Mira Slovak's Jungmann N707S is one of the most well known Bückers in North America, but sadly one we don't see too often these days, so I was thrilled to receive this letter from Don Vance who explained something about the history of the aircraft and its current configuration. One of the most remarkable things about Bückers, I think, is their versatility. Whether a Hirth 504 powered Bu131a, or a fire breathing 400 HP Price Jungmeister, they are all special and all fabulous - just in different ways. Mira had a particular mission in mind for his C104 and my thanks are due to Don sharing some of that here. You can watch "The Three Amigos" here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2X--dC8OF0 The longest Jungmann segment is at about 1:27:00 (There are some interesting tales about why Jimmy Franklin was listed as the pilot in the movie credits; Ask Mira or Don.)
N707S is currently offered for sale on a number of brokerage websites. - SB
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I have been associated with Mira Slovak and his Bücker N707S, Aero C-104, S/N 211, since 1972. In that original configuration, it probably had more vertical and inverted time than most current Buckers have straight and level. Its appearance was almost identical to N121U that Mira sold to Ernie Gann.
As it aged from all the airshow work , it was to be “finished off” being used in the movie “The Three Amigos”. For that use, it was purposely made to look ugly. They sure accomplished that! It was painted in what was supposed to be a “weathered red” but it came out a sick looking pink color. It was so bad that it had to be repainted before filming began. After I “bolted” Mira in for the flight to Tucson the last thing Mira said was “I hate to stop for fuel en-route the way the Bücker looks, but I’ll just tell people that I’m only the ferry pilot”. I could only say,” Mira with that color you better spell FERRY for them. Anyway, it went to Tucson and definitely got “finished off”! When it got home to Santa Paula, it was dismantled for rebuild. It was several years before that was started.
When that began, NEW wings, engine mount, cowl, landing gear, brakes, wiring and instrumentation were installed and naturally it got recovered. The recover was where I got involved and started a controversy. Since, I was to maintain the aircraft. I insisted the cockpit sides be “metalized”. Mira agreed and we were lucky enough to have Lou Boise (pronounced Boyce) who was doing the rebuild and had the talent to accomplish the task, and to do it beautifully. It is one thing to build new airplanes but quite another when you have to inspect and maintain them year after year.
Then, we started to hear the detractors saying “It’s not Bücker” and “It’s too heavy”. This, from people that have installed different engines, cowlings, brakes and on and on as well one detractor on the weight factor that is probably fifty pounds overweight himself. The other reason we wanted the metal sides is that nearly every Bücker with any time since recover shows cracking and ringworms on the fuselage sides from peoples knees from the outside and seat belts from the inside. Lou also fabricated new fuselage to wing fairings during the rebuild. Also, beautifully done. How many Bückers do you see that have “cobbled” up fairings. The answer is MANY and the reason is that not too many people have the talent to form sheet metal that well. I sure as hell don’t, but wish I did! You can imagine how great it is to do annual inspections, etc.
As the rebuild progressed, Mira decided he would like to fly N707S to Europe. Consequently, Becker nav/com gear, a color big screen moving map GPS and a rudimentary autopilot were installed. Also, it can carry over seven hours of fuel. Who but Mira Slovak can sit in an open cockpit biplane that long? These tanks can be easily removed and the aircraft put back to standard 2-hole configuration.
Don Vance