{"id":2945,"date":"2011-06-09T16:56:41","date_gmt":"2011-06-09T20:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/?p=2945"},"modified":"2018-06-29T11:58:41","modified_gmt":"2018-06-29T15:58:41","slug":"dreams-of-waco-upf-7s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/?p=2945","title":{"rendered":"Dreams of Waco UPF-7s"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A very long time ago, my best friend, Paul, rather jinxed me.&nbsp; He introduced me to one of the airplanes I have always wanted to fly, rebuild, own, and showcase: the Waco UPF-7.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Waco Biplane Inflight. (Biplane Adventures, Inc.)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kuRT7fstFxs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n(Found at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kuRT7fstFxs\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kuRT7fstFxs<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>The UPF-7 is a training airplane built by the Waco Aircraft Company of Troy, OH.&nbsp; It first came about in 1930 and remained in production until the early \u201940s.&nbsp; The United States Army Air Corps used the airplane and designated it as the PT-14.&nbsp; The government also used the UPF-7 as a trainer in the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP).<\/p>\n<p>The best way to refer to the airplane is by the designation, UPF-7.&nbsp; Some have called it a Waco.&nbsp; Now there is something important you need to know about the pronunciation of the name, Waco.&nbsp; \u201cWake-o\u201d is a town in Texas; \u201cwack-o\u201d is someone not quite right in the head; \u201cWock-o\u201d is an airplane.&nbsp; And this airplane, the UPF-7, is one of the best ever produced by the Waco Aircraft Company.<\/p>\n<p>Many regard the airplane as one of the best biplanes to come out of the barnstorming era.&nbsp; It had a generous wing area of 244 square feet, which, coupled with a 220 horsepower Continental radial engine and a gross weight of 2650 pounds, gave the airplane good performance for working in and out of short, grass, fields.<\/p>\n<p>The barnstormers of the 1930s would place two passengers up front in the spacious \u201cfront hole.\u201d&nbsp; Each paid between $2&nbsp;to $5 each for the ride.&nbsp; And for that princely sum, the barnstormer treated them to the sight of their town from above, or showed them what their homes looked like from the skies. &nbsp;If they were up to it, he may have even treated them to a wingover, or maybe even a loop or barrel roll.<\/p>\n<p>The best time to fly with the barnstormers was right at sunrise, or sunset.&nbsp; There was little wind, no turbulence, and the flying was comfortable in the cooler air.<\/p>\n<p>The UPF-7 was a fine plane capable of a 128 mph top speed.&nbsp; Cruising speed on the airplane was 114 mph and she could carry enough fuel to fly 400 miles.<\/p>\n<p>While the Depression era economics of the 1930s influenced the price for a new UPF-7, today, a refurbished airplane can cost as much as $185,000 for a pristine model.&nbsp; A sum of about $110,000 might fetch a lesser airplane.<\/p>\n<p>As old as I am today, because Paul educated me in the ways of the old days, I still dream of UPF-7s.&nbsp; Maybe one day, I may manage to find one sitting in a barn somewhere in mid-America in need of restoration.&nbsp; I could put the sweat equity into rebuilding a classic.<\/p>\n<p>Or maybe I will win the Lotto&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">-30-<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 <em>2011 J. Clark<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A very long time ago, my best friend, Paul, rather jinxed me.&nbsp; He introduced me to one of the airplanes I have always wanted to fly, rebuild, own, and showcase: the Waco UPF-7. (Found at https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kuRT7fstFxs.) The UPF-7 is a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/?p=2945\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,6,8,9],"tags":[74,167,224,236,329,615,617,1196,1447,1468,1489,1584,2206,2355,2450,2572,2660,2795,2923,2994,3579,3584,3611,3701,3908,3922,4189],"class_list":["post-2945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aviation","category-aviation-history","category-flying-2","category-life-in-general","category-personal","tag-220-horsepower-continental-radial-engine","tag-a-loop","tag-a-training-airplane","tag-a-wingover","tag-airplanes","tag-barnstormers","tag-barrel-roll","tag-dreams-of-waco-upf-7s","tag-flight-training","tag-flying","tag-flying-in-the-cooler-air","tag-friends","tag-little-wind","tag-memories","tag-my-best-friend","tag-no-turbulence","tag-open-cockpit-biplanes","tag-pilots","tag-pt-14","tag-rebuilding-a-classic-airplane","tag-the-barnstorming-era","tag-the-best-time-to-fly","tag-the-civilian-pilot-training-program-cptp","tag-the-great-depression","tag-the-united-states-army-air-corps","tag-the-waco-upf-7","tag-waco-aircraft-company-of-troy-oh"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2945"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5779,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2945\/revisions\/5779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}