Where the Vintage Airplanes are - Sonoma

In my travels I have made it a point to visit what I would call vintage airplane "hot spots."  Airports around the country that are home to large collections of vintage airplanes.  One of those places is Sonoma, California.  I visited Sonoma a couple years back (see here for that trip report and go to the June 2006 Blog archive for all three of the posts) and was blown away at the high quality vintage aircraft that reside there.  The above picture is a Curtiss Jenny based at Schellville.  A recent post on the Plane Talk forum has my aviation photographer friend, Mike Shreeve, posting a nice selection of the fine airplanes from the Sonoma area.  Click on the link below and come along on a tour of the airplanes!  See the post here... Another Fine Day...

AvGas, JetA and Steam

Advances in aviation technology surprise me.  Some days it feels like we should all be flying around in flying cars or spaceships.  Other days I am fascinated by the aircraft that do fly.  Thanks to my friend, Jeff, for sending me a link to this video from the 1930s of a modified Travel Air with a steam engine.  Just think... a good number of general aviation planes could be flying around in the skies today with steam engines!  I wonder if someone will replicate this early biplane and fly on steam again!?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw6NFmcnW-8

FW190 at Planes of Fame

I must confess that I really am a big fan of these new build FW190s.  What once was absent from the skies now flies again.  No matter what era of aviation, no matter what type of airplane, I love to see types that haven't been seen in the skies return to tell their story again.  Hats off to the organizations, men and the money that they invest in returning these rare aircraft to the air.  What other aircraft types would you like to see fly again?  Lockheed Vega, Northrup Gamma, Northrup P-61, Vultee P-66... who knows!?


Links - Planes of Fame - Frasca International

Traveling Light - as in Light Plane

The first couple of times I attended Oshkosh and Sun N Fun I would drive with family or airline in with friends.  When I purchased my Taylorcraft I knew I wanted to jump in and fly to Florida for Sun N Fun.  My friend Jeff Stone was just about to get his pilots license and was up to joining me.  We had an adventurous flight down!  Three days down and two days coming back.  An encounter with some DEA agents, sleeping under the airplane and waking up with frost on the ground... but all in all a safe and fun trip.  That same year I flew to Oshkosh solo in the Taylorcraft and camped out.  When I purchased the Cessna 170 I took it to Sun N Fun and battled weather the whole trip.  But the weather has been more in our favor in making trips to Oshkosh in the 170.  A few friends have made the trip with me but the more memorable trips were made with Mom and Dad along.  There is nothing like sitting at Oshkosh in the shade of your own airplane and watching with show with family and friends.  Good times!

Somewhere in my digital files are my stories of these flying trips in detail.  When I find them I hope to publish them.  In thinking about my flying adventures on this snowy day here in Texas I thought of a trip that I read about my friend Kent Wien took many years ago.  He wrote about it here on Gadling.  Enjoy the read!

Links - Gadling - Kent Wien

Day in the Life of an Aviation Enthusiast

The alarm clock goes off on his B17 alarm clock with engine noises and machine gun fire.  He sleeps in his favorite worn out airshow t-shirt.  Wipes the sleep from his eyes and walks into the closet.  Checks the date on his airplane wall calendar. Shaves, showers and prepares for work thinking about his favorite airplanes.  Puts on his airplane tie to go to the office or another worn out airplane t-shirt to go turn wrenches at the hangar.  Goes to work in his office with aviation art on the walls and airplane models on the desk.  Or if going to work at the hangar opens his tool box that is covered with aviation stickers and airplane pictures.  Looks thru an aviation magazine over lunch.  Daydreams what it would have been like to race in the 1930s Air Races.  Calls an airport buddy to find out the plan for the weekend flying activities.  Drives out of his way to go by another airport to see any glimpse of an airplane on his way home from the office.  When he pulls in the driveway he can't hardly contain himself as he opens the mailbox to see if there are any new aviation magazines in the mail.  At home after work he looks thru all the channels on tv for airplane related shows before looking at any other shows.  If nothing is on tv switches to the Internet for aviation content.  When tired of sitting in the office chair at the computer  moves to an easy chair that is made from airplane seats. Reads aviation magazines or books from his massive collection that overflows the office and spills over into the garage until he gets hungry.  After dinner calls friends to talk airplanes.  Returns to the internet for more aviation content.  When he about falls out of the chair from exhaustion he stumbles back to the closet to find another airshow t-shirt to sleep in.  Falls into bed but before he turns the light out he grabs the aviation magazine off the night stand and thumbs through a few more pages.  Wakes up at 2am with the magazine on his face, returns it to the night stand and turns out the light.  The next day repeats almost exactly the same until the weekend!

