Bernie Pietenpol was a self-taught mechanic who lived most of his life in the small community of Cherry Grove in southeastern Minnesota. He proved to be not much different than many young men of modest means in the late 1920s and 1930s. Mechanically minded, Bernie couldn’t afford flying lessons or an airplane. Besides, maintaining the average production airplane proved too expensive. Bernie wanted to build his own aircraft. He intended to make it smaller, simpler, and cheaper to operate, He fiddled with several designs before coming up with the happy-medium Air Camper in 1928.
The Birth of the Pietenpol Air Camper
Although relatively crude and old-fashioned by comparison, his two-seater Air Camper proved rugged and reliable. In addition, it maintained a built-in bonus of simplicity, both in construction and operation. Using a modified four-cylinder water-cooled Ford Model A automobile engine with 40 hp provided adequate power. The whole airplane, its maintenance and operation, seemed to be a tinkerer’s delight!
Bernie Pietenpol Air Camper first flew in 1929. Using the old Eiffel 36 airfoil, the ship land and take off just about anywhere. The 1933 and subsequent models were upgraded a little. They remained, however, the epitome of simplicity. By 1933, owners of twenty-three Pietenpols registered them.
A 1930 Modern Mechanics featured the Air Camper that just about anyone could build. As a result, many enthusiasts built the airplane from the plans published in the magazine. It seems fair to say that the relative success and down-home popularity of the Pietenpol stimulated others into constructing their own homebuilt airplanes. A veritable rash of similar designs soon followed.
Other Pietenpol Designs
Bernie Pietenpol also designed the Sky Scout and published plans for the single-seat aircraft. A Ford “Model T” engine powered the smaller design. This engine proved less expensive than the “Model A” used in the Air Camper. An additional, plans-only homebuilt was the Grega GN-1 Air Camper using a Piper Cub wing.
Pietenpol Legacy
When government restrictions on unlicensed airplanes began being enforced in the late 1930s, all homebuilt activity declined. Not until the 1950s did the movement begin to surface once more. Builders incorporated modern refinements and techniques into the Air Camper. Again, it remained the basic airplane of many years ago. The examples still flying serve a tribute to the audacity of one Bernard H. Pietenpol.