Warbird Information Exchange

Next day we carried on to Pelee Island. This in in the west end of Lake Erie, and it's the most southerly airfield in Canada -- pretty near the same latitude as northern California. It's a lovely little hide-away island of vineyards and beaches and small cottages and B and Bs. Feels like an out-of-the-way-Key-down-south. Millions of birds migrating each spring and fall.

The crossing is short -- not like crossing Lake Michigan in the P-40 earlier this month. Again, a quiet little airport with tie-downs, although it's a good thing I brought my own ropes.



There is a sched service from Sandusky in the States, and the occasional transient.



We found a very nice B and B ("Wavecrest"), and fought relentlessly against dehydration and the hordes of sunworshippers on the beach.

The engine has been starting and running well -- always a concern when you fly a Vintage machine to an out-of-the-way spot. (BTW -- the fellow who runs the garage on the Island also happens to be an AME.) We're getting to know it. Even when I've flooded it, turning the prop backwards 14 blades (once you get the starter to disengage) has invariably fixed it. I'm not convinced I'm getting all 185 horses, but I've found out it has a re-fitted Holley carb (1964), so perhaps it's just a question of fuel flow into the engine.

Nevertheless we circled the Island a few times, climbing, before we crossed the water back to the mainland. Then we decided to plunder Aircraft Spruce and Specialty in Brantford on our way home. I of course bought all the 25W60 oil they had. (Never miss a chance to buy more oil when you're flying behind a radial.)



Robin bought a headset. She got the new type, an in-the-ear plug rig, with a frame that goes behind the head instead of on top of it. A "Clarity Aloft". No active noise reduction. But she liked it. The Fairchild is very loud (not much quieter than the P-40), but she found the transmissions easy to hear, and the comfort level quite high. (I tried it but didn't like it. I use a Campbell helmet from NZ.)

Anyway, much poorer, (the plundering required a Visa), soon we were ready to depart Brantford.

We buzzed the farm in Milton on the way home. (Actually, I've got to take a Tiger Moth in there next week for a Wings and Wheels even, and was evaluating the strip. Looks like a chain saw is required. What used to be saplings in the fence rows are now substantial trees.) And we came across a gathering of a few small airplanes at a home strip near Shelburne, Cubs and Champs and Ultralights, and did the same there (too short -- did a go-around). And then back home.



Nice little trip. Exactly what we hoped for when we bought the airplane. (And when I was working on it all last winter.) The F-24W is a fine airplane to travel in. Not fast (110 mph), not flashy, but stately and comfortable and very forgiving. And it turns heads.

Dave

Sounds like a nice trip. Any radial-engined airplane has pump appeal...especially when you taxi up, roll down the window and say "Fill her up"!!!!

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Yeah, it was. Take a credit card, check the forecast, and go where it's blue.

As for fuel, I've been keeping the price down. I buy-into a tank of 100LL at the home strip (with about half a dozen guys), so we get that in bulk. Also, I don't really want a diet of pure leaded fuel in the engine, so I mix it. Shell 91 mogas is advertised as having no Ethanol in it, so that's what I pick.

Sorry I can't make your hangar-bash this weekend, Andy. I was thinking of it, but I've got a gig this weekend for the airplane, or maybe the Tiger Moth. Or both.

Dave

Hi Dave,

I sent you a PM recently.

Howard

Lovely day for flying yesterday -- probably because it wasn't a weekend.

Over Edenvale, we happened to rendezvous with 2 of the other aircraft I fly at the Edenvale Classic Aircraft Foundation -- a DH-82A Tiger Moth, and an Aeronca 7AC Champ.



So we wandered a bit closer...



They're both a lot of fun to fly.

Then we happened to see an odd cutting in a field of corn.



Unfortunately the photo didn't come out very well, but this is the 100th Anniversary of flight in Canada, and the image is of the 1909 Silver Dart. Not something you see every day!

Also, here's a photo of the crew. I wear the Campbell helmet because it's comfortable and the sound quality is very good -- and because it's the only headset I own! Robin is wearing the Clarity Aloft, which she likes because it doesn't go over top of her head.

Wow! Great stuff!

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Keep Em' Flying,
Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

CASC Blog Page: http://ctair-space.blogspot.com/
Warbird Wear: https://www.redbubble.com/people/warbirdwear/shop

Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?

You guys look like you are having way to much fun in that last photo. That design in the cornfield is very impressive. I wonder how they got it to look so good.

See you guys in two weekends up at Gatineau.

Eric

_________________
The air resounds from the Rolls-Royce roar!
To an enemy the warning is dire: here only eagles soar,
and the last thing he'll see is a mirrored Spitfire!

See, even Aliens are airplane buffs!

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More "Fairchild Summer" adventures...

Flew to Elmhurst Resort, a little under an hour at cruise to the east, and landed on the 2800' grass strip by the water. Nice spot. Rows of well-kept cottages along Rice Lake. Had a great lunch. Walked the paths. Good place to go.

Some company there.

Next day I flew to Edenvale and stepped into the DH-82A there, to instruct a friend. (3 days before the engine quit and it force landed -- see "Road Run" thread.)



While up, we hunted down a large balloon. Robin was in it, sipping Champagne, and enjoying her Christmas present. (I have no idea what I'll get her this year...) Perfect summer evening, and lots of various ways to go aviating.



Then back home to put the airplane away.




Dave

Busy weekend. Lots of fly-ins in Southern Ontario. Too many choices! So we decided to visit places we hadn't been before.

First was Welland. I used to instruct there in the 70s. It was my first job, although it went beyond that -- I taught flying 6 days a week and dropped jumpers on the 7th. Anyway, I was curious to see what was still there. And was happy to discover a flying school still in operation, plus a fine scatter of homebuilt and vintage and warbird aircraft.

Plus a few old friends...



And 5 (FIVE) Fairchilds on one field. Never thought that was likely! There were 2 Cornells (PT-26s) static, one flying passengers all day, plus a F-24R (Ranger engine) in WWII RCAF silver as an "Argus".



I'd hoped to get a group shot, but foolishly put it off until later in the day, and the opportunity vanished. I won't do that again.

Here's an odd one. Any guesses?



Family resemblance?

Then next day to Hawk Field, just east of Oshawa. This was a lovely spot. A perfect grass strip -- into the prevailing wind, 3300 ft long, 100 ft wide, with pasture on both sides. I dream of airports like that!

Well attended, about 60 aircraft showed up to admire the setting and feast on corn-on-the-cob.



The Fairchild makes quite an impression at these events -- very few know what it is. Or have heard of a Warner. It leads to some great conversations.



I wish I'd taken more pictures. There was a Moth there, and a modern Waco and a Harvard. Plus a 5/8 Spitfire. But I was too busy chatting.