Warbird Information Exchange

Had a super day at New Garden, I believe it was their 38th annual show. A bit of a lesser airshow than last year, as Tom Duffy wasn't able to send any aircraft this year, the resident FM-2 went to Jerry Yagen last month, and "Dr. Smoke" had a deer-strike taking off from Lincoln Park, NJ (hopefully not serious).

Still, the CAF SBD made this worthwhile from any reasonable distance. The passes by the SBD and the Mid-Atlantic's B-25 were superb, and the "L-birds" and trainers did a super job.

Also got to do the long-spoken-about air-to-air with Mark Denest in a PT-26. Shot from an L-5 (thanks John!), a great photo platform for this. Weather was awesome, and air was silk-smooth, surprisingly!

Here's some results, more to follow soon:

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Rich Kolasa
www.crystalgraphix.com

Here's a couple of SBD shots:

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Rich Kolasa
www.crystalgraphix.com

Wow! Awesome shots man!! Are you going to Oshkosh this year.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

Yes, beautiful photography!

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Website: http://www.wademeyersart.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Wade.Meyers.Studios

Isn't that PA countryside lovely? I grew up a few miles from there!

Great photos of great airplanes!!!!

Cheers,

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

Rich-
That's OUTSTANDING photography!

-Pat

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Trust me, I know what I'm doing.

You can't tug at my heartstrings like that! Who's beautiful PT-26? What was the camera platform. These are great shots!

"I gotta get me one of those."

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

You know, that CAF SBD would be pretty ww2 authentic if it was not for that "tramp stamp".

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Long Live the N3N-3 "The Last US Military Bi-Plane" 1940-1959
Badmouthing Stearmans on WIX since 2005

Wow, thanks for the kind words. I try my best (learned A LOT about A2A from my friend Eric Dumigan). The subject aircraft is one of two owned by a resident of a hangar at New Garden, his name is Bob and I forgot his last name...oops. He also has a PT-19:


Mark's friend John flew the Stinson L-5 photo plane (again, my mind is blank on the last name, I'm negligent in this, but since Mark set the whole thing up, I didn't write anything down knowing that I'd get the particulars from him later). They both are superb pilots, Mark really being smooth and moving the plane nicely in response to the hand signals. The view from the L-5 is great, just fold down that left window and it's like sitting in your living room looking at a WIDE field of view:


I'll fill in other details as I get them, but for now, here's some more from the show (and flight):










Rich

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Rich Kolasa
www.crystalgraphix.com

In the initial post he says it was an L-5 (hurrah!). And says "thanks John" - so I suspect he was in a fellow WIXer's L-5.

Ryan

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Aerial Photographer with Red Wing Aerial Photography currently based at KRBD and tailwheel CFI.
Websites: Texas Tailwheel Flight Training, DoolittleRaid.com and Lbirds.com.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31 - Train, Practice, Trust.

DOH!

Sorry, overwhelmed by the PT!

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

You're not going to sue, are you?

Oh, by the way, I'll be at my 32nd straight Oshkosh this year with my uncle and good friend Dennis (his FIRST Oshkosh). If any WIXers want to take advantage of that nice scenery and try to do some A2A, give me a shout. I'll be there Wed afternoon until Sunday afternoon.

Oh the PT-26 owner is Bob Craig! I hope he has room for a nice 20 x 30 of his bird against those clouds!

Rich

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Rich Kolasa
www.crystalgraphix.com

Okay, I admit it, I flew a fellow WIXer on a camera mission. Mark Dinest asked me to do it, and it was questionable at that moment if I could do it. I have been suffering with intermittent intestinal issues since Saturday at Reading. I flew the airplane up and didn't fly in the show (having wanted to do so for numerous years, and not feeling experienced enough in the past). I got vetted by the FAA, but got seized by issues again, so I hid out with the fire rescue people and took them on a tour of airplanes to show them rescue/egress points on the various airframes on the field. Mark asked me at the end of the day if I would fly, and my lovely spouse said I looked bad and shouldn't. But I had been pounding water and gatorade all day and felt better so we went.

I hadn't flown a photo flight before, but was assured it was easy to do, so I loaded Rich into the airplane with instructions to sweat, with which he immediately complied. We did a bit of a bumpy take off with a high density altitude, and flew generally northeast from the field. We did some straight flight, looking for holes of sunshine, then some right 360's. After I had done a few of them, I realized that I probably should have done a big turn around a point, which would have helped Mark to keep formation but I like messing with his head so the lazy 360's were fine. But if I did it again, I'd have done turns around the race track that you can see in the bottom of one of the pictures. He did a couple peel-offs and we headed back. The only other squawks were three other photo airplanes who didn't make an airtight plan like we did before we left and chattered over our excessive chattering on the radio. It was a good time and I'm honored to be called a superb pilot. Rich, maybe it's a good thing you didn't know better...

The Piper NE-1 replica is being taxied in the photo and is owned by the illustrious commander of the 14th Liaison Squadron- it is a beautiful airplane and he is working on a WWII jeep and L-4 right now. The front seater in the PT-19 is Joe Dinest, Mark's father and builder of outstanding quality Ranger engines. The B-25 bank is not camera tricks- they did a real tight knife-edge turn just before the entry point of the pattern and it was awesome- Russ Strine of Mid Atlantic Air Museum flying.

If you haven't gotten out to New Garden, and if they are able to carry off a show next year (the 39th year), you should attend. I have been attending off and on for many years, including doing some illicit pyro (mortar bags and gasoline) for earlier shows. It is a great little country airshow, the people are great, and the airfield is on the flat with a natural hilly amphitheatre around, so very good for photos. Don't miss it!

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REMEMBER THE SERGEANT PILOTS!

Thanks John for the information there! Just so that all the WIX'ers understand, any time you're doing A2A, safety is the foremost concern. Don't get the impression that John was about to keel over but flew anyway, not the case. Mark and I spent a good 45 minutes to an hour with him before flying, briefing, double-checking that he was okay health-wise.

I also was prepared that in the case of an emergency (as in all flights, unless the rear stick has been removed...), I could take over. I have no tail-dragger time, but knew that I could handle the Stinson on the grass of New Garden with no problem.

We briefed thoroughly, with Mark and John picking the altitude (good call), higher than I'd originally planned, but it was clear enough that the banking shots really put Mark "in the clouds" when in fact we were about 2500 feet below them at least. We were 1500 AGL for this flight, and I again can't say how impressed I was with Mark and John's formation work.

I've been in a couple of uncomfortable situations where the photo-plane or subject aircraft did something totally contrary to the briefing, and it's no fun. This had 100% communication from the initial discussion to post-flight conversation. |Matt Chapman was on the ground too to give us his impression... "oh, did you fly, I was talking R/C here by the hangar and never noticed".

Weather was almost perfect, so there were no issues with "rushing" the flight. It was a pleasure meeting John's lovely wife too. We weren't about to let anything happen to him, or the plane.

Oh, Russ does fly that B-25 superbly too! His "circuits" were impressive (he knows that airport like the back of his hand), and he always gives you a slightly different angle on the plane with every pass.

Rich

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Rich Kolasa
www.crystalgraphix.com

Those are very good PT pics Rich.

August