Meet Mr. Walton
We are pleased to introduce you to Ken Walton. Mr. Walton was under our care this year—he was a man of many talents and as you will read, he was passionate about aviation. Mick Jarvis wrote about Mr. Walton’s aviation journey in the Chateauguay Historical Society’s quarterly newsletter (Issue 1, 2022) and with their permission, we are pleased to share his amazing story here.
A Pilot? Want an Airplane? Solution: Build Your Own!
Kenny Walton Builds an Airplane on Stuart Avenue in the 1960s
By
Mick Jarvis – Chateaugay Historical Society
Over the years, Chateaugay has proven to be fertile ground for stories about its citizens. We have had war heroes, successful businessmen, inventors, writers, civic leaders, and all manner of interesting people. Their stories add to the rich tapestry of our little town’s amazing and entertaining past.
For example, over the years, Chateaugay has had its share of airplane pilots. Names like Arlie Wood, Dan Wills, Mel Nemier, and Mike Jones all come to mind; each of them provide a unique and engaging tale to tell.
However, as far as I know, only one local pilot ever built his own plane. Ken Walton did just that in the mid-1960s. I remember it very well because I had a ring-side seat for the project. He and his family were our next door neighbors when I was growing up. I spent a lot of time at their house next door as Kevin and I became fast friends – fishing and camping at the Boardman and hanging out just about every day.
My parents bought the “Doc Wallace” house on the southeast corner of East Main and Stuart Avenue in 1954. The lot on our south boundary was vacant when we moved in. Later that summer, however, the property was purchased by Ken and Carol Walton from “Hep” and Rita Heptonstall, and construction on their home began shortly after.
My father was quite “handy” and had been a plumber and a painter and would tackle all kinds of projects. Beginning when I was quite young, I tagged along with him and began to appreciate the different skill sets he had and I quickly came to realize the importance of being “handy.”
Little did I know that day, when the Waltons appeared at that lot next door, the many talents and skills Ken would display over the years that followed. He clearly took “handy” to the next level.
I remember hanging out with their oldest son, Kevin, the day the work on the lot began. Ken, his father and grandfather were busy laying out the basement; putting up batter boards and running lines in preparation for the upcoming excavation.
The basement was built by the Waltons. Ken’s father and grandfather were both masons. Local carpenter, Ray Demarse framed it up and closed it in. Kenny then took over and finished the inside himself.
After the house construction was pretty well complete, I remember one afternoon when Ken pulled into their driveway with a load of wide, beautifully weathered barn board. Asking what it was for, he said; “This is for the walls of the rec room in the basement.” With the upstairs complete, he had turned his attention to finishing off the basement. By the time it was finished, a wood shop, rec room, bathroom, laundry room and storage space appeared downstairs.
Ken enjoyed building model airplanes. I remember his display in the rec room. The paint and decal accents on the planes just shone as they hung from the ceiling, suspended on thin monofilament fishing line. I was a model builder as well. Shaw’s followed by Alix’s always had a wide selection of Revell model kits to choose from. However, my finished models never looked like Kenny’s. His were precise and (to me) totally without imperfections. My models always seemed to have ample supplies of glue gobs and fingerprints on the still-tacky paint as I plowed ahead to get them together, as the impatient kid I was.
Kenny always had an interest in flying and became a pilot around 1960. He became a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) chapter in Plattsburgh soon after. This was a “sports aviation” organization made up of recreational flight enthusiasts.
Slowly, he began thinking about how he might someday build his own plane. One day, he saw an ad in one of his flight magazines for a set of plans for a plane that cost $100. Through the EAA, he had become friends with Frank Dossert, who lived in Chazy. After seeing the ad, a series of conversations began between the two. Eventually, a plan took shape: there would be two planes built. Ken would supply the fabrication and construction expertise and Dossert the financing. From 1963 through 1968, two planes were completed. Dossert’s was finished first.
Kenny’s plane was a Volmer V-J 22 Sportsman Amphibious model. The fuselage was twenty four feet long, the wingspan was thirty-six and a half feet. Its weight was right around one thousand pounds. It was powered by a 100 HP pusher-type engine. The load capacity of the two seater was five hundred pounds.
Except for the motor (which was built in Wisconsin), the wheel assemblies and the wings (although Ken re-covered both after he purchased them), the entire craft was built, machined and assembled on Stuart Avenue.
Already having excellent woodworking skills, Kenny wanted to do his own metal work as well. So, he enrolled in a welding class at Chateaugay Central which was being offered by the extensive Adult Education program that was in full operation at the time. Incidentally, the Adult Ed. program was coordinated by a neighbor, Adrian “Bill” Wood, the Elementary School principal at CCS.
With his skillsets in place, the plane’s construction process began. The first order of business was to build a custom “cradle” to support the soon-to-be-built fuselage. The cradle was put on casters so it could be rolled out of the garage and into the driveway where there would be more room to work during nice weather. A “notch” was eventually cut above the garage door, so the finished plane would fit inside.
Slowly but steadily, the plane took shape, and the various components fell into place; body, instrumentation, controls, landing gear, wings.
