Aerial Photos

My friend, Ron, rented a plane from his flying club this evening.  Another friend, Frank, flew along with Ron to get pictures of the Stinson in flight.  For a first attempt, they are OK, but you can tell we are shooting through glass on most.  Here a few of the better......we shot about 48!

Over El Dorado Lake

Kala's neighborhood

Phil's V-Tail Bonanza

My friend Phil lost his father earlier this year.  His dad had a 1956 V-Tail Bonanza and lived in the southwest part of the US.  The plane had not been flown the past few years, so Phil had it annualed in Carlsbad and a lot of things fixed.  Phil flew it back to Wichita yesterday and landed here at Benton and came down to show us.  

It is a 4 place with a 225 HP engine and does 145 knots in cruise on 11 gallons an hour.  It needs a lot of TLC, especially to get the shine back in the polished aluminum.  Phil also wants to paint a stripe on the fuselage and do other upgrades.  Looks like a good platform to start from.

Ready for next mission

We returned from Indy last evening.  The plane picked up a lot of bugs on the flight home.  So, this afternoon was bath time.  Looks all spiffy and ready to go again.  I have logged 15.4 hours so far in September.

Fly-In / Cruise-In Part 2

We had gorgeous weather today after some early fog burned off.  By 7:30 the pattern was humming with airplanes.  There were over 200 airplanes and an equal number of old cars and tractors.  

After having pancakes, we walked around looking at things and then spent most of the rest of the time sitting under the wing of the Stinson talking with people.  We saw several friends, making the event even better.

                      This is just over half the seating for the pancake breakfast.  

                                    They planned to serve about 2000 folks.

                                           Lots of old tractors and farm trucks

                                                   A gathering of Pulse vehicles

                         Me, Debbie, and Paul

                                         Debbie and I with Wade's parents 

                                                              A T-28 trainer

                                                  Paul in front seat of a Varga

                                                      The DC-3 after takeoff

                    One of 6 flying P-38's.  They did a few low passes before heading home.

                                                Elvis checking out the Stinson

              Our friend Ray's new 1963 Mooney.  His Aeronca Chief is in the background.

Marion Fly-In / Cruise-In

We left Benton, Kansas for Marion, Indiana Thursday afternoon.  We stayed overnight in Kansas City with my brother, Brian.  Today we flew the rest of the way.  We had about a 15 mph head wind the whole way, which is unusual going east.  It took a total of 6.8 hours of flying over both days.  

We are tied down in a prime spot and looking forward to the festivities tomorrow morning, which includes a pancake feed.

We went for a DC-3 ride tonight, so scratch one more item off the bucket list.  Here are a few shots of the fun so far:

                                Tied down and bug free.  Beautiful weather, too.

                             Two icons of the 30's.......a Piper Cub and a DC-3

                                   A P-38 Lightning flew in for the gathering

                                         The DC-3 we flew on.  It was great!

                                 

                                                Banking over the city

                                In flight pondering the comforts of early airline travel