HEATH STORIES 2 Supplement #1 HEATH STORIES #49 Originally written for the KIT BUILDERS JOURNAL from the design notes for this MI-104 kit project. THE THERMOSPOTTER STORY In 1970 a 12-page booklet on "Fishing the Great Lakes for Salmon and Trout" by Stan Lievense, of the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources, spelled out that various kinds of fish prefer certain water temperatures. Various manufacturers offered thermometers with long wires to find at what depth the desired temperatures were located. Articles described that often the temperature in a lake drops slowly from the surface to a certain depth, after that decreases rapidly in a zone called the Thermocline, and then again slowly falls to the lowest temperature at the bottom. The best fishing was claimed to be in or near the Thermocline. We felt that such a device to find the Thermocline would make a good kit project for our fisherman-customers, and we dug into the project in the fall of '70. Ouickly we defined the problem areas, which included the cable, the reeling system, the sensor, the temperature read-out and the mechanical layout. It was soon obvious that the size of the reel for the 100 feet of cable would depend largely on the size of the wire. Fortunately both voltage and current would be low, but the insulation should withstand both fresh and salt water, as well as the flexing and abrasion expected. Among the many calls to wire makers one was memorable. The sales manager put the chief engineer on the line, who felt that .062 dia was no problem. Neither was the water or abrasion. But when he heard "2-conductors", he suddenly bowed out and said loudly: "Impossible"! Lucky for us another vendor "rose to the bait" and supplied us with the needed cable for many years. Our chief engineer, Larry Grover, mentioned an over-priced bigreel downrigger at a sporting store and proposed equipping such a device with a temperature indicator. But it was felt that the market for it would be too small. Talked to a mechanical engineer, Horst Krenz, who expressed great interest in the project. He proposed to let the cable be the fishing line with a single conductor, and have the water form the return path for the circuit. I countered with the thought of a sensor in or near the bait, self-powered and radiating a fleapower signal to indicate the temperatures'. Maybe not impossible, but so complex that it wouldn't be ready by next spring's fishing season. So we settled for the simple approach. The next problem was the contact between the sensor cable on the reel and the meter circuit. Slip rings were considered, but Larry had a wild suggestion: Put the meter circuit inside the reel! Its utter simplicity of doing away with the need for slip rings soon overcame the objections and that is how the kit went finally into production. For the circuit we followed the trend of the other units on the market - a simple bridge circuit with a thermistor sensor. We did have a choice between balancing the bridge using a null-indicator and reading the temperature from a knob, or letting a meter scale indicate the unbalance directly in temperature. We chose the latter. The circuit was powered by an AA cell. A push-to-read switch kept the battery drain to a minimum. To make sure that we had made the best choice, many calculations and tests were performed, and a thermistor vendor was consulted. He was aghast at hearing of the thermistor being dunked in ice water during our tests! The water shunts it and lowers its resistance! Soon the testing was done with some calculated resistor values. Final testing was done with the sensor safely potted. Meanwhile Horst had worked out the mechanical design concept and reported the space available for meter, battery and circuit. Not much, for it had to be inside the reel, but large enough. Soon we got a model shop sample, which was admired. My clamor for giving the customer the option of winding direction was in vain. Various proposals to show the depth (of the Thermocline for instance) were turned down and we settled for the simplest solution of letting the customer mark the cable at 10 foot intervals. One feature developed and discussed was a Bait Release. It would hold the fishing line near the bait to this device on the sensor. After lowering both together to the desired temperature, a quick tug on the sensor cable would release the line and the bait at that depth. Then the sensor could be reeled in again. Some felt it novel enough to start a patent application, but nothing came of it in the end. Larry worried about the adverse effect on accuracy as the battery voltage drops. I came up with a not-too-complex scheme on paper, but it needed an extra control and switch on the panel. Thus I proposed a simple model without it for release next spring, and a de-luxe model for the following year. That was accepted, but we never made the de-luxe model By now we were nearly two months into the project. We had samples of the custom-built cable and were making tests for strength, flexibility, abrasion, and ways of putting on the 10 ft markings. We got enthusiastic support from Stan Lievense, who was eager to increase