Jim Bunner of Belleville recently won a prestigious award at the biggest air show in the United States— the 2009 EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Bunner won the Contemporary Award of Best Champion for his rebuilt 1958 Champion Aeronca 7FC Tri Traveler aircraft.

Bunner’s Champion is one of just 12 in existence still flying.

A sister Champion (without the nose wheel) is owned by Bunner’s friend and fellow Jackson County Airport patron Larry Smith. The pair has rebuilt three airplanes in the last four years.

Both Bunner’s and Smith’s Champions have distinctive matching custom paint jobs featuring Sante Fe Red and Vesta White. They often fly their planes together, recently on a jaunt to Maine for some fresh lobster, and have been dubbed the “Ravenswood Air Force.”

Bunner found his 1958 Champion stored in pieces in an old tire shop in Cameron, WV, in 2007.

He bought it for $5,900 and hauled to back to the Jackson County Airport, where and Smith set to work to totally rebuild it. They added some new parts like seats and flooring and even crafted a fender of the nose wheel.

His restored Champion has a four-cylinder engine that burns about five gallons of fuel per hour of flight and cruises at about 100 mph. He says the nose wheel slows it down about five mph. The Champion holds about 26 gallons of fuel—13 in each wing tank.

Bunner was born and raised at Odaville. He graduated from Gilmore High School and now lives at Belleville. He started flying in 1973 and retired from Borg Warner/GE in 1999 after 37 years of service.

“I decided I wan’t going to just sit down and watch TV and die,” said Bunner, so he got more involved in his passion for flying and aircrafts.

Bunner said he’s done just about everything in his 36 years of flying experience—crop dusting, pulling banner, air surveillance for the DNR and had his own air service.

He’s particularly proud of his Champion (N7543E) and of the signature award he won at Oshkosh.

He compares the AirVenture show to the prestigious Bloomington Gold for Cadillac automobiles.
“It’s a great airplane,” said Bunner. “It’s a lot of fun to fly.”