Thorp Air Command - T18.net

Hello All,
My brother and I have acquired an 1984 T-18, N12WK built by a Mr. Yoder Miller. It was purchased from Mr. Miller in 2006, flown home from Sedona, and had some avionics work carried out before the project was put on the seller’s back burner due to health reasons. We wanted to gather as much information as possible regarding the airplane, it’s history, and the builder, including historic photos from the gatherings at Kentucky Dam.

N12WK came with all Thorp Engineering design drawings and plans, meticulously categorized and preserved, all engine and airframe logs, including the original letter from John Thorp to Mr. Miller confirming his serial number!! Included also was every newsletter sent out by the mutual aid society, which is very neat. (I have also downloaded those to my phone for future reference from this site). The seller included a hangars’ worth of spare parts, including new Lord motor mounts, the Trusty Tailwheel, spare interior, wheels and brakes lower fiberglass cowl, and wheel pants from another Thorp. The airplane comes fitted with the coveted aluminum cowl cheeks and the workmanship is impeccable.

We are excited to move forward with returning N12WK to airworthiness. Any information or stories would be greatly appreciated!

Glenn Gallagher
Hidden Lake, FA40
N12WK

Glenn, I am in lakeland. PM me if you need info or other help.

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Bob Highley
N711SH
SN 835
KLAL

Congrats Glenn. It looks good in your driveway! If you decide you would like to part with some of your spare parts, I need some of what you have for my project T18.

She's gorgeous. How about a shot of the panel as it is today? Do let us know what you remove, some of us may need it. And if you would care to share the digital scans of the newsletters, I'm a taker.

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Philip Mandel
N118BC
S/N 957
Beaverton OR

Phil the digital scans are available online ... on the main site... thorp18.com/t18.net

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Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

Phil, here’s a photo my wife took. We have the transponder and radio, as well as the dock for a 396. There’s definitely some work to be done, but its much more complete than the other project! We have a Tailbeacon and a new Airspeed indicator on standby, as soon as we can get out and install it. My wife plans on reupholstering one of the sets of seats and the interior.
Bob, we’d love to see your airplane. Always looking for an excuse to get over to Lakeland.
By the way the serial number according to the Thorp docs is 581.

Hi Glenn. I lived at Hidden lake 2003-2005 while flying for the Coast Guard out of PIE. Unless I missed something you have a Thorp expert on the airport. Les Cromwell built a beautiful Thorp and a GP-4. If you Haven’t already met him it would be worth the effort.

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Scott Hinton
N149RH
KECG
Elizabeth City, NC

I know its heresy to say here, but I really want a GP-4. I never see them for sale.

Les and Margie Conwell are now living in a condo south of FA40. Les's T-18 is donating parts to a build here in Lakeland, FL. Many of your know it was destroyed in a storm at Sun 'n Fun. His beautiful GP-4 is making a new owner happy in Texas.

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Bob Highley
N711SH
SN 835
KLAL

No doubt the new owner is very happy.

_________________
Scott Hinton
N149RH
KECG
Elizabeth City, NC

Interesting fact ... the new owner does not even have a pilots license!

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Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

I’ve met Les at our EAA chapter meetings at FA40, but we haven’t spoken since the outbreak of COVID. I have some parts from his airplane as well, as I believe that’s where the spares came from.
N12WK has received a condition inspection and we are fixing a couple of minor squawks that were identified.

Glenn