CAF Airsho' Midland Tx

[Alan Brooks]

Hello All! Just wanted to get a thread going about Airsho! An update about arrivals and aircraft that went unserviceable....... including "Ol' 927". She is in Addison.... the initial report is that it appears the shimmy damper has failed.... I'll leave all the correct details to Dave Miller and the maintence guys to fill out. The B-25 "Show Me" did not make the trip as they had to pull a carb and send it back to the shop.... The Missouri Wing TBM is not quite ready..... I was really hoping the Mk XIV Spitfire from the SoCal Wing was going to be ready by Airsho', but it still has a few weeks yet.... so close...... On the plus side, the P-39, P-40 have arrived, plus the Grand Junction TBM... the Helldiver arrived late this evening... Gunfighter and Redtails have been here for several days..... The B-25 Yellow Rose arrived with the P-39, and the SoCal guys arrived not three minutes later with the Bearcat, Hellcat, Wildcat! The Zero should arrive tomorrow (Friday). The Arizona Wing B-17 "Sentimental Journey" and the B-25" Maid in the Shade" also arrived this afternoon! This is the B-25's first official airshow outing after her restoration...... Doug Matthew's -4 Corsair is here and I believe he arrived this afternoon in his T-33.... Awaiting for more arrivals for tomorrow, but the weather has been garbage all around us..... Rick Shape is due with three of his birds, Eric Downing in his big Skyraider, and quite a few other birds, including a surprise P-51D Mustang visitor. Doug Jeanes is coming from Addison tomorrow.... not sure, but I think the Caribou is coming, not sure about the Mohawk... Sorry that this is not the most informative post...... and will not be able to post pics tonight....... Alan

[MX304]

Hello All! Just wanted to get a thread going about Airsho! An update about arrivals and aircraft that went unserviceable....... including "Ol' 927". She is in Addison.... the initial report is that it appears the shimmy damper has failed.... I'll leave all the correct details to Dave Miller and the maintence guys to fill out. The B-25 "Show Me" did not make the trip as they had to pull a carb and send it back to the shop.... The Missouri Wing TBM is not quite ready..... I was really hoping the Mk XIV Spitfire from the SoCal Wing was going to be ready by Airsho', but it still has a few weeks yet.... so close...... On the plus side, the P-39, P-40 have arrived, plus the Grand Junction TBM... the Helldiver arrived late this evening... Gunfighter and Redtails have been here for several days..... The B-25 Yellow Rose arrived with the P-39, and the SoCal guys arrived not three minutes later with the Bearcat, Hellcat, Wildcat! The Zero should arrive tomorrow (Friday). The Arizona Wing B-17 "Sentimental Journey" and the B-25" Maid in the Shade" also arrived this afternoon! This is the B-25's first official airshow outing after her restoration...... Doug Matthew's -4 Corsair is here and I believe he arrived this afternoon in his T-33.... Awaiting for more arrivals for tomorrow, but the weather has been garbage all around us..... Rick Shape is due with three of his birds, Eric Downing in his big Skyraider, and quite a few other birds, including a surprise P-51D Mustang visitor. Doug Jeanes is coming from Addison tomorrow.... not sure, but I think the Caribou is coming, not sure about the Mohawk... Sorry that this is not the most informative post...... and will not be able to post pics tonight....... Alan

Any notable arrivals today? I drove by this morning and it was still looking very thin.

[Rogue]

.... not sure, but I think the Caribou is coming, not sure about the Mohawk.
Alan

Caribou went over Propwash a couple hours ago......Solo.

[Lynn Allen]

And the surprise P-51D Mustang is:

................................

Last edited by Lynn Allen on Sat Oct 10, 2009 9:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

[RickH]

Rick, Al, and the rest of the crew were all watching the rain and the radar when I saw them this afternoon.

[FG1D Pilot]

I'm sitting here with the Mohawk waiting on the weather. Midland's IFR. That happens once or twice a year ( if you don't count the dust storms).

