Lockheed 12 Gathering at Oshkosh 2011

EAA just release the news of a gathering of Lockheed 12s at Oshkosh 2011!

Text below.  The link here - http://www.airventure.org/news/2011/110208_electra_junior.html

AirVenture to Celebrate 75th Year of the Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior

Les Whittlesey’s award-winning Lockheed Model 12A NC18906 will be at AirVenture to mark the type’s 75th anniversary. One of the world’s classic airplanes, the Lockheed Electra Junior Model 12, flew for the first time on June 27, 1936 - 75 years ago this year - and that milestone will be celebrated at AirVenture Oshkosh 2011. Les Whittlesey, of Chino, California, owner of an award-winning Model 12A NC18906, is leading an effort to get as many L-12 owners as possible to bring their airplanes to Oshkosh this summer. “The plan is to get together, maybe even arrive at the same time in trail, and all park in the Vintage Aircraft area,” said Whittlesey, EAA 409631. “Ideally we’d love to get 12 airplanes to participate” for the Model 12, but he admits a more realistic goal might be six. Special presentations at Oshkosh on the L-12 will be announced as they are confirmed. Whittlesey’s Model 12, the product of an extensive three-year restoration, won the 2006 Grand Champion Antique award in Oshkosh as well as the Paul Garber Trophy in Reno that same year. Only 126 Electra Juniors were made between 1936 and 1941, when production stopped at the outbreak of World War II. The all-metal, twin-engine planes were designed for use as small feeders for airlines, but most were used by companies for executive travel, as well as government officials and wealthy individuals. It’s a six-passenger aircraft, plus crew, and weighs in at 9,200 pounds fully loaded. The Model 12A is powered by the 450-hp Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior SB radial engine and has a top speed of 225 mph with a range of 800 miles. Lockheed 12s are often mistaken for the plane Amelia Earhart disappeared in, but that was a Model 10, a 10-passenger airplane that first flew a little more than two years before the 12. However, a Lockheed Model 12A (NC2072) owned by Joe Shepherd, EAA 386618, played a Model 10 in the 2009 motion picture Amelia. EAA featured the oldest flying Model 12, The Spirit of TWA, owned by Ruth Richter Holden, in 2006. Click here for the story.

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

Oshkosh 2010 Photos

The photo galleries for Oshkosh 2010 can be found on EAAs web site here...

www.eaa.org/apps/galleries/



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