the catches of all fishermen. Considerable experimental effort was spent on the sensor/cable configuration to get it strong, waterproof and with a minimum of thermal lag. Larry made a sketch to give to potential vendors of the sensor/cable assembly, if we didn't let the customer do it. Just before Christmas Stan Lievense came to look at our first prototype and his comments brought some important changes. Thus, mechanically a front bearing, consisting of 3 rollers around the rim, was adopted. But the most important change was Horst's idea of letting the cable exit through the handle! The result of such changes was a slipped schedule of a couple of months, starting with Manual Transfer from late December to early February, and Shipping from May to September. Then by mid-February some key people, including Product Line Manager Joe Shafer, had a change of heart and demanded other features and revisions. Horst was sick that day and he was shocked when he returned. Soon he mustered all his supporting arguments for his mechanical design and sold them with such conviction up the line, that only minor changes were made. But Manual Transfer moved to mid-March. The manual writer, Bill Mathews, had already contributed several significant ideas, such as a large single folded sheet for the assembly instructions and a shirt pocket sized manual booklet on the operation, printed on waterproof paper. That reflected his enthusiasm for the project. In late March Horst proposed a field test off the North pier and Bill joined us. It was below freezing, and the two protos showed below 32 in the air and 33 to 39 in the water. On the way back we stopped by the bridge over the river and walked onto the main span. We let the sensor down with a 3 oz weight attached on the downwind side. A long ways down to the water! Dropped it to the bottom and found the temperature there in the mid-30's. It took 88 turns of the crank to reel it back in. Surprising how little water adhered to the cable, and practically nothing was carried into the reel housing. Shivering we returned to the comfort of the car and felt we had enough fresh air, not only for the day, but for at least a week! Horst was pleased that his mechanical design worked out so well in practice, and Bill found the practical experience added to his understanding, so he was even better prepared to write the manual. In April we ran tests on the sensors in salt water at 50 and 60 lbs pressure to check for leakage by monitoring the resistance. They passed with flying colors! Also started field testing by a fisherman-coworker. The reports were favorable. But field tests by outsiders had to wait till proofbuild in late June. The proofbuilding was carefully managed by Ron Nelson during my vacation absence. As a result, there had to be a number of minor changes made in tooling, parts and manual. The field testing did prove a good design and gave valuable feedback. The next two months saw an endless stream of minor changes, all under great pressure to meet the target dates. But the line proof was completed by the end of September and shipping began, just a year after I got the project assigned. Much of the credit for getting it to this point belongs to Horst Krenz and Bill Mathews. But a multitude of others, both inside and outside the company (vendors, fishermen), gave unstintedly of their support. Bjorn Heyning llNov87 Also in my files was a copy of a 1974 Registration card from the E.& J.Gallo Winery for a ThermoSpotter. We wondered if they were going to use it to monitor the temperature in the aging tanks for their wines. A year or so later Horst Krenz got his first patent at Heath for the mechanical design of this kit, and he has gotten many other patents since then for his innovative work at Heath and ZDS. Horst also put his sample to good use for many years, such as to to check the temperature of the lake before going swimming, and similar non-fishing applications. Horst referred to the design shape of the kit as the "Pork chop"! HEATH STORIES #50 A MEMORY ABOUT HEATH COMPANY It was in the spring of 1951 when I was asked to join the Heath Company as Purchasing Agent. I had spent 20 years with Remington Rand, first in Kalamazoo, then transferred to their Benton Harbor plant in 1932. Having worked with Curley Knapp and inheriting Ann Klemm as my secretary made the move to Heath easier. I had known both Curley and Ann since 1932. However, the switch from buying material for loose leaf binders to electronic components was a horse of a different color! Things went well, with help from friendly Heath people, but the astounding growth soon made it necessary to have some additional help. So I recruited an old friend and colleague, Ellis Grear from Remington. This caused a temporary move into a hastily built odd-shaped office for Purchasing just inside the factory area. In fact, so long and narrow that Grear and I could not get up at the same time. The three of us, Grear, Klemm and Swander, learned to cope pretty well, but a few weeks later, during the night, there was a heavy rainstorm. On arriving at work the next day we found our overloaded desktops completely soaked. Yes, the