Wikipedia - Waco Standard Cabin Series

UIC - 210 hp 157 kW Continental R-670-5 engine. 83 built.

airhistory.org.uk - NC13409

c/n 3756

-N13409 Waco Model UIC S/N 3756

The name Waco comes from the initials of the original company name, Weaver Aircraft Company, founded in the early 1920s. WACO replaced the model QDC in 1933 with its most successful cabin design?the UIC. Powered by a 210-horsepower Continental radial engine, the UIC was a four-person biplane with a conventional fixed tail wheel landing gear. They were comfortable, fast, and well equipped; the well-appointed cabin was accessed by automobile-style doors on each side, with a pair of individual front seats and a roomy rear bench seat for another two passengers.
The UIC?s fabric-covered fuselage was constructed from welded steel tubing, shaped with wooden formers and stringers while the wings were fabricated with spruce spars, spruce and wooden ribs, and aluminum edges. Ailerons on both wings were covered in aluminum and connected with push-pull struts that operated them in pairs. The UIC's stable handling characteristics were considered to be forgiving, with good performance. Delivered with a full set of flight controls and instrumentation, the UIC was priced at a modest $6,000, well within the reach of smaller corporations and airlines.

9 June 1933 - The initial application for commercial aircraft license and identification number give the date of manufacture as 6 June, and assigned NC13409 as the identification mark.

The various licenses that were issued when this aircraft was new were comparable to the Airworthiness Certificates used today. The identification number would change depending on what license was in effect at the time; example, 709Y, C709Y, NC709Y or R709Y, and it could be cancelled by the Dept. of Commerce or the owner for various reasons; form AB 105 was used for that purpose. Only licensed pilots could legally fly aircraft with a letter prefix. If the number had no letter prefix, as 709Y, then it was limited to commercial operations wholly within one state and licensed pilots were specifically prohibited from flying it while carrying persons or property for hire. C and NC were commercial airplane licenses, R and NR were restricted licenses and X and NX were experimental licenses. These licenses were issued semi-annually.

6 September 1933 - Sold to the Gillies Aviation Corp. of Garden City, Long Island, NY.

9 April 1934 - Sold to Robert W. Stoddard of Worchester, MA.

29 December 1942 - Sold to Frank E. Light of Hopkinton MA.

17 August 1943 - CAA Repair Alterations form 337 documents the installation of radios and a major overhaul of the engine. The radio was a Waller Transceiver and the antenna was on a reel. The complete radio installation, a new generator and heavy duty battery, was 43 pounds.

6 April 1944 - CAA form 337 documents reconfiguring the aircraft for target towing. After the configuration change, the aircraft was operated by the Civil Air Patrol for the U. S. Army Air Force. A target towing windlass with 2500 feet of 1/8 inch cable was installed in place of the rear seats. The weight increase was 192.5 pounds. This conversion was accomplished by the U. S. Army Air Depot at Spokane WA. The NC in the aircraft number was changed to NR.  

27 October 1944 - CAA form 337 documents reconfiguring the aircraft to its previous configuration. The NR was changed back to NC.

31 October 1944 - Sold to John E. Flynn of Anchorage, Territory of Alaska.

4 November 1944 - CAA Repair and Alteration form 337 documents the removal of the Heywood air starter and the installation of an eclipse electric starter. A diagram on this form details the changes made to the carburetor hot air and cabin heater. This work was completed at Weeks Field in Coeur d?Alene, ID.

24 March 1945 - CAA form 337 documents a major repair to both right wings. These repairs included manufacturing both spars and aileron spars, eleven new ribs, all new leading edge material on the lower wing. It also required splicing the rear spar at the inboard end of the upper wing, repairing the right elevator and right landing gear fittings.  The tail wheel was then modified to be a stearable tail wheel, the fabric was repaired and reinstalled, the right main landing gear wheel, and right lower aileron was replaced. These repairs were completed at Kellogg, ID.  

19 July 1945 - Sold to Don Knudson of Anchorage, Territory of Alaska.

11 September 1946 - Sold to Paul G. Miller and Ward I. Gay of Anchorage, Territory of Alaska. Ward Gay founded the Commuter Airline and Charter operation Sea Airmotive of Anchorage. Sea Airmotive ceased operation in 1986.  

5 May 1947 - Sold to Dr Ralph Mackenzie of Littleton, CO. After his death in 1963, ownership passed to his wife, Gladys Margaret Mackenzie, in February of 1964.

November 1947 - CAA form 337 documents both wings being recovered with grade A fabric. Eight coats of clear dope was brushed on followed by two coats of silver and three coats of color was applied as a finish. This is the first time replacement of the fabric has been mentioned. This work was completed by Sea Airmotive of Anchorage, AK.

23 August 1953 - Aircraft inspection report states that all previous log books were lost and estimated the total time as 12,000 hours. This estimate seems a little high.

1 August 1954 - CAA form 337 documents the overhaul of the lower left wing, rejuvenating the entire aircraft, and painting with nitrate dope. The stabilizer was recovered, the exhaust stacks , all ailerons, and all the left wing bolts were replaced. The overhaul included replacing most of the nose ribs gussets, portions of the cap strips and the plywood compression plates under the strut fittings.

6 August 1955 - The last aircraft annual inspection report on file was completed on this date.

30 January 1966 - Sold to Robert G. and Verona O. Langsdorf of Spenard, AK. When the city of Anchorage became the Municipality of Anchorage in the late 1970?s, Spenard became the community of Spenard within the Municipality of Anchorage.

10 March 2007 - The ownership and registration for N13409, Waco UIC, S/N 3756 has not been finalized. The aircraft was sold/donated to the Museum of Transportation/Philip L. Redden of Anchorage, AK in 1969 by Robert G. Langsdorf and his wife. The bill of sale was incomplete, it was signed only by Robert Langsdorf, probably in pencil. There is a letter from the FAA in the suspense file stating that the bill of sale must be signed in ink.

There seems to be no resolution to the bill of sale because the last letter sent to the Museum of Transportation by the FAA in 1994 was returned because of insufficient address. There are 18 pages in the FAA suspense file contained on the records CD concerning this problem.