Last Flight of 2010

Today I was off of work to enjoy part of the New Years holiday so I spent a good portion of the day in the hangar.  My normal hangar flying buddies were not there today to distract me so I actually had a productive day working in the hangar.  Not that I think catching up on the airport stories is a waste of time... it just is a different type of aviation therapy to actually WORK in the hangar!

I unloaded some of the Christmas gifts out of the truck and spent a few minutes unpacking them.  One gift was a light weight drill from my parents.  My old drill had bit the dust a couple months back and I had resorted to the manual screw driver.  (Gasp!  Manual?!)  The big heavy drills for working around the house just aren't that good for working on the airplane.  With the battery charged I tried it out.  Works... and is not too heavy or too much power.

The next gift to be unpacked was a small six inch buffer from my father-in-law.  The Cyclo buffer/polisher is my polishing work horse but it can be heavy when trying to hit those vertical surfaces.  The new buffer can be palmed and is not heavy.  The rudder buffed out nicely with my normal procedure and using the new palm sized buffer!  A great gift and it will be useful for those higher vertical surfaces.

The weather was warm but windy with low clouds when I arrived mid-day.  As the day wore on I would peek out the hangar doors to do a weather check.  The clouds lifted and eventually cleared out.  So I wrapped up the polishing.  The windsock finally stopped its vigorous flapping so the classic Cessna was wheeled out for a flight.  It felt good to get up even if it was a short flight at sunset.  2010 wasn't a full year of flying but the Cessna helped get my feet off the ground for some much needed arial therapy.
Hope your 2010 was adventurous and may you have more Blue Skies in 2011.

Merry Christmas 2010

A fun story from the Warbird email circles... Merry Christmas!

Santa's Ride

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

'Twas the night before Christmas all over the place,
When we were confronted by an old flying ace.
There was icing reported and turbulent air ,
He said, "File me a flight plan, I gotta get there".

Outside sat his aircraft all ready to run,
And the old man walked out to that P-51.
"Bad weather's no problem," he silently mumbled,
The prop came to life...that big Merlin rumbled.

He eased in the throttle, the roar shook the ground,
He taxied on out and turned it around.
He went through the run-up and seemed satisfied,
Then he said to himself, "I'm in for a ride."

So he lined it up straight as he poured on the coal,
The tailwheel came up as he started to roll.
Up off the runway, he sucked up the gear,
And that mighty V-12 was all you could hear.

He screamed overhead with a deafening crack,
Blue flames flying from each little stack.
"He pulled up the nose and started to climb,
No ice on that airframe, it didn't have time. 

On top of the weather with the levers all set,
He looked up above him and saw a Learjet.
"With jet fuel and turbines there just ain't no class,
Gimmee pistons, and props and lots of avgas!"

Now he was approaching where he wanted to go.
But the weather had covered the runway with ice and with snow. 
How will he land it? We just have to guess, 
because the only way in was a full I-L-S.

Then over the outer marker, he started his run,
The ceiling was zero, visibility...none. 
Still going three hundred and he felt the need,
For an overhead break to diminish his speed.

Over the numbers he zoomed, along like a flash,
Pulled into his break, we just knew he would crash.
Oh, why do they do it on these kind of nights??
Then over the threshold, we saw landing lights.

I'm on a short final with three in the green,
And I see enough runway to land this machine.".
Then he tied down that Mustang, and they all heard him say,..
"Next year, I'm stickin' with my reindeer and sleigh.."

--author's name withheld by request--..........

...OK, I can't keep a secret..... 

Santa Claus

Clean Culver Cadet

This clean Culver Cadet was at the last Antique Airplane Assoc. meeting I went to over in Justin, Texas.  Owned, restored and flown by Gene Morris.  These are clean little ships and I have always liked their compact, sporty lines.  Much like one of my other favorites, the Globe Swift.  Just posting a picture as it is a great example of the rare Culver Cadet.  Check out this link I found for a web site dedicated to this classic speedster.

