Bought a Fairchild 24

[Dave Hadfield]

They were also giving rides in these all day long -- very popular.





Anyway, it was a good time. Glad I went. Tough getting back, though. We were listed Standby on Bearskin Airways, and they were using a Metroliner. It only has 19 seats, of course. And it was milk run, making 2 other stops on the way back to Thunder Bay. The load was tight. They showed full out of Sioux Lookout, so I elected to drive back (7 hours) with Austin. Robin tried the airline, and made it, getting the last seat.

If I'd gone with her I'd have bumped her in Sioux Lookout! (Not much domestic harmony after that, for a while...)

But we all made it OK and got on the Dash 8 from Thunder Bay, and arrived in Toronto eventually. Then next day I flew to Beijing, came home, and today I need to finish this coffee and go work on the RV-6a.

Dave

[Myles]

Dave,
Did you get a ride in the white one with orange trim?

Jim

[The Inspector]

WOW, someone still using lawn darts?

[Dave Hadfield]

The white one with the orange trim?

Nah, I asked, and they said you had to be under 6 years old.



... darn...

Dave

[JDK]

Nah, I asked, and they said you had to be under 6 years old.

... darn...

Dave

Hey you could've told them you fly W.W.II fighters, so can demonstrate a 4 & 1/2 year old attitude on weekends!*








*(There goes my Fairchild ride - but it wuz worth it.)

[Dave Hadfield]

Lots of flying lately, but not too much that's Vintage.

Robin's new-to-us RV6A was running too hot. The CHTs were up around 450F in flight, and the oil was 240F. I had a good look inside but didn't see too much wrong. ...hmmmm... A look on the Vans Air Force site showed a lot of discussion of this, and pointed out a possible solution -- increase the size of the cowl outflow opening. Sure enough, on ours, the leg that holds the cowl opening underneath open was quite flimsy. I thought it might be collapsing a bit under load as we flew at 150 mph. So I re-built it entirely, with a new strut and plate. I actually moved it down about 1/2", to act slightly as a cowl flap, and took my dremel tool and cut about 3/8" off the opening completely.

Additionally, I used the dremel tool on the back wall of the baffle to increase opening into the oil cooler, and replaced some crumpled baffling. Result: about a 50F reduction in CHTs, and 25-30F reduction in oil temps. Success!

You can tell by the smile!



And we've been transition training, including briefings -- I've had to dust off some old files to remember this stuff.



But we now have a serviceable airplane -- no wait, we have 2! (or, they have us...)

[Dave Hadfield]

Helped out one Saturday morning with the Edenvale Tiger Moth. Man, they sure got that engine running right. Sounds beautiful, with that lovely authoritative Gipsy "bark", and leaks almost nothing (weird, for a Gipsy...).

Here is Robin holding the tail down for the run-up (it has no brakes, of course).



My friend Bob on short final.



Then I was asked to bring the Fairchild to Gatineau to support a corporate event. So, being it a somewhat lonely airplane of late, I did.

Keeps good company!

[Dave Hadfield]

And while there I flew the P-40 a number of times, taking sponors for flights. These were good practice, formations with the Corsair (no photos yet). Then another great form trip as a ferry-flight to Smith's Falls.

A bit tricky to land the P-40 on a 75ft paved runway. In my normal head position, at that width, I can't see any pavement at all when the tail comes down -- and if I do, I'm drifting!. So I "altered the parameters of the test" -- I cut a 4" hard-foam pad and stuck that under my parachute. That's a very practical "cheat". I had to scrunch a bit in cruise, but I was much happier in the roll-out.

Happy people in fighters!





More formation pictures later as they come in from my back-seaters.

Dave

[Dave Hadfield]

Huge success at Gatineau. Our End-Of-Season airshow, "Wings Over Gatineau-Ottawa", blew the doors off everything we've done before. For crowd size (30,000+), airplane line-up, and professional smoothness of operation, it was top-notch.

I flew there on Wed, and immediately got thrown into the work-up. One of our stalwarts, Rob E, was very ill, and John A was in Europe on a long-planned vacation, and thus I had to come up to speed on the Hurricane for the formation work. Plus dust-off my aerobatic routine on the P-40.

I didn't fly the Fairchild because the RV6 is a lot easier to sneak into the hangar -- and that worked well during some rain and thunder showers.

Dawn shots Friday, from the cockpit of the Hurricane, where I was sitting while studying the checklist...

[Dave Hadfield]

A few photos coming in. There's actually a Spitfire in this formation, just out of frame in the slot.



Richard A took this one, and I think it says wonderful things about airshows...



This involved a very quick-change from finger-left to echelon left, as we rolled into the break.



Both formation photos by AttilaP

[Dave Hadfield]

The "Gathering of the Classics" at Edenvale went pretty well, considering the crappy forecast. (Those who generate the public forecasts