"Citabria is Airbatic spelled backwards. Its purpose in life is to have fun and enjoy being free from the bonds of earth." That is how the owners opened the story in 1995. This is the rest of it, told from their 145-page scrapbook and the public record.
N41686 got its airworthiness certificate on September 14, 1973. It was a 7KCAB Citabria, the aerobatic version with a fuel-injected 150 hp Lycoming and an inverted fuel and oil system, so it could hang upside down as long as the pilot could stand it. Champion had designed the Citabria in Osceola, Wisconsin. By 1970 Bellanca had bought the line and kept building it there, so the FAA lists Bellanca as the maker.
The family tree goes back to the Aeronca Champ, the tandem trainer that taught a generation to fly after World War II. The new owners would later write that the differences were "detectable only to the discerning."
Its first twenty years are mostly a blank. What we know comes from one line in the 1995 story and a few photographs. Bill Smathers II "bought 41686 from a soaring outfit in North Carolina." The snapshots taken around 1992 show tow hooks bolted behind the tailwheel. For at least part of its life, this airplane hauled gliders into the sky.
In its old paint the cowling and wheel pants carried a checkered diamond "B." The fabric was worn and the paint scratched. One scrapbook caption reads "Looks good from >50'!"
The new owners first saw the airplane in Bill Smathers's driveway in Milton, Florida, "in about a thousand pieces." Starting in early 1994, Bill rebuilt it over seventeen months, in between "wife, two little girls, full time job and a few other competing priorities."
He did not cut corners. "Bill, true to his colors, never cut a corner or compromised his pursuit of a quality job," the cover story says. The fuselage frame was bead-blasted. The wings were rebuilt on their spruce spars and re-covered with Stits polyester, with nine coats of paint and protective layers on top. The engine came apart, and the scrapbook shows corroded parts captioned simply "Problems!"
Friends turned up to help, and more turned up to watch. Pete Booth did interior panels. Tom Brown helped out. Darin did "superwork!" Scott wired the push-to-talk switches. The album even imagines what Billy wanted to tell the kibitzers: "Each question costs $5 more," and "Wayne, it'll only carry 500# — and for the 10th time that includes fuel!"
Pinned into the album: a swatch of the 10-year-old original Dacron, a swatch of new Stits, and a scrap of the red upholstery.
We are indebted to the fine work of Bill Smathers, the understanding of his family, the occasional helpers and yes, even the offerors of gratuitous advice.Gold Wings, Ltd., May 1995
The buyers called themselves Gold Wings, Ltd.: "a consortium of three ex-Navy fighter pilots and one former back seat big bomber crew member." Three of them were retired rear admirals. Between them they had commanded fighter squadrons, a carrier air wing, two aircraft carriers and the Navy's whole flight-training command.
Now they had one 150-horsepower taildragger to share. They kept it in Hangar 6E at Milton's Peter Prince Field, and they never took it too seriously. Their checks drew on AmSouth Bank of Florida, and Pete's caption beside one reads "Bill payer!" The 1996 party flyer gave each partner a mock Navy job title, and Pete signed his own notes "Curmudgeon-in-Charge."
The founding four were Jimmie Taylor, Skip Furlong, Wayne Musgrove and Pete Booth. By 1997 the letters went to "Jimmie, Mo, Pete and Skip": Mo Hayes, the group's cook, had taken the fourth seat.
Tennessee crop-duster turned fighter pilot. Flew 188 combat missions in the F-8 and F-14, was the first fleet F-14 demonstration pilot (Paris, 1973), and flew in the first F-14 combat mission over the 1975 Saigon evacuation. Chief of Naval Air Training 1988–91, then a Pensacola Chamber of Commerce leader. In the Citabria his specialty was "constant g's."
Died July 11, 2023 · Navy History
Enlisted in 1948 as a PBY crewman, Naval Academy class of 1956. Flew 226 combat missions over Vietnam, commanded VF-142, the first F-14 air wing and USS Independence. Ran the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation 1986–97. He favored rides on "Sunday between 0700 + 0730."
Born in San Diego in 1934. Commanded fighter squadron VF-11 and the carrier USS Forrestal, served as aide to the Chief of Naval Operations and as Chief of Naval Air Training. The partnership's organizer and the keeper of the scrapbook. His flying style, by his own account: "nice + easy (ask Carolyn)!"
