Here I sit in Lexington, Kentucky’s Blue Grass Airport waiting for a delayed flight home which gives me a great opportunity to post some photos of our recent adventure.
My friend Blane and I went to Tullahoma, Tennessee for the Beechcraft Heritage Museum's annual get together. We departed Stockton, CA in his 1945 Beechcraft D-18S.
Our first fuel stop was La Junta, Colorado which turned out to be a WWII B-25 training base. There were a lot of the original structures there including one of my favorite things; a bombsight vault. These vaults were located at bases that had regular bomber activity and were used for secure storage of the bomb sights. What a delight to see one still alive.
Our next stop was going to be Mid Continent Airport in Wichita, Kansas as they had the lowest fuel prices in the area. It was almost a home coming for the Twin Beech as she was manufactured at the Beech Factory which is also in Wichita.
About a half hour out of Wichita cylinder number eight on the left engine decided to pop its top. The cylinder head departed the barrel between the second and third cooling fin of the cast aluminum head which, unfortunately, is a common place for R985 cylinders to crack.
A quick check of the GPS to find a good alternative airport came up with several options but only one with a maintenance facility; Great Bend, Kansas.
After landing I noticed that we were also at an old WWII base with a lot of the original structures still standing. From what I am told Great Bend was a B-29 base used as a mod center for newly produced Superfortresses.
I also spotted another bombsight vault with an old and a new style vault right next to each other. What a treat to see two bomb sight vaults in two stops across the country!
Now to fix the cylinder. We arrived around 6:15pm local and were met by some very nice people who were most helpful to say the least. They told us that there was a Beech 18 cargo operator on the field and that he was scheduled to come in this evening around 7 or 8. We met Greg and he was glad to help and, most importantly, he had an overhauled cylinder sitting in his hangar which we were welcome to have. He also had a friend on the field with several of the tools needed to change it.
What are the odds that we would pick the only field in the area, possibly one of three or four in the country for that matter, which had a Beech 18 cargo operator who was scheduled to arrive that night? And what are the odds that that operator would have a cylinder at that airport and access to the tools too?
Greg was not only kind enough to give us a cylinder but he helped change it too. What a guy! That's Blane in the Kentucky hat.
I had the remainder of the tools and parts needed sent from my shop via FedEx and we had the jug changed by the next afternoon. It would have been earlier but FedEx didn’t show up until 2pm. We were also taken to an amazing restaurant for BBQ called Four Legs Up, a cow tipping reference I believe. If you are ever in the Great Bend area be sure to go there for lunch but especially for dinner. They have ribbons and trophies all over the place for their award winning BBQ and I wholeheartedly agree with the judges.
On the road again!
We were off to spend the night at Blane’s house in Kentucky and then were off to Tullahoma the next day. There was a good turnout of Staggerwings and T-34’s and maybe 8 Beech 18’s of various types. Julie Clark did her night show in the T-34 as did Matt Younkin in his C-18. I hadn’t seen the Beech 18 night show before and it was really good.
A lot of the attending aircraft flew out to an EAA breakfast on Saturday morning which was fun and the pancakes were good as usual. On the way back we did some formation work with Jim Slocum in his E-18.
It was a great trip to see the WWII airbases and to meet some wonderful people who were very kind and helped to get us back in the air. The coolest thing that happened was on the way back home. I decided to stop by and see my Aunt and several cousins in Kentucky and West Virginia. One of my cousins gave me a box of over 100 letters that my Dad had written to his parents while he was away in the Army Air Force in WWII. Each letter is dated and postmarked from each base or APO address. After my Father died I have kept thinking of questions that I should have asked him about his wartime experiences. I have always regretted not asking him more about where he was and what he did. I knew the basics but not the specifics. After just looking at a few postmarks and dates I see that many of my questions will be answered. It was like sitting down next to my Dad again to listen to his stories. I can’t wait to read all of them but I think I will do it slowly to savor the experience.
What a trip. It was a blast flying across the country. The weather was great. It was even fun changing the jug on the old WWII ramp in Great Bend. The show at Tullahoma was cool as were the wonderful people there. I would have walked across the country on my knees to get my Dad’s letters but I got to fly there instead. Life is good!
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http://www.twinbeech.com/84062restoration.htmWe brought her from:
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Thank you!
Taigh Ramey
Vintage Aircraft, Stockton, California
http://www.twinbeech.com'KEEP ‘EM FLYING…FOR HISTORY!'
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What is also extemely cool, is the fact that you have your Fathers hand written letters to fill in a lot of blanks. What a treasure you have in memories, and a quick adventure. Please keep us up to date in the letters from so long ago. 
