1990 Hatz CB-1 "Belle"
My arrival at KGMU was a cold one. The airplane was built in the 1980’s in Oakland CA by Jerry Quarton (see below). It was ferried to Texas decades later. I bought it sight unseen and had it ferried to Atlanta GA where I got checked out and launched for Greenville, SC in April 2020. I quickly learned why WW I aviators had fur collared flight jackets. The breeze goes right down your neck.
Now I fly “Belle” around the Idaho Treasure Valley along the Snake River and over the surrounding mountains. The airplane has plenty of power with a Lycoming O-320 for high altitude ops but with only 18 gallons of fuel and an 80kt cruise, flying into the back country is not feasible yet. Still there is so much to see and enjoy along the valley including wineries and canyons.
I thought about flying Belle across the country to Boise but two weeks and 30 fuel stops would be required. I opted for Deland Barnstormers to carry her over the Rockies.
I re-assembled the Hatz in my Nampa hangar and my buddies at Blue Max rigged it using their deep knowledge of Stearman Biplanes.
Bare minimum panel is all that’s required. The airplane has no electrical system but does have a battery and starter. Hand propping the Lyc O-320 gets tiring after a while. I added a volt meter so I always know the condition of the battery.
The Jerry Quarton Story
This Hatz CB-1 has serial number AGQ-6 because it was the sixth and last experimental aircraft built by Arnold G “Jerry” Quarton. He was quite a guy and is at rest in Galt Cemetary, Sacramento, CA since 1999. He was an air racer alongside legends like Art Scholl and Steve Wittman and built a Baby Ace, two Mong Sports, a Cassutt Special III, a Pitts Special and finally this Hatz. What is notable is Jerry survived two crashes in aircraft he built, a testament to his expertise in building. One crash was while performing aerobatics in 1961 at the Tracy Muni Airport for a Fourth of July airshow. According to the Sam Matthews of the Tracy Press, “In 1961, one of the stunt pilots was a rookie: Jerry Quarton, manager of the Oakdale Airport. In fact, he was not certified as a stunt pilot, but he was determined to fly his homebuilt Mong Sport X miniature in the Tracy air show anyway. During the show, Quarton’s small plane went into a flat spin about 1,000 feet off the ground and hit the ground near an airport runway at a 20-degree angle. The crash site was several hundred yards away from where I was standing. I rushed over to the crumbled yellow plane and saw Quarton wedged into the cockpit. Someone said he was still alive, but I wouldn’t have bet a nickel he would survive the crash. He was rushed to Tracy Community Memorial Hospital remained hospitalized for a number of weeks and gradually improved. He indeed did survive, somehow.”
The other crash was a mid-air collision in 1966 while air racing in Frederick MD. According to homebuiltairplanes.com forum, “The midair was with [Nick Jones and] Jerry Quarton (Cassutt, also – I think, but am not certain, that Jerry was ahead of Nick at the time) at the 1966 Frederick, Maryland, races. Nick crash landed well down the front stretch, crawled out of the wreckage, and sat down on an empty grandstand bench to assess his condition. As he sat there, an ambulance came roaring down the stretch. Nick waved, and shouted, “Over here!” They replied, “Not now, mister, there’s been a crash!” and sped to the wreckage.”
The logs for the Hatz show “OK to cover” in 1982. It was finished in 1990. The last log entry from Jerry was the condition inspection in 1996, three years before his passing. Check out this link to Jerry’s mid-air collision with Nick Jones in which both pilots survived and a link to Sam Matthew’s Tracy Press Article