Question... Kreider-Reisner AKA Fairchild KR-34

[JDD]

We keep floating between buying, building, or restoring...

Our mission is low and slow, high useful load, not terrible on gas, open cockpit, round engine....for a year of traveling the USA once when we retire in Feb. 2022

An airplane that looks like it would fit the bill has just come up. A Fairchild KR-34. A smaller radial with a useful load in the 800 to 1000 pound range.

My questions to this august group are:

1. Does anyone know of anyone with one of these that I can call and talk to? On seven in the FAA registry.
2. Is there any airplane that they made that is a close cousin build wise that I can talk to about it. A Fairchild 22C7 perhaps.
3. Does anyone have any idea what a fair value would be for one of these that was crated away about 1950 in original and unmolested condition? The engine is a Wright J6-5 and is zero time SMOH as is the prop.

The guy has all the logs and the airplane is supposed to be complete down to all the original instruments. Asking price is $46.5K

4. What would be the cost, with me doing the work assuming I can find an A&P to sign off on it, to pull the cloth off, check and repair any bad wood or cracked tubes, and recover it so it is good to go?


I suspect that for $40K+ that I would have more into it than buying a restored Stearman or the like if I had to go through and take the entire airplane apart and rebuild-repaint everything sans the engine.

Thoughts ?

Thanks all, JD.

[WLIU]

No one has spoken up so I will offer the info that Richard Bach flew one extensively and chronicled his experiences in a couple of stories in "A Gift of Wings" and then the book "Biplane". You could do worse than start there.

But the folks that you really really want to talk to are the Antique Airplane Association folks in Ottumwa IA.

I fly a smaller biplane and not long ago spent $30K for a recover using modern materials and processes (Cooper Superflite). You are likely looking at 50% more than that to tear down the entire airframe and rebuild.

You will need to figure out parts for the J6-5. You might ask the folks at Air Repair in MS about that engine. They may know who can help you.

You will need a mechanic with a real sense of humor or a love for old machinery or both. I am observing that many mechanics are familiar with the latest 21st century high tech maintenance practices but come up short when faced with structural woodworking.

Best of luck,

Wes

[mbd29a]

I'm familiar with the KR-34. Not many of those left. It is not anything like the Fairchild 22. It was designed and built to compete with the Waco. It is basic tube, wood and fabric. This wouldn't be Pearlman's KR34 would it?
40K+ in todays world is a little on the high side if it needs a complete restoration. Doing it yourself makes it a little easier on the labor side but you have to make sure that you are working with an IA that has experience with older planes. I believe there are drawings for this airplane out there so you need to see if you can come up with a set. The Reed family in CA and OR may have a set as they just got done restoring one a couple of years ago.

[Dana]

Bach's was a Detroit-Parks but yes, I think it's the same as the KR-34. Also his book "Nothing by Chance", about his time barnstorming with it during the 1960s. He described as the most difficult aircraft he'd ever flown.

[JDD]

I'm familiar with the KR-34. Not many of those left. It is not anything like the Fairchild 22. It was designed and built to compete with the Waco. It is basic tube, wood and fabric. This wouldn't be Pearlman's KR34 would it?
40K+ in todays world is a little on the high side if it needs a complete restoration. Doing it yourself makes it a little easier on the labor side but you have to make sure that you are working with an IA that has experience with older planes. I believe there are drawings for this airplane out there so you need to see if you can come up with a set. The Reed family in CA and OR may have a set as they just got done restoring one a couple of years ago.



It is a project by a guy in NY. I offered $40K and he turned me down.

It has a zero Wright J6-5 with it...but on an hourly running basis it is a dog. 400 hours TBO and $35 to rebuild. Factoring in fuel burn it works out to about $188 hour. A 275 Jacobs is like $120 a hour. Not a good engine from a purchase and use prospective.

I have an email out to Robin Reid, but my email address for him and his wife is real old. I will see if I get a reply.

The other airplane I have been interested in is a Brunner Winkle Bird CK. Which I did talk with Robin about four or five years back.

I like the fact that the KR has about a 1000 pound load. With full fuel, a couple of bags up front, and the Sondra we would still have a couple of hundred pounds of "head room" in the weight.

I may swing back and offer a couple of thousand more. But the cost of buying it, moving it out from NY to CA, coupled with a shop expansion on my place is squeezing my cash flow this year.

He advertised it at $46.5K. Given the fact that it was taken apart in 1949! and has been moved through a couple of barns/garages...I think $40 is fair and will not get me in to deep. Any more than that and other options start to look good.

Although I like the idea of a project that did not go through the butcher shops of the 1960's and 1970's...the generation of people who have any interest in this time period aircraft wise is dropping off fast. Price's are plummeting for pre WII classic cars, high end antiques like Jukeboxes, and many other things. He may get lucky and get some 1%er to pay and not think about it. But he may also find he will sit on it for a long time.

James.

[crusty old aviator]

Terk Williams has one that's he and his bride are putting back together in Florida. Projects like this are expensive, if hired out, and are truly of the realm of those with a passion for the work and the old gal being restored. You will need an IA, not just an A&P, to supervise, inspect, and sign off your work. If you're willing to spend more $ and effort, you could replace the J6-5 with a 220 Continental, under a one-time STC, which may improve the reliability, but make her look odd, like that Ryan SCW with a Continental E-185 at Sonoma. We fly these old gals to relive the past and gain a better appreciation of what flying was like back then, not to worry about TBO's and fuel burns. The worries come with the territory, but with modern oils and fuels (unleaded, non-alcohol, regular mogas with MMO), you will find these engines now have extended TBO's, if you actually fly them that much.

You will most likely spend far less buying an airplane that's already flying, as you'll avoid paying dearly for the priviledge of restoring her yourself. I wish you well in your quest...