California Vacation 2011 - Part Two

Vacations are good when you can take the mornings slow and enjoy big breakfasts.  Funny how most of our vacations are highlighted by eating events.  Mainly because we try to find unique places to enjoy!  We walked across the street mid-morning for my favorite breakfast food, waffles.  The Barking Dog Roasters served up great waffles to help us start our July 4th holiday off full!

A quick phone call from my friend, Eric Presten, had us sorting out our schedule for the day.  We planned to meet him after noon at his house and go from there to the local Sonoma airports.
Before meeting up with the Presten's, my wife and I took a side road into the Sonoma town square to avoid the 4th of July crowds who were departing from the morning parade.  It worked out well for us to slide into a recently vacated parking spot to be close to the action.  The center of the square was full of vendors and local artists selling their creations.  A short walk around the art and a few shops visited along the square and it was time to head to the Presten's.
I met Eric many years ago back when I was actively dealing in aviation books at local shows.  Eric has published a number of books focusing on vintage aircraft that I would offer for sale. He writes the most complete, photographic books covering vintage aircraft available today.  Upon arriving at the Presten's house Eric had us pull up chairs to his iMac for a preview of his latest book featuring his photographs.  It is packed full of pictures of rare aircraft types from the early 1900s through the 1950s.  When available later this year it will be a must have for any aviation enthusiast!

Debbie, Eric, Candice and I hit a local spot for lunch before Eric took us on a tour of the two Sonoma airports.  Stories of airplanes, pilots and airshows would dominate the topics for the remainder of the day!  The Sonoma Valley Airport was first on airport tours.  Eric gave us the drive through tour of the airport and we stopped at a couple hangars to see some prized pieces of aeronautical art!  A Curtiss Jenny, Stearman, Ryan STA, OX powered Bird and Kreider-Reisner, Peitenpol, F3F project, Pilatus P-2 (One from the movie Indian Jones and the Last Crusade!) and many more.

Jenny

The KR and the Peitenpol

The Bird

Dan and the Ryan STA

F3F project

Then it was on to Sonoma Skypark to see the Presten's Piper Clipper.  We loaded up and took a short arial tour of the Sonoma Valley in the Clipper.  Town square, wineries, two airports and the local park where the evenings fireworks would be, were all spotted on the short flight over the picturesque landscape.

Dan, Candice and Eric in the Clipper

Sonoma square

Dan flying the Clipper

Sonoma Valley Airport

The hills near Sonoma looking towards San Francisco

Landing at Skypark

Dan and Eric with the Clipper

On landing we were greeted by Trevor Meeks, a friend and hangar neighbor of Eric's.  We talked Cessna 170s for a few minutes as he has a clean 170A.  Hangared along with the 170 is his dad's beautiful cream and green Interstate Cadet.  It didn't take long for Eric to give Trevor and I an ear full about the difference in his preferred flying qualities of the Clipper versus our 170's.  We laughed it off and loaded back into the rent car to return to the Presten's house.

Being that we were in small town America, the Presten's treated Candice and I to a picnic in the park for the fireworks.  Debbie packed us a great meal complete with fried chicken, cheese & crackers with salami, homemade pea salad & potato salad.  We ate like royalty!  The park was just a short walk from their house in a large field that made for a front row seat to the show.  As darkness fell on the field a spectacular fireworks display kicked off.  Candice and I agreed this was one of the best fireworks displays we had ever seen.  It certainly was the closest I had ever been too.  A great way to celebrate the 4th of July!  Visit with friends, see some airplanes and fireworks to top it all off!
The local traffic was a bit thick on our walk back to the house so we spent some more time at the Presten house sitting around the dinner table and enjoying strawberry pie while Eric and I talked about airplanes as the traffic thinned out.  After a full day and a late night we retired back to the Fairmont...ahhh the Fairmont.

