Biplane ID Help

[bigwingboy]

Hi Everyone,

I hope this note finds you and yours well.

I found a picture of me as a spry young ground crewman back in 1966. Can you ID the airplane I'm standing beside? I haven't been able to nail it down yet. The closest I came was a Bretthauer Lewann DD-1. Any thoughts?

Thank you all for your help!

Gene Harriman
Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

[Raptor22]

bigwingboy,

I think you nailed the ID problem, take a look at this. It even says Experimental at the
same location in the picture.

http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/328837.html

If I had that plane I would change the paint job.

[bigwingboy]

Thanks Raptor, that's exactly the image I found that led me to that guess. And I concur on the paint job. 'Needs some red and white starburst, doesn't it? And a sharks mouth is preferable to a 'happy' face any day. G

[bretwizer]

I'm not sure but it looks like the plane in your pic is the same exact one in the museum pic but with a changed registration number. See this link http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/N8753A.html. The old #, from your pic, now belongs to a Beech aircraft. This was found by guessing the letter behind you was an "A".

[bretwizer]

Oops, I may be mistaken. This link http://www.airport-data.com/manuf/Bretthauer.html shows that the company made two aircraft. I think I misread this line [Also Registered As: N576A ] in the last link as being the same plane with a changed registration # and not a reference to a like aircraft. how does everyone else read this. I have found sale info on the museum plane but nothing else on the other one. Wonder what happened to it.

http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Amateu...BiplaneDD1.htm for another picture.

[bigwingboy]

Bretwizer, thank you for your reply and your help. I think you are correct ... this may be the exact aircraft! Gawd...I guess a trip to the Grand Canyon Valle Airport museum is in my future. Maybe I'll drop them an e-mail first. Wouldn't that be cool to have a 1966 and 2012 imag, same person, same a/c? The main doubt I had was in my image notice the starboard side windshield, the little triangle one attached to the main front windshield. 'Seems like the museum version is more narrow, though this may be an optical illusion. There's no doubting the cockpit opening details match to a tee. Thank you again for your help! G

[N2056]

I think it is much more likely that your plane is a Smith Miniplane, a home-built design that appeared in the late 50's. The "Experimental" label is common to any home-built aircraft. That is the FAA category that home-builts are registered in, and that label is one of the requirements that category specifies.