roof was soon repaired. Going on to March of 1954, Howard had invited Biorn Heyning, Ellis Grear and me to fly with him and his pilot Larry to attend the New York Electronic show, then called the IRE show. Of course we flew in the company Aero Commander. On the appointed day we all boarded in a holiday mood. Everything went well at our prescribed altitude with Larry as the pilot and Howard as co-pilot. Then somewhere east of Cleveland we began to hear continuous "pings" against the fuselage. Of course it was ice particles coming off the props, which were the only parts of the plane with de-icing. We three passengers in back heard Larry radio for permission to go to a higher elevation to avoid the freezing. Permission granted. A short time later I lit a cigarette and, after one drag, I immediately put it out something was wrong with me! Quickly thinking - no pressurization - short of oxygen! How come no one else is getting sick? I asked for a sick sack. Sorry, there is none. So I'm doing my best to control the very strong urge to vomit. During all this my Jackass so-called passenger friends are unaffected and having a ball commenting on the lovely shades of color I was turning. I never did vomit, but later thought I should have let it fly. It would have served my tormentors right! Before too long, after passing the freezing area, we came down to the original elevation and I was feeling better. By the time we landed in Newark I was back to normal. Howard was very upset that I had felt so bad and had nearly passed out. He kept apologizing and saying he was going to buy a safer plane with a pressurized cabin and full de-icing. When our stay at the show was over, it was back to Newark and the Aero Commander. There we found the weather reports for the west were bad and Howard decided we would fly to Boston, stay all night, and hopefully return home the next morning. It was an uneventful flight to Boston. We checked into a hotel, freshened up, and then Howard announced that we were going to have dinner at the old Boston Oyster House. The restaurant claimed that Washington had eaten there. This sounded like fun. The place looked like it was 200 or more years old. Maybe old George did eat there once. Our group of five went into the restaurant, with its unique old atmosphere and furnishings. We were seated and presented with appropriate menus, which brought on a lively discussion of what is the best thing to eat in this nice, old place. Howard then asked if any of us had ever eaten steamed clams. As I remember, none of us had. Our waitress was a pleasant grey-haired grandmother type. Howard ordered the steamed clams for all as a prelude to the rest of our dinner. The clams finally came and grandma asked if we knew how to crack them. Howard spoke up, saying: "Of course I do". Grandma smiled, but didn't leave, merely stepping back a couple of feet. Howard did not appreciate that and visibly showed it. Then he started to crack a clam shell and grandma stepped in, saying: "Just as I thought, you don't know how to do it". Our red-faced boss admitted that she was the better teacher, but he took it in the best of good humor. We all had a good laugh after grandma left. Howard did show us how, after cracking, you pick up a clam with a fancy little fork. Then the clam is dipped in a dish of hot water to rinse the sand off the edible part. Then dip in a sauce and enjoy! Next morning was clear and bright, so we headed for home. Howard still worrying about me and I kept telling him: "I'm fine". Sometime in the early summer of 1954 Howard called me into his office and advised me that he was buying a de Havilland Dove and there would be no more problems like I had experienced. Sometime later the salesman-pilot, our pilot Larry, Howard's friends Brownie and wife and Gordon Paxson, and Howard took off for Florida on the acceptance flight for the Dove. June and I were out to Grear's home when the saddening news came that the plane had crashed in a violent storm over Tennessee and all aboard were killed. For some time I carried the guilt-feeling that the tragedy was my fault. If I had not gotten sick, Howard would still be alive. It took some time, after discussions with family and friends, before I could dispel the guilt feeling. Bob Swander 21 Mar 88 HEATH STORIES #51 MY "MOST FORGETTABLE" STORY Looking back over my nearly fifteen years as a design engineer at Heath, the episode that stands out strongest in my mind concerns a project I was given that in some ways I would just as well forget. Yet, in the end, it is a story of how even a dog of a project can ultimately bring a sense of supreme satisfaction. Some details have become a little fuzzy with time, but I'll relate the story to the best of my recollection. I joined the Amateur Radio Group at Heath in l973, hired by the Chief Engineer of that group, Larry Houghton. It was a dream-come-true; I had been a Heathkit fan since the late '505, when I first became interested in Amateur Radio. Now I would be designing products similar to those I had become so fond of building and using over the years. Heath was probably known more widely for its large 'Ham' product line