Replica Plane Parts Found in Exeter
Visalia Times Delta
February 25, 2006
By David Castellon
Staff writer
Private investigators looking
for parts of a replica in the works of the Spirit of St. Louis, the
plane Charles Lindbergh
flew in the first trans-Atlantic flight more than 78 years ago, said
they recovered the aircraft’s fuselage frame behind an Exeter
home on Friday. The investigators, hired by Scott Royer of Colorado, who commissioned
construction of a working replica of the famed plane, said they followed
tips mostly from workers and pilots at airports in Tulare and Fresno
counties and found the wooden frame being stored behind a house in
the 100 block of South Anderson Road.
“It’s got the struts, the wheels and the motor mounts,
but mostly [it’s] a skeleton,” said Rocky Pipkin, owner
of Pipkin Detective Agency in Visalia. He added that the airframe was
outside under a tarp.
But taking possession proved difficult despite
a Tulare County Superior Court judge’s decision Thursday to
grant Royer a writ of possession, which allowed him to take possession
of the airplane and its parts.
The owners of the Exeter home refused for several
hours to turn over the aircraft frame to the private investigators
as well as Tulare County
sheriff’s deputies until they obtained a court order Friday afternoon
directing the homeowners to turn over everything.
By early afternoon, the fuselage frame was loaded onto a flatbed truck
and hauled to a hangar at the Visalia Municipal Airport.
That frame was built by Ty Sundstrom and his workers at Dawn Patrol
Aviation, which until September had operated a business at the Visalia
airport constructing vintage aircraft.
Although court records state that Royer — a Lindbergh enthusiast
who shares Lindbergh’s nickname of “Lucky” — signed
a contract with Sundstrom to have Dawn Patrol build the replica, the
Colorado man said that construction actually was supposed to start
in 1996 and be done in about a year so the finished plane could recreate
the Spirit of St. Louis’ famed New York-to-Paris flight on the
50th anniversary of the original flight in May 1997.
But the construction has been held up for years said Royer, who in
a lawsuit filed last month in Tulare County Superior Court states that
the project was originally projected to cost around $55,000, but that
he has ended up giving Sundstrom about $180,000, including covering
the costs of sending him around the country to do research and buy
vintage parts to accurately duplicate the real plane that now resides
in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
“My idea was to be the only person to build an exact replica,
not a look-alike’ ” and to have it flown across the Atlantic,
said Royer, who said he has funded the project himself and lined up
a pilot for the trans-atlantic flight he still plans.
“I’m putting all I’ve got into it. I want this.
I want the recognition,” said Royer, who in court records said
he demanded in January of last year that the parts and fuselage — which
Sundstrom built — be turned over to him, but that Sundstrom didn’t
comply.
After Dawn Patrol was evicted from the Visalia airport in September
because of late hangar rental payments, the various parts were moved
elsewhere.
Sundstrom referred questions to his lawyer, Warren
Gubler, who said Friday that the plane parts and frame weren’t being hidden. “They
were merely being stored at these locations, according to my client,” Gubler
said.
Besides seeking the parts, Royer is demanding an accounting of the
money he provided Sundstrom for the project, along with reimbursement
for any money not spent on the construction.
But Gubler said Sundstrom also has an ownership
stake in the plane and planned to file a countersuit. He would not
comment in detail on
the dispute, but did say of Sundstrom, “I consider him to be
an honest, reputable businessman. I would also point out that there
are two sides to every story, and so far the news media has only latched
onto one side.”
Royer said that once the plane is finished, it could be worth $1 million.
He said his plans for it include using it as
a fund-raising tool for a Colorado community college and to show
kids that if they persevere
and don’t give up they can accomplish their dreams, as Lindbergh
did and Royer, himself, said he did recovering years ago from a nearly
fatal accident.
As for the plane, on Thursday its 46-by-7-foot
mahogany wings were located in a hangar at the Visalia Municipal
Airport and turned over
to Pipkin’s investigators by the hangar’s owner.
But Pipkin said some parts haven’t been
found.
“The motor’s missing. We've heard rumors it has been sold
to someone else. We're really concerned we won't get it back,” he
said, adding he has heard similar rumors that the instrument panel,
its gauges and other parts also have been sold.
Royer on Friday seemed optimistic that he will accomplish his dream,
noting that he has lined up somebody else to complete the assembly
job in a different state.
Visalia Times Delta
Originally published February 25, 2006
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