Rare Rearwin

Made in tiny numbers by Piper and Aeronca standards, the beautifully-engineered Rearwin Skyranger proves to be a delight waiting to be discovered

- Jonathan Marten-Hale

“I’ve bought a Rearwin.” “Oh... Er, Good!” So went the conversation with my late friend and work colleague, Ashley Bourne in summer 2003. We’d shared a Cessna 140 and 120 for a few years, and I knew he was looking for a retirement project−but he’d floored me a bit with that purchase. I like to think I know a bit about aircraft and always look at the various photo reports from places like Oshkosh and Sun ’n Fun at the various esoteric attendees, but I wasn’t really sure what a Rearwin was.

Over the ensuing weeks and months Ash started filling in the gaps in my knowledge.

So, what had he bought? A 1940 (which counts as ‘pre-war’ to Americans, due of course to the USA not having then entered the fray) 75hp Continental-powered Skyranger, serial number 1522. Built in November of that year only three months after the type was certified, she is the second oldest of the model flying in the world (coincidentally the oldest is the only other one in the UK).

After about three years of flying around the country and enjoying her, Ash took her out of the air and started a rebuild, greatly helped by his annual holiday in the USA, plus his job also taking him there regularly. These trips enabled him to meet fellow Rearwin enthusiasts, including Eric Rearwin, the founder’s grandson, and source many elusive parts. Family were often tasked to bring back as cabin baggage items such as propellers and windscreens!

Now she is 99.9% finished and resplendent in her original colours. Rearwins mostly came in red with blue trim but Ash didn’t particularly like their shade of red. He was overjoyed on stripping his down to find that it was originally the rarer blue with red trim. He even found under the floorboards a worker’s pencilled serial number.