User:Durangofox/sandbox

Frank August Van Dersarl was born in Denver, Colorado on August 13, 1895 and died in his home town January, 1983. He was the last of five children and had two older brothers: John and Jules. In 1910 Jules and Frank began construction of a Bleriot XI aircraft from plans obtained from Gustave Eiffel to whom they were related. The brothers built a three cylinder radial engine similar to the Anzani engine that powered the original Bleriot XI which was the first aircraft to fly across the English Channel. In its first flight the VanDersarl Bleriot flew a short distance from what was then the intersection of 32nd and Monaco Parkway to the southeas     t with Jules as pilot. Upon landing the aircraft, which had no brakes, rolled back and broke the elevator so the aircraft had to be disassembled, put on a horse drawn wagon, and taken home for repairs. This may be the event that led the brothers to build a four cylinder inline engine with more horsepower than the anemic Anzani type that had only about 29 horsepower which was not sufficient at Denver’s Mile High altitude. Frank soloed in the Bleriot on July 13, 1913. He was eighteen years old. The brothers made wooden patterns which were then cast in iron or aluminum and were machined on a foot powered, treadle lathe. The wooden pattern for the radial engine was made from the thick ends and thin sides of an apple crate and the valve guides were pieces cut from the handle of their mother’s broom. They were just teenagers. They also built a copy of Clyde Cessna’s Silverwings and both aircraft were flown out of east Denver and an abandoned racetrack called Sable. It was not long, though, before Jules moved to Dawson, New Mexico and Frank was on his own. There are estimates of more than forty aircraft which Frank built, remodeled or re-engined, including designing and building the VAMP. (Wikipedia XXX)  He installed an Hispano Suiza water cooled V-8 engine in a Standard J-1 which Charles Lindbergh flew while barnstorming in Colorado in 1925. After giving Lindbergh a test flight Frank told the man who had hired Lindbergh: “That kid’s a pilot! He’ll do ya’ good!” Frank started Denver Union Airport which he lost due to the Depression and competition from the new Denver owned Denver Metropolitan Airport (Stapleton International Airport). During WWII Frank taught machining and metal work at the Denver Opportunity School to students who would be employed building aircraft for the war effort. Frank then worked at the Colorado Highway Department until he retired. Frank and John worked on and substantially completed construction of a replica Bleriot XI but were not able to finish the project before their deaths. The aircraft which finished at the behest and by the efforts of Javier Arango at the Aeroplane Collection. That Bleriot is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum, Chantilly, Virginia. He was inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame in 1969.