Updated May June 18, 2006

Cirrus No. 5, N99VJ

Currently Owned by:
Nick Leonard
San Antonio, TX 78209

STATUS: In Service

LOCATION: Boerne Stage Airfield,

San Antonio, TX

The original importer, in January of 1968, was John D. Ryan of Phoenix, AZ. At that time it had the tail number N704M. Just a few months later, on March 15, 1968, he sold it to Ben Merrill in Huntsville, AL. (For some reason, it flew under several Experimental Certificates until July of 1971, when it was issued a Standard Airworthiness Certificate.)

Ben Merrril died, probably in a crash of the glider in late 1968; his will was probated in January of 1969, and in April of that year, No. 5 was bought "as is" by Michael S. Greenwalt (AKA Airleasco) in Joliet, IL. The bill of sale was for $8,700. The sales agreement noted that it had been in an accident; the tail section had been returned to Schempp-Hirth.

Somewhere along here, while it was owned by Michael Greenwald, the tail number changed. N704M received an Experimental Certificate on May 22, 1968, but on May 2, 1969 it was reissued to N99VJ.

Michael flew No. 5 in the 1969 Nationals, placing 77^th.  Jon Clarke's research into "The Sun Ship Game" lead him to Mike Greenwald. He queried him why he dropped out during the 1969 US Nationals at Marfa. His reply... 

"My Cirrus was serial no. 5 if I remember right, and the wheel/axle combination was changed by the manufacturer after serial no. 10 because of weakness and at least one other landing gear failure. I bought and brought a new style axle and wheel, and when mine failed on the sixth day, I attempted to install it. However the new axle did not fit with the old retraction mechanism nor suspension, and so without landing gear I was forced to withdraw. Substantial modification was required to complete the installation, very little of which was paid for by the manufacturer, Shempp-Hirth. The whole deal made me pretty unhappy, and my next glider came from elsewhere [else]." (Note: This webmaster has not verified this situation.)

Jon also asked Greenwald about why it appeared that someone ELSE flew the ship earlier that year at Sugarbush. Mike's response:

"Bill Merrill [previous owner] was killed in a [Beechcraft] Bonanza accident in the Southeastern US [and not as speculated by you in the Cirrus]. Verne Jobst and I (hence the "VJ" [contest number]) bought the Cirrus from his estate. I did not until now know that it was flown in Sugarbush, and I have no information about that.
     That airplane may have been snakebit [unlucky], if you know the expression. Prior to the Marfa incident I had a problem with tail flutter, which turned out to be due to a loose hinge. Klaus Holinghaus, who was present when the incident occurred, was familiar with the problem, and repaired it within two minutes with a hammer and a punch.
     When Verne and I were trailering the glider home from the point of purchase, we stopped at a fast food restaurant for a quick meal. A gentleman named Brown walked into the restaurant, spotted us immediately, and walked over and sat down. He told us the story of setting an apparent world altitude record in a Cherokee, and getting caught in rotor on the descent. He was forced to bail out when the wings fell off. Because of the absence of a safe landing, the record went unrecognized. We did not believe him, but subsequently checked on the story, and it was true.
     I advertised the Cirrus in Soaring magazine for some time before selling it to the Bay Area Soaring Association, at the time based in Oakland California. I agreed to meet them half way, in Aspen, Colorado for the transfer. I drove out there for a week of mountain flying before turning it over to them.
     A group of four Bay Area Soaring Association (BASA) members drove out for the pickup, and asked for a careful and complete checkout as most of their members had never flown glass, which was still somewhat rare at the time.  One member - Hal I believe - was a self styled hotshot and bigmouth, and it was he who was directed to teach all other club members how to fly the ship safely. I spent a couple of hours going over all the ships qualities, flying characteristics, assembly details, trailer loading, etc. Again at their request, I was asked to demonstrate a high performance landing, because none of them had ever seen a tail parachute in use. By prearrangement with Aspen tower, I took a tow from the local glider operator (Dieter Bibic, also a ski instructor).
     I flew downwind directly over the runway about a thousand feet high, rolled over on my back, extended the gear, pulled full spoilers and full dive brakes,. pointed straight down, pulled out and landed straight ahead. We loaded up the glider, and they left will full smiles.
     A week or two later one of the four telephoned me at my home. It seems that the club held a compulsory orientation session for all who wanted to fly this ship, and the hotshot attempted on his first flight, in front of the entire club, to duplicate the aerobatics and landing. Exception: he forgot about the landing gear. Enough said.
     I cannot verify the story, but either way it is a good story."

