This photo album is a pictorial recount of our Sedan's restoration, from the preparations for shipping in Spring of 2003 to the first take-off, marking the completion of the project in Fall of 2010.
Matt had found the severely damaged remains of N1331H in North Dakota, back in 2002. Included in the purchase was also a seemingly intact fuselage structure of a Canadian Sedan, which later turned out to be severely corroded. Nevertheless, this fuselage served as a perfect template to build a jig in which N1331H's fuselage could be reconstructed.
As full time workers, we decided to have the restoration work done professionally. Andreas Rombach, owner of the small but renowned Swiss company Rombach Air Restoration, is a highly talented craftsman. With the help of two gifted friends, locksmith Daniel Eggenberger and upholsterer Bruno Ruf, Andy has turned the ashes of N1331H into one proud bird, again. Together, they invested close to 5000 hours into even the smallest of details. In addition, Matt spent innumerable hours collecting information, writing emails, making phone calls, searching for and ordering missing parts, as well as dealing with the FAA.
And yet, this once-in-a-lifetime project would have been simply impossible without the fantastic support received from friends worldwide, especially Joe Abrahamson of the National Aeronca Association and Burl Rogers, owner of Burl's Aircraft, Type Certificate holder and manufacturer of approved parts for the Sedan. Our most sincere thanks go out to them, but also to everybody else involved in one or another way!
Click on the thumbnails to view the pictures in full size.
Photos © Matthias Sieber, unless otherwise stated.
