RE: Peel Glider boat
There is a beautiful, fully restored 1929 Peel Glider boat on exhibit at The Cradle Of Aviation Museum, Long Island, New York. I donated the complete original aircraft to the museum in the early 1980s. It was a very unusual design as a biplane, flying boat glider with a comfortable-sized aluminum hull/fuselage and generous size-control surfaces. The four wings had stamped light-weight ribs made of stamped aluminum channel. When I gave it to the museum, the original fabric (silver, with original black markings) was still covering most of the wings and still smooth (although brittle). Interestingly, I later heard from some of the volunteer restorers at the museum, who were quite surly about the “dreadful condition of the wings you gave us.” At the time, the museum was run by the county, and county workers (not aircraft people) were assigned to pick up the original Peel from my warehouse and transport it some 30 miles to the museum workshops. I watched in horror as they loaded the plane on a long flatbed trailer and stacked the four wings flat. THEN!! they proceeded to keep ratcheting down the tie-down straps, with a result much like a garbage compactor. I kept raising my voice and objections for them to stop this, but was told not to worry. Being glider wings they were already lightweight and fragile, so the damage was considerable. Fortunately the skilled volunteers were able to restore it to original condition-but with MANY additional hours of fabrication of those crushed ribs and wings.
Another interesting story related to the Peel was reported in a 1929 issue of AVIATION magazine. It stated that an attempt was made to tow/fly a Peel Glider to EUROPE! 😮 pulled behind an ocean liner. I only remember the line at the end of the story, which stated that “It failed, comically.” 😀
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