Navy 1956–1986 · Navy Memorial
Emcee and grill-master of the 1995 christening, usually photographed in a USS Ranger cap and once on a Harley ("Actually, he's only going 10 mph!!"). The scrapbook's pre-1997 letterhead lists him with Jimmie and Pete. No public biography has turned up yet.
From the scrapbook
Auburn engineer, wings in 1954, and last commanding officer of photo-reconnaissance squadron VFP-62. Later a CPA, a banker and CFO of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. His flying advice: "keep your eyes closed!" Married to June, the "June-Lady," for 55 years.
1930–2020 · VFP-62 Association
At 5:00 p.m. on a June Saturday, Gold Wings, Ltd. threw a "Christening Cookout to honor our 'new' Citabria." The invitation's map had hand-drawn directions to Hangar E and a warning in bold: "Drive up to hangar, avoid planes!!" RSVP was regrets only.
Wayne emceed and worked the grill. The guest of honor was the man who had made it all possible. Bill Smathers II was presented with a model of a T-34, the Navy trainer, while his wife Stacy and their girls looked on. One of them, Elisa, posed in a red toy airplane lettered "Piloted by Bailey White."
The guest list read like a who's who of Pensacola aviation. Former Blue Angels Ray Hawkins and Bob Rasmussen came. Byrd and Chip Mapoles brought the Army Stearman Chip had restored. Bill Williams brought his homebuilt biplane, and Fred Sorenson came with his 1938 Fairchild. Moe and June Hayes were there, and Don Salter. The album also includes a row of "ladies in waiting" in lawn chairs.
To: N41686, c/o RADM Pete Booth USN (ret), Pensacola
Dear N41686:
I was impressed with your lineage, your span of 32 feet, your horse power of 150, and the fact that you flew for four hours on 36 gallons! I am based in Minden, NV and belong to this guy Engen. I have a wing span of 47 feet, no motor and no gas, but we flew for 4 hours last Monday without burning one ounce of gas.
Several days before that we got to 24,000 ft and stayed above 21,000 for an hour and a half — no motor! I am all carbon fiber and no fabric.
My real name in glider parlance and competition is OZ but the FAA calls me N30WK and I am an LSW 20BL.
Sincerely, OZ
P.S. Have fun, Pete, and say hello to Caroline. Mary won't wipe bugs off OZ. Will Caroline wash N41686?
Excerpted from the letter in the scrapbook. Vice Admiral Donald D. Engen was a World War II naval aviator, FAA Administrator from 1984 to 1987 and director of the National Air and Space Museum. He died in a sailplane accident near Minden on July 13, 1999 (AOPA).
The christening turned into a tradition. Each fall the partners hung bunting in Hangar 6E, fired up the grill and invited squadron mates, local pilots, county commissioners, neighbors and their families. Antiques and warbirds parked on the grass. The guests who wanted a ride got one in the Citabria.
The local paper noticed. On November 28, 1996, the Santa Rosa Press Gazette ran three of the partners on page 12A: "Retired Admirals (L to R) Pete Booth, Jimmy Taylor and Skip Furlong were responsible for the festivities." By the 1999 party the album estimated attendance at 150.
The first one. A T-34 model for Bill Smathers and a field full of Pensacola aviators.
Ten guests got rides. County commissioner Byrd Mapoles parked his "Flying Mayor" on static display. A retired naval aviator named Roger flew upside down for the first time in years: "A real thrill."
Mo cooked; Skip and Jimmie flew. Fred Sorenson arrived in his Ryan monoplane. Lou Sarosdy got "my first [hop] in one that size since 1953."
"Mo debriefing, Mo cook'n, Mo hi perf T/O." The partners' wives got their own page as the "Wingettes." Vice Admiral Jack Fetterman wrote afterward that the day "reminded me what the culture of the 1950's represented."
About 150 guests. World War II fighter pilot Hap Chandler flew in. Lou Sarosdy tipped his fedora "to Mo who slaved over a hot grill while the rest of you distributed charm and B.S. in nearly equal amounts."
Watching those planes coming and going I was transported to an earlier time, a quieter less hectic time.
Pat and Les, 1997Surprise it wasn't for any of the above except to enjoy good food, see some vintage airplanes and enjoy good fellowship.
Marvin Kaiman, who expected a fundraising pitchPerhaps it was return to the basics of what aviation is all about.