[Lynn Allen]

KMAF 101953Z 07008KT 10SM CLR 20/09 A3005
RMK AO2 SLP150 T02000094

Hope you made it ok......

[Holedigger]

Bummer! Hope it clears a bit!

[Randy Wilson]

We had to scrub the Trainer/L/O segment planned to fly at 1030 this morning due to very very low ceilings and vis but against all forecasts we had, the clouds began to break up shortly after the briefing for the main show finished and we started the show about on time at 1135 with the ACAHOF parade, new Colonels swearing in and opening remarks, followed by the national anthem and F-16 fly-by at noon. The rest of the show followed and did end a bit early, as some planes could not make it in for today's show due to the weather. I'll leave it for others who are not quite so tired from the last few days getting things ready to report further details. I'll be back on the announcer's stand doing my job as assistant/mini-boss again tomorrow.

Hopefully the weather gods will do their thing again tomorrow, perhaps 2-3 hours earlier so we can get the Trainers, Ls & Os up or perhaps rebrief to have them in the main section of the show. We'll just have to see what the AirBoss decides. I know I'll be out there again at 7am to set up for the trainer 8am briefing and whatever follows. Ya'll fly safe!

Randy

[smclinton]

Hello all. I have a few of the photos from todays Airsho on our local EAA Chapter website. We judged the aircraft in attendance and will announce the results at pilot briefing in the morning. I will post the results tomorrow if anyone is interested.
http://www.eaa123.org/EAA123/Airsho_2009/Pages/Airsho.html

[Holedigger]

You can always check and see if the Red Sparrows are available, low cloud cover is not a problem with their act!

[Brad]

Sorry I'm not a professional photographer but here is a few from Midland. I'm fortunate that nearly everybody taxis past the ramp of my C-17 so I can just sit there and take pictures as they go by. I had what I thought was some really beautiful pictures of the bombers and fighters flying past the open ramp at the end of their passes but every one of them turned out nasty looking. From what the fire department told me, we got the plane stopped in about 1200ft at the end of our demonstration today. If anybody gets any shots of the C-17, I'd love to see them. Especially if they involve me sitting on the ramp when we taxi out or of the demo. I need some more pictures for the "I love me" collection.

My wife, parents, kids I grew up with and some family friends came out to see the show today. It may sound cheesy to other folks but after 30+ years of my parents taking us all over the country to see airshows, it was really a treat for me to have them see me fly in "the big" CAF airshow. When we landed, my Dad mentioned that it didn't seem like that long ago that I was sitting on his shoulders down in Harlingen so I could see over the crowd and now other little kids were sitting on their parents shoulders watching me.

I was hoping Eric would be able to make it with the Skyraider, I was looking forward to meeting him.

If the weather gods cooperate tomorrow, it should turn out to be a great airshow.

Last edited by Brad on Sat Oct 10, 2009 9:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[MX304]

Brad,
What was that terrible clanking noise coming from your C-17 after the show? It sounded like someone pitched a beer can up in one engine and it was hitting the blades as they spun in the wind.

[Brad]

Brad,
What was that terrible clanking noise coming from your C-17 after the show? It sounded like someone pitched a beer can up in one engine and it was hitting the blades as they spun in the wind.

I'm sure there is a technical term for it but I'm not sure what it is. The blades have a little bit of play where they attach at the hub. When the wind hits them just right they spin around and rattle like crazy. You can hear it occasionally on startup. When it happens on C-5s it sounds like they are about to fall apart. Which is often the case with C-5s.

[b29flteng]

Brad,
What was that terrible clanking noise coming from your C-17 after the show? It sounded like someone pitched a beer can up in one engine and it was hitting the blades as they spun in the wind.

I'm sure there is a technical term for it but I'm not sure what it is. The blades have a little bit of play where they attach at the hub. When the wind hits them just right they spin around and rattle like crazy. You can hear it occasionally on startup. When it happens on C-5s it sounds like they are about to fall apart. Which is often the case with C-5s.

The fan blades have what is called a mid-span shroud that clamk together when spun at low speeds.