Warbird Information Exchange

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http://greenevillesun.com/story/298181

Source: The Greeneville Sun

By BILL JONES

Staff Writer

The public is invited to the Greeneville-Greene County Municipal Airport on Saturday, Oct. 11, for a free, community-wide fly-in and car show.

Wayne Bettis, who is chairing "Wings & Wheels on the Greene," said admission is free for the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. event. In the event of rain on Oct. 11, the event will be held on Sunday, Oct. 12.

"We want to offer the public something they can enjoy for the day at no charge," Bettis said. "We hope to see it grow each year."

Bettis said he hopes the event will enable local residents to better understand how valuable the local airport is to the community in general.

He noted that the Greeneville-Greene County Municipal Airport is much busier than is generally recognized.

"We had a count taken during the summer and found that there were 376 takeoffs and landings at the airport just between the hours of 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. during the summer months," Bettis said.

The Greeneville chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) is sponsoring the event, while the Greeneville-Greene County Aviation Association is hosting the fly-in and the Volunteer State Auto Club is hosting the car show portion of the program, according to Bettis.

Free Airplane Rides

He noted that the FAA (sic EAA), through its "Young Eagles" program, will provide free airplane rides to youngsters between the ages of 8 and 17 between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. and again between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Adult airplane rides also will be available during the event.

In addition, Bettis said, a skydiving demonstration will be conducted from noon to 1 p.m., followed by a demonstration by the crew of a Tennessee Highway Patrol "special operations" helicopter.

In addition, Bettis said, a number of "special aircraft," including military aircraft, will be on display during the day-long event.

'Mama Bird' Johnson

Also, veteran Morristown flight instructor Evelyn "Mama Bird" Johnson will be on hand to sign copies of her book, Bettis said.

Johnson, who will be 99 on Nov. 9, learned to fly in 1944 and has logged 57,635.4 flying hours, according to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia.

She also is the oldest flight instructor in the world and has trained more pilots and given more FAA exams than any other pilot, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Other Events

The day's events also will include Emergency Medical Service demonstrations, food and free entertainment.

For more information about the fly-in portion of the event, members of the public may telephone either Bettis (639-1948) or Ted Hensley (620-1614).

Car Show

Meanwhile, a car show sponsored by the Volunteer State Auto Club at the airport will feature a wide variety of classic automobiles, Bettis said.

A flyer promoting the event indicated that registration for those wishing to enter their cars in the car show will be free.

For more information about the car show, interested persons can call Bill Collins (639-5580) or Brab Gregg (638-7800).