We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
George and Shirly Wermling, of Great Falls, are pictured working on the RagWing 4 plane they are completing. The Wermlings bought the plane that was first started by Dick Edgington, of Chinook, in 2004. Edgington's eyesight began to falter after he had worked on the project for about ten years. The Wermlings hope to have the plane flying in six months.
This is a photo of the Bede BD-5 Micro that James Bond flew through an open hangar in one of his action movies. George Wermling built one of these from a kit and later crashed it at Helena when a landing gear failed. Wermling said, "There were a lot of these kits sold but the company stopped sending parts to complete the planes. I ended up having to make a lot of the parts on my own to finish the plane I completed."
Reporter's note: Dick Edgington, a longtime resident of Chinook, died in the summer of 2016. In 2004, after retiring from the Blaine County Road Department, Edgington bought a set of plans to build a RagWing 4 single engine plane. It was not a kit, he had to locate and buy all the parts and supplies necessary to complete the plane. The plans were based on a popular plane sold as a kit and first available in 1928.
I'd heard about the incomplete plane from several people and had asked Dick's son, Danny Lee, if he would talk to me for a story about his dad's plane. Later that summer Danny Lee told me, "If you want to do a story about the plane you better do it soon, we're planning to sell it." Danny and I went to Dick's house and there was the plane-body and wings, along with boxes and cartons of pieces that were necessary to complete the plane.
Danny Lee said, "Dad started building the plane in 2004. About four years ago (2012) his eyesight failed and he had to quit working on the plane. It was nearly completed but none of my family wants to finish it. We are going to sell it." John Hebbelman, a local pilot and plane enthusiast, placed an ad in a flyers' magazine but never got any response. Danny Lee explained, "John told me that people were reluctant to buy a homemade plane, especially if they didn't know the builder. It's a risk most flyers won't take."
Turns out the plane sold by word of mouth. A friend of Danny Lee's sister, in Great Falls, knew the plane was for sale and told George Wermling about it. Wermling bought the plane. He said later, "I went up to Chinook to look at the plane. The price was right and I decided to buy it." He took all the parts and supplies back to his three-stall garage in Great Falls. That was September. He had to complete a few pieces, assemble the plane and add the fabric to the fuselage and wings. Now it's prepared to paint. Wermling said, "In about six months it should be ready to fly." Here's the story of George and Shirley Wermling's goal to have the plane completed soon, 14+ years after Dick Edgington started the project.
A passion for the project and
the skills to complete it
George Wermling told, "When I retired about 20 years ago I needed something to keep me busy. I had worked as an electrician and traveled a lot, I never really had time for a hobby." First he and his wife Shirley bought a VW convertible, "in very rough shape," and refurbished it. Then they restored an old Camaro owned by one of their sons.
At some point he bought a kit to build a Bede BD-5, a metal single engine plane. Wermling said, "It's the same plane that James Bond flew through both doors of a hangar in one of his action films." That plane burned when a landing gear failed and the plane slid into runway lights at the Helena airport. At some point the Wermlings began to restore old Studebakers. It seems the couple have plenty of skills to do the projects they take on.
Of the plane started by Dick Edgington, George said, "Looking at what was completed I realized Dick Edgington did really nice work. I wouldn't have bought the plane otherwise. I basically took up the project where he stopped." Edgington had gathered all the parts and supplies, George said he really hasn't had to buy anything to complete the plane. Most recently he and Shirley have been putting the cloth on the wings and fuselage, then hand painting several coats of poly-brush to give the fabric strength. George has a painting booth in one stall of his garage.
I was curious about how Shirley, George's wife, felt about her husband's passion for these mechanical projects. George said, "Shirley helps me on all of them. She's really good doing upholstery, and she's very good at finishing the fabric on the plane." Listening to them talk it was obvious they consider themselves a team. Shirley says she enjoys helping George.
Shirley told, "My dad had a garage and worked on cars when I was a kid. I grew up fooling around with mechanical things." She said, "One time my mom painted a car, all by herself, and then sold it." To coin a phrase, "the acorns don't fall far from the trees" in this family when it comes to mechanical projects.
Six months to the maiden flight
George said, "It's always been my intention to fly the plane." He told Danny Lee that the plans called for only a low windshield for the pilot's cockpit but he was considering a 'bubble' covering to make the pilot more comfortable. He believes once the plane is painted it should be ready to fly in about six months, but there might be a slight glitch in his timeline to the first flight.
He explained, "I have been trying to schedule a needed heart operation for some time. That could happen as early as two weeks from now and I would need some time to deal with that." Also, once the plane is finished, the rigging (controls and cables to flaps, etc.) has to be calibrated so the control system is 'neutral,' meaning the plane would fly evenly without moving the controls. George added, "Then, we have to figure proper weight and balance control for safe flight." He said all those refinements have to be made on the ground but one is never quite sure everything is okay until the plane is in the air.
Still, he is confident he will fly the plane. Asked if he would invite this reporter to see the first flight, George laughed and said, "I might just fly it up to Chinook so you can see it up close." Danny Lee says he has plans to go see the maiden flight of his dad's plane.
Come warm weather, if readers see a freshly painted plane buzzing the Chinook airport, it could be George Wermling in his completed RagWing 4. It would be a very fitting tribute to Dick Edgington, who started the whole process 14+ years ago in Chinook. Asked how he thought his dad would feel if he could see the plane in its current state, Danny Lee said, "I believe he'd be happier than a pig in do-do."
