Dickson Tool & Machine ....... First in Statesville NC and then in the early 60's we moved to Spartanburg SC........ Yep, home of the Marshall Tucker Band! Went to school with most of them. Even got one of Toy Caldwell's Dobermans and bought a house from George McCorkle! ....... So, with my mechanical background, machining capabilities, love of airplanes and things that went fast, and having a creative mind …………. One thing kept leading to another………… Being surrounded by pilot types I got down to it and finished my pilot’s license I had started before going into the service. I had actually joined the Army's "Warrant Officer program" going on at the time but that's another story. …………. Ended up being a mechanic. Later, using the GI Bill, I obtained my commercial, multi and instrument ratings. Then later on to get my A&P. All this while operating a small custom van and 4 wheel drive business with my old friend and running mate, Gary Wilson who had worked for Rossi full time all those years. Later on, around 1980 as the custom van/4 wheel drive business turned into a non-profit organization after the "fuel crunch" of the mid to late 70s. I began operating out of the John Roberts’ Cross Anchor airport as “Southern Aero Sports” doing a little repair work and selling/flying ultralights, it's still on the charts today by that name. I left Cross Anchor for a year or so to work as plant manger for UFI Sales and Distribution Company in Windsor Locks, CT, builders of the Mirage and then later Phantom Ultralights designed by John Dempsey. I left UFI a couple months after it was sold to Piedmont Aviation Supply just after developing the 2 place Phantom. While at UFI, the Cross Anchor property was sold but I ended up renting the whole facility but from the new owner. . ….. now focusing later mainly on experimentals and the early Piper types. Rick Berstling from Sarasota Florida and John Plizka from Windsor Locks were now with me. We built and sold quite a few ultralights and airplanes, mostly J3s. Some of the most notables were the “J4 Sportster” open cockpit parasol we built for Jesse Anglin by modifying one of his “J3 Kittens” that won Grand Champion Ultralight at Oshkosh in 1984 and a couple of J3 Cubs that also won several awards. Also, built and modified one of Dale Kjellsen’s Teratorn ultralights to a 2 place tandem for training purposes. I built and flew everything I could from ultralights to light twins and sometime mid 1985 I was convinced by Tom Hutchinson of Piedmont Airlines that I needed to go fly for a living. After much thought and research (not really) I decided to try to use my ratings to do just that, make a living. In January of ‘86 I started with Bank Air out of Columbia SC and was there for a few months until getting on with Atlantic Southeast Airlines in May of 1986. I remained there until I retired in February of 2013……. Yea, I’m gettin old! I had relocated to Luthersville, GA (1GA2) in 1988 and after building a hangar and a house continued to build and restore aircraft. ………….. in my “off time”. Now under the name of Southland Aero Inc. as Southern Aero was not available at that time in Georgia as an LLC. In the mid ninety’s, Rick Bersting was helping me on another J3 restoration, temporarily, as he now lived in Florida. Around 1995 or so he brings up a young kid out of Venice Florida named Eli Lewis who wanted to learn more about tube and fabric restorations. He had already built and flown a pre-war Aeronca Chief while in his mid teens in Florida. Eli ended up living in my hangar and worked with me off and on for the next 2 1/2 years helping me to build multiple award winners. A Citabria, another J3, a Super Cub and a PA 12 that won Reserve Grand Champion at Oshkosh in 1998. Eli eventually left to further his education but we stayed in touch over the next 20 plus years while he kept building airplanes on his own…… in his “off time”. …. Built a couple of pretty nice RVs. During all these years I still had the affection for the Helio and bush type aircraft and had been working on a smaller version of the Helio design with the idea of making a “scale” and more economical replica. Was even having the names “Hulio” and “ Hulio Hoss” trade marked as a play on words for the Helio Courier and Stallion. But this massive project would make it necessary to have someone with an engineering background throughout the project, making it economically unattractive. Since I had most experience with “tube and rag” construction and the Helio actually had its roots in a modified Piper, I decided I would go back to basics and make a high lift wing for my experimental “Stretched Pacer” using the movable slat configuration similar to the Helio ……. since the Super Cub was my “next favorite” airplane. The Stretched Pacer would have very close flying characteristics of the PA12/14. I designed mine with easier loading/unloading in mind, similar to a Maule door configuration. Steve Bryant in Alaska makes the STC’d stretched version of the certificated PA20/22 called the “Producer”, originally designed