Meyer Aircraft Company

Back in the 1950's, Arlo Schroder saw George Meyer's Little Toot biplane in an early edition of the EAA magazine which at the time was called the "Experimenter". Intrigued, he picked up the phone and called George to find out what it would take to get a set of plans so that he too could build a Little Toot. George evidently hadn't planned to do anything beyond the construction of his own personal airplane so he was surprised to have someone call asking for a set of plans. George told Arlo that all he had was a bunch of rough sketches. Arlo told George that he had a great airplane

Steve Odell earned his Private Pilot license in 1988 and has flown a wide variety of airplanes from the Piper and Cessna families. His personal mount was a Piper PA28-181. It wasn't long before Steve began to notice the fleet of cute red and white biplanes that seemed to be multiplying like rabbits around the airport. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and he wandered across the way and told Tommy Meyer that he wanted one too. Tommy told him that he could have one, but the catch is that he would have to build it. Although he was pretty handy with building stuff like kit cars and race boats, he

had never attempted anything as complex as an airplane. Steve accepted the challenge and got busy. Steve says that Tommy was there whenever he encountered trouble or hit a roadblock, and credits Tommy for making sure the plane got finished. Seven years later, another LITTLE TOOT was born sporting the classic toot paint scheme of red and white which he applied himself using a spray booth owned by a friend. Dubbed "Odie" after the dog in the Garfield cartoon, the plane weighed in at 1,465 pounds and is powered by a 160-HP Lycoming O-320. Steve covered his plane with the Poly-Fiber system, and added a sport exhaust from Aircraft Spruce. Gary Platner acted as test pilot and flew N61LT for the first time on June 14,2009. The rigging was done by Tommy Meyer and Phil Witt. Steve says, "What I like about the Toot is the looks, and it's a very strong, well designed airplane".

Gary Platner flew for the US Navy from 1967-1987, spending five years in active duty and another 15 years in the reserves. Gary also spent 30 years flying with Southwest Airlines. Not content to just cruise along at 34,000 feet, Gary has proven that he can fly anything that has wings on it such as the T-34, T-2, F-9, AF-9, A-7, T-28, F-8, F-4, Citabria, Stearman, Cherokee 140 & 180, Navajo Chieftain, Aztec, Piper Commanche, Twin Commanche, C-150, C-172, C-180, C-182, Aeronca Champ, Piper Cub, C-310, C-420, King Air, RV-6, RV-8, RV-8A, Christen Eagle, Bonanza, and Little Toot!

Gary is no stranger to bi-planes and has owned a Stearman for 30 years. One time Gary was at the National Biplane Fly-in in Bartlesville, Oklahoma where by chance he met Tommy Meyer. They got to talking and discovered that they were neighbors (lived within a mile of each other). It wasn't long before Gary had arranged to fly Tommy’s Toot. When he came back to earth, Gary had been bitten by the Little Toot bug. Being close to Tommy Meyer turned out to be a blessing as he was able to help Gary to press ahead with the construction of his very own Toot. Gary was able to acquire a worn out IO-360 out of a helicopter. He took it apart and had the case lapped and line bored, and the cylinders bored and chromed with new pistons and rings. After getting all the parts back Gary assembled the engine, installed an Emag and Pmag, Ellison throttle body injection, inverted fuel and oil. He was finally able to crank it up and it ran well, except for one small oil leak and low oil pressure due to the inverted oil system, both of which were quickly fixed. The plane is on the fast track and should be ready for test flight in early 2010 Asked what he likes most about the Little Toot, Gary says, " Most everything: It’s stout, I can see over the nose, and it's very maneuverable". Gary's plane is constructed in the tube and fabric option, and is painted in classic Toot colors of red and white.

Bob Borger has been a self proclaimed "Airplane Nut" for as long as he can remember. He began flying lessons at age 15 and completed his private pilot license at Ohio University at age 21. Bob spent five years taking orders from the US Air Force, where he worked as a technician maintaining flight simulators. While he was there, he had the opportunity to fly rented airplanes as well as fly for the Civil Air Patrol. As is often the case, getting married, attending graduate school and raising a family resulted in no further significant flying for many years. It was the year 2000 when Bob's wife suggested that he

dust off his wings and get back in the air. She didn't have to ask twice! Not only did he dust off, but he went back and added Commercial and Instrument ratings. Bob has built a Europa XS Monowheel airplane powered by an intercooled Rotax 914 swinging an Airmaster C/S prop. You would think that one homebuilt aircraft under the belt would make anyone satisfied, but in the true spirit of a repeat offender, Bob has another airplane in the works.......a Little Toot of course! Bob first discovered the Little Toot when he read about it in aviation magazines back in the 1960's. A bi-plane fan since he was a kid, Bob was found himself attracted to the good looks of the plane. Evidently it was too good to resist because Bob began collecting pieces and parts of other people's projects which had been abandoned for various reasons. He plans to complete the assemblies and assemble them into the finished airplane. Bob likes Little Toot because of its strong design, visibility over the nose, great handling, and ease of landing. Little Toot is a plans built aircraft so it can be challenging to build, but Bob is working closely with Tommy Meyer to master the different skills needed to complete a home built such as wood, metal, welding, composite, fabric, electrical, etc. Bob's plan is to finish the Little Toot in classic Toot colors of red and white. The fuselage is constructed of tube and fabric. He also plans to equip the plane with a Lycoming IO-320-D1A with lots of goodies, including inverted oil and fuel. Evidently he plans to spend a lot of time looking up at the ground!

