"LONG GONE MONG"

In 1978 I was able to negotiate purchase of a Mong Sport Biplane from Don Perri. The airplanes prior history at that time was well documented. Bill Boland had built the airplane in 1958 as a Mong Sport biplane. He had raced it at Reno starting in 1964! It had been sold to R.J. Odgers and then sold to Don Perri, who in turn sold it to me.

Bill had raced this airplane with good success as #3. He had developed the airplane by changing the engine to the O290G including new cowling, building a cantilever and smaller tail group, and replacing the wings with plywood skinned laminar flow airfoil wings mounted on a pair of single tube pylon cabane struts. Basically he had skinnied up the smallest of the Sport Biplanes and he had produced a winner.R. J. Odgers changed the race number to #32 and I think called it "BOO".

While Bill has told me that he had never attached a name to his airplane, I have a recollection regarding this dating to the late 1960's, and I used it in affixing the name I placed on the aircraft when it later became mine. During a conversation in the pit hangar I heard someone ask Bill of the name of his airplane to whom he replied that the airplane was for sale so, call it the gone Mong. I thought Bill was seriously calling the airplane the Gone Mong. When I had finally altered the airplane to what appeared to me to be a winner, and it had been many years since the machine had won, I renamed it "Long Gone Mong" and changed the number to #31..

In the early 1970's Bill had sold his airplane to R.J. Odgers who kept the airplane at Chino airport in SoCal. It was rumored that every time he flew the airplane something broke altho I cannot verify this as fact. Since later on I broke it more than once I feel it reasonable for me to include this characterization. R.J. only raced the airplane at the Mojave races and from that race site it was sold to Don Perri of Tenino, WA. Don had flown down to CA in his own #26 Mong and did not fly #32 for months after his purchase due to several factors, not the least of which was his need to return home from the Mojave race in his own Mong. The Boland Mong had a dubious history in one respect. I never saw the airplane at a race where it finished all heats or races with all four of its cylinders running. Bill had installed a camshaft from an engine which used hydraulic valve lifters into his O290G which was designed to run solid valve lifters. It is not possible to install hydraulic valve lifters in an O290G crankcase. This cam change produced two affects- 1. more HP due to a small amount of valve duration increase & 2. occasionally the shock applied to the valve itself due to the difference in the camshaft lobe contours would break a valve. This valve breakage would occur in the valve keeper groove near the outboard tip of the valve. Valve breakage in this area would leave the valve floating in the guide since there is not enough room inside the cylinder for the valve to drop into the bore. The engine did not suffer catastrophic damage and would still run at reduced horsepower on the remaining 3 cylinders. It seemed that Bill always broke a valve, during qualifying, during a heat race or during the main event. When this happened he would usually just continue on the 3 good cylinders at obviously reduced speed to the end of the race. R.J. had not rectified this problem and had in fact broken a valve in his heat race at Mojave. Perri had witnessed the valve replacement at Mojave and was not comfortable with the possibility of piston (or other) damage.

My friend Mr. Stan Brown was also at Mojave that year and he recommended that Perri contact me regarding repairs to the engine. I received a call from Perri on Monday after the Mojave race, requesting that I pick the airplane up and take it to my shop, then located at Compton airport in the LA basin. Rick Crandall worked for me as an A&P/aircraft builder. He drove a 1936 Dodge pickup in which he offered to take me to Mojave. I was truly excited in that this airplane had held my interest in the 1960's when Boland was raceing it. I couldn't wait! The next morning we were off to Mojave. Two years earlier I had seen the airplane at Chino in a horrible state, and it appeared only dust removal & airing of the tires had occurred since. It was a stark white with black trim and little ghosts were painted on the wheel pants to go along with Odgers' name for it 'BOO'. We got it out of the Mojave hangar onto the ramp and I climbed in, and it fit. I found the necessary controls and Rick propped it for me. I taxiied to the nearest intersection while checking the brakes- NOT very good but not needed very much either. Odgers had removed the conventional tail wheel and installed a 5" wheel into the base of the rudder itself. If anyone ever wondered how an airplane would handle in this configuration I can attest to the fact that you really do not want to know. HYPERSENSITIVE to put it in one word. I taxiied onto the runway and put the power to it. As the speed increased the tailwheel sensitivity got worse to the extent that I lifted the tail very early in the roll. Once the tail was up the need for rudder input increased dramatically. What a parralax, and not the only one in the airplane. In flight I found another. Do not breath on the stick lest the resultant 30 degrees of pitch change scare you, but DO use both hands to obtain any roll response since the 30 pounds of force required is much easier with two arms working on the problem.