than any other in those days. Our offerings were all designed in-house, and covered nearly every aspect of the hobby. The group consisted of about a dozen engineers and technicians, and all worked well together as a team. One of the team was Mike Elliott, a talented RF engineer. His last project, before being promoted to Chief when Larry moved on to pursue other interests, was Heath's first synthesized two meter transceiver, the HW-2026. The HW-2026 design was considered complete when Mike asked me to see it through the rest of the system and into production, as he took on his new responsibilities. Frequency synthesis was reasonably new to the ham market, and engineers new to the techniques involved in phase-locked loop design were not always aware of pitfalls that could cause a seemingly good circuit to produce spurious signals. Engineering and Evaluation both realized that there were a number of frequencies on which spurious signals, or 'birdies' could be heard on the radio, and that the transmitter output was also somewhat 'dirty' on some frequencies. But with 800 channels to choose from, the number of bad ones didn't seem significant. The HW-2026 was enthusiastically accepted by the ham radio community. It was reasonably small (the same size as the very popular crystal-controlled HW-202 which preceded it), and attractively priced. As the number of HW-2026s on the air increased, however, complaints began coming in from customers in the more highly populated areas of the country. The common complaint was that repeaters (relay stations set up to extend the range of communications) were getting accessed by the spurious outputs of the HW-2026's transmitter. Heath took data on a number of units, and determined that, with few exceptions, the spurious signals were within the limits set by the FCC. As it soon became apparent, those limits just weren't good enough. Before we realized that though, Heath went so far as to fly Mike, Joe Shafer, Claude Meyer and me to a complaintant's home in Cleveland with a spectrum analyzer and other test equipment to prove to him that his radio was within specs, and that it was just unfortunate that he lived in such a bad location. We even managed to convince him, if not ourselves; as we listened to a local repeater on the way back to the airport, we heard him telling his buddies that there was nothing wrong with the radio. Finally, though, Heath realized that we did, indeed, have a problem, and I spent several weeks trying various approaches to suppress the spurious signals without a major redesign. While some improvement could be made, it wasn't enough, and Heath instituted a total recall of the transceivers. Many hams in less-populated areas were having no problems, and didn't want to part with their units, but Heath did their best to see that all were returned. As I recall, customers were compensated for their time spent building the radios in addition to a full refund of the purchase' price. In spite of that embarrassing recall, most customers admired Heath for admitting their problem, and taking responsible action to correct it. Rich Renken and I were given the job of designing the successor, the HW-2036. In hopes of not losing our original market to another manufacturer, we wanted to accomplish the job as quickly as possible, but there was much concern in Management that we not repeat our mistake by being too hasty. Many of the customers were willing to wait for the replacement, knowing it would have to be a winner (it was). Thus it was that, when Rich and I felt that the new transceiver was ready, Evaluation did their best to prove us wrong. While the radio sounded good, and looked good on the test equipment, they were not going to be easily convinced. Further tests were made in the most notoriously 'RF-saturated' part of the country, the San Francisco Bay area. Testing there was accomplished with the aid of Howard Nurse, son of then Heath President Dave Nurse. After performing admirably in what local hams had dubbed 'RF Alley', the HW-2036 was still not blessed. Several prototypes were sent home with employees for field testing, and anything that looked the least bit suspicious was carefully (and in some cases, fanatically) scrutinized. One of the discoveries that sent up a red flag was made by Doug Wise. From his home, which was line of sight to the South Bend TV towers, he happened to notice that, on one particular frequency, if he held the radio just so, he could faintly pick up audio from one of the TV stations. Thus began a serious effort to find a cure for what was not really a problem at all. (Once the frequency mix that caused the condition was calculated, we found that other manufacturers' transceivers were also susceptible to TV audio reception.) The obvious place to look for a cure was Doug's home, where we spent a day doing research, punctuated with dips in his swimming pool and snacking on sweet corn from his garden. Eventually a small, if unnecessary, improvement was made. By the time that everyone was finally satisfied, I for one was burnt out on the project, and ready to move on to something else. (Some of the other events that occurred