Corsair in Black

In a previous post I wrote about the fine craftsmen over in Germany at MeierMotors and their work on many recently imported World War Two fighters to that country.  The most recent project is the cosmetic restoration and repaint of an F4U-5 Corsair.  Take a look at the unique paint scheme this powerful fighter will wear!  An all black scheme of a Korean war era Corsair.  It is worth the ten to fifteen minutes to read through the WIX forum post on the research for the paint scheme and the history of this Corsair.  The pictures of its transformation are there as well.  A special thanks goes out to Matthias Dorst for allowing me to post his photo.

Links - WIX forum post on the Corsair - MeierMotors

P-38 Reunion Video

This just came to my attention. Wow... Great video from the recent P-38 reunion out in California.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdzF_i7mPgs&feature=youtube_gdata_player


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Warbird T-Shirt Quilt

 In this day and age of reuse and recycle it is always fun to see something repurposed, especially when it pertains to our own personal interests.  My mom is an avid quilter.  I grew up staying warm in the winter months under her handiwork, and over the years our family has shared her interest in quilting.  As a matter of fact, we even owned a small quilt shop years ago.  It was a lot of fun learning how to run a small business, and have the opportunity to meet new people who shared the love of quilting.

In the local quilting scene mom became fast friends with a woman named Melinda Hamm Giacommarro.  Melinda has taken her own love of quilting to new heights and has made some rather unique creations.  She repurposes t-shirts by making them into one-of-a-kind quilts.  Over the years my mom had me stash away my old, worn out aviation t-shirts and this summer we finally pulled them out to give this t-shirt quilt thing a go.  

We sorted through the various types and styles and ultimately narrowed down our choices to the final 12 shirts that made the cut.  We’ve aptly named it the “Warbird Quilt”.  Like I said, we narrowed down our selections to just 12, so I have a very strong suspicion that this will be the first of many aviation themed t-shirt quilts to come.

We scheduled a meeting with Melinda at Bluebonnet T-shirt Quilts to show her the t-shirts we had picked. We then reviewed the layout and the quilting.  I have to admit I was overwhelmed by the numerous options that could be added!  The creativity flowed and we came up with a good number of designs.  Each block would have its own coordinating theme.  Here is a breakdown of what we finally decided on:

1. The Corsair t-shirt block has the Blacksheep Squadron patch quilted in it.
2. The P-38 block is embellished with lightning bolts.
3. The War Bond poster block has aviator goggles.
4. The Super Corsair block has the “flying man” logo from the Cleveland Air Races.
5. The Keep ‘Em Flying block has Stars and Bars.
6. The Hamilton Standard block has the propeller from the airplane logo.
7. The Fighter Rebuilders block has a world globe.
8. The Old Glory B-25 block has American flags.
9. The Southern Cross Sea Fury block has the Australian roundel.
10. The Memphis Belle block has a 25 missions bomb.
11. The Pratt and Whittney block has eagles.
12. The Me-262 block has clouds.  

Not only are each of the individual blocks uniquely quilted, but we even decided on detailing all the way around the edges!  Quilted into the borders are the names of the airshows we have attended over the years where I purchased these t-shirts.  Also in the borders are the American Stars and Bars with the phrase  “Keep ‘Em Flying.”  All these designs are quilted into the background of the quilt!  One other very cool and unique aspect is that when you turn the quilt over, all of the quilting details and patterns are easily seen.   A lighter colored backing was put on it so the beauty and workmanship would stand out.  Melinda really cranked up the creativity and blew us away!

For this aviation enthusiast my new quilt is an awesome blend of repurposing the old, worn out, but highly treasured t-shirts and making them into a piece of art I can show off to friends and family!  And, my wife and I can slide the quilt off the back of the couch to warm up while watching a movie.  Do you have a closet full of airshow t-shirts you don’t know what to do with?  I highly recommend Melinda at Bluebonnet T-shirt Quilts** to preserve all of your special memories!

**Melinda Hamm Giacomarro is an exceptional quilter.  She has made hundreds of beautiful and creative creations for folks with a variety of themes including:  Disney, High School, College, and Vacation Themes among others.  If you have a pile of old t-shirts that you just can’t seem to part with, but no longer wear, here is a practical way to preserve those memories and give new life to something old and treasured!  To contact Melinda email her at melindaquilts “at” gmail.com.