The Centaurus
engine’s distinctive
fi ve-blade propeller
(top, foreground)
always attracts
attention in the Reno
pits; Dreadnought’s
pit crew (background)
inspects its
28-cylinder Wasp
Major between races.
Above:Dennis
Sanderstakesoff
fromIoneinthe
familystationwagon,
a BeechSuperH18.usually the best of the rest, accumulating a dozen
second-place finishes. And Jackson, who has flown
more Unlimiteds than any pilot in history, confers
on Dreadnought another accolade: the best ride he
ever had at Reno.
“The Sanderses are so professional,” he says.
“They run a tight ship. They are fanatical about
their airplanes. They are the best-prepared team.
Their airplanes are mechanically superb. That’s
good to know when you’re going down the chute
on a stick of dynamite with fuses at both ends.”The offi ce at Sanders Aeronautics, at the end of a
bumpy gravel road, is dark, modest, and dominated
by race trophies, old photographs, and Owen’s
playpen. Shannon grew up steeped in aviation lore.
“Some of my earliest memories are coming out
to the airport in pajamas with my dad,” she says.
“I wasn’t playing with Barbie dolls. I was playing
with old G suits.” While attending the air races,
she met Swager. Both were teenagers, and both
were “prop heads.”
Raised on a dairy farm across the street from
the Planes of Fame in Chino, Swager had started
volunteering at the museum when he was 12,
and he began working in Steve Hinton’s Fighter
Rebuilders restoration shop while he was in high
school. After earning an A&P airplane mechanic
certificate, he became a full-time employee and
mastered a broad range of skills. “He can do
pretty much anything aviation-related,” says Steve
Hinton, the son of the Super Corsair Gold-winning
pilot of the same name and an Unlimited Gold
winner in his own right, who served as the best
man at Swager’s wedding (and vice versa).
Swager married Shannon eight years ago. “I sat
on my hands for about two years and didn’t say a
word,” Dennis says. “Then I called a family meet-
ing. My mom was 75 and needed help. The shop
was getting bigger, lots going on, so we needed
help there too. I told Shannon, ‘There’s all kinds
of ways to do this. Learn how to do it the way my
mom does it. Then, as time goes by, you can start
making small changes.’ The same with Joel. He’s
got six or eight guys working for him, and I’ve
gota coupleworkingforme,andwemeetevery
morningovera DrPepper.Buthe’srunningthe
majorityoftheshop.”
Atthemoment, 18 peopleareworkingforthe
twofamilycompanies.A thirdofthemareassigned
tosmokegenerators,whichFrankdevelopedto
spiceuphisairshowroutineswithoutcoveringhis
airplanewithoil.Typicallysmokeis producedby
pumpingoildirectlyontheexhauststacksofthe
engine—withpredictablymessyresults.SoFrank
inventeda self-containedunitthatvaporizesthe
oil.ThesystemworkedsowellthatNASAplaced
anorderforsmokegeneratorssoengineerscouldsee and study wake vortices during early flight
tests of the 747 that would carry the space shuttle.
Frank’s next customer was General Dynamics,
which wanted to wow the crowd when it debuted
itsYF-16,pilotedbyNeilAnderson,atthe
ParisAirShowin1975.Thesmokegenerators
weresosuccessfulthatFranklaterunveiledthe
Smokewinder,a wingtip-mountedmodelthat
resemblesa Sidewindermissile.Bothmodelshave
soldwell.“Ithinkwe’reuptoa thousandunits
bynow,”Dennissays.Butwarbirdsremainthe
company’scorebusiness.Thefamilyhasrestored
about 40 overtheyears.Engineoverhaulsare
farmedouttospecialtyshops,andtheSanderses
chosenottoinvestinultra-expensivecomputer-
izedmachinerytocreatereproductionparts.But
thecompanyisabletodovirtuallyeverythingSeptember 2019 AIR&SPACE 31TOP: RICHARD VANDERMEULEN; BOTTOM: MARK WATT