during this time are best forgotten.) It was nearing Christmas time, and Bob Fernau, another of the engineers in the ham group, invited the bunch of us over to his recently-completed home for a party. Sometime during the evening, as I was enjoying a blazing fire in the fireplace, another of the engineers, Bob Knapp, brought me a gift-wrapped box. It was a bit of a surprise, as no one was exchanging gifts that evening. I opened the box to find one of the prototype HW-2036 transceivers. Bob knew I already had a proofbuild unit, so I couldn't understand why he was giving me another, or where he had gotten it. A couple of seconds later it all made sense. Bob Fernau brought from behind his back a large axe, handed me my coat, and led me out to the driveway, where a chopping block was waiting. I was about to get revenge! I didn't realize how seriously I took the chance to symbolically get even with those people and events that had made the last couple of months so forgettable until I saw some of the pictures that were taken. The look on my face as I brought the axe down, and the condition of the radio when I was finished said it all. Look at the last picture in the sequence. As I said before, even a dog of a project can, in the end, bring a smile of satisfaction Terry Perdue 10 July 88 HEATH STORIES #52 THREE YEARS AS A HEATH CONSULTANT In the fall of 1951, a former associate of mine, Walther Buhl, called me to say that he was living in St Joseph, Michigan and that he had met and was working with a Howard Anthony, who owned the HEATH Company. Walter said that Howard had asked him if he knew someone who might be able to design a Q-Meter that could be sold in kit form, and for some reason Walter gave him my name. Howard asked Walter to contact me and arrange for me to visit the plant in Benton Harbor. At the time I was in charge of an electronics design section at an aircraft company in Akron, Ohio and living on the outskirts of Cleveland. The 70 mile round-trip every day, plus the fact that I had never tried design consulting before, made me less than anxious to become involved. But Walter insisted that if I talked to Howard, I would do business with him and that I would enjoy working with him. Reluctantly, and with some misgivings, I finally agreed to fly to South Bend one weekend, where someone would meet me and take me to Benton Harbor. The day was Saturday, November 3, 1951. It was snowing lightly when I boarded the old DC3 in Cleveland. I don't remember who met me in South Bend, but we got to Benton Harbor safely and there I met with Howard. He explained what he wanted in the way of a Q-Meter and said that if the project was successful, there would be more. He mentioned a laboratory signal generator specifically. As Walter had promised, I liked Howard from the start. He was one of the most energetic people I had ever met. We had an informative conversation about the kit business and how it got started. I'll try to relate my recollection of what he said. First of all he said he had gotten the company through some kind of a tax sale a number of years earlier and had gotten into the electronics business during the war, when he had a contract with the Signal Corps (I think he said). At any rate he enjoyed putting electronics gear together and reasoned that others would also enjoy doing the same. He mentioned that several advisors at the time told him that such a venture was crazy and that he would lose his shirt. The numbers he gave me that day were that the company did a million dollars worth of business the first year of selling kits (1948 I believe), two million the second year, three million the third, and he expected to do roughly five million in 1952. My recollection is that he told me that his favorite kit was the VTVM and that as long as he was around, the company would keep on selling it. I asked him about getting into the TY business and again my recollection is that he wanted no part of it. Howard told me that one of the big advantages of the kit business is that patent laws did not cover kits so you didn't have to worry about infringement suits. We set up tentative goals for the Q-Meter on a feasibility basis. The frequency range desired was from 160 kcs to 30 Mcs (note megacycles back then) if possible. It should be able to measure Q's up to 250 or 500 within 10% or better, and it should be able to sell for $69.50 or less. I asked how to determine the price, and as I recall, he said just add up the cost of the parts used as if you were to buy them out of the Allied Radio catalog, and that will be 80% of the price we can sell for. He said that he would buy parts in large enough quantities so that there would be enough difference to pay for the relatively small cost of labor to package the parts into a kit for shipment to the customer. As the last item on the agenda he said he would pay me $5.00 per hour for my work and would provide all the parts I needed to fabricate a working model, that would in turn be turned into a marketable kit by experts like Bjorn Heyning. We wound up the day with a short trip through the factory and then I took off for Cleveland and my first venture into kit