Paris

The preparations for the trip were a long time in coming. The airplane was fueled and supplies were packed. The thoughts turn toward the long distance flight. A flight to Paris is a quite a trip. Lindbergh made the flight in about 33 hours. Will my flight to Paris be as adventurous? Will the winds and weather affect the length of the trip? I have told my friends that I wanted to make the trip for years. The airplane I have chosen for the trip is my 1956 Cessna 170B. All the way to Paris in a 170? No... I am not crazy. The 170 has plenty of fuel. It even has room for a passenger on the trip! Lindbergh wrote a book about his trip to Paris in a book titled "WE" as in himself and the airplane. When I say that "WE" made the trip, I mean my mom and myself! Paris would be a one hour trip. OK... no... we are not flying to Paris, France but Paris, Texas. Our host for lunch would be our family friends, The Copeland’s, not the French Ambassador!

Mom and I launched off from my home airport about 9 am. We could not have asked for a better fall day to make the trip. With light Northeast winds blowing across North Texas the visibility had to be over 50 miles! Smooth flying and some colorful leaves made for a pleasant trip to Paris. We only made one small detour to fly over an airstrip named Flying Tigers. Many years ago it was home to a collection of World War Two aircraft. Most of the vintage aircraft are gone now but when I flew a high turn over the airstrip the only vintage aircraft visible from the air was a Convair. I shot a quick picture and turned North.

The hangar at Parson Field came into view and I was able to make out the direction of the runway. Landing to the Northwest the approach is offset to the west to avoid a few trees. I made a slight correction after passing the trees and settled onto the smooth grass with just on small bounce.

Billy Copeland greeted us upon shut down by saying "This is a monumental event! The Linn's have finally come to visit!" After saying we would fly up to visit we finally made the trip! After a tour of the hangar and the house we enjoyed watching the other aircraft arrive. Cubs, Champs and a wide variety of vintage aircraft settled onto the grass as onlookers commented on what a perfect setting this was for a fly in event. 32 aircraft were in attendance and about 70-80 people enjoyed the lunch.

After lunch we said our quick farewells and took off for home. The Dallas skyline was clear on the horizon but I couldn’t help but laugh to myself and think, why didn’t we see the Eiffel Tower!? The flight home was just a few minutes faster with the tailwind. 2 hours and 12 minutes total flight time for the round trip with an average speed of 110 MPH. Lindbergh's flight to Paris was a little longer than our trip to Paris! Hopefully someday I will make a flight from New York to Paris.

Fw190 Recovery

Check out this link to the recent recovery of a Fw190 out of a lake in Norway!

http://www.luftwaffe.no/wreck/index.htm

Looks to be in amazing condition!

Photos from Duxford

One of the aviation forums that I frequent is Plane Talk. Vintage airplane discussions and photos abound on this forum! A few weeks ago the famous airfield at Duxford, England held an end of the season flying display. Go to this forum post to see some amazing photos from that display. A special thanks to Gary Brown for allowing me to post the above photo. Great shooting Gary! Also, scroll down that entire post to see the great shots of the very rare Hawker Nimrod!

Waco Restoration

Took off work alittle early last Wednessday to take my friend Andy (of the National Waco Club) up to see a local restoration shop that is working on two Waco restorations. In the shop in various stages of restoration were a Cub, Champ, Stearman, Bucker (the former Slovak/Gann aircraft - N121U), Hiperbipe, RV8, Waco RBA and a standard cabin Waco. Goodfriend Aircraft is making great progress on the restoration of the rare Waco RBA pictured above. This is a unique open cockpit, side-by-side seating, Warner powered, Waco biplane. This will surely be an award winning aircraft!

Reflection

Took this shot yesterday morning while flying over Lake Ray Roberts North of the DFW area. Reflection off the lake made me want to grab the camera and take a shot!

Boeing 40

Great progress is being made by the Pemberton's on their Boeing 40 restoration. Up on the wheels and painted. Sounds like wing fit check is next with wing covering to follow. Visit their web site here.

Flying DH4

This came across my desk this week. A flying DH-4 with a Liberty V-12! Check out the restoration pictures here.

Spartan and Lockheed Page Updates

Spent some time today updating the Spartan and Lockheed 12 pages on my web site. Both pages have not been updated recently because of all the new photos I have collected and wanted to add. Finally took the time to sort the photos and post them. The pages only have one photo per entry because I plan to build a gallery page with all the rest of the photos. As usually... there will be more to come! Go to my site then check out the Spartan Executive and Lockheed 10 and 12 pages.

http://www.flytoanothertime.com
(edit July 2011 to show new link)

Back in the Saddle

Really haven't done much in the way of aviation activities since Oshkosh. It really has been a warm Texas summer. So I just haven't had the energy to go out and endure the heat to fly the 170.
I took Friday off of work and went to the airport early in the morning to pull the 170 out. It was about 76 outside, which made for a nice morning to fly! After filling up with fuel I decided to point the 170 West toward Breckenridge, Texas. I know a few guys that work at Ezell Aviation where they restore World War Two aircraft. In the shop were two Sea Furys, an F4U-4 Corsair and a P-38. The two Furys were being worked on in preparation for the Reno Air Races that start in two weeks. The Corsair has most of the airframe work complete. The P-38 is the former "White Lightning" and is being restored for The Flying Bulls out of Austria. The metal fabrication of parts for the P-38 is amazing! This will be an amazing airplane once it is completed and the aluminum is polished! For more pictures of the P-38 restoration check here.
The flight out took just over an hour (99 miles) with the flight back taking just 50 minutes. Felt good to put some time on the 170. Hope to do more flying this weekend as weather allows.

12 Flies!

Good news from CA.... Lockheed 12 SN1277 has flown again after restoration! Look for this machine to take one of the big awards at Oshkosh!

Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July!