Jim Kostecky's Patriot

Denny Piwowarski and I have Jim Kostecky's Patriot. It is structurally in great shape, but the covering has some damage. Torn tissue and some gouges are evident, but it is still a diamond in the rough. I am asking if anyone has some pictures, preferable color of it when it was new. It would help with the repair.

>Denny Piwowarski and I have Jim Kostecky's Patriot. It is
>structurally in great shape, but the covering has some
>damage. Torn tissue and some gouges are evident, but it is
>still a diamond in the rough. I am asking if anyone has
>some pictures, preferable color of it when it was new. It
>would help with the repair.

I have the Patriot repaired and ready for flight this weekend, I will have lots of pictures of it Before and After repair. Still looking for pictures of it back in the late 60s. It still is quite a beautiful ship. It is light blue, a light sky blue overall with red and dark blue trim. It has a Kostecky family crest with the name PATRIOT on the right wing with the saying, "The Ultimate Ukranian" around the crest. The cockpit is fully detailed with a dark red translucent canopy. It has fuselage mounted main gear and is a tail dragger. The wing outline is a direct copy of the TALON. The ink lines and red stars really set it apart. It has a wingspan of 56 inches and it weighs 53 oz. It has an OS 35 Stunt in it, original engine appears to have been a Veco 35.

Can't waite to see those pics! Its great that someone is taking the time to resurrect these old planes. Always makes me sad to see them hanging on a wall. They look so sad to me. We build them to fly, thats where they belong.

“I have never crashed, but I have proven the theory that gravity sucks!” [email protected]
Glenn Reach

Here are some pictures of the Patriot restored on its first flight yesterday, July 26, 2003 at Bull Run Park in Centreville VA.

Lovely airplane, Colonel. How does she fly?

I love these classic airplanes. Breathes there someone with soul so dead they can't see the beauty?

[photo not recovered: 3e69bb3870f12ad5.jpg]

"Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful." -Ann Landers

LAST EDITED ON Jul-27-03 AT 10:40 PM (CDT)
 
For a ship that hasn't been flown since 1981, she flies great. Jim Kostecky could really build as well as fly. This one is a real gem and a keeper. We put 3 flights on her and the plan now is to reverse engineer her and put out a set of plans. The Patriot appears to be a cross between his Cutlass and the Talon. More to come.

Tom,
The plane looks great! I take it that there are no plans for it at this time. Do you know what the wing area is?
Jim DeYoung

I was lucky enough to be at the field and see the PATRIOT on it's return to the air. Tom did a wonderful job repairing the plane to as near original condition as I think anyone could have done. As you can see in the photo's the plane is beautiful both in it's lines and the colors.

To see the plane flown by Tom it was as though it had been flying top competition flights all these years! I can't wait to see the results of a reverse enginering program on the plane. Thanks to Denny and Tom for keeping this bird alive and well!

Kirk

PS I want one!!!!!

LAST EDITED ON Jul-27-03 AT 10:39 PM (CDT)
 
The wing area is 660 square inches. The wingspan is 67 inches. It is rather large.

>The wing area is 660 square inches. The wingspan is 67
>inches. It is rather large.
I goofed, the wingspan is 57 inches. Wow, 67 would be huge. I couldn't get it in my Windstar.

Tom,

Must be tough to have to fly a beautifully restored genuine original classic on such a gorgeous, level grass field.

LAST EDITED ON Jul-28-03 AT 09:57 PM (CDT)
 
>Tom,
>
>Must be tough to have to fly a beautifully restored genuine
>original classic on such a gorgeous, level grass field.

This is the very field that NVCL is going to use for the 7th Annual Walt Musciano Commemorative Scientific 1/2a contest and Walt Musciano Unlimited on September 6, 2003. We do not have it permanently, only by appointment with the Northern Virginia Park Authority. One and all are invited to our unique one of a kind contest with Walt as Honorary CD.

The field is smooth enough for wing mounted landing gear stunt ships.

A few more pictures to show the quality of Jim's creation.

Tom Grizley brought this gem to the Phila. Flyers contest and I had a chance to view it and take a few pictures. WOW! What a beauty.Supurb job in restoration! Tom says it powers around just great on an old 35S OS Max. He has experimented with a RevUp 11X5 which really performed well for Tom. Sure would be neat to authenticate this for the rest of us to put on our sometime round to it list! I never met the original builder but did see him fly at Brodak year before last. Really felt sad to fondle
this beauty. This certainly accentuates the reason to enjoy all of our associations at the fields or contests to the fullest. These really are the good old days and they'll be gone before we know it.

Here are two pictures of the Patriot just after I mended the torn covering, but had yet to repair the rest of 22 years of attic and garage hangar rash.