Be Safe But Authentic with Your New Old Panel

The restoration of this storied WACO shows it's not hard to enjoy modernly vintage instruments.

Meg Godlewski

Thursday, January 18, 2024 at 02:14 PM ET

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Vintage instruments above, modern below on a 1934 WACO YMF-3. [Rebecca Rambal]

Key Takeaways:

The Gig Harbor Vintage Aero Museum features a collection of meticulously restored vintage aircraft, primarily from the 1930s and '40s, owned by brothers Bob and Bill Juranich.
Master mechanic Bob Johnson innovatively integrates modern avionics and conveniences, such as radios, ADS-B, and electric starters, into these aircraft while preserving their original historical aesthetic.
This is achieved by artfully concealing modern technology, for example, hiding radios in period-correct map cases and installing ADS-B units discreetly under the aircraft's fabric.
The museum's ethos is to keep these historic airplanes flying and functional in modern airspace, balancing authentic preservation with contemporary safety and operational requirements.

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There is a lot of compromise in aviation.

When a person owns an open-cockpit vintage aircraft, one of the first decisions to make is how radio communications will be addressed. You can utilize a portable battery-operated handheld radio so the instrument panel remains true to factory specs, you could eschew the legacy panel gauges and install a modern radio and the supporting electrical system in the name of safety and convenience—or you can get creative and have the best of both worlds.