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Boys and girls, the other night I was doing some nostalgic surfing on the internet. I was recalling a carnival ride that I saw a picture of hanging in a motel I was staying in. It was a picture of the “Rock-O-Plane,” that would come to the Lucas County Fair each summer in Maumee where I grew up. I rally like this ride because if you were good at operating it you could make the cab stay upside down for the entire ride. I’m guessing the at the bottom of the ferris wheel ride you would be pushing about 1.75 negative Gs. Andy could probably figure it out exactly. Anyway I started thinking of some of those rides that I would look for back then and I remembered that there were three of them that I could recall that would “fly,” upside down. There was on that was called the “Peanut,” and then I remember one that had about eight airplane that were at the end of long booms that would would actually roll around when the ailerons were displace and you were actually doing a version of a rolling 360, something I used to do in my DR-107 all the time. It wasn't until I started researching the Rock-O-Plane that I discovered it was made, along with these other rides, by an airplane company. No wonder I wanted to “fly,” them when I was a kid. You could actually make them fly upside down! Check out the Fly-O-Plane, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOA03RqqbOw Check out the Rock-O-Plane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFeQogg1Kig and the Roll-O-Plane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbAAQ-dRPbQ
After a little more digging about the company if found this short clip of a 1930 movie, check out the machine in the beginning of the clip, it was made by the Eyerly Aircraft company and was originally designed to be a simulator for the war effort in truing pilots but it must have been around this time that they figured they could make more money letting people ride it at fairs and thus launched all the rides I have been describing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dOrwNT0mMA
The first thought that popped into my head was Holy Smokes! We need to build one of these things! How cool would that be? And we could make money, and I think lots of money dragging it around to festivals and fly ins. That would help pay the heat bill. And we have all the talent, tools, skills, and money to make it happen. What do you think?
Ken Kreutzfeld sent me this email he found on the website
by YakDaddy » Wed Aug 14, 2013 1:28 pm
I actually got to ride one of these when I was 14 years old at a small carnival held on the flightline at MacDill Air Force base in 1972. It was incredible and I've never forgotten it. For the past two years I've been working on building one. I've been in contact with Jon Eyerly, the Grandson of Lee Eyerly who originally designed and built the Acrpoplane. I interviewed Jon several months ago and he revealed a ton about this ride. It was his Grandfathers very first carnival ride, and it was originally designed to be a flight training device. He sold 4 or 5 to the Cuban Air Force, but struck gold when he took one to a fair where he was also giving real bi-plane rides in his plane (he charged folks a penny a pound to go up in his plane). From the air he saw the lines of folks wanting to ride the Acroplane were longer than the line for a ride in the real thing, and the light bulb went off.
Anyway, Jon was able to fill in some technical details about the Acroplane. For example, all but the very last one build were fabric covered, just like the bi-planes of the time. The engine was a 35HP single phase electric motor, and the propeller was built for them by a propeller manufacturer right in Salem, Oregon, which is where Eyerly Aviation had their factory. The early model Acroplanes had a single set of "wings" up front, just like the one in the video above, but later they went to double wings, like a bi-plane, that made the controls much more responsive, which meant faster spins and turns.
The base of the Acroplane that you see in the film clip shows what is actually the stripped down frame from a Model A Ford, though they upgraded to Model T frames later on. To my surprise, Jon told me it traveled down the road just as it appears in the film..they pointed the nose forward and at a bit of a down angle, locked everything down, and down the road they went. That must have been a sight. He said the whole thing was just under 12 feet tall, which allowed it to go under any overpasses in use at the time.
By the way, Jon is nearly 80 now, but he still works in the Amusement Ride Industry, a company called Funtastic Rides out of Portland OR I believe. Eyerly Aviation folded and was sold I believe in the mid 80's after a accident on another Eyerly ride pushed their insurance through the roof. Jon supervises maintenance of all the Funtastic Rides, and still spends a large amount of time on the road...a true "Carnie".
The last Acroplane built was "flown" at the Oregon State Fair (I forget the year) before it was retired and put on temporary display at the McNary AirField in Salem, OR. To my knowledge, this is the last remaining remnants of an Acroplane in existance, though Jon said he heard many years ago that some "Scouting Group" in the midwest restored one as a scouting project. In any case, the one on display at McNary field disappeared from there a couple of years ago, but after quite a bit of digging I haven't been able to track it down. The same goes for the one supposedly restored by the scouts.
My hope is to find whatever may be left of an actual Acroplane and restore it to its full glory. I even have a museum in Oregon with an exhibit about Lee Eyerly, ready to make room for the Acroplane, if I every get one built. If I can't find an actual Acroplane to restore, the best I can do is try to recreate one from the photos and drawings I have been able to dig up. I actually already have a full scale prototype built which allowed me to work out the controls, but I'm holding off on building the real thing in the hopes of recovering some actual remnants.
If anyone knows anything about the whereabouts of an Acroplane or remnants in any condition, please do not hesitate to contact me...I'll reserve the first ride for you. And to the chap that posted the link to the "Skyway" film MANY THANKS. I've been describing the Acroplane to family and friends for years, and they all just looked at me kind of funny. They never 'got it' until I found your video clip and showed it to them. With me actually building one in my garage, my wife was starting to think I'd gone 'round the bend. You may have saved my marriage. Ride hard...keep your hands up and your lu