California Vacation 2011 - Part One

Summer vacation plans came together for my wife and I in late May. The planned destination,  Sonoma, California for the July 4th holiday week. After a check of the weather, the airline flights, and hotel deals we confirmed our reservations for the week in California. With forecasted weather cooler than Texas and a full page of sight seeing notes made we were ready to enjoy a slow paced getaway.

The early morning flight out of DFW to SFO was smooth and clear. We walked off the airplane and felt the cool bay area breeze. With a big comfortable sigh of relief we were happy to feel the much cooler temperatures! The little Prius rent car had just enough room in the back for our two bags. These two Texans are use to a little bit bigger cars! Can you rent Chevy trucks in California?  We pointed the little putt-putt car north and the adventure started with a drive through San Francisco. Candice snapped off a few pictures of the architectural details on the nearby buildings as we approached the Golden Gate bridge area.

Typical coastal fog had the Golden Gate bridge fogged in but it peeked out just enough to get a few pictures. A quick stop for pictures at Vista Point and we decided we needed lunch.

Drive through lunch worked this time as we wanted to start our trek up Highway 1 along the coast. At the exit for Highway 1 Candice spotted a Beaver on floats sitting next to the water. Seaplane rides right there next to the house boats at Sausalito!

Upon beginning our journey on Highway 1 I told Candice it was a goal of mine to drive a part of Highway 1 someday. Well, after fifteen minutes on 1 I had had about enough of the curves. The views off the coast were amazing but I had to keep my eyes on the road. Muir Beach was full of weekend crowds so we decided to continue on to Stinson Beach. Maybe we could get out there and get our land legs back! The weekend traffic that was backed up for a few miles helped us change our plans again. No walking on the beach for this trip. One stop at a scenic overlook for coastal pictures and we wanted to head back inland.

We found out the hard way that the Panoramic Highway was more curvy than Highway 1! We just wanted a flat, relatively straight road to get us north!  Hey, were those Redwood tress back there?  Yes, but keep driving! At about the end of our tolerance for curved roads we made it back to the 101 to head toward some family friends house in Penngrove. The Sampson's welcomed us with a glass of ice water and offered us comfy seats on the back porch. About an hour later our eyes stopped spinning and our queasy stomachs settled. They also graciously offer us a tasty dinner and their backyard guesthouse.  Day one was a full day of travel and coastal driving.  It felt good to settle in for the night.

After a comfortable nights stay with the Sampson's, and a long, leisurely morning start, we did a quick review of our notes and reviewed directions to our two weeks worth of destinations that we hoped to fit in to one week. At least we could hit the highlights and plan a return trip! While packing the car for departure a Stearman biplane broke the quietness of the morning. The Stearman was a good indicator of good weather and fun plans ahead.  Off toward Sonoma we went.

God created just the right conditions in this part of the country for growing grapes.  It appears man figured that out and planted them everywhere!  From large farms to side yards next to peoples houses, there you will find grapevines.  As far as the eye could see it was grapevines on the drive into Sonoma.

We knew we were going to enjoy the small town of Sonoma when we pulled up to the town square.  Just the type of town my wife and I want to spend some time in.  We parked the car and walked the square for shopping and lunch.  My eyes were turned skyward again as a biplane soared over.  Now the excitement was building in me.  Great weather, small town AND vintage airplanes flying over!  I had been to Sonoma once before but only for a day. (See the June 2006 postings on this blog.)  This trip was going to be good as we had plans to stay a full week!

The afternoon did warm up a little so we found some ice cream on the square. It is vacation! Bring on the $10 milkshakes!  We finished our treats just as we pulled into our hotel.  My wife found us an awesome deal at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn.  Wine tasting in the lobby gave us an opportunity to talk through our plan for the July 4th holiday and the week ahead. Part two to come...

Fly the Cessna 170

Come along for a ride in our 1956 Cessna 170B!

Fly the Cessna 170B from Dan Linn on Vimeo.