Jack, November 14, 1997I would believe becoming a Gold Wings member would be a lot harder and more valuable, as far as bragging rights are concerned, than becoming a Golden Eagles.
Hap Chandler, 1999The partners had already done their flying. What they did with N41686 was hand the sky to other people: kids, cadets, old friends who hadn't been up in years, and anyone whose charity auction needed a prize. The thank-you notes they saved are the heart of the scrapbook.
In November 1997 a young man named Derek Gordon came to the fly-in with his father and took the controls. He wrote to Admiral Taylor: "It was the most exciting thing I have ever done, and I found myself instantly 'hooked'... It confirmed in my mind that there is no other career I want than that of a naval aviator." In July 1999, just back from a cruise, he e-mailed Admiral Booth to thank him for a photo: "It gave me a taste of what I am working towards."
Jeff Hale wrote from Quarters A at NAS Whiting Field and signed his note "Pilot Hopeful." An Air Force Academy cadet named Foy got "a great ride" in May 1998 and posed with his aeronautics textbook.
On International Young Eagles Day, Saturday, June 12, 1999, the local EAA chapter flew 140 new Young Eagles from Ferguson Airport, a chapter record. Two of the nine pilots were George Furlong and Pete Booth. In December 1998 sisters Savanah and Elizabeth Ramsey got their turn in the Citabria's front seat, with David and Christopher Stanton listed as "future Young Eagles."
At the October 1999 party a Milton mother named Sandra brought her sons. Her teenage son Randy had been helping out at the hangar. Afterward she wrote to Pete:
When I was younger I wasn't like your ordinary teenage girl... always had my head under a car hood with my step-father. And my one goal and dream was to go flying.
"Randy relit the old desire of my love for planes," she went on. "I am so very happy I got the opportunity to go up." She offered to bring Long Island potato salad next time and to organize the ride list ("First timers go first, he-he!").
Randy wrote too, on notebook paper with a red airplane drawn across the top: "You and the others had put a smile on my mom that day... She loved the top of the trees and how the water looked."
| Thank-you letter | Charity | The ride |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 18, 1999 | Junior Achievement, Mardi Gras Bowl | A 30-minute flight that helped make it "our most successful bowling event to date" |
| Nov 10, 1997 | WSRE-TV public television, 10th Annual Wine and Food Classic | A 30-minute sightseeing ride over Pensacola, won by Dean Norman; the event raised over $20,000 |
| Feb 1997 | Ronald McDonald House of Pensacola | "An adventure ride in an acrobatic aircraft" for the House's fundraiser |
All three were donated by Jimmie Taylor, who sent the letters to Pete "for our records."
While he was rebuilding it, Bill Smathers had joked, "Sun 'n Fun, here we come (almost)." In April 1999 it happened. Jimmie and a partner flew the Citabria to the big fly-in at Lakeland, and the hand-drawn nav logs survive. The route went Crestview, DeFuniak Springs, Tallahassee (staying north of I-10), then Cross City: 254 nautical miles in 2 hours 17 minutes. Then it went down the coast past Crystal River and the power plant to Lakeland. The round trip took 8.4 hours.
Back home, Pete forwarded the partners a complaint "received by express" from the airplane itself:
Two old guys rode me hard all the way down to some dirty airport in south Florida... Then, out of the blue, a nice man with grey hair came and gave me a bath.... even washed my bottom."686," April 27, 1999
Mo's review after his flight the next day: "Good LORD! Airplane dirty tho."
An airplane is just fabric, spruce and a Lycoming until people pour themselves into it. These are some who did, and who have since flown west.
Dates from public records linked in the sources. For partners and friends not listed, no public record could be confirmed.
Names as written in the scrapbook's captions and letters. A few handwritten spellings may be off.
The scrapbook's last dated page is a note from Pete and Carolyn Booth in February 2000, inviting friends to fly and offering a menu of pilots. With Skip it was "Sunday between 0700 + 0730." With Mo it was "keep your eyes closed!" Jimmie offered "constant g's!", and Pete promised "nice + easy."
Fifty-three years after it left the factory, N41686 is still flying. The FAA registry shows it airworthy and registered on February 14, 2026, to ATX Aero LLC of Austin, Texas, along with the 145 pages of history that came with it.
Still to find: the airplane's owners before 1992 and from 2000 to 2026, the North Carolina soaring operator, and more about Wayne Musgrove. The FAA's aircraft records file for N41686 should name the owners.