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JIM MATSIES’ COMANCHE 250
N6857P rolled out of Piper’s Lock Haven plant on April 29,
1960, number 1993 in the Comanche production line. Prior to my
purchasing the airplane on October 1, 1993, it was a two owner
aircraft, which spent a good part of its life based in
Memphis, Tenn. and Grand Junction, Colorado before heading
west to Oregon. Though the records show that it was hangared
the majority of its life, the paint, windows, and interior
showed its 33 years and it was definitely going to be a
project airplane.
I picked up the airplane at the Oakridge, Oregon airport on
October 3rd and by October 5th the airplane was in John Van
Bladeren’s hangar where the restoration was to take place.
The panel, as you can imagine, was far from the neat
center-stack panels of today. That would change. In fact
everything was going to change. The airplane had only been
flown 135 hours in the previous 5 years and so some engine
work was definitely on the horizon as well.
We started with the propeller and came out the tail,
literally. A new windshield and side windows followed the
propeller, a completely new instrument panel thanks to the
help from John Van Bladeren, a new paint job from Bob Fitts,
and new interior from Salem Air Center. The finished product
flew out of Salem on the afternoon of Christmas Eve 1993.
The only thing that had not yet been replaced was the engine.
However, late in February of 1997 I flew the airplane to
Visalia, California and Ly-Con for a new engine. Ly-con did an
excellent job and I was back flying again by spring. Since
that time we have made a few new additions to the instrument
panel and today it’s flying with a full UPSAT package
including the MX20 MFD.
It’s a great airplane and at this time I really don’t know
how I would improve upon it. |
Click here
for Before / After restoration pictures
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Photos |
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Click on pictures to
enlarge |
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Front and low
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After
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Interior
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Left Side
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Right
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