Pike’s Peak | This Day in Aviation

Windover’s Interstate Cadet S-1A, with Pikes Peak in the background. Inset: Lieutenant-Colonel W. Roy Windover, RCAF, in the cockpit of his Interstate Cadet. (UPI)

10 April 1972: Lieutenant-Colonel W. Roy Windover, Royal Canadian Air Force, a pilot assigned to the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Altitude when he flew a 1941 Interstate Cadet S-1A, N37239, to an altitude of 9,388 meters (30,801 feet) ¹ over Pikes Peak, a 14,115 foot (4,320 meter) mountain in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, near Colorado Springs, Colorado.

For this achievement, the FAI awarded him its Médaille Louis Blériot.

Lieutenant-Colonel Windover had previously set a Canadian national record by flying a Cessna 140 to 27,050 feet (8,245 meters).

William Roy Windover was born 26 November 1924 at Belleville, Ontario, Canada. He was the son of William Everette Windover and Ella May Charlton Windover.

Pikes Peak, 14,115.19 feet (4,302.31 meters), west of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Roy Windover learned to fly in 1941. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1943. He was “seconded” to the Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy.

Windover married Genevia Topelko, 10 Feb 1945. They would have three children, Jo-Anne, Roy and Rodderick. They later divorced. Mrs. Windover died in 2005.

In 1958, Flight Lieutenant Windover had been the first Royal Canadian Air Force Red Knight, a solo aerobatics demonstration performer, flying a bright red Canadair CT-133 Silver Star.

In 1974–1974, Windover served at National Defense Headquarters, Ottawa.

On 26 April 1983, Lieutenant-Colonel Windover married Cecile Rose Bruyere.

Lieutenant-Colonel William Roy Windover, Royal Canadian Air Force, Retired, died in an automobile accident, 29 May 1990 at the age of 65 years. He was buried at the Beechwood National Cemetery, Carleton, Ontario.

Roy Windover’s Red Knight CT-133 Silver Star, 21057.

Windover’s Interstate Cadet S-1A, serial number 82, was built by the Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Company, El Segundo, California, in 1941. The airplane was assigned an Airworthiness Certificate on 18 December 1958 and registered N37239.

The Cadet was a single-engine, high-wing monoplane with a tandem cockpit and fixed landing gear. The fuselage of the Cadet was built of a tubular steel framework. The wings had two spruce spars with Alclad metal ribs. The leading edges were covered in Dural sheet and the complete wing then covered in doped fabric. The wing support struts were made of tubular steel. The S-1A was 24 feet, 0 inches (7.315 meters) long with a wingspan of 35 feet, 6 inches (10.820 meters) and height of 7 feet, 3 inches (2.210 meters). The airplane had an empty weight of 720 pounds (327 kilograms) and maximum weight of 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms).

Interstate Cadet S-1A NC34939, the same type airplane flown W. Roy Windover to set a World Record for Altitude 10 April 1972.

The Interstate Cadet S-1A was powered by an air-cooled, normally-aspirated 171.002-cubic-inch-displacement (2.802 liter) Continental A65-8 horizontally-opposed four cylinder direct-drive engine, with a compression ratio of 6.3:1. It was rated at 65 horsepower at 2,300 r.p.m. at Sea Level, using 73-octane gasoline. The engine turned a two-bladed fixed-pitch wooden propeller with a diameter of 6 feet, 4 inches (1.930 meters).

At the time N37239 set this record, it was powered by an air-cooled, normally-aspirated, 171.002-cubic-inch-displacement (2.802 liter) Continental A75 horizontally-opposed four-cylinder engine with a compression ratio of 6.3:1, rated at 75 horsepower at 2,600–2,650 r.p.m. (depending on variant) at Sea Level. The A75 also required a minimum grade of 73-octane aviation gasoline.

The Cadet S-1A had a maximum speed of 103 miles per hour (166 kilometers per hour) in level flight, and 139 miles per hour (224 kilometers per hour) in a dive. The service ceiling was 14,500 feet (4,420 meters). The S-1A’s fuel capacity was 15 gallons (57 liters). Its maximum range was approximately 350 miles (563 kilometers).

Approximately 320 Cadets were built by Interstate during 1941–1942. In 1942 and 1943, another 259 were built as OX-63, L-6 and L-8 Grasshopper light observation airplanes.