The construction and design specifications were precise and demanding. The frame was Sitka spruce, noted for its strength and flexibility. The framing was covered with aviation-grade plywood and then completely sheathed in fiberglass, inside and out.
He was visited four times during the process by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors. The construction reviews were thorough and demanding.
Upon completion, the plane had to be flown for fifty hours following the last inspection to get its final certification. Ken’s first flight in the new plane was on July 23, 1968. He was accompanied by a fellow pilot, Bill Dahlar from Plattsburgh. I asked him if he was excited during that first flight of his five year project. Ken said it wasn’t so much excitement, but rather, the growing sense of “realizing what you have done” as they made that maiden flight.
The craft was regularly hangered at the Dufort Airport in Malone. The wings were detachable, so Ken built a system in the hanger (he also had the same type of storage system at home in his garage) that allowed the detached wings to be held in a sling assembly and then raised up out of the way to allow for space on the hanger floor. In the fall, the wings were unattached and stored overhead in the hanger and the plane brought home to spend the winter in the garage (there was a trailer hitch installed on the back end of the fuselage). In the spring, the plane would be towed back to the airport and parked beneath the suspended wings. The wings would be lowered and bolted to the body, and the empty cradle assembly would be lifted up, out of the way, once again, with the plane ready for the summer’s flights.
Initially, the plane’s engine was installed as a “pusher,” that is, the propeller was pointed towards the back of the plane, and the craft was pushed forward. That type of motor mounting tends to push the nose of the plane down, which proved an issue with the water landings. So, Ken soon decided to reverse the mount and put the propeller pointing ahead. The nose pressure and handling worked much better with the mounting change.
Kenny flew the plane for almost fifteen years. He regularly attended many fly-in events. Once, while at an event in Burlington, the Air Force Thunderbirds came over to see the plane and hear about its construction. Another time, while on the way to an EAA sponsored fly-in in the Midwest, he was forced to set the Cessna he was piloting at the time, down in a corn field. He later took off from the cornfield and continued on to the fly-in. During his time as a plane owner, he also had an opportunity to pilot a helicopter. The highest altitude his own plane ever flew was 15,000 feet.
Kenny’s son, Dale, recalled one time when the carburetor iced up in mid-flight. The engine sputtered and coughed. Luckily, there was a heater on the carburetor which, when switched on, quickly remedied the issue but, at the time and in midair, it made for some tense moments.
Along with the enjoyment of flying his own creation, he found that there was also a learning curve as the plane was put into use. Ken recalled his first landing on Chateaugay Lake. The landing wheels were still down. The stop when the plane hit the water was pretty sudden. Needless to say, he told me that after that experience, he always remembered to pull up the wheels and lock them into place when doing a water landing. The two landing wheels were retracted and deployed via a lever between the two seats. After that first lake landing and the deployed wheels, a sign was added to the dash that said “Is the Landing Gear Up?”
Flying in and out of Chateaugay Lake over the years was always a particularly enjoyable part of owning the plane.
Frank Dossert eventually sold his plane. Supposedly, it met its end when it sank in Lake Michigan. Kenny sold his to someone from Vermont after flying it into the 1980s. Unfortunately, it was later left outside, unprotected in the weather, and eventually fell apart.
Despite the plane’s ultimate fate in the hands of the new owner, it was clear when talking to Kenny and two of his sons, that the memories of the construction and the many flights are warm and still vivid. Our discussions brought plenty of smiles and chuckles as many stories were told of that amphibious plane and its Chateaugay history.
Kenny’s last time in a small, recreational plane was on his 80th birthday. His sons, Dale and Dennis, arranged for their father to fly with another local pilot, the late Dan Wills. When they arrived at the airport in Malone, Danny immediately insisted that Ken take the pilot’s seat. He was delighted to be at the controls from takeoff to landing, one final time.
As I mentioned earlier, Kenny is a man of many talents. He even built a go-kart around the time he took the welding class at CCS. It was an open-wheel design. I was able to drive it a couple of times. It would move right along!
He even took up woodcarving after retirement. During the winters he and Carol spent in Florida, he produced uncounted pieces. Many were award winners at carving shows.
For me now, growing up on the corner of Stuart Avenue in the ‘50s and ‘60s, Kenny is the last of the “old guard” on our street that I remember as a kid. From East Main to Church Street were: Felix and Emma Picard, Hep and Rita Heptonstall, Hank and Marge Spellman, Paul and Edith Amrod, Ken and Maureen Rowe, Leo and Irene Murray, Bill and Ginny Wood, Eleanor and Ralph Glidden, Ken and Carol, and my parents, Gerald and Irene Jarvis. The Amrods and the Rowes moved from town and all the others, save Kenny, have passed away.
I remember all of the families and all of the other wonderful memories that came with growing up back then and how life seemed so simple and carefree. The plane Kenny built was certainly one of the more amazing things that happened on our street.
Sources:
Kenneth, Kevin, and Dale Walton
Transportation Newsletter – NYS DOT – August 1970
Sport Aviation magazine – September 1968
Chateaugay Record – 7/17/1969
Malone Telegram – clipping undated