Making history fly

The same anticipation builds when the first flight of a DC–3 takes place following its restoration at Aerometal International, at Aurora State Airport (UAO) just south of Portland, Oregon. From a bespoke interior to the latest avionics—plus a host of details bringing the airframe into its next decade of utility—each restored aircraft taxiing out onto the ramp demonstrates the mastery of an iconic aerial subject.

What you see today belies humble beginnings. Dedicated to the “continuing airworthiness of aging aircraft,” Paul Bazeley founded Aerometal in 2006 literally out of the trunk of his car.

“I was working as a technician for DC–3 Flying Circus out of Boeing Field [in Renton, Washington] with N3006, a restored DC–3D flying [executive transportation] 600 to 800 hours a year,” said Bazeley. “I was the junior pilot and lead mechanic. We were having to conduct a major line check or component replacement overnight. And I couldn’t find anyone with the skills required, so it was all falling to me….I knew the people we should hire and started Aerometal.”

The organization of roughly 30 team members now offers a list of services befitting an entire parts catalog: aircraft and systems restoration, aging aircraft inspections, scheduled and nonroutine maintenance support, third-party training programs with courses in large radial engine line maintenance and aging aircraft inspection, prebuy inspection and ferry flight preparation, and acting as an FAA liaison in maintenance program construction and approval.

Casey Kuerzinger came onboard early and serves as chief mechanic. “He turned his back on a very good job with Horizon Airlines and joined me on day two,” said Bazeley. “He has provided safe harbor for a massive amount of knowledge.” Within two years, Portland-based businessman Peter Nickerson, who owned a DC–3, N18121, expressed interest in securing an aircraft similar to N3006.

N3006, at one point christened Esther Mae, wasn’t the typical haul-cargo-and-put-away-wet post-war DC–3 or C–47. Restored to a plush executive interior and polished to a fare-thee-well, Esther Mae fulfilled her corporate mission with a sense of class and nostalgic aura missing in most business jet platforms. The airplane continues to inspire enthusiasts and pilots, operated by DC–3 Flying Circus in Southern California.

All the same, it took a while for Bazeley to convince himself that the business would find its footing: “Maybe all these opportunities were going to dry up, and I’d have to get a real job, but instead it has gone from strength to strength.” Nickerson invested in a hangar at the south end of the Aurora airport, whichserves as the primary Aerometal facility. The hangar floor and interior fabrication department hum with industry, where the scent of leather stitching contrasts to the faint machine-era-evoking aromas of oil and hydraulic fluid.

Nickerson has three sons, and one of them, Luke, has proven instrumental to Aerometal. Luke was in a furniture design course at a college in California when his summer internships at Aerometal turned into a full-time pursuit. “It’s Luke’s energy that has been the motivating element behind the interior success,” said Bazeley.

“My career in aviation has grown along with Aerometal,” said the younger Nickerson. “I first worked with them in 2007 and joined full time in 2011. I started and ran the interior department—before 2016 it was simply me and a highly skilled upholsterer named Lyn Simon. Now our soft finishing, cabinetry, and design team includes eight-plus technicians, a designer, and a CAD specialist.” Nickerson also works with Bazeley on aircraft brokerage and a hangar leasing business.

Mission statement

To collect, catalog, and impart the skills, tools, aircraft parts, and manuals that once formed an aircraft maintainer’s common knowledge remains a challenge. “You can’t find many folks with this kind of experience,” said Bazeley, but he notes the passion exists among young people now, more so than perhaps 20 years ago.

Bazeley often finds potential candidates outside the aviation industry—and takes his background as an example of why this works. “I was working in the classic and vintage race car industry in Europe, as a sheet metal worker, building and repairing metal bodies for Grand Prix cars.”

But the sky beckoned. “I wanted to fly,” he says, “so I got a [private pilot certificate] in the U.K., moved to Canada, did a commercial license on floats, spent two years flying there, then moved to Chino, California, where I completed my FAA certificates while working for Yanks Air Museum as a structures technician.” This background set the stage for his subsequent move to N3006.

A match made in heaven

Many Douglas DC–3 variants—including the military versions, the C–47 and C–53—stay in the air through the efforts of non- or not-for-profit entities such as museums and historic air tour operators. Although Aerometal often supports charitable operators through education, specifically type ratings and maintenance training, that’s not the niche that Bazeley targets. Instead, he returned to his Grand Prix roots, in a sense, with N3006.

“For the high net worth, risk-averse corporate operator, we are the people sought out,” he said. Bazeley discovered that—like a high-end race car—there are enough people with the desire to own a vintage aircraft but need to find a way to manage the tiers of responsibility and risk. Often, it comes down to insurability: Can you find an underwriter who can write a $20 million liability policy?

“We are very lucky to have a team of dedicated and engaged employees at all levels of the company,” said Nickerson. “This team is one of the major reasons we have enjoyed the success we have. As we get busier and are operating these vintage airplanes more frequently abroad, supply chain and inventory management has become increasingly important.” Bazeley agrees: “We have some very unique talent.”

