Fight Over Replica Plane Enters Courtroom
Colorado man contracted with Visalia company Visalia Times Delta
February 24, 2006
By David Castellon
Staff writer
A dispute over a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis,
the plane Charles Lindbergh flew in his historic 1927 flight across
the Atlantic, landed Thursday in a Visalia courtroom.
Tulare County Superior Court Judge Paul Vortmann granted a request
for Scott Royer of Colorado to take possession from Ty Sundstrom of
Visalia the wooden frame and other airplane parts intended to be used
to recreate the plane flown by Lindbergh.
But taking possession proved complicated Thursday.
Suzanne Glenn, Vortmann's clerk, said information provided by Royer's
lawyer indicated that it was not clear where the airframe and parts
were since Sundstrom's business, Dawn Patrol Aviation, vacated its
two hangars at the Visalia Airport.
Airport Manager Mario Cifuentez said Dawn Patrol was
evicted because it was late paying its rent for the hangars. "We're out looking for [the parts] now. We've been following
leads all day," Rocky Pipkin, whose Visalia private investigation
firm represents Royer, said Thursday afternoon.
He said his investigators found a wing stored in another hangar at
the airport, and the hangar's owners turned it over after being served
with a copy of the judge's order.
But by late afternoon, Pipkin said the rest of the plane hadn't been
located.
Dawn Patrol had been in the business of restoring vintage planes.
In court records, Royer states that in 2000 he contracted with the
company to build a working replica of the Spirit of St. Louis using
a Ryan Airlines Company NYP (New York to Paris) aircraft frame similar
to the one Lindbergh flew and some parts he provided.
"We're building it by way of reverse engineering. That means
screw by screw; so it's taken us a long time," Sundstrom told
the Times-Delta in a 2003 interview. "We're here to build the
original plane. We won't stop until it smells like it, sounds like
it and looks like it."
Lindbergh flew the Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic Ocean,
accomplishing the first solo transatlantic flight. The feat made Lindbergh
an international hero and his plane one of the most well-known in history.
It is currently in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington,
D.C.
Dawn Patrol was first contacted "in 1990 by avid Lindbergh aficionado,
Scott 'Lindy' Royer, with his desire to construct an accurate, flyable
copy of the Ryan Airlines Company aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis.
This led to several years of discussion about the project," states
the Web site www.charleslindbergh.com which includes sections on Dawn
Patrol's efforts to build the replica.
"This aircraft will be the first true duplicate since the second
real NYP was built by the Ryan Airlines Company for the Japanese in
1927," the site states, adding that some of the original builders
of Lindbergh's plane — now housed at National Air and Space Museum
in Washington, D.C. —were consulted for the restoration project.
Royer states in his suit that the original estimate to replicate the
Spirit of St. Louis was $55,000 but over the years Royer and his backers
paid Dawn Patrol about $180,000, yet the replica remained unfinished.
Finally, the lawsuit states, he demanded the return of the frame and
parts in January 2005, but Sundstrom didn't comply. Besides seeking
their return, the lawsuit, filed last month, also seeks an accounting
of how the money was spent, reimbursement of any money not actually
used to construct the replica and other compensation.
Visalia lawyer James Hurlbutt, who is representing Royer, declined
to comment on the case, while Sundstrom said his lawyer would not be
able to talk about the case on Thursday.
For years, the Ryan NYP frame and parts had been in a pair of hangars
rented by Dawn Patrol at the Visalia airport.
The Lindbergh Web site shows photos dated 2003 of the plane as little
more than a wooden shell with wheels. And Cifuentez said all that existed
of the aircraft was just the assembled frame and wheels when he last
saw it in September.
Visalia Times Delta
Originally published February 24, 2006
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