N.H. member's efforts help land Coastal Patrol plane in WWII museum

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(Top)
The Stinson 10A before restoration.

(Bottom)
Members of the crew that helped work on the restored Stinson post with the plane before its arrival at the World War II Victory Museum.


Maj. Penny H. Hardy
Public Affairs Officer
New Hampshire Wing

When visitors walk into the National Military History Center’s World War II Victory Museum in Auburn, Ind., they encounter a striking yellow airplane with wing number NC39435, a bomb in place beneath its fuselage, suspended from the ceiling as if in flight.

That flight launched more than 700 miles away and nearly six decades ago, in the earliest days of Civil Air Patrol.  More recently, the trek’s fiinal leg originated in a dusty hangar in Hampton, N.H.

That’s where Col. Albert Sambold, former New Hampshire Wing commander, had parked the Stinson 10A after acquiring it. He did so with the dream of restoring the aircraft – which records showed had been delivered to Gordon Gibbs, commander of Coastal Patrol Squadron 18 in Falmouth, Mass., in 1941, then flown in Coastal Patrol duty during World War II -- to its former glory. 

Unfortunately, Sambold passed away unexpectedly in November 1998 at age 64, before he could realize his vision.
Meanwhile, the Stinson continued to gather dust.

Then, in 2004, Lt. Col. Ray Lyon of the Greater Nashua Composite Squadron, former New Hampshire Wing vice commander, learned about the aircraft from Col. Margie Sambold, the wing’s commander and Sambold’s widow. Once the Stinson’s historical value was confirmed, a plan began taking shape to restore the aircraft for presentation in a museum. 

In 2006 a group of  New Hampshire members, led by Lyon, began the process by removing the Stinson’s wings and tail feathers so it could be transported to Keyson  Airways in Nashua. Through the efforts of Col. Don Davidson, the Sambolds’ successor as wing commander, Keyson had volunteered to restore the aircraft to its original colors – yellow with black, rather than the dull gray and blue that had replaced them -- and insignia and generally ready it for display.  

As it happens, when the Sambolds owned the Stinson its propeller was metal. Research, though, revealed that the original propeller was wood.  Lyon learned that Col. Mary Feik, the aviation legend and a fellow CAP member, possessed a wooden prop that would fit the Stinson, and she gladly agreed to donate it to the project.

That was the last item needed to restore the plane to its original configuration.

As he continued delving into the Stinson’s origins, Lyon also learned about George Eaton, a former Navy aircraft mechanic who had served in the South Pacific during the war.

Before that  Eaton had filled the same role with Squadron 18 in Falmouth, where he actually worked on the Stinson during its Coastal Patrol days. Eaton was still living, Lyon discovered, in Auburn, N.H.

As the project progressed Lyon visited Eaton several times to keep him apprised. Eaton, in turn, gave Lyon an inert practice bomb and his World War II CAP uniform. 

Eaton died May 22 -- but not before his service during the war was recognized by CAP National Headquarters with the presentation of the organization’s Distinguished Service Medal, a lifetime membership and promotion to the rank of colonel.

Once the restoration was complete, the Stinson was delivered to the museum in Indiana as a result of the efforts of Spencer Morfit, a public relations professional representing the Flying Minute Men Project. The project was established to restore CAP planes used during World War II and find them homes in museums, as well as to bring public attention to the Coastal Patrol's contribution to U.S. security early in the war.

In Auburn, museum staff stepped in, along with Lt. Col. Ralph Bruns, Indiana Wing historian and character development officer, and Maj.. Kathy Bruns, commander of the wing’s Legislative Squadron. Once they reassembled it, the Stinson was raised to the ceiling in flying configuration.

It’s positioned to serve as the focal point of the gallery devoted to “The Home Fronts: Total War and the Civilian Experience, 1939-1945.”

Today, Stinson 10A, NC39435, hangs proudly at the museum in Indiana – a tribute to the efforts of Lyon, the Sambolds, Eaton and so many others … and once again in the service of Civil Air Patrol.