In the late thirties Russ was a very busy man. He had a flight school in Huntington and also a charter flight and flight school operation in the New York City area. Also during this time (probably sometime in late 1937 or 1938) he began work on the Fury. The earliest evidence I can find of any work being done on the airplane leads us to Bridgeport, Connecticut. Dr. Joseph Levy operated the FBO at the Bridgeport Airport in those days and when I talked to him in the early nineties he was eighty-nine years old and still practicing dentistry. He remembered Russ quite well. Russ began working on the Fury in Dr. Levy's hanger. They were building the wing and crowds of people congregated at the worksite, kibitzing and in general bringing all work to a halt. The big topic of conversation centered on the radical wing that Hosler had designed for the Fury. Most hangers on believed the design was unsound and that the airplane would never fly with that wing. Hosler had worked for Sikorsky Aircraft in some capacity earlier and knew many of the people employed by that firm. He had Sikorsky's chief aerodynamicist, Mr. Gluharef, come and examine the wing. Mr. Gluharef told Russ that the wing, while certainly radical, should fly ok. Dr. Levy and his chief mechanic Ralph Prince both heard this conversation. Both men still remembered it in conversations I had with them in the early nineties.

Eventually, with Russ considerably in arrears on hanger rent and with his operation being a great distraction, which led to no work being done on customer's airplanes, Dr. Levy asked him to leave.

In the 3 photos above, Russ poses proudly with his creation at Smith Field, Fort Wayne, Indiana, circa 1940/41.

The Fury at the old brick barn on South Jefferson Street, in Huntington, circa 1941.
These photos show the extremely thin airfoil utilized on the Fury wing.

The Fury arrives at Lake Wawasee full of hope and promise.
Russ had put all he knew into the design and building of this one airplane.

The Fury next showed up in the display window of a large department store in Bridgeport during Christmas season. As this was the big sales season I'm sure the stores owner thought it a good way to attract shoppers. Russ was working on the airplane in the show window. When the Christmas season was over Russ was once more asked to leave.

We next pick up the thread at Floyd Bennett field in New York City. The airplane was being worked on at Malin Burns's hanger. Somehow Russ had arranged for students from the Brooklyn High School of Aviation Technology to help work on the airplane. They worked on the wing and the fuselage at Floyd Bennett for a time. How long we will never know but eventually the Fury was moved again, this time to the North Beach (now LaGuardia) airport. The airplane was essentially completed at North Beach, enough to allow run ups of the engine at least, and perhaps taxi tests.

Next, the chronology becomes just a bit murky. We pick up the trail again with the airplane at what is now Smith Field, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. While at Fort Wayne the airplane must have been involved in a taxi accident or perhaps an aborted takeoff attempt. For whatever reason, the main landing gear legs were changed. The original legs were made of round tubing. Photos taken at Smith Field definitely show the airplane with square tube legs. Also, Russ had determined that the upper strut attach points (for the wing struts) needed reinforced. These were made heavier and no longer fit within the wing so covers were made that are plainly visible in the photographs. After another period of time and for whatever reason, probably because Russ was still running his flight school at Huntington, the Fury was moved to Huntington. It was placed in a barn near his sister's home and the work attracted the usual crowd of curious onlookers. After a period of time, the airplane was moved again.

Russ taxis the Fury on the frozen surface of Lake Wawasee, Indiana in February/March of 1941.
 

The Fury on the ice again at Lake Wawasee, site of the airplane's only flight.

The Fury on the ice at Lake Wawasee. Hitting ice-fishing holes in the surface of the lake caused serious landing gear problems for the airplane. Eventually a set of skis was made to solve the problem.