Van Gogh and America’s First Patented Helicopter

A huge easel holds a reproduction of van Gogh’s “Three Sunflowers in a Vase,” painted by Cameron Cross in 1996.

Huge easel with reproduction of van Gogh’s “Three Sunflowers in a Vase” 

 

The 24 by 32 ft painting on the 80 ft tall steel easel, weighing 40,000 lbs, can be seen from Interstate 70 half a mile away.

Near the easel and painting, the High Plains Museum displays a replica of America’s first patented helicopter, designed by William J. Purvis and Charles A. Wilson in 1909. It has two 7 hp gasoline engines driving two counter rotating blades.

Replica of helicopter designed by Purvis and Williams in 1909

Where can you see all this? In Goodland, in the northwestern corner of Kansas. Why did we fly to Goodland? We will come to that in a moment. First, the stories of the painting and helicopter. 

Cameron Cross originally intended to paint giant replicas of seven van Gogh sunflower paintings. Two paintings in Altona, Canada and Emerald, Australia have been finished besides the Goodland painting. 

In a 2011 update, Cross states that he has modified the “Big Easel” project to include huge copies of paintings by contemporary artists, all to be painted by those artists and mounted on giant easels. The easels are to be permanent structures, but the paintings are to be exchanged on a regular basis. 

On to the helicopter. William J. Purvis and Charles A. Wilson designed it in 1909, obtained $30,000 for its construction by issuing shares in the newly created Goodland Aviation Company. 

Purvis and Williams applied for and obtained a patent for their design. The High Plains Museum has details about the patent application, including drawings of components. The museum also supplies details about the first and only flight, which took place in June 1910.

According to one account of the flight, the craft rose “with the grace of a crippled praying mantis,” and a wind gust pushed the craft into the water tower, destroying both tower and helicopter. Shortly thereafter, Purvis and Williams left town. The replica was built by Harold Norton in 1976, using drawings of the patent application. 

The High Plains Museum offers much more beyond the helicopter replica. There are several dioramas of pioneer life in the 19th and early 20th century, and various artifacts and examples of equipment and tools. Everything is neatly exhibited with detailed explanations.

So why do my friend Arie from Tel-Aviv, Israel, and I stop in Goodland, besides wanting to see the painting again and visiting the High Plains Museum? We have planned a flying trip from Aero Country in North Dallas with our Zenith 601HDS, N314LB, to Greeley, CO, for one week of camping in Rocky Mountain National Park. There are two ways to reach Greeley from Dallas. 

The first, scenic, route goes from Dallas northwest to Raton, NM, and then north to Greeley on the east side of the Rockies. In years past, we tried that route at least twice. Each time we were stopped by afternoon thunderstorms north of Raton. 

Since then, we always choose a route that first goes from Dallas to the northwest corner of Kansas, specifically to Goodland. After an overnight stay, we take off early and proceed westbound from Goodland, thus reaching Greeley in the morning, before the mountains can spawn thunderstorms. 

The FBOs at Goodland and Greeley provide hangars for storage of the plane at reasonable cost and are generally helpful. In fact, one of the mechanics at Goodland helps replace the O-ring seal of one of the tank quick drains, without any charge.

From Greeley, a rental car takes us to Rocky Mountain National Park in less than two hours. Camping in the park is very popular, limited to seven days, and requires prior reservation. 

In theory, there are some first-come first-served camp sites in the Glacier Basin campground of the park, but the odds of finding an open site on a given day, even early in the morning, seems very small.

The pine bark beetle and a fungus carried along by the beetle have destroyed a large percentage of the pine trees of the park. In the Glacier Basin campground, where we stay, removal of dead or obviously sick trees has created large clear-cut areas. This has resulted in a sight of devastation as well as impressive views of the mountains to the west.

 

Sunrise, Glacier Basin campground, with our tent in foreground

Sunset, Glacier Basin campground

Evening, Glacier Basin campground

The famous Trail Ridge Road of the park rises to 12,000 ft altitude and stays above 11,000 ft for a number of miles. The vistas are breathtaking.

 

A dangerous climb above Trail Ridge Road…

…is quite safe

Curious marmots greet visitors, looking for food. Despite regulations, they are fed by some visitors.

 

Yellow-bellied marmot

The Ute Trail starts near the summit of Trail Ridge Road. The parking area for the trail is purposely small to limit the number of visitors, a good decision given that the trail crosses the fragile tundra. 

