44 MAY 2020 ÇPlane&Pilot
A no-holds-barred, backwoods bear of a plane, it looks
ready for something uncivilized, no pavement required.
The story is an interesting one from an aviation history
level, too. If you’re not familiar with the Cessna Skylark,
it’s one of the odder chapters in Cessna’s mostly button-
down story. Cessna built the 175 between 1958 and 1962,
and, at the time, the idea of a geared engine was compel-
ling. The chief appeal of the Continental GO-300-E was
an increase in power for the same displacement and a
little more weight. As it turned out, the engine did all of
what Cessna hoped it would, and the Skylark was con-
sequently exactly as much more airplane than the 172
clone as intended. It was beefier and faster, with better
climb and runway performance. What’s not to love?
The GO-300, that’s what the public didn’t love, and
for some good reasons, too. The geared engine proved
costly to maintain and suffered a short real-world time-
between-overhaul interval, making not only a sales disap-
pointment (by the standards of 1962, that is) but also a
bit of an embarrassment. So, four years after introducing
it, Cessna decided to shelve it instead of fixing it. The
move made sense. The reputation of the plane was poor
because of the engine, and there were no clear paths to
better reliability.
Sixty years later, the 175 I spotted on Facebook looked
nothing like its tricycle-gear production form. This one
had a tailwheel, big tires and something funny on the
leading edge of the wing: slats!
The story of Whiteley’s 175 is a great one. The airplane,
a 1958 model, had been sitting for the better part of two
decades, and it wasn’t pretty. The team did a frame-up
restoration, completely gutting it, repairing or replacing
every part that needed a little love, and then repainting it.
Then the fun began. The staid trike, which had become
a taildragger before Whiteley purchased it, was turned
into a big-tired beast, the GO-300-E getting swapped
out for an O-470, the same engine as in the Cessna 182
Skylane. Already this was way more experimenting than
the FAA allows, and the fun was just beginning. The team
pulled the tail assembly apart and installed dual shock
absorbers. Up front, they added 31-inch Bush Wheels.
Bushman and Whiteley decided to amend the regis-
tration to Experimental Exhibition, which the FAA does
allow, so long as the owners follow through and show it
off accordingly. Consider this article part of that effort.
The finished plane was immaculate, which is no
surprise. Bushman is an award-winning restorer, but,
in this case, the plane wasn’t just returned to like-new
condition—better than new, really; it was transformed
into something unrecognizable as a 175.
And that brings us to the slats.
As you might know, leading-edge slats are high-lift
devices, and they’re certainly nothing new. They’ve been
around for many decades, and though they’re effective
at eking out those last little bits of lift at the ragged edge
of flight, they’ve never really caught on, most likely
because they add complexity and, hence, additional
production time.
You might know some of the planes that sport leading-
edge devices. They include the defunct Helio Courier, the
popular Zenith kitplanes, the Wilga (the donor plane that
became arguably the awesomest bush plane ever, Draco)An award-winning restorer, Kyle Bushman revitalizes antiques, like this rare Interstate Cadet, one of only 320 manufactured.
Bushman took it from a worn-out Alaskan bush plane and turned it back into the showpiece it was when it left the factory in 1941.