Oshkosh!

We made it! Left around 8 AM and got here at 4:30 weds. Set up camp and went down to see what Antique/Classics were here.

Andrew King flew Jack Tiffany's Pitcairn Autogyro around 8 PM to a thrilled crowd. Andrew and Jack were all smiles afterwards.

We talked with them and other friends for a while and then it got dark, so we headed back to camp stopping by the Hurricane and the Lancaster where I got these neat shot of the old night bomber.

It's rained about four times today but between storms we managed a Lancaster tour and then to the Warbirds in Review to hear 3rd ranking all-time fighter ace Gunther Rall speak. Skyler then hopped off the viewing stand to get us 20th in line for autographs.

Hummingbirds

I got a lot done tonight. Mowed the yard. Played with the kids. Shots some hummingbird photos (now that they are making an appearance.) It was a good night.

We're getting ready for Oshkosh.

We're busy prepping for Osh so we're not getting much done on the Cub. We're driving up this year due to Glenn's surgery and wanting to have a car so we can get something to eat at night.

CAF Red Tail Airborne!

The Confederate (that's the way it should be) Air Force took their rare P-51C Mustang back into the skies after a 5 year rebuild after a fatal crash.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM9D5Odclpo

Hope to see it at Oshkosh.

fmi: redtail.org

"They're digging a hole...in my front yard..."

The water main in front of our house was leaking. Turns out it was a supply line from the main to our house that ran underneath the street. It's been l eaking since the 4th of July. The front 1/2 of our front yard had become a marsh. The city workers finally made it out today to fix the leak. They weren't kidding around, they brought a little back-hoe. The started by digging a big f'in hole in our front yard to try and find the leak. These usually leak at the attach fitting, but no, not ours. The rubber supply hose, a big garden hose, had cracked about 1/2" long and it was leaking out from there. They had to dig out the other side of the street to take that hose off and then run a snake thru it to pull it out. They then pushed a copper line thru and hooked it up. Then they put all the mud back into the hole. They'll be back in a couple weeks to add some dirt and sod.

It looks like we have a grave in our front yard.

Cub Progress - Rib-Stitching 101: A Class tought by the Master.

With all the metal parts cleaned off, we turned our attention to the tailfeathers. With Glenn back in action, the master conducted a beginner-level course in the ancient art of rib-stitching. Now trying to teach the three of us (Sky, myself and Glenn's nephew Kenny) to rib-stitch the fabric to the tail ribs requires the patience of Job and the only thing harder would be trying to teach us to weld.

We made some (very little) progress in the hour that we had before Sky and I had to head for home. But we did elicit the promise that class would resume tomorrow.

And perhaps more importantly, no fingers were impaled during this class.

July 20th-Forty-years later.

I can't believe it's been 40 years since I was sitting in my little red rocking chair watching man not only land, but walk on the moon. Of course, I can't believe I'm 48 years old either.

My family all followed the Apollo moon missions. My mom still has the local paper with banner headlines screaming "Man on the Moon!" Apollo 11 launched on my birthday. My best friend and I would lie upside down, with our feet over the back of the couch for all the Apollo launches. We they launched, we'd all squirm and shake as if it was us in the capsule and then quickly turn right-side up so we could see the launch. I remember being especially excited with this one because we all were so sure that we were going to the moon, going to land and walk upon it. The reality of the situation, brought home to us with the near-disaster of Apollo 13, was completely out of our minds. All my 8 year-old mind could see was a successful moonwalk mission.

Today, my kids are much less excited about the first moon landing. We've been there, we have shuttle launches, Star Wars is much more exciting and besides "I've got to go ride my bike with Sam."

So I've resolved to myself that when we go back to the moon, or Mars, I'll be in Florida to watch that historic launch. Besides, I can't fit in my little red rocker anymore.

Family Portrait 2009

My family July 2009

That lucky Stiff! - Mustang Ride.

My friend Glenn had done some work for Les Heikkila to help keep his P-51D Mustang airworthy so when Les asked how much he owed Glenn for it, Glenn replied "A Mustang ride for Kenny." Kenny Homes is Glenn's 16-year old nephew visiting from Idaho.

Les told Glenn to have him out to the airport at 10:00 the Saturday morning. Glenn and Kenny showed up at 9:25.

I was out taking family portraits (my own family for a change!) and then took Sky for a short plane ride when we flew over the top of the airport. I told Sky to look for Glenn and Kenny. He didn't see them. I did-Kenny was crawling into the back of the Mustang!

We poured on the coals and landed on the grass. Parked the plane on the grass next to the shadeport and ran to the car. Quickly down to Les's Hangar just in time to see him getting in behind Kenny and fire that merlin up.

Okay, back to my airplane. Park the car beside it and put on the "big honkin' lens" to get them on the fly-bys.

Les took off, went up to Busch's place and came back and made one fly-by before landing. Pulling up in the grass in front of the hangars, Kenny was all smiles afterwards. I don't think he knows how lucky he is, Les doesn't usually give rides.

7-14 Stripping the Cowling

The new stripper in action on the top cowling of the Cub. This stuff works great!

Glenn's Back!

My buddy Glenn has stopped by the airport a few times last week but this week is the first that he's spending any time out in his hangar. Here he instructs his nephew Kenny while the two of them take the tail off the Standard.

Welcome back Glenn!

7-13 Cleaning the struts.

Started stripping the wings struts today. Sandy Anderson came by and let me some industrail strength stripper to use which takes everything right off. He says the other stuff I was using is "Hand-lotion" compared to this.

Terry in his Waco

Terry flew his Waco YKS for me yesterday morning. We thought we'd be grounded because the generator wouldn't come online (airplane uses the battery to provide the spark unlike magnetos) but we thought we'd at least start it up. Then we thought we'd take it around the patch just once. We levelled off after takeoff and -voila!-the generator was online. Smiles all-around! We flew around for 10 minutes but the humidity was unbearable so we landed.

Dawn Patrol

I went out yesterday morning to take some photos of Terry Chastain flying his Waco YKS and found he and Mo Hunn flying Park Zone RC airplanes. Mo is turning final here in his Corsair.

Fun on the 4th.

Left: Waiting on the horses.

Right: There they are!

Horsies!

We went up to my parents who live in a small little town just south of Des Moines, Iowa for the 4th. Linds was all excited to see the parade, get some candy, see the firetrucks and horses, get some candy--you get the picture.

Later that night we went to my cousins who live just outside of town to watch the fireworks-the first time Linds has seen fireworks. She loved them!

A good day stripping.

Spent more time today stripping paint off the fairings and started to strip the cowling. After about 3 coats of the stripper, we nearly have the fairings and jury struts completely stripped. Two coats have done a marvelous job taking the paint off of the boot cowl so we're hoping to be done monday.

We heading to Iowa to my folks for the 4th of July tomorrow.

Cub Progress - July 1, 2009

Since our buddy Glenn is out for a while recovering from prostate surgery, Sky and I decided to make the most of it by removing paint off the fairings and struts. The paint remover is nasty stuff. If it touches your skins, it has a strong burning sensation. It's hot.

We got part way thru and then found out that Glenn's hose is broken and doesn't fit on the faucet anymore, so we went and got another hose and ice cream cones for good measure. We hope to have these pieces done tomorrow and start on the struts.