design. By November 24, 1951 I submitted my first development report to Howard with an analysis of what might be expected in the way of performance and some suggestions as to what course to follow. Through Walter Buhl, who was in the process of developing the GD-1 Grid Dip Meter for Howard, I was advised to proceed with the construction of two feasibility models of the Q-Meter for which parts were being shipped. After receiving the parts early in December, I spent nearly all my spare time constructing, calibrating and testing the first model. Having no previous guide lines to judge how efficient I was being, I began to worry that the whole project was getting too expensive, so I wrote to Howard explaining where I stood and presented a list of four suggestions for proceeding, including one that expressed my concern that maybe not enough progress had been made for the money invested. Within just a few days I received a reply from Bjorn saying that Howard was pleased with the progress and that he had no intention of scrapping it. I felt better; after all, $5.00 per hour was good money in 1951! On March 29, 1952 I finished the final report on the project and sent it off to Howard. Several days later I received a letter asking if I could be in Benton Harbor on April 12th to meet with Bjorn Heyning to discuss the layout and fabrication of the kit. Since April 12th was Easter, I asked if we could make it April 19th instead. Howard agreed. At this point in time I felt pretty well burned out, what with driving 70 miles a day through lots of snow and rain to get to and from my regular job and then spending practically all of my spare time on the Q-Meter. I suspected from previous hints that Howard was going to try to talk me into working on the signal generator, but I was prepared: I needed to paint the house in the next few months and wouldn't have time! Little did I know how persuasive Howard could be. Since I had some equipment I needed to return to HEATH anyway, I asked Howard if it would be all right to drive up from Cleveland. He said OK and so I started out at about 5:30 A.M. and got to the factory at about noon. Howard was waiting for me, but Bjorn was not available that day. I asked Howard how the Q-Meter was doing and he said, "Fine. I want to talk about your next project." I was ready and said, "Howard, I really can't do another project right now. I need to paint my house." Howard didn't even hesitate in answering, "Oh, you don't need to do that. I'll raise your fee to $7.50 an hour and you can hire a painter, while you are doing something you like to do." With that he reached under his desk and pulled out a box of parts he had selected for me to get started on the labaratory signal generator. How can you argue with that kind of logic? After discussing the goals for the next project, we went out to his home to pick up a piece of equipment for the next project. My main recollection was that it was obviously a Frank Lloyd Wright design and that there were a number of electronic instruments sitting on the floor of the master bedroom. I got home a little after 11 P.M. that night after driving a total of 618 miles! I never saw Howard again, though I talked to him on the phone a number of times and exchanged several letters. My part of what became the LG-1 was completed on July 25, 1952. The painter had also finished. I did two more projects for Howard, but they never reached the production stage. On April 16, 1954 I received a surprise call from Howard at my place of employment. He wanted me to help with the analog computer being developed at that time. I told him that that might pose a problem, because the company was involved in the development of analog computers and related equipment. I talked with my boss, with whom I had cleared my previous involvement with HEATH, but this time he ventured that while the company had no interest in electronic instruments, it had a definite interest in computers. I related this information to Howard, who then asked if I would mind talking to George Zindler at least for one afternoon about what I knew about analog computers. I agreed, as long as we stayed clear of any proprietary information. So it came about that I spent a very enjoyable afternoon with George talking about analog computers, just as Howard said I would. I wrote my last letter to Howard on April 26, 1954. My contacts with HEATH faded away after Howard died, but he is one person I'll always remember fondly. Carl A. Helber July 1988 Postscript: This story from Carl Helber came about through his contact this year with Terry Perdue, who mentioned it to me. I promptly wrote to Carl and lent him copies of the Heath Stories. His reaction was very prompt, for he did not want to return the Stories! In his cover letter he remarked, among other things: The last mention of the QM-1 is in the 1958 Flyer, but the IG-42 and the IG-5242 look like revisions of the LG-1. Is this correct? The last mention of the IG-5242 I saw was in a 198o catalog. Incidentally, I still have the old progress reports I wrote for Howard. What I am submitting for possible inclusion in HEATH STORIES is a story of my association with