| Histoire résumée | Planeur dont le premier vol a été réalisé le 13 avril 1940 initialement baptisé Screaming Wiener par ses constructeurs.
Après avoir eu divers propriétaires, il fut racheté par Wally Wiberg en (?).
The next proud owner - Wally Wiberg - of Grand Prairie, TX, renamed the ship "Li'l Dogie" (suggested by June Wiberg since they lived in Texas where a motherless calf was known as a dogie, and the glider now being one of a kind) and made major modifications by changing the turtle deck and adding a large bubble canopy modified from that of a Bell helicopter. (According to Bob and June) These changes DID NOT eliminated the whistle that had earned the ship its original name. It is assumed the open area around the horizontal stabilizer control horn is the cause of the whistle. Wally flew the ship between 1952 and 1954, and logged more hours than any other pilot. In 1963 the ship was put into dry storage in San Diego, CA.
Wally donated the ship to the San Diego Aerospace Museum after a fire in 1978 destroyed most of its aircraft collection. The staff there repainted it in the Li'l Dogie’s present cream and red scheme, but the museum decided not to use it, and the Dogie was sold to Jim McDonald in 1981. Jim sold it back to Paul MacCready in 1983, who sold it to its present owner, Bob Fronius, in 1985. Bob has owned the ship ever since and he kept it in flying condition until 1989. The last flight was made at Tehachapi by Bob with Irv Culver looking on, celebrating the glider’s fiftieth’s anniversary. The Dogie had finally reached an age where it was no longer feasible to keep in airworthy condition and it is now in storage at Bob Fronius' hanger in El Cajon, CA.
With upwards to 500 flying hours, the Li'l Dogie has certainly earned its place in soaring history. |