The easy, mostly level, hike leads to a view of the main north-south valley ranging from Estes Park in the south to the next mountain range in the north. This is probably the most impressive panoramic view of the park.

 

View from Ute Trail towards Longs Peak and adjacent glacier valley

The tundra along the trail is in full bloom.

 

Northern paintbrush

Mountain gumweed

Since the Ute Trail is above the tree line, it offers no protection from thunderstorms. While hiking the trail, we keep checking for weather coming across the mountains from the west. Shortly after noon thunderstorms start to build, and we begin the return hike.

 

Ute Trail, thunderstorms building

More strenuous, full-day, hikes into the glacier valleys require significant effort. We pick a hike to Black Lake and beyond. It starts at the Glacier Trailhead. The first stop is Alberta Falls, a very popular spot.

 

Alberta Falls

Next are Mills Lake and Jewel Lake.
 

Mills Lake

As we continue to climb, the forest becomes dense. Abundant water and fertile soil support many flowers.

 

Indian paintbrush

Horsemint beebalm

The next stop is Black Lake.
 

Black Lake

For most hikers, Black Lake is the final destination for the day. But we want to move higher into the glacier valley.

Hiking across open meadows, the flowers become smaller but remain just as intense in their colors as those of the forest.

 

Swamp laurel

The trail vanishes and we must find our way across meadows and boulders. Green Lake appears after a steep climb bypassing a vertical cliff.

 

Green Lake, with view of Longs Peak

Turning around, Mills Lake lies far below.

 

View from Green Lake to the east, with Mills Lake far below

A glacier from eons past has left a work of art reminiscent of a Moore sculpture.

 

Art by glacier

It is amazing that the glacier has deposited the 8ft high and 14 ft wide boulder onto three small granite blocks.

Above Green Lake, a boulder field beckons and promises behind a rock wall yet another lake. We cannot resist and climb once more, getting to a small lake that indeed is the highest lake of the valley.

 

Small lake above Green Lake

At this time, we climbed 3,000 ft of altitude from the trailhead. It is enough for the day. We return to the campground at a leisurely pace. The entire hike has taken eight hours.  

After an evening dinner in nearby Estes Park, the road back to the park is clogged with stopped cars. What’s happening? The answer: A black bear is high up in a pine tree. It is the only bear we see during the entire stay or, for that matter, have ever seen during any visit of Rocky Mountain National Park in years past.

 

Black bear in Estes Park

A well informed local of the town tells us that the bear has been sleeping in the tree since 6:30 am and is waiting for people to disappear so that he can get down again and start drinking and feeding.

It is time to return home. Unusual weather has created a corridor of clear sky immediately east of the Rockies. Wind and temperatures are such that the air of the corridor is completely smooth. 

We fly down that corridor at 1,500 AGL from Greeley to Raton NM, with the high mountains to the east, and meadows and fields below. Staying 1,500 ft AGL, we climb up to the Raton pass along Interstate 25. 

After a refueling stop in Raton, NM, we proceed southeasterly to Plainview, TX, which is another favorite airport for us. The FBO provides hangar storage for the plane and a vintage Cadillac as courtesy car. Two nearby hotels have special rates for pilots. 

We stay overnight, take off early the next morning, climb to 9,500 ft, and proceed to Aero Country in cool and smooth air. The descent to the Dallas area is purposely swift, since the air is quite bumpy below 3,000 ft AGL due to high temperatures on the ground.

In years past, ambient temperatures above 95 deg F pushed the oil temperature of the Rotax 912 engine beyond the 230 deg F limit. To eliminate that undesirable possibility, last spring we added an electric fan to the oil cooler, to be turned on during climbs in high ambient temperatures. 

The installation pays off handsomely during the trip, since Texas is experiencing a record summer with 100+ deg temperatures almost every day. The electric fan works very well, limiting oil temperatures to 220 deg F even on very hot days. Which shows that a homebuilt plane can be improved even after 16 years of flying, with 1,400 hrs of engine time. 

The latter figure proves that the Rotax 912 engine, when treated properly, can last well past the TBO of 1,200 hrs forecast at the time of the original installation. Indeed, up to this point, the engine has shown no sign of wear.

Want to learn more about flying?

  

My book Lessons from Piloting for 45 Years covers close shaves over more than four decades involving thunderstorms, mountain weather, faulty runways, equipment failures, and more.

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