(click pic to enlarge) 16 year old Hayden Newhouse - 4th generation to fly NC11422
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I stumbled across a fabulous story a little over a week ago at the Antique Airplane Association Fly-In near Blakesburg Iowa... the story of 16 year old Hayden Newhouse and his journey from Rockford Illinois to Blakesburg in a 1931 Aeronca C-3. If the story stopped there it would still be a great one. A 16 year old with both the desire and the skill to fly an antique airplane powered by an Aeronca-built engine of just 36 horsepower. It's enough right there to give us all some great encouragement for the future of aviation. But, Hayden's cross country to Blakesburg is just the beginning of this story.
1931 Aeronca C-3 NC11422 with Newhouse Flying Service (Princeton N.J.) paint
NC11422 was bought new in 1931 by Hayden's great-grandfather Richard Newhouse. Richard had come to America from Germany in 1908 and shortly after started designing and building flying machines. In 1929 he started Newhouse Flying Service in Princeton New Jersey. This little Aeronca C-3 became part of the operation in 1931.
The Newhouse family has been full of aviators since those early days, and now four generations have flown this humble little Aeronca C-3! Hayden flew to Blakesburg along with his father Robert Newhouse who brought their 1931 Bird CK biplane. Spending some time getting to know Robert and Hayden at Antique Airfield was definitely one of the highlights to my trip the the 2012 AAA Fly-In.
(click pic to enlarge) An original Aeronca engine of 36hp powers this 2-seat Aeronca C-3