Often called as the "Son of Toot", Tommy Meyer is the son of the late George Meyer. He literally grew up with the airplane, helping his father by drawing blueprints and bucking rivets while in high school. In the Air Force, he became a crew chief on C-124s and C-130s, accumulating considerable mechanical knowledge in the process, along with some occasional stick time in cruise. An unfortunate landfall by hurricane Celia in 1970 did considerable damage to the original Toot. Regrettably, George decided to sell it to John Epperson. Tommy spent the next 10 years trying to buy back the original Toot, but the owner wouldn't sell.

Frustrated, Tommy moved on to other projects. In 1995, he tried again and John agreed to let it go. At last, the original Toot was back in the family hangar. In the years since his father passed away, Tommy has been busy promoting the Little Toot and helping builders by answering technical questions, supplying parts, and even lending a hand when able. Over the years, Tommy has built up a catalog of prefabricated parts which ease the process of homebuilding. He has helped numerous builders to finish up their airplanes, and you can always count on him for excellent technical support.

Phil Witt is a man who is no stranger to airplanes. He spent some time with the US Navy as an Aviation Structural Mechanic 2nd class. During this time, he turned wrenches on planes such as the S-2F, A-4, T-2, T-34, T-28, T-29. C-117, and C-118 while stationed at NAS Corpus Christi, Texas. Following his military time, Phil went to work at Chance Vought in Grand Prairie Texas (now Vought Aircraft Industries) as a Sheet metal hand former, and then a quality inspector, and later promoted to quality Engineer. During his time there, he's worked on many exciting programs such as the F-8, A-7, S-3A,

B-1B, B-2 black program, Boeing 737, 757, 767 747-400 and 747-8 Freighter and passenger model. Phil spent a good deal of time building and flying RC models in the 80's and 90's. That is where he met Tommy Meyer, and they became fast friends. They shared many club officer responsibilities in the local Dallas/Ft Worth IMAA chapter 21 and promoted many national and regional IMAA rally of giants together, along with the George Meyer Memorial Fly In's. Phil is the proud owner of the Tinkerbell Toot which had been flown regularly by both Paul and Tome Poberezny. The logbook is literally a who's-who of the EAA. Tinkerbell's fan is a attached to a 150HP Lycoming, yet the plane stalls at a mere 39 MPH! Tinkerbell is currently under going a complete re-cover and refinish restoration using the Stewart system waterborne polyurethane and ceconite fabric along with the newly redesigned swept tips that will be used on the Big Toot two place airplane, and she should be back in the air by early March 2010. Phil says, "The Toot's have taken over my life in a big way, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

Rich has always held a keen interest in Little Toots' since the day Arlo Schroeders'Hawk Pshaw flew to early EAA fly-ins and made the aviation magazines, such as during the era of AC-Spark Plug Flight Rallys that were cross-country events for the last Rockford & early Oshkosh fly-ins.

Growing up in the Flint, Michigan area, no one had yet built a 'Toot so Rich's first biplane was another sport biplane which he flew with an O-320 and a canopy before deciding to return to open cockpit flying. (see MAGNUM Miniplane article- Sport

Aviation May 2006). After flying the other biplane for some 250 hrs, the wings which were covered with cotton failed the punch test. Rich started looking for a biplane with a new set of wings with increased wing area and larger rib chord, so a Little Toot project listed for sale fulfilled that search and re-kindled his earlier interest in Little Toots'!

He ended up acquiring the previously started airframe (dubbed the Green Toot) from Tommy & Bob Borger New Years Eve 2009. After completing missing components (horizontal stab, vertical fin, control cables, etc.) Rich re-located the seat back 3-½ inches and built a taller wood turtledeck for use as either a baggage bin or fuel tank bay. His Little Toot will resemble the Ron Cribbs' Little Toot.

The Navy Toot was structurally completed by May 2011. Sub-systems like the fuel, electrical & brake systems & instrument panel are still being worked piece-meal in between covering chores. The airframe is currently being covered with Dacron.

Rich has plans to finish his Toot as a pre-WW II US Navy Neutrality Patrol biplane complete with pseudo-tail hook, open cockpit and an old fashioned three-paned Lexan windscreen. He will be applying the Golden-Age Navy paint scheme of yellow wings, gray fuselage, red squadron chevrons on top wing, colorful aft fuselage band with US roundels forward of the cockpit on the fuselage and roundels on each wing panel.

Rich has enjoyed pulling his project together and he can hardly wait to join up with other Little Toots!

BTW, just how long has Rich been a member of EAA? Hard to say but his number is 38744.