N37239 caught fire during a training flight near Amarillo, Texas, 12 January 1995. After an emergency landing, the airplane was destroyed by the fire. The cause was not determined. The airplane was rebuilt and issued an Airworthiness Certificate 8 April 1999. It is currently registered in Farmington, Missouri.²

¹ FAI Record File Number 1918

² FAA registration cancelled 12 March 2018.

Sabrina Jackintell (FAI) — Sabrina Patricia Jackintell (FAI)

14 February 1979: Flying her Grob G102 Astir CS glider from the Black Forest Gliderport, north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Sabrina Patricia Jackintell soared to an altitude of 12,637 meters (41,460 feet) over Pikes Peak, setting a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record and Soaring Society of America National Record for Absolute Altitude.¹ This record still stands. The duration of this flight was 3 hours, 18 minutes.

Pike’s Peak is the highest mountain in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The 14,115 foot (4,267 meters) summit is located 12 miles (19.3 kilometers) west of Colorado Springs.

Pike's Peak (Wikipedia) — Pike’s Peak. (Viewfromthepeak)

Sabrina Jackintell’s aircraft was a 1976 Grob G102 Astir CS glider (or sailplane), serial number 1171, FAA registration N75SW. The Astir CS is registered in the experimental category. It is approved for Day VFR Flight and may perform simple aerobatics: loop, chandelle, steep turn and lazy 8.

Dipl.-Ing. Dr, Burhart Grob — Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Burkhart Grob

The Astir CS (“Club Standard”) is a single-seat performance sailplane, designed by Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Burkhart Grob e.K. and built by Burkhart Grob Flugzeugbau, Tussenhausen-Mattsies, Germany. The glider is built primarily of fiberglass. It has retractable landing gear and a T-tail.

The Astir CS was produced from 1974 to 1977. The current production variant of the G102 is the Astir III.

The Astir CS is 6,470 meters (21 feet, 2.7 inches) long with a wingspan of 15,000 meters (49 feet, 2.6 inches) and height of 1,26 meters (4 feet, 1.6 inches). The glider’s empty weight is approximately 255 kilograms (562 pounds). The maximum flying weight, with water ballast, is 450 kilograms, or 990 pounds. The minimum pilot weight is 70 kilograms, (154 pounds.) (Lighter pilots must carry ballast.) The Astir CS has a maximum speed (V_NE) of 250 kilometers per hour (155 miles per hour). The glider is restricted to a maximum of +5.3 gs. Negative gs are prohibited.

Three-view illustration of the Grob Aster CS (serial numbers 1438–1536), with dimensions. (Burkhart Grob Flugzeugbau)

N75SW was recently sold. It is currently registered to an individual in Southern California.

Grob G102 Astir CS N75SW at Black Forest Gliderport, near Colorado Springs, Colorado, — Grob G102 Astir CS N75SW at Black Forest Gliderport, near Colorado Springs, Colorado. The mountain at the upper right of the image Pikes Peak. (Jim Freeman via “Abandoned & Little Known Airfields”)

Sabrina Jackintell (née Sadie Patricia Paluga) was born at Youngstown, Ohio, 31 January 1940, the second child of John and Sadie M. Skvarka Paluga. Her father was a steel worker who had emigrated from Chekoslovakia. She attended Wilson High School in Youngstown. Miss Paluga was a member of the Art Students League at the school. One of her paintings was exhibited at the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Ohio, in 1956. She was voted “Best Dancer” in 1957.

Miss Paluga graduated from the University of Florida, Gainesville, in 1960. While in college she began modeling and was featured on the cover of the fashion magazine, VOGUE.

In 1965 she drove Art Arfon’s jet-powered Green Monster land speed record car at the Bonneville Salt Flats, exceeding 300 miles per hour (483 kilometers per hour). Mechanical problems prevented the LSR machine from making a second pass in the opposite direction within the required time limit, so an official Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) Land Speed Record was not set.

Art Arfons’ General Electric J79-powered land speed record car, Green Monster.

During her life, she lived in Ohio, Florida, Colorado and Southern California. She was married to Jerry E. Jackintell, also from Youngstown, and a fellow student at the University of Florida. They had a son, Jerry, and daughter, Lori. They divorced in El Paso County, Colorado, 9 June 1982.

Sabrina Jackintell died at Sebring, Florida, 15 January 2012 at the age of 71 years.

¹ FAI Record File Number 348

Read the article about Sabrina Jackintell on Jonathan Turley’s Internet blog:

Remarkable People: Sabrina Jackintell, a Woman for all Seasons

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10 April 1972

14 February 1979