Rhinehart Rose Manufacturing, Inc.
Douglas C. Rhinehart, Owner (b. 15 Sep 1923, d. Apr 1978)
Farmington, New Mexico.
Established: 1965

Doug Rhinehart joined the Antique Airplane Association in 1963.  He already owned a Rose Parrakeet (NC18252).  He may have already been an Experimental Aircraft Association member as he attended the 1963 EAA fly-in at Rockford, Illinois with NC18252.  He eventually restored it and three other Rose Parrakeets he later owned (NC1367G, NC14843 & NC14881). 

In. 1965, He licensed the right to manufacture five Rhinehart-Rose Parrakeets from Jennings W. "Jack" Rose.  (See the story of the development of the Rose Parrakeet here)  The Rose Parrakeet A-4 design was revived as an aerobatic Rhinehart-Rose Parakeet A-4C with a Continental O-200. It sold for $10,500. S/N 505, NC12084, was the first production model registered  in 1969.  It was named "Sentimental Rose" by Doug because it carried the N-number of Jack Rose's pre-production prototype NX12084, which disappeared from it's storage shed and has never been located.  NC12084 became the 'factory demo' plane and flew from New Mexico to California to Iowa and back several times.  Jack Polk, a good friend of Doug Rhinehart's was the West Coast Distributor for Rhinehart Rose Parrakeets. 

Doug Rhinehart completed five certified  Rhinehart-Rose Parrakeets (S/N 505 thru 509) in Farmington and Aztec, NM by 1978. There were at least two additional airframes welded up at the time of Doug's death.  S/N 510 was eventually completed and registered as experimental N63950 in 1999.  The second airframe, probably S/N 511 was sold to a Farmington resident and airport friend, Ed Sweat, who completed and registered it as experimental S/N 1986, N200ES in 1986.

In 1968 Doug established a New Mexico Chapter of the Antique Airplane Association.  He organized AAA fly-ins, restored antiques,  worked as a tireless promoter of sport aviation and recruited many AAA members in the 70's.   He also flew his 1936 Rose Parrakeet (NC14881) in many aerobatic performances in small towns around around the state of New Mexico and the Southwest. 

In the spring of 1978, Doug Rhinehart crashed his Luscombe shortly after take off near Aztec, NM.  He was in a coma for several days in an Albuquerque hospital.  He never recovered and died as a result of his injuries.  Doug's untimely death brought an end to his plans to aquaria all rights to the Rose Parrakeet design and type certificate 2-514 from Jack Rose. One aircraft already contracted for and mostly complete was finished and certified after Doug's death.  At that point Rhinehart Rose Parrakeet production ceased.

However, this was not the end of the Rose Parrakeet saga.  Ed Sweat made copies of the 1956 Hannaford D-1 drawings, changed the name in the title block and added additional drawings of his own and sold them as the "Pajarito" (Spanish for Parrakeet) to other experimental builders from 1986 until?  I do not know how many of these plans were sold or how many projects were built or may be in-progress from these plans.  As of 8 May 2006, my attempts to locate Ed Sweat or relatives of his in New Mexico have not been successful.  - DG

(— Don Pellegreno 7/6/04)
Doug Rhinehart obtained STC SA458SW for the use of a Continental C-65 on [Rose Parrakeet] c/n 107. He also obtained three other STCs: SA787SW for a C-85 on [Rose Parrakeet] c/n 105, SA1040SW for a Continental O-200 on [Rhinehart-Rose Parrakeet] c/n 505, and SA1040SW(rev) for an O-200 on newly constructed Rhinehart-Rose Parrakeet A4-C. Jack Rose licensed Rhinehart-Rose Mfg (Aztec NM) to build five Rhinehart-Rose Parrakeets under TC 2-514 and STC SA1040SW(rev).