In September of 1969, he sold the ship to the Bay Area Soaring Association (c/o Hal Lawrence) in Palo Alto, CA; while the price isn’t shown the Club borrowed $2329 on it in October, and in February of 1972 they borrowed $10,000 with this ship plus a 2-32 (N98452) as collateral.

Somewhere in here Kirke Everson purchased the ship, because it was he who flew it in the 1970 Nationals, placing 46^th. (Kirke currently flies a Standard Cirrus near his home in Rhode Island.)

In addition to the documented addition of a Braunschweig tube in April of 1973, it suffered some damage resulting in a documented repair (done by Pete Ceccio of San Jose, CA) in June of that same year in which a hole was cut in the rear spar of the vertical fin, apparently to inspect and repair the elevator drive mechanism.

Nineteen seventy-eight was a bad year for No. 5. The radio was replaced in January. But in March, an apparent accident resulted in repairs and repainting of the left wing root, repairs to the skin and core of the left wing at station 14’ through 15.5’, and the left dive brake pushrod was repaired. A landing accident appears to be the reason for major repairs in May. The original tailwheel was replaced with a stock Libelle/Kestrel wheel, the aft canopy was replaced, the fuselage bulkhead above the tailwheel was repaired, a new tailwheel housing was fabricated, and the left wing’s leading edge was repaired at the tip.’

The Club flew it until 1979, when in August of that year they sold it to Alan J. Bikle in Gardnerville, NV. (This may be the son of soaring legend Paul Bikle according to Burt Compton. Alan had a business repairing and refinishing sailplanes in the eighties at Gardnerville, near Minden, Nevada. Since he often bought wrecks and repaired and sold them, it would explain how his name was associated with this ship.)

Alan sold it in August of 1981 to Rodney V. Jones in Fair Oak, CA, who flew it until April or 1988 when he sold it to the Georgia Lockheed Employees Recreation Club (GLERC) in Marietta, GA (See no. 36)

Unfortunately, it didn’t fare well there because just under a year later, while flying at Monroe, GA with the Club, a low time pilot crashed in trees and, while there were no injuries, there was lots of minor damage. It was deregistered with the FAA as "destroyed" on April 17, 1989. (Some parts and instruments from that incident were used in No. 36 (q.v.,) now flown by GLERC).

Juan Bach of Odessa, TX bought the remains, rebuilt it, and got the certificate reissued in July of 1992. A Form 337 dated January, 1993 when the lots reported 2140.6 hours total time on the airframe, described multiple major repairs on both wings, a new fuselage bulkhead at station –44.0, repaired and reinstalled cockpit floor and seat pan, replaced horizontal fuselage bulkheads at station 166-167, and extensive repairs to fuselage acce3ss holes. It is believed that No. 5 may contain parts of several Cirruses that were in various forms of disrepair (see Cirrus No. 54, which was destroyed in late 1991, and notes for Cirrus No. 55).

Shortly thereafter, in February of 1993, Juan sold it to Cliff Oliver in San Antonio, TX, the current owner.

By 1996, No. 5 was pretty much stock configuration. The water tanks are useable, but the owner never used them. The ship underwent upgrades in 1997 (changing out wheel bearings and replacing the front canopy). Its current weight is 675 lbs., and it has about 3,000 hours on the airframe.

Nick Leonard bought it from Cliff Oliver in 2005, who, as of May of that year, was replacing all the bearings, cables, and hardware, and adding a new canopy and refinishing the ship in ctalyzed enamal (DAR 8000). . . .good thing he has a glider repair operation!

This ship appeared on the cover of the September 1994 issue of SOARING, piloted by Cliff Oliver while flying over Medina Lake, about 20 miles from the ship’s home airport.