The Fighter Collection P-47 Roll Out

Wow.  The Fighter Collection in England has rolled out another stunning restoration of a rare Warbird.  Take a look at the paint scheme on their nearly complete P-47 restoration!  A short video of the roll out is posted on their blog.  With their Flying Legends airshow coming up next month we should see pictures of the P47 debut soon!  (photo credit to Friends of TFC blog)

Links - The Fighter Collection - Friends of TFC blog

Another Time Web Site Updated

Our web site has been in overhaul for several months now and is now live!

http://www.flytoanothertime.com

Visit the rare aircraft web pages and look through all the updated pictures!  Pass on any pictures, stories and links to us to make the site even more resourceful to the vintage aircraft community!

Memorial Day 2010

A salute to the men and women who serve in the U.S. armed forces.  Hats off to the veterans who served for their country.  Happy Memorial Day.

B-29 - History Made Everyday

When I walked into the Vintage Flying Museum hangar yesterday it was hard not to grin.  A B-29 SuperFortress was sitting in the hangar.  A hangar that housed B-29's many years ago and now one sits under its high arches once again.  Granted the hangar was moved from a bomber base to Ft. Worth's Meacham Field after World War Two but B-29's lived within its walls in a previous life.  I dropped by the museum to see the CAF B-29 "Fifi" as my buddy Brad Pilgrim was down from his Air Force post in Altus, OK working on the big bomber.  We spent about an hour inside the bomber telling stories of seeing it flying at airshows when we were younger.  Now the bomber is back on a regular flying schedule thanks to Brad and many dedicated volunteers.  Every time it flies it makes history as the only flying B-29 in the world.  History is made everyday and I was able to sit behind the controls and see what a front row seat to history looks like.  It is a good seat!  Thanks Brad.  Another good memory in my aviation experiences logbook in life.

 Links - B-29 B-24 Squadron, Vintage Flying Museum, CAF

Waco ZPF-7 in AEROPLANE

On my way home from work today I stopped by the news stand and thumbed through the May 2011 issues of AEROPLANE.  I was pleasantly surprised to see my friend Les Whittlesey's Waco featured inside.  Snag a copy to see a great write up and pictures by Frank Mormillo.  This ZPF-7 is one of my favorite Waco's as it is a customized version with many slick mods.  Below is a shot I took of his California based Waco.

Classic Fighters 2011 - New Zealand Airshow

Pictures are being posted on the internet forums from the Classic Fighters show down in New Zealand.  Follow the link below and be sure to click thru all of the pages!

http://rnzaf.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=airshow&action=display&thread=13238&page=1

Thunderbolt Restoration Progress

The Fighter Collection is making good progress on the restoration of their P-47 Thunderbolt.  The hope is that it will fly this year in time to make a few showings during this airshow season.  One of a few rare "Razorback" models, this Thunderbolt will be a great addition to the line up at Duxford as the type flew many missions from that famous airfield.  We look forward to seeing the paint scheme applied and it thundering into the skies once again!  Special thanks goes out to Brian Marshall for permission to post his pictures taken just a few days ago. More of Brian's pictures are posted on the Plane Talk forum here... http://forum.planetalk.net/viewtopic.php?t=10196

Links - AeroBimble Blog, The Fighter Collection, Friends of The Fighter Collection Blog

P-40C Takes to the Air!

John Lamont is lining up for the first test flight. Well done to the Avspecs team! (photo - Colin Hunter)

News is circulating that another P-40C has flown!  Special thanks go out to Colin Hunter for allowing me to post a picture of Rod Lewis's P-40C that is fresh from restoration at Avspecs Limited in New Zealand.  This rare Curtiss is one of only a handful of early C model P-40s.  It has been restored with a Pearl Harbor paint scheme.  Watch for news of more amazing restorations coming from the Avspecs!  Mosquito and Spitfire's are currently making progress in their shop.  See more of Colin's great photos using the link below.

Links - Avspecs, Colin Hunter Portfolio