Restoration Watch: Luscombe Phantom
Thursday, December 18, 2008 at 08:22AM 
You might not agree with me here, but I believe that some things designed by the mind of man come closer to a ‘universal perfection’ than others. It’s my firm belief that the 1934 Luscombe Phantom is one of them. Maybe you’re just like me and agree that everything about the Phantom is off-the-scale awesome!
And as cool as many of the flying machines are today, can you possibly beat what was going on in the 1930’s? It’s almost unbelievable how many stunning designs (that also have great performance) came from that time period. Much more about that later when AirPigz looks more closely at the amazing aircraft designs from the depression era of the 30’s.
Right now, it’s a good time to focus on the Phantom in the more recent pic above. It’s currently owned by the guys at Pietsch (say peach) Aircraft in Minot, ND, and they’re about to give it a complete restoration. There’s only a handful left of the 22 Phantoms built, so anytime one gets restored, it’s a big deal. We hope to follow the progress of this beauty as the work gets under way.
The Phantom has a rep as a mean airplane on the ground. Some of it seems deserved, some not. We’ll talk more about that later, as well as a cool personal story I have from the 90’s that relates to N272Y, the first Phantom built, seen here way back in the day in the second photo.
Pietsch Aircraft: restoration, airshows and more: http://pietschaircraft.com
Reader Comments (1)
i have a orginal never used fahlin propeller made for the phantom..still has stickers on it..have any interest in it..thanks Rhawn model d-628