Mehlin Smith Hatz

[GuyCoss]

Hello,

My name is Guy. My Dad was good friends with Mehlin and helped him build the Mehlin Hatz up at Broadhead. If you knew him then/ther, he went by Joe ( his name is Otilio, but folks usually called him Joe or Otis).

In any case, he's 77 (still sprite and sharp!) and has moved to Washington state with me and misses both Mehlin and the Hatz. I've potentially found someone here in Washington that has a Hatz and can talk his language about the build and such.

If there is anyone around the Seattle area who has a Hatz (or any plane for that matter!) who we could visit and hang around a hangar with it would be awesome! He can still work on things too and would probably jump at the chance to be involved again!

Also, if you have any questions about the Mehlin build, drop us a line. He doesn't do computers, but I can transcribe. Also, he has a box of photos of the plane in various states if folks are interested in seeing them. They weren't taking specific pictures of what/how they did things, but if you ask him a question he will talk about the details for as long as you can listen!

I will upload a few here to start. Just need to scan them...

Thank you for any information and/or interest.

Guy

[stearmoth]

Dear Guy,
We are the father & son team, who built the Rotec radial engine powered "Vintage Hatz", which was heavily influenzed by the Mehlin Hatz.
Thank so much for posting this info about your father helping the late Mehlin building his beautiful Warner Hatz!
We just knew, that Mehlin took 27 years to complete the Hatz as it is with the higher cockpit decking and the Bendix wheels.
We first met Mehlin and his beauty back in 2005 when we stayed the forst time at Brodhead before Oshkosh.
We started our project close to the Classic plans in the fall of 2004 and personally we would have liked to have our Hatz looking a bit like a Waco QCF or an early Waco, but due to our lack of experience in homebuilding ( this is our very first homebuilt), we didn't have the courage to make any design changes.
However when we first saw the Mehlin Hatz we both fell in love with its design and the decision was quickly made to make the necessary changes. Mehlin provided us sketches of the tail design and gave us the address of the wheel makers and the rest is our own interpretation of how an antic looking homebuilt biplane should look like.
The rest is history and our Hatz is performing very well and has save stall charcteriscs and aerobatic capabilities.
We are very thankful about Mehlins work, without him we would never have reached our goal!
And now we know that your father has also been involved with the Mehlin Hatz!!

Yes we would very much like to see more constructional pictures of the Warner Hatz!
Kindest regards also to yor dad!
Hans & Sam Gautschi, Switzerland
!

[GuyCoss]

Hello! I'm sorry, I just saw this response. I read it to my Dad and he's going to find some more photos. If you would like, you can email me (he doesn't do computers!) at:


GuyCoss208@gmail.com

He'd love to see some photos of your plane as well!

Guy