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August 05, 2002
'Hanger Fly' helps with flight of fancy

By Arrin Brunson
Herald Journal

The label "hangar fly" is one Marvin Kincaid wears proudly.

"It's great just to be around airplanes," he said. "All these airplanes have stories that I like to listen to the guys around here tell about."

This 75-year-old Sun City resident just couldn't resist stopping by the Instructional Technology department's airplane hangar at Utah State University to "talk airplanes." Little could he have known, though, that his foray would turn into a summer long engagement.

Kincaid and his wife of 52 years, Marge, have spent four of the past five summers in Utah, escaping Arizona's baking temperatures and participating in the series of lectures and classes offered through the USU Summer Citizen program for senior citizens.

"This is like a retiree's utopia," Marvin Kincaid said. "There's so much to do here."

The summer of 2002 has been especially busy for Kincaid, though, ever since he heard there was a hangar right in the middle of the campus.

"Somebody told me about this airplane place. I always loved airplanes so I came in to see what was here," he said. "The first thing I knew they offered me a job as a volunteer."

Kincaid has found plenty to do and has brought a special appreciation to the main project underway in that hangar — a futuristic replica of the 1905 Wright Flyer. A private pilot from Dayton, Ohio, hometown of the Wright Brothers, Kincaid said he's been fascinated with the Wright brothers since childhood. Orville Wright was still alive during his boyhood, Kincaid said, "but we never crossed paths."

"It was one of the claims to fame of Dayton, Ohio. Everyone knew the Wright Brothers," Kincaid said. "They ran a bicycle shop and were pioneers who developed the first power-controlled airplane. I grew up with that kind of heritage."

His personal interest in flying began in early childhood when Kincaid watched the Army's experimental planes and new models being tested at Wright Field. He built his first model airplane at age 12, and was hooked on the hobby, a love for which has grown throughout his lifetime.

"I built it and it flew well," Kincaid said. "That was the beginning of my real love of flying. Here was this thing I created and it took off."

When he was middle-aged, Kincaid became a private pilot and flew for a while. His connection with airplanes now is building models. He has completed one already this summer and has another underway. He has also been a great help with USU's Wright replica. "I usually come in the morning and then in the afternoon, two or three hours each time," he said.

The Wright replica at USU has captured the attention of The History Channel, members of the Wright family, as well as anniversary party planners in Dayton, who will feature the USU replica at the gala celebration in 2003.

USU's redesign, in the hands of engineering and aviation students, will be far superior than the original Wright flyer, which was cumbersome, unstable and unsafe, Kincaid said.

"As any first model of anything is, it was very crude. The Wrights lived on with the prestige as being first," he said. "They never flew very fast or very high, fortunately. That's why they didn't get hurt, I guess."

Orville Wright was injured in 1909 during a demonstration for the Army in Washington, Kincaid said. A broken propeller caused a crash which killed his passenger, but Orville Wright survived with broken ribs and a broken hip, Kincaid said.

For the past several weeks Kincaid, a former metals and machinery salesman and purchasing agent, has duplicated, welded, assembled and cleaned parts for USU's replica. He's sanded skids and applied metal strips to the replica's wing edges. Much of the work is slow and tedious, but somebody has to do it, Kincaid said.

"This is really a labor of love to work on this particular kind of plane and have a hands-on part of it," he said. "The replica has a much better engine. It'll be balanced better, for better stability. Certainly, it's made out of better materials. I can't wait to see it fly."

Kincaid said he won't miss the 100th anniversary celebration in Dayton next summer, even if he has to cut his visit to Logan short.

"I want to go back and see these guys that I've worked with here and be there to see the plane in the air," Kincaid said.

The USU Wright Flyer will be unveiled in a ceremony Aug. 24 at the Logan-Cache Airport.