John S. ?Jack? Wallace

John S. ?Jack? Wallace, EAA 10381, was a long time member of Chapter 723. He was a retired captain for TWA, a Cosmic Wind builder, and an RV-3 flyer. Carl Wright recalls that his hangar was a place where many issues, aviation and otherwise, were debated, if not resolved.

Jack started flying in 1936, and was a tower operator, a flight instructor until December 1941, and then a flight instructor for the Army Air Corps. Later he became a production test pilot for Douglas Aircraft on SBD and A20 aircraft. He flew for over 33 years as a pilot for TWA, amassing over 25,000 hours in his career. He was in the initial group of captains who checked out on the L-1011 and he helped immeasurably in introducing it successfully to the traveling public. He was the Captain of the 1975 Flight Deck Crew of the Year.

The Cosmic Wind project brought him in contact with air racing folks like John Parker of American Air Racing in Torrance, California.

Here is a list of the aircraft Jack flew: Kinner Sportster, Porterfield, Taylor Cub, Rearwin Sportster, Taylorcraft, Aeronca, Luscombe, Stinson 105, Fleet, Rearwin Cloudster, Culver Dart, Culver Cadet, Monocoupe, J-5 Travelair, Fairchild 24 Warner, Stinson Voyager, Interstate Cadet, Ox-Travelair, Stinson SM7A J-69,Ryan PT-22, Stearman, Rearwin 8135-T, Vultee BT-15, Douglas C-47a, Boeing B17g, Dourlas SB-D, Cessna170, Couglas DC-3, Citabria, Cessna 195, Douglas A20, Douglas C54, Martin 404, Lockheed Constellation 049 749 749a 1049 1049g, Navion, Bonanza, Mooney Mite, Convair 880, Boeing 707, Lockheed L-1011 Tri Star, Great Lakes, Pitts, Rv-3.

Jack?s Cosmic Wind project was sold to a gentleman from the Midwest, and his RV-3 went to an EAAer from Burbank.

Cosmic Wind

For those who may not know: in 1947 the Goodyear Midget Class raced for the first time. It evolved into todays F1 racers.
Lockheed test pilot Tony Levier headed a group of the best Lockheed had to offer, working after hours in garages and basements. The result was three all metal airplanes called Cosmic Winds.
They were not quite as fast as they looked. The 1947 winner was Bill Brennand flying Steve Wittman's Buster, a rebuild of the 1931 Wittman
Chief Oshkosh.
Lockheed management put an end to the Cosmic Wind group and all three airplanes were sold to an individual in Van Nuys. They were eventually sold again. A fourth airplane was started by Bill Robinson. After Bill's untimely death the airplane eventually was finished by Bill Warwick. It now resides in the EAA museum.
The project mentioned in this post is #5 and is perhaps one of aviations best kept secrets except for a few in the LA area. I got to see it in the back of a rental truck at the Mohave fly in. Words cannot describe this project. There is enough production quality tooling to start a Cosmic Wind production line.
To connect this to RV's, the Cosmic Wind's, Shoestring and other early racers used an induction scoop very similar to that used on most RV's. One significant difference-they were hand formed from pieces of aluminum welded together.

Cosmic Wind

The late Jim Dewey was the manager of the Van Nuys FAA FSDO office. He commuted to work from Santa Paula in one of the original Cosmic Winds. No electrical system and probably no radio.