Once at home disassembly began, but what a chore. The once conventionally split cowling had been bonded together into one piece. The spinner and prop had to be removed in order to deform the cowling along the firewall line and pull it forward off the cylinders. Prop removal disclosed a thick paper shim under three (not all 6) of the prop bolts, between the prop spacer and the crankshaft. A bent shaft? The dial indicator showed the crankshaft out of limits. Removal of the spark plugs and visual examination of the piston domes located the valve marks which Perri was concerned about on one piston. A call to Perri with the quote to replace the crank and piston allowed me to proceed with the necessary engine disassembly. Another item of concern at the time was the fact that the engine had no oil cooler installed. On the ride from Mojave to Compton I had noted that all temps, pressures and the like were in the 'green'. I had never seen an O-290 installed without an oil cooler. Further examination found that the thermocouple type instruments for oil and cylinder head temps had resistors installed in the leads. I supposed the rationale for this absolute no-no was, if you don't like seeing the temps in the red, add resistors so the instrument reads in the green.

With a new piston and crankshaft from an O320 I left for Reno early September. There was a ferry fuel tank installed in the headrest. Once the main tank had 1/2 left onboard one would open the ferry tank valve and gravity would move the fuel into the main tank. I had found on the ground that it was possible for me to crane my neck and see the fuel level in the ferry tank since it was of fiberglas construction. This was important since I had absolutly no experience with this airplane and i  needed to be able to count on the transfer. Along about Palmdale I opened the valve and waited 5 minutes. When I attempted to view the ferry tank the stiffness of my arm on the stick must have been reduced because when I returned my gaze forward all I had in view was desert! A resolute two hand grip on the stick finally allowed me to conclude that it was impossible for me to see the fuel level in the ferry tank inflight. Oh well, I would make Mojave OK and alter my planned stops along the rest of the way if needed. As it turned out the ferry tank system worked OK.

Don had agreed that we would enter both his stock #26 Mong and the old #32 Boland Mong. We would meet at Reno and he would then fly #32 and decide which airplane he would compete in and that would leave the other for me to race. He flew #32 early in the morning and did not like it. That was fine with me! After the races Don was told by someone that the airplane could be sold there at Stead so he elected to leave the airplane and purchase an airline ticket to home for me.

In mid-December I got a call from Don. He said they were charging him an arm and a leg for hangar rent at Stead and "would I please go get it" on the assumption that I would charge him the same rate as I had previously. We agreed and the next afternoon my friend McIntyre & I were on our way in his 108 Stinson. He was of fairly low experience so as we approached Bishop just after dark I asked of his comfort level. He indicated that all was OK and he proceeded on a straight in approach. As we crossed the threshold I anticipated that he would soon begin his flare, I then expected that he would immediately commence to flare and then I grabbed the control wheel and took it fully into my stomach! The airplane rotated to 3 point attitude and set itself on the runway just as if all was well. Just a note, the owner/pilot let go of the wheel immediately as I took hold of it since he knew he was behind the 'curve'.

We spent the nite in Bishop and early next morning got into Stead and retrieved the Mong. The next spring Don had moved to Cornville, AZ and requested that I take his airplane to Cottonwood for storage. Me chase plane was a twin Bonanza flown by friend/tenant Jim McCartney. Due to the slight downhill taxi at Prescott I nearly ran him over, again due to poor brakes. 

In the interim prior to delivering the airplane to Prescott I had personal use of the airplane. One day I flew to Bracket Field near Pomona to do some oxy-acetyleme welding on a customers project. I called the tower and was told to enter the pattern and look for a light, since I never had com radio in the airplane, and in those years hand-helds were not yet available. All went well inbound, I did my customers welding and again called the tower. I was told to taxi to near the threshold and again, look for a light. I fired her up and taxiied to the approach end of the runway, turned 90 degrees on the apron facing the 'hold' line and waited for the traffic on final approach. While holding and waiting for the traffic the airplane was creeping forward irregardless of my efforts to hold the 'one of four shoes might be working' brakes. I nearly panicked! I quickly found that turning off one magneto reduced the idle RPM/thrust sufficiently for the airplane to stop with the very poor brake/s. I could hear the plug/s fouling so I alternately switched off one mag and then the other several times until, finally, all approaching traffic was clear and the tower gave me a green light for my departure. I doubt that the controllers had any idea of my predicament. 

More, more and more to come!

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