1930 Waco RNF

By 1929 the Waco Aircraft Company had become the nation’s leading builder of private and commercial aircraft and had more registrations than any two of their competitors combined according to Raymond H. Brandly, noted Waco historian and author of “The Famous F Series”.  According to Brandly, Waco noted the decline in war surplus OX5 and Hisso motors and that radials were becoming more popular.  New Waco designer, A. Francis Arcier, had joined the company and oversaw the design of a new biplane design. Using a new airfoil for Waco, the M-18, the new RNF model was the first Waco to have balanced elevators and the first to have a tail wheel instead of skid.  Another new feature for Waco was the stagger of the upper and lower wings.  A contemporary ad from Waco made the claim that “it almost flies itself” and that it could land or take off in 100 feet. 

 

NC140Y was originally equipped with a 110 horsepower Warner and was the 86th Waco model produced. By the end of 1930, 107 of these new ships had finished production and left the factory.  Ultimately 245 of the first “F” model, designated RNF, INF, KNF or MNF depending on the motor it was equipped with, were produced before sales of the new “F2” model took off during 1931.  It was the most prolific of the F models, until the war time UPF7 trainer was introduced, as production slowed as the Depression deepened.  Today there are 48 of the “little F’s” on the FAA registry with 33 of those being RNF’s. It is unknown how many are still flying but it is likely that not more than 25 to 30 are still actively in the air.   

 

Over the decades, NC140Y passed through numerous private owners across the eastern United States. In 1997, it was acquired by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where it remained in their world-renowned museum collection for 15 years.

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After it's stay with EAA, the aircraft was purchased by Mary and Charles Griffiths of New Jersey, who began a meticulous 13-year-long restoration. The restoration included:

• Replacing the cotton fabric covering with modern Polyfiber

• Retaining the traditional butyrate dope finish for historical accuracy

• Installing a 145-horsepower Warner engine (upgraded from the original 125 HP)

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Today the airplane’s original mechanical brakes are still present, but Waco’s unique hand brake system has been modified with heel brakes.  Instrumentation is much as it was when the airplane flew away from the factory, as are virtually every other part of the plane, with the exception of the slightly more powerful motor.  All in NC140Y is a complete, mostly historically correct, example of one of the finest biplanes of its time.  An aircraft so well built, with such excellent flying qualities, that its builder could proudly exclaim “Ask Any Pilot”!

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After their painstaking restoration work, the Griffiths flew the plane for a couple of years, amassing approximately 80 hours total time before selling it in 2023 to Richard Fox of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  Mr. Fox added perhaps a couple of dozen more hours to its flight experience and a modern Garmin radio before passing the torch to the Collection. 

 

Now, in its new home at Mustang Field, with its beautiful grass runway, this long sought for “little F” will come out to fly regularly. Visitors can see not just the beginning of the F series but how Waco developed the plane into the finest biplane of it era.