I figured I'd turn this into a bit of a story thread since to me, it was a pretty storied day.
It started about 7:30am when I left my Apartment after starting the date debating the economy with Bill.
I'd planned on just going to Lancaster for the day to take some pictures of the
B-32 Ball Turret (shameless plug). I got there about 8:45-8:50 where I saw that they were loading up the R4D and L-5 and getting ready to leave. I knew the Waxahachie fly-over was supposed to be just before noon, so I was a bit perplexed why they were leaving so early. All was revealed when I saw Marty Case closing up the hangar. They were flying to Midlothian/Waxahachie Regional (KJWY) for briefing with the others participating in the flyover. What made my day however was that Marty invited me to come along with him in his T-6! (First T-6 flight, First Formation Flight, First Flyover, etc)
So, I put on my flightsuit (always be prepared!
), strapped in (first time wearing a Chute in years), and Marty fired up since the cold morning would require an extensive warming period for the oil
Meanwhile, Charlie Wood mounted up in the L-5
The R4D got set and started
And Charlie started
We then taxied to the end of runway 31 at Lancaster and did our runups
And took off for Midway
We cruised over at 120 knots
And made sure we looked outside for traffic (which we found a few on this beautiful day)
After only ten minutes in the air, Midway was in sight
We landed and were followed shortly by the R4D
The L-5 landed a bit afterward (he was only doing 80 knots) and I didn't get a picture of him.
When we got there, I found out our formation this year would be
MUCH larger than last year's flyover.
Present were:
B-25 "Pacific Prowler"
The 3 T-28 Trojans of
"Trojan Phlyers"
Carl Best in his T-6G
Robert Penley in his FW-149 (N5316W)
Marty Case (with me in the back) in his SNJ-5
The CAF's R4D-6S "Ready4Duty"
Airborne Imaging's "Silver" DC-3 (N92578) &
John Terry's "Southern Cross"
Once briefed, we took off and formed up. Marty was in the #2 position, so I got good shots of Carl (Lead),
Steve Dean "Screaming Eagle" T-6G in the #3 position (didn't get a clean shot of him on the ground), and Robert in the #4 position. Steve had a rider in the back seat as well and he did the "Missing Man" for the flyover as his plane is the only one with Show Smoke.
The flyover was over the Ellis County Veterans Memorial -
http://www.jacklummus.com/Files/Files_D ... morial.htm
We also made several flyovers of Waxahachie itself where they were holding Veteran's Day weekend events
When we got back, Chris Avery took off in the Corsair for DeRidder, LA for an event there tomorrow. I got pictures of that, but haven't uploaded them yet.
Tomorrow: Cavanaugh and the Collings UH-1E.
PS - "Ol' 927" was supposed to be part of the flight today but was forced to bow out. Next year!
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