The coordination of legacy piston engine overhauls is its own special process—along with props, landing gear, and powerplant accessories. “We are relatively unique in our ability to scale up and down to meet the needs of the current and future restoration programs including all major maintenance disciplines under one roof. What allows us this flexibility is use of many trusted contractors. We trust engine, prop, and instruments overhauls, et cetera to them, to allow them to be the experts in their niche. We also do this with machining and some fabrication and CNC cutting. This approach has allowed Aerometal to grow its capacity to providing complete exterior paint, full interiors, avionics suites, heavy structures, and then all the recurring and support maintenance requirements.”

Aerometal also trains pilot and maintenance technicians on classic aircraft, specifically the Douglas DC–3. “The DC–3 is a very robust airframe, although they are aging,” said Nickerson. “The maintenance approach must remain relatively aggressive. Unlike most other DC–3s operating, our [clients] are not necessarily very involved in aviation other than the ownership of the aircraft. With these types of owners, there is initial learning required in the scope and continuous approach necessary to keep these airplanes safely in the air.”

Bataan restoration

The biggest project for the company now, in terms of sheer size, isn’t a DC–3, however, but a 1948 Lockheed VC–121A Constellation. Bataan is owned by Lewis Air Legends at Planes of Fame in San Antonio, Texas, and it’s on track to be completely refurbished in time for a return to EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh this summer. From sidewalls and acoustic underpinnings to luxurious new cabinetry, when Bataan emerges it will look and feel legendary indeed.

The Connie once served as Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s favored transport aircraft, plying the skies globally in military service. With a maximum takeoff weight of 107,000 pounds and operating with a crew of five, the massive polished N422NA (serial number 48-613) has a wingspan of 123 feet and measures 95 feet 2 inches in length. The quartet of 2,200-horsepower Wright R-3350-75 radial engines power it at a cruise speed of 324 mph, just under its top speed of 330 mph. MacArthur made use of its 2,400-nautical-mile range and 25,000-foot service ceiling to fly wherever in the world he and his entourage needed to go in the 1950s, including the general’s remit commanding forces during the Korean War. N422NA was reassigned in the late 1960s to NASA to support the Apollo space program.

Roughly 15 people currently contribute to the Bataan project, including design and drafting, interior, structures, and a couple of technical specialists. Nickerson serves as project manager.

“The most significant and obvious difference is the size of the aircraft,” he said. “The owner has genuinely been a pleasure to work with. Throughout the whole project we have worked very closely to develop the specification and aesthetic of the cabin and livery. When first approached about the project we had assumed that the interior would be more of a restorative than a creative effort. Boy, were we wrong.“I would love to become involved in postwar-era airplanes...and prove that the Martins and Convairs and the Sabreliners can be operated as legacy airplanes.” —Paul Bazeley

“The Constellation is such a stunningly shaped aircraft—we really worked hard to bring some of its curving nature into the cabin. This led us to develop an in-house capability to construct curved honeycomb sandwich panels. We have incorporated these curves into almost all the cabinetry and bulkheads throughout the entire aircraft, even including a curved pocket door and a similarly curving stand-up wet bar.

“Another area of the cabin I’m particularly excited about is the conference room,” he said. “In this compartment we will have a large, curved credenza featuring several images of the aircraft through her operational history including images of her on the ramp at Rhein-Main [Germany] in 1949, in service for General MacArthur and for NASA.”

Aerometal began working on the project in 2018 while it was at the Fighter Rebuilders facility at Chino. “Working away from base like this presented many challenges but also presented some new opportunities. We built the entire cabin in CAD to allow us to do all the engineering and design work while the physical work was happening in California. This CAD model has proven an invaluable tool even now that the aircraft is at our home base. “N422NA is a much more modern aircraft than the DC–3,” he said. “The Constellation is one or maybe two generations later and is much more akin to early jet aircraft than the Douglas DC–3. Its systems and structure are significantly more complicated. When engineering different elements of the project, such as heat and air conditioning, this causes additional complexity.”

The next vintage

What’s on the horizon for Aerometal? The Constellation provides an indication, as Bazeley calls it “the epitome of our niche market.”

“The DC–3 will likely always [be] our bread and butter,” he said. “You can make it into a safe and capable, functional airplane, and coupled with that is the passion that got us into the business in the first place.” The company’s reputation in the large warbird restoration and operations milieu leaves them open to potential projects such as a P–51 Mustang or B–17. “We will make space in the hangar for those.”

But he’s thinking forward on the timeline, too. “I would love to become involved in postwar-era airplanes of some kind, and prove that the Martins and the Convairs and the Sabreliners can be operated as legacy airplanes—and bring our knowledge on how to shepherd them to an operable state,” with modern avionics, climate control, lightweight materials plus a vintage interior “and that grandeur, the aesthetic—but with modern standards of safety and reliability,” he said.

Whatever story can be elicited from an airframe, Aerometal appears well poised to tease it back into the skies. 

Julie Boatman is an editor, flight instructor, and content creator. She holds an airline transport pilot certificate with Douglas DC–3 and Cessna Citation Mustang type ratings.