by his dad. ………. It’s beautiful and obviously a great airplane but I have more flexibility with an experimental. The Producer and the Helio are without a doubt the inspiration for my stretch. While I was drawing up this project, I ran across an experimental version of a 22/20 up for bid on an insurance salvage web site. It was just what I had been looking for as a candidate for a “stretch” mod. The fuselage was twisted up from aft of cabin back so was perfect. Had a lot of other mods too including a Penn Yan O-375 with low time and no prop strike. Also had a set of Dakota Cub slotted wings, one needed a little attention but is now repaired and sitting in a wing rack………… future TBD. Fuselage is now stretched and waiting for wing fitting and interior. Will have to go back in to Phase 1 testing for a while when finished. BTW, since the term "Super Pacer" is pretty much used up these days, my first “stretch” will be the called simply "Pacer Plus". The next fuselage is already in the works and will be the "Pacer Plus 2", II, Two or Too. Haven't decided yet but you get the picture……. besides being stretched in the tail section 2 feet, it will have 2” added behind the engine mount, 2" wider in the cabin and possibly 2" deeper in cabin height. ..... that's where the "2s" came from. Although it looks like a stretched Pacer in profile, it is a completely new fuselage. Will be much lighter and roomier than a converted PA 22. Just as I was tooling up for this Piper style wing mod, who comes back into the picture but Eli Lewis! After a wife or 2, like a lot of us in aviation, Eli is relocating to the Newnan GA area for a new position in the medical field……… after having to deal with AIDS. (AIDS as defined in the aviation community is - Aviation Induced Divorce Syndrome!) Eli has a Zenith CH750 under construction and as luck would have it…… I have been looking at the Zeniths also as a candidate for this modification as it could benefit from this type wing too with better roll control and less angle of attack at low speeds. So, Eli is now joining me at Southern Aero LLC to develop a slatted wing on his CH750 and at the same time help me to finish my stretched Pacer. Something similar was done years ago for the then popular 701 called the “Pegastol” wing but never seemed to get to production. Southern Aero LLC now makes many Piper style parts and custom parts for the other shops and builders. While restoration and repairs might still be available, most of our efforts now are in the development of this slatted wing and some parts fabrication for other builders. This wing should be able to be adapted to most any “Piper“ style fuselage with 31” spar centers. …………………………………………………………………………………. As of late 2017 the Piper type slatted wing is getting closer to being a reality. ...… I initially planned a “short wing” version to compliment this stretched 22/20 but may go ahead and put the long wing on it. The CH750 wing is nearly ready to assemble except for the center rib section. Eli’s “real” job is keeping him pretty busy so I have been mostly focused on the Piper type wing. Earlier last year a local guy walks up as I was punching parts on the Di-Acro............. just wanting to check out what was going on in this hangar. Ends up he's from near where my shop was in South Carolina and we have a lot of mutual friends so naturally we hit it off. Scott Griffith, AKA "Vern", is now a regular here at the shop and has been a lot of help. He's interested enuff in what's going on here that he is building one of my Plus IIs, already has a fuselage started. Will be putting up some pics soon as it gets closer to completion. Don’t want to let the cat completely out of the bag yet. ................................................................................................................. As we are now into 2018, work is continuing on the Pacer Plus project(s). Also getting some done on the CH750 with the "new wing". As I touched on before, this wing was inspired by my being around the Helios in my early years and later learning of the Pegastol wing for the CH701 while researching data for the wing for the Pacer Plus. The Pegastol wing had the automatic slats and also had the Junkers style flaperons as is in the 701/750 original designs. I have taken a little different approach and fashioned the all metal 750 wing in the same configuration as the Pacer Plus' wing. Although the Plus' wing is fabric covered, both the wings share the same design features .......... auto slats, flaperons for -5 to + 15 degrees deflection with ailerons and flaps remaining independently controlled. Roll spoilers will be on the Plus wing but TBD on the CH 750. On both designs, no modification to any of the original wing attach point dimensions have been made. So, with either one there should be only modifications needed to fairings, windshield and of course the control system. Attach points will be the same but attach methods can be different, so struts might have to be altered or changed also. I used a lot of the "Bushmaster" style spar