Warbird Information Exchange

The Dutch Colony Inn in Reading, Pennsylvania, and its adjoining restaurant closed last Sunday, to be torn down so that a shopping center can be built. The good news is that the restaurant, the Antique Airplane Restaurant, had a 1927 Monocoupe Model 70 hanging from the ceiling, and this has been donated to the Golden Age Air Museum in nearby Bethel ( www.goldenageair.org ), where it will fly again. The 'Coupe was restored in the mid-1960s, and flown a few hours, but had been hanging in the restaurant since 1966, just over half of its life.





And finally, back together in the sunlight:



Photos by Steve Roth

There aren't too many nicer homes than Golden Air for an old aeroplane to get a second chance at life.

What a cool little airplane!

Good to see it will be well cared for.

Nice to see a happy story regarding a hanging plane! I'm sure it will be happy to fly through the air after all those years of hovering in one spot!

The restoration was done in the early 60's by Richard C. Estler, Dick was a local boy from the Reading area who left the farm and joined the circus.............the Gates Flying Circus, as a gofer. Dick could talk for hours about Ivan Gates, "Pang" (Clyde Pangborn), Bill Brooks, and others.

Tom-

Thanks for this good/sad bit of news. It's great that the aircraft has been given to a good home. A little sad to see the hotel go. It wasn't great, but I have some happy memories from my stays there to visit MAAM. I used to love sitting in that restaurant, and always wondered how that aircraft came to be there. Thanks for the nice photos too Andrew.

Cheers,
Richard

FYI-

The restaurant/motel were owned by the wife of Richard Breithaupt, "Brighty" was the founder of Reading Aviation Service. In it's heyday RAS was the support facility of choice for corporate aviation in the northeast, the orginal Reading Air Show began as a BBQ for their customers. The Monocoupe restorer, Dick Estler, was the original head of maint., and eventually retired as manager of the RAS ABE facility.

Tom-

Kind of a cool looking little toot of a plane. I have to profess igorance of it though. Anybody got any factoids about the type?

Canso42

The Monocoupe club has a nice website. I think the early ones like this 1927 model were built in Moline, Illinois.


http://www.monocoupe.com/

That little bird looks fun. Nice to know it will fly again.

And the folks at Poly-Fiber have graciously agreed to donate the covering materials so that the Monocoupe can have new fabric and finish. A big Thank You to them.

Agreed - government programmes merely pander to the rip-off tendencies.
What the restaurant should have done was to ask people to take up shares.