Howard in the early fifties. I only met him face to face twice, but he is a person I shall never forget. PS. I fired up my QM-1 this morning to check it out. Mind you, I can't recall ever opening it up, after I assembled it back in December of 1953! I use it perhaps several times a year for various purposes. The frequency calibration had drifted off several percent, but the Q of the test coil was exactly 110, as it was when I first calibrated the instrument, almost 35 years ago! I still have somewhere between 20 and 30 HEATHKITS, many left over from my electronics business, which I started in 1964 and ran until I retired in 1983. People visiting my plant used to ask, "How come you have so many HEATHKITS?". My answer was, "Because they work!". B.H. Aug 88 HEATH STORIS #53 (Note: The following paragraph is in italics. --Bill Wilkinson) A search of the Year in Review in the last issue of the year of the News-Palladium for 1946 showed no listing of Heath among the local industries. It did carry a story about the local airport: (End of italics --ww) 114 ACRE AREA From about 40 acres in the beginning, Ross field has grown to 114 acres. New access routes, an administration building, increased hangar facilities and shops are scheduled for the future. Elaborate plans have been prepared subject to revision as requirements specify. Nineteen forty six saw complete field drainage and the completion of the paving of three runways with hard-surfaced bituminous gravel with a surface stress equal to 32,000 pound per square foot. This is sufficient for the larger commercial aircraft. The north-south runway is 3,200 feet long. The east-west runway is 3,600 feet and the northwest-southeast runway 3,750 feet. Each paved runway is 100 feet wide. Byron Cookson is the field's efficient and progressive manager. He has served in that capacity for six and a half years and has as his able assistant A.H.Landon, who has held that job for five and a half years. At this time 37 aircraft, ranging from 65 to 650 horsepower, are based on Ross Field. Of this total 28 are privately owned ships, as compared with only nine in 1939. Annual gasoline consumption has soared from 1,200 gallons in 1939 to 45,000 gallons in 1946. Ross Field now has 10 hangars with accomodations for 31 aircraft with full facilities for major and minor repairs and radio upkeep. The field has two instructors rated to give flight examinations, and six instructors on the field who are licensed up to private instruction. In 1946, Mr.Cookson reports, 580 transient planes were registered including planes from every state, one from Alaska and two from Canada. YES, WE HAVE BANANAS! The year also saw the first real strides toward the use of large aircraft for fast transportation of machinery and fruit products. C-47 freighters of the GI Mutual Aviation company of Brownsville, Tex. opened a new era of local aviation by bringing here 21,000 pounds of bananas and taking out 56,000 pounds of Michigan fruit in 11 trips to and from the southwest. The concern plans to greatly increase this service in 1947. More and more commercial firms also took advantage of commercial flying and O.W.Dean instituted the first flying ambulance service in western Michigan. During the year four "Dawn Patrols" comprising 30 pilots and passengers included Ross Field in their four-state itineraries. These events are sponsored by the Twin Cities Flying Club, an outgrowth of the Civil Air Patrol of World War II days. FLYING SCHOOL GROWS The Twin Cities Flying Service, owned and operated by Chet and Bert Groh, took the lead in flying instruction at the local airport during the past year. Organizing a flying school for veterans under the GI bill of rights early in the season, over half a hundred former servicemen have received both flying and ground school instruction and have received their private pilot licenses. The school also includes advanced twin-engine instruction, using a two-motored Cessna T-50 for instruction. The plane is also used for charter hops. The Groh brothers expect an expansion of their GI program in 1947 and in flying in general. In conjunction with the Twin Cities Flying Service, Jack Hamilton and Louis Schultz, both veterans, have established a modern aircraft and engine maintenance and repair service. TRAINING FOR EX-GI'S J.P. (Porky) Harvey, pioneer local aviation enthusiast and skilled pilot, has organized a new concern at Ross Field named the Midwest Aviation company. Harvey has received government approval for a second GI flying school, training World War II veterans to fly, and will shortly swing into full operation. Harvey has three new Cessna 140 training planes on order in addition two he two he already has on the field, and Arthur Freier, local pilot who learned to fly here and who spent three years in the Pacific as a naval aviator, will be the instructor. The Farrell Flying Service also has plans for expanding their facilities during the coming year, with a new training program and plane service and maintenance shops. Another phase of flying which has come into being in the last year, which will continue for some months, at the local airport, is the conversion