reinforcements in the Pacer Plus wing as they have proven to be more than adequate. Just finished a wing for a customer that wanted a "metal spar" for an experimental Clip Wing Cub. Besides the airfoil change, beefing up the attach points and spar web, a larger symmetrical aileron was designed with the "square" trailing edge. This aileron will have a 25% hinge point so control pressures should be fairly light even with the added area. Will put up some pics in the "projects" area. .................................................................................................................... So, here we are in a new year, 2019. Although some substantial progress has been made, just not as much as desired! A lot has been done on the CH 750, as the pics will show but slower than expected. The Plus Two's basic wing structure is done now, all trammeled up and ready to hang. I did end up going with a modified "short wing" version, 165" spars, for this first one. We're building another long wings .... 17' or 204" spars ..... at the same time. Next on the agenda is the flaps, ailerons and all the control linkages. Things are going slower than I wanted but life gets in the way sometimes and I do take on a project now and then to pay the bills and keep the "take back man" away! I'll put up a few more pictures. So, that kinda brings us up to date. More to come………. |
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Well, since the last "update", over 2 years ago, more has happened than I would have ever believed! It all kind started when a 10,000 square foot hangar became available across the street form my house at 1GA2. I had already been talking to contractors about adding on to the existing hangar at my house and selling my shop at the Newnan Airport. Not that I was really wanting to move or anything but I needed more room and liked the idea of getting my "stuff" in one pile since I am getting a little "long in the tooth".................. Not that I feeling my age or anything but the wife does have Starman Auctions on speed dial!
Not long before this Covid BS came along, we closed on both properties and I began the move and along with that, the renovations. The new property had a lot of interior framing done but nothing finished. So, it was a kinda self induced "lockdown" with all the work that had to be done! I spent most of my time thru 2020 and on into 2021 getting the previous owner out and finishing the already framed portions into the machine shop and graphics area. There is still a lot to do as far as renovations and modifications are concerned but I'll note more on that later...............
I haven't done much of anything on the Pacer Plus stretch project except for a little on the spoiler attach parts that attach it to the front spar. What HAS been done though is on the CH 750 project again. Scott took it and finished it up in the stock version. It is flying now and is a blast to fly. We are back talking about finishing the slatted wing for it as most of the major parts are already made. Before we were making the parts by hand, making a form to route out the parts on a router table and then hydroforming them on the press. NOW we have a CNC Router from CAMaster. This is going to be a big asset in making the sheet metal parts for all the airplane projects, especially if we get into making the CH 750 wings.
Along with all the other projects I have been able to get 3 or 4 Cub fuselages repaired or modified. Still getting parts out for D&E in Florida when Scot needs them. Also, have made several sets of struts for both long and short wing guys. The longest ones were a set for EA Structures building the "Bullet" in Canada .............some work on STC'd Super Pacers and another experimental stretched Pacer. My stretch has suffered and been just mostly gathering dust for the past 2 years, hope to change that soon.
2022 has been about the same as last year. There has been a lot of renovations and modifications of the new hangar. The Camaster has been getting a little more work. I now make the aileron ribs and brace wires for the Don Adamson's Pitts model 12 kits. I still repair and modify the Piper type fuselages, latest is another J3 to L4 modification ........................ Have been making quite a few aluminum strut packages for the "Bushmaster" and Stretched Pacer types.
If you don't live on a deserted island, most of you are aware of what's happened to our economy! We are waiting for or next supply of LS3 struts which had a lead time of almost 6 months. ............... supposed to have been in around the first week of August............... still not here.............. AND the price is almost 70% higher than the last run!! Sheet aluminum has basically doubled. I did get a couple thousand feet of 4130 tubing as the price was starting to escalate but aluminum was/is just few and far between. Sheet is pricey, basically doubled, but MOST is still available, not so much for aluminum plate and bar stock.
So, if you need something fabricated, please bear with me...................