Travel Air 4000 Closes in on 100 Years

When I first met Greg Trebon at the annual fly-in at Triple Tree Aerodrome in South Carolina, I honestly didn’t know whether I was more impressed with him or with his stunning 1928 Travel Air 4000. The virtues of the airplane were immediately evident, but I was equally curious about the man who owned such a remarkable piece of aviation history. Before this retired one-star general would talk much about himself, however, he insisted on first telling the story of his 98-year-old Travel Air.

Born in the Golden Age

Trebon explains that the Travel Air Manufacturing Company was founded in 1925 by aviation pioneers Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech, and Lloyd Stearman. The company quickly became the largest-volume aircraft manufacturer in the United States by 1928 and played a crucial role in establishing Wichita as the “Air Capital of the World.”

His aircraft, serial number 328, was constructed in 1927. The original application for an “Airplane License” was submitted to the Secretary of Commerce on Jan. 14, 1928. That document was signed by Travel Air President Walter H. Beech and notarized by Olive Ann Mellor, who would later marry Walter and become Olive Ann Beech. As delivered from the factory, 328 was a Model 2000 with the liquid-cooled 90-hp Curtiss OX-5 engine and installed equipment was minimal: a tachometer, oil pressure gauge, water temperature gauge, thermometer, altimeter, ignition switch, and a choke. It also featured a wood tail skid and, of course, no brakes.

Serial number 328 was one of three Travel Air 2000s sold to H.C. Lippiatt of Hollywood, California, in February 1928 for $3,282 (approximately $57,000 today). Walter Beech and Olive Ann Mellor (Beech) both signed the Bill of Sale.

Exactly one week later, while en route to California, Lippiatt crashed 328 in Deming, New Mexico, escaping with only minor injuries while the aircraft was categorized as a complete “washout” (totaled) in the Department of Commerce records. (There was no FAA or CAA back then.) In March 1928, the wrecked airplane was sold to the Winstead Brothers Aerial Repair Company—Guy and Carl Winstead—at Travel Air Flying Field in Wichita, Kansas, where it was rebuilt.

On Aug. 22, 1928, following completion of the rebuild, the aircraft—still equipped with its OX-5 engine—was sold to Ivan D. Umbarger of Wichita. On Jan. 15, 1934, Umbarger transitioned the aircraft to a commercial license, and “3979” became “NC3979.” Over the next four years, the airplane passed through three owners in Kansas and Oklahoma.

A Working Airplane

On Jan. 5, 1939, serial number 328 was sold to J.C. (James Custice) and J.A. (Jefferson Aubrey) Finklea of Leland, Mississippi. In the late 1920s, Finklea Brothers Dusting Service was among the first major aerial crop-dusting operations and subsequently grew into the largest such operation in the world, operating roughly 50 aircraft. As a Finklea duster, 328 initially soldiered on with its 90-hp OX-5 engine.

The airplane was later licensed in the restricted category and sold to Dawn Cotton Dusting Corporation—also a Finklea company—as NR3979. During that sale, it was described as a Travel Air 4000, now powered by a 220-hp Wright J-5 engine, and fitted with a steel Hamilton Standard propeller.

On July 25, 1939, near Laurel, Mississippi, pilot Stan Hampton crashed 328 and was immediately fired by the Finklea Brothers. The aircraft remained damaged and idle for 56 years.

Resurrection

In 1995, serial number 328 was purchased by Martin Lowe of Culpeper, Virginia, who undertook a complete restoration. During the rebuild, Lowe installed the airplane’s current 220-hp Continental W-670 radial engine. He completed the project and sold the airplane in 2007 to the Gypsy Barnstormers of Wilmington, Delaware, where it served primarily as a museum display.

Greg Trebon, a resident of Spruce Creek, Florida, became the airplane’s present caretaker in May 2021. At the time, the aircraft had accumulated approximately 50 hours on both the airframe and engine since restoration.

After purchase, the airplane was flown to Ohio by Ed Rusch to be modified to accommodate Trebon’s 6-foot-4-inch frame. The rudder pedals were relocated forward, the rear seat lowered, and the front seat raised. Avionics were discreetly added, instruments updated, and the wood instrument panels were rebuilt and enhanced with burled walnut. A polished speed ring and spinner completed the upgrades. The aircraft was later ferried to Spruce Creek by Andrew King of Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, where it is now regularly flown, carefully maintained, and generously shared.

Meet 328’s Caretaker

Trebon traces his passion for aviation to his father. “I grew up in Santa Maria, California,” he says. “My dad learned to fly in the Civilian Pilot Training Program during the last year of World War II. He was too young to get into the military, but he never lost his love for aviation.”

Trebon was just six months old when he took his first airplane ride and spent his childhood flying throughout the western United States with his father. “Dad logged every flight I ever made until I started taking real flight lessons in high school,” he recalls. “By the time I soloed, I had 675 hours logged.” His first solo was in a Cessna 120, after just four hours of instruction. “The first time I was allowed to see the airspeed indicator,” he adds, “was on that first solo.”

By college, Trebon had his sights set on jets. He earned ROTC scholarships from both the Navy and Air Force, choosing the Air Force for better odds of becoming a pilot. Having logged over 150 hours in various tailwheel aircraft on his student pilot certificate, Trebon decided it was time to get a license. After flying with Claire Walters—a former WASP—she suggested he go straight from student to commercial single-engine land, which became his first certificate. At the time, private pilot certificates were not required before earning a commercial license.

One week later Trebon got his first flying job towing gliders in Super Cubs at Lake Elsinore, California, often making 20–30 aerotows a day. He quickly moved over to the adjacent Parachute Center, flew skydivers, taught a first-jump course, instructed skydiving, and packed parachutes between flights, accumulating over 1,000 hours doing so in classic taildraggers, including the Cessna 180, Howard DGA-15, Noorduyn Norseman, and Twin Beech, along with a DC-3 type rating. He was commissioned as an Air Force second lieutenant in 1975, entering flight training after a delay that allowed him to build nearly 1,700 hours.

Graduating first in his class, Trebon selected the C-141 Starlifter and was assigned to Norton AFB, California. Preparations for a second rescue attempt of hostages in Iran in 1980 was a turning point in his career towards Special Operations. Most of his 29-year career centered around Joint Counterterrorism and Special Operations organizations and missions, including time as a Joint Special Operations Task Force Commander in Afghanistan in the nascent days after 9/11. His career placed him in key command and operational roles, and he was ultimately nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate for promotion to major general (two stars) but declined the promotion as it would have taken him away from Joint Special Operations activities. He subsequently retired as a brigadier general in 2005.

Flying for the Joy of It

After retirement, Trebon moved to the Big Island of Hawaii and served as chief pilot/director of operations of a Part 135 operation, logging 3,000 hours in five years in Cessna Caravans and Citations. He later accepted leadership positions in a large aircraft modification company and another company in Florida where he was the director of operations overseeing flight operations for a U.S. government agency in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Kenya, Uganda, and multiple Central and South American countries.

It was that role that eventually led him to settle at Spruce Creek Fly-In Community near Daytona Beach. “Spruce Creek opened my eyes to what retirement could be,” he says. “A house, a hangar, and a runway in the backyard—it doesn’t get much better.”

Today, Trebon holds nine civilian type ratings, over 12,000 flight hours in 65 aircraft types, and a rare type rating in the B-24 Liberator, which he flew with the Collings Foundation for seven years. He currently owns four airplanes: a Cessna 195, RV-8, Harmon Rocket, and the Travel Air 4000.

“I also like flying low and slow,” he says, “and none of my other airplanes really fit that mission. The Travel Air does—and it brings with it the history of the Golden Age of Aviation.”

How Does She Fly?

According to Trebon, Travel Air is politely docile. “She doesn’t have any bad habits,” he explains. “Visibility is limited from the pilot’s aft cockpit, making taxiing on our narrow neighborhood taxiways a challenge with all the walkers, joggers, bikes, and golf carts we share them with here. On landings, you need to stay alert when the tail comes down as you lose forward visibility, but she tracks straight.

“Finally, you must remember she has almost 60 feet of total wing (top and bottom) and was designed to operate out of fields and pastures. I am very reserved about operating her on modern paved runways when the crosswind component gets above 7–8 mph. It’s not that the airplane cannot handle it, but why take the risk? She is 98 years old, one of only a couple of handfuls still actively flying, and candidly I am just not that proficient in her. With that said, I bought her to fly and do so regularly.”

Keeping a Classic Alive

Maintaining a 98-year-old airplane can be challenging, but Spruce Creek’s deep, friendly, and helpful talent pool makes it manageable and fun. “We have over 400 airplanes here, and this is the oldest one on the field,” Trebon says. “There just aren’t many airplanes from the 1920s still flying.”

With a little over 100 flight hours since restoration, the Travel Air requires only routine maintenance. Given the care it receives today, this nearly century-old classic may well still be flying when it turns 200.