of surplus army and navy planes for civilian use. Howard Anthony, head of the Heath company, has converted several Cessna T-50's for local airmen, and will continue until the sale of the surplus aircraft is discontinued by the government. As more and more persons take up aviation, and as plane producers step up their output of aircraft, a widening market is seen here. Almon Taber and Vern Shoff are associated in a dealership for the fast, two-place Swift, and Louis Patton had the franchise for both Aeronca and the Republic Seabee, the latter an Amphibian. The Groh brothers are the distributors for the Ercoupe, a popular spin-proof plane and for the Trimmer amphibian, shortly to be produced, while the Farrell service are the distributors for the popular Piper Cubs. Harvey is the local agent for the Cessna planes. As a result, Ross Field is the center of southwestern Michigan in flying instruction and plane sales and the future here is anything but dark. Copied by B.Heyning 15 Oct 88 (The following story is Heath Stories #54, though it wasn't labeled as such in my paper copy. The only indication is that the page number in the upper right corner is "HS 54-1," which was Bjorn's way of identifying which page went where. --Bill Wilkinson) (Note: The following paragraph is in italics. --Bill Wilkinson) From the EAA EXPERIMENTER, September 1998, in the section headed "LiGHT PLANE HERITAGE": (End of italicized sentence. --ww) EVOLUTION OF THE HEATH PARASOL by George A. Hardie, Jr. Continuing our series on the evolution of the Heath Parasol, the LN models were the last of the breed, a further refinement of the original design. After the death of Ed Heath in an accident in February of 1931, the company was reorganized and moved to Niles, Michigan. Charles Morris became the chief engineer. At this time the government regulations pertaining to unlicensed aircraft were being enforced, thus affecting the homebuilt Parasols, so it was decided to update the Parasol to obtain an Approved Type Certificate. Morris increased the wingspan to 31 feet, 3 inches and included full span ailerons. The fuselage was made deeper at the cockpit, landing gear was revised and larger tail surfaces were added. The new model was designated the LNB-4, indicating the power was the Heath B-4 engine. It was billed as "the improved Parasol" in advertising. Approved Type Certificate No. 456 was granted for the LNB-4 on December 16, 1931. Not only did this apply to the factory-built examples, but airplanes completed from kits with the work being periodically examined by a government inspector were eligible for license. The kit less engine sold for $399.00 F.O.B. Niles, plus a crating charge of $5.00. This was later lowered to $269.00 plus crating. ~ knock-down kit of factory made parts, except engine and propeller, was available for $549.00 plus $16.00 crating charge. The Heath B-4 engine cost $300.00. The factory-built complete airplane was available for $1074.00 flyaway, Niles, later lowered to $925.00. The performance with the 25 hp Heath B-4 engine was not appealing to many buyers, so the new Continental A-40 engine rated at 37 hp was offered in a new model designated the LNA-40. Approved Type Certificate No. 487 for this model was granted on June 3, 1932. The A-40 engine sold for $540.00 and the complete LNA-40 was available flyaway Niles for $1324.00. Later the price was lowered to $1095.00. Gary Rudolph of Vincennes, Indiana brought his restored LNA-40 to the 1985 EAA Convention and copped the Outstanding Antique award. A parallel development to the LNA-40 was the Center Wing Heath designated the CNA-40. The construction was similar to the Parasol except the wings were fastened to the upper fuselage longerons and the N-struts braced below the wings. Approved Type Certificate No. 495 for this model was granted on October 27, 1932. Three of these models were flown in the 1933 Century of Progress in Chicago for introduction to the public. The CNA-40 was available for $1095.00 flyaway Niles. It is impossible to calculate how many LN and CN models were built. The company was reorganized again in 1933 and became International Aircraft Corporation. Business continued to decline and in 1935 it was declared bankrupt. Sold at auction to Howard Anthony, it became the Heath Aviation Company and was moved to Benton Harbor, Michigan. After World War II, Anthony started his very profitable, well-known, Heathkit business. Many Heaths, both restored and homebuilt, are still flying. Some years ago EAA acquired the rights to the LN plans and sold them. A Heath Type Club is in operation; if you're interested, contact Bill Gchlapman, 6431 Paulson Road, Winneconne, WI 54906. Copied by B. Heyning 27Jan89 (Note: The following paragraph is in italics --Bill Wilkinson) This article was suggested by Bill Johnson for inclusion in the Heath Stories on 26Nov88, and Klaas Meijer, EAA member contacted the EAA about permission to reprint. No permission was needed, as long as the source was clearly shown (End of italics. --ww) (A picture of the new, improved Heath Parasol follows this text. See it in the Index of Pictures for this supplement. --Bill Wilkinson)