Re-posted from EAA.org:
October 2, 2014 – After a multi-year volunteer restoration effort, EAA’s 1917 Standard J-1 biplane with The Great Waldo Pepper paint scheme made its maiden post-restoration flight on Monday, September 29, along a freshly mowed makeshift grass strip parallel to Runway 9 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Test pilot Larry Harmacinski, EAA Lifetime 241492/Vintage 11740, described the flying qualities of the nearly century-old design. “Ponderous, like the Ford Tri-Motor, even slower if you can imagine. It’s quite a timepiece.”
The “meat and potatoes” of the aircraft, which had the serial number 1956, have been in the EAA family since the early 1970s. At that time EAA member Charlie Klessig found its fuselage in an EAA warehouse and asked EAA Founder Paul Poberezny if he could rebuild it, and Paul agreed. The aircraft had no wings, no engine, and was more or less a giant paperweight…