Smiling Thru replica stops for quick visit in Newton

Members of the Experimental Aircraft Association Local Chapter 456 gathered at the Smiling Thru hangar at the Newton Airport on short notice Monday morning to see a restored version of the Travel Air 6000B, similar to the original Smiling Thru. Built in December 1928 by the Travel Air company, the plane had been used by smoke-jumpers in McCall, Idaho. When Hank Galpin of Missoula, Mont., found it, it was in rather rugged condition. “It was a pile of junk, really,” Galpin said. He had it delivered to Kalispell, Mont., on a flatbed truck. “I bought it in 1992 and restored it in 2002,” spending an estimated 10,000 hours working on the project. “Eighty percent of the frame is original,” he said. Galpin is touring with the American Barnstormers