A Handsome 1947 Piper Super Cruiser

pay tribute to aviation’s role in the pipeline patrol industry. “That Cub, N3286Z, belonged to Gleason Romans of Tulsa, Okla- homa, back in the early 1960s. It had the Gleason Romans Pipeline Patrol Company logo on it,” de- scribes Adams, “and a low oil pres- sure warning horn that would wake the dead—which was a good idea if The wing and cowling have been painted Tennessee Red. (The pipeline pa- trol Super Cub that Adams sold to his friend is in the background.) Updated avionics and radio were neatly combined with the original cream- faced instruments. NC2827M left the factory with this engine; total time now is 1,368.4. The Super Cruiser, looking brand new from nose to tail. PHOTOS COURTESY JIM ADAMS SPARKY BARNES SARGENT SPARKY BARNES SARGENT VINTAGE AIRPLANE 11 your nose was outside watching for pipeline leaks!” Adams intended to finish the PA-12, then restore the PA-18 so he would have two airplanes to rep- resent the role of pipeline patrol planes in aviation history. But he says he altered that plan when “a friend of mine, who had lost his hangar and Cessna 195 in a fire, came to me one day, and he said, ‘Jim, I want your Cub.’ I told him it wasn’t for sale, and a day later he owned it. So anyway, I got hold of Gleason Romans Jr., through a friend, and asked him if I could use his father’s company logo, and he said it was okay.” Romans’ Pipeline Patrol In 1944, Gleason Romans Sr. started a flying school and mainte- nance facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had five airplanes, which were making money only on the week- ends. “I had to make some money with them [during the week], so I conceived the idea to use the planes to patrol the pipelines.” He tested his idea in April 1945, when he hopped into his Piper J-3 Cub for his first trial pipeline pa- trol flight. Accompanying him was the chief engineer of Stanolind Oil and Gas Company, to help Romans determine the feasibility of aerial patrol for the pipelines. Both par- ties were pleased with the outcome, and the engineer was enthusiastic about this new aerial method of in- specting pipelines for oil leaks and encroaching vegetation. Romans then began cultivating his concept into a thriving business. His first patrol plane was a Taylor- craft L2M, which he modified with an extra fuel tank and an additional window in the cabin portion of the fuselage. As he acquired additional contracts with oil companies, he continued hiring pilots and buying patrol airplanes. This entrepreneur continually studied ways to enhance the effec- tiveness of his pipeline patrol, and he developed some innovative de- vices. One of his inventions was a mechanical, electrically stabilized aerial camera system. “ I b u i l t a c a m e r a a n d r a n a 5-inch-wide raw film across the slit. It photographed 240 miles of pipe- line on one roll of film as the aircraft flew over the pipeline. It was sort of phenomenal,” recalls Romans with a chuckle, “and the pipeline companies liked it. We had to syn- chronize the camera with the air- craft, so another person would use a view finder to regulate the speed of the film as the pilot flew patrol. We installed a gyro in it, and the camera was mounted in a gimbaled ring inside the airplane’s belly, so the camera stayed straight no mat- ter what the airplane did. The pilot flew at 2,000 feet AGL directly over the right-of-way to take the picture. That gave us a 1/2-mile width on the picture, which the pipeline compa- nies used to count houses along the right-of-way—if it was a congested area, or people lived too close to the line, the companies were required to reduce the pressure in it.” He also invented an electronic system to radio transmit operating data about ground-installed rectifier devices (used along pipeline routes to inhibit rusting of metal pipe cas- ings) from ground stations to over- flying pipeline patrol aircraft. When asked if he or his pilots ever discovered a major leak, Ro- The front cover of a Gleason Romans Pipe Line Patrol Company catalog, the logo and a photograph taken with the aerial camera system he invented. Right: Gleason Romans Pipe Line Patrol Company logo—note the mul- titasking bee peering through binoc- ulars to detect oil leaks, and the oil derrick in the background. Fuselage with fabric and metalized headliner. 12 SEPTEMBER 2011 mans chuckls and re- plies, “Oh yes, I was on standby in Tulsa to fly emergency pa- t r o l f l i g h t s . T h e y called me to go out and find something wrong with a pipeline. So I set sail in a J-3 Cub, flying south over this pipe- line. I came to the top of a little hill, and I could see that down below, it was solid black. So I went back and called them, and they sent a crew down there, and I went with them. It was a total black swamp, with oil inches thick, and we took boots and waded in there to stop the leak. I was smoking cigarettes at that time, and I started to light a cigarette, and there was dead silence,” he recalls, laugh- ing and explaining. “That caught my attention, and I didn’t light up. If I’d lit up we’d all been gone! The gas cloud over the oil would have exploded.” Pilots sometimes encountered an- other problem while patrolling. “We had a lot of liability problems with tur- keys,” recalls Romans. “They’d fly one way and then the other [in front of us], as we flew over [the line]. But cat- tle would get accustomed to us; they wouldn’t run from us as we patrolled at about 500 feet. You can tell more about what you’re looking at from 500 feet, or as close as we could get without it blurring with the naked eye.” At the height of Romans’s busi- ness, he had 21 airplanes flying from at least eight locations coast to coast and from the Gulf of Mexico to Can- ada, serving about 30 oil compa- nies. By the late 1950s, his aircraft had flown more than 1 million miles on contract pipeline patrol flights, and his business continued into the 1980s. Romans was active in various facets of the aviation industry up un- til his death and received the FAA’s Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award and the Wright Brothers Mas- ter Pilot Award in 2005. He passed away on August 25, 2006, at the age of 93. [The preceding information was obtained by the author during a personal interview with Gleason Ro- mans in May 2006 for her article that appeared in The Southern Aviator, Sep- tember, 2006.] Modifications If Romans were here today to see the PA-12 that Adams has config- ured to honor the pipeline patrol, he would likely be quite pleased with Adams’ interest and efforts to pro- mote awareness of this unique facet of aviation history. The Super Cruiser was Adams’s first restoration project, and with the help of two A&Ps—Lovell Pull- iam and Harry Pick—he included nu- merous modifications to the airframe and engine. “We increased visibility by putting a pipeline patrol window in a seaplane door, which replaced the original door; installing a skylight and diagonal cross-brace in the cabin overhead; and extending the rear windows by 16 inches. I’m sure they would have done that for pipeline pa- trol; Romans was pretty safety con- scious. And I think they would have put the ’47 square windshield in it, like we did, because the ’46 had a lit- tle round windshield, and man, that’s right where you want visibility. We also installed micro vortex generators and strobes on the wingtips and belly. I just used the things I thought they’d use for safety, while having a little fun with it and honoring them.” Additional modifications were made in the engine room, and for the fuel and electrical system. “We in- stalled a new stainless steel firewall, boot cowl, and converted the engine to an O-235-C1, which gives it an ad- ditional 15 hp. And we went with an alternator, rather than a generator, along with an entire new electrical sys- tem and a new circuit breaker panel,” Adams details, adding, “we revamped the fuel system to a PA-18 system and installed a Piper Pacer ‘left – right – off’ fuel selector valve. We also put in a PA-18 trim system, because the PA-12 trim was notori- ous for having a cable slipping—the double cable of the PA-18 sys- tem cured that.” O n e g l a n c e i n - side the cabin reveals even more customized features. The updated avionics and radio neatly combine with the original cream- faced instruments, giving the panel a nostalgic yet modern appearance. “It could be the only PA-12 with color weather radar,” chuckles Ad- ams, explaining, “I have the Air- Gizmos Box, a Garmin 396 and XM Weather.” Cabin enhancements in- clude new plywood floor panels, an Airtex interior, and inertia reel shoul- der harnesses. A metalized headliner, finished in plain polyurethane primer gray, matches the interior. After installing new aluminum ribs and stringers, as well as a wing flap kit, Adams tackled the fabric in- stallation. “I’m so impressed with the Superflite System VI,” he com- ments, explaining, “it’s so simple. I’ve never covered or painted any- thing in my life, and I’m proud of the way it turned out. I used an HVLP for painting, and it’s just easy to do, and easy to repair. I found out real quick how easy it was to repair. My buddy was using a ratchet screw- driver, which is like a lawn dart, and it slipped out of his hand and went right through the gear. Two hours later, I had attached the fabric patch and repainted it with an airbrush. I couldn’t believe it went that well.” Adams’ Piper Patrol Smiling happily, Adams declares that one unexpected reward gleaned from the PA-12’s restoration is that “now my wife, Sandy, loves to go fly- ing with me!” As for future plans for the airplane, this proud owner/re- storer says, “I’ll fly it to Sentimental Journey in Lock Haven and other fly- ins, and wherever I go, I’ll be honor- ing the pipeline patrol. I just love the freedom of it, and I can go out and fly it all day long and not feel guilty— because it doesn’t burn a lot of fuel. I plan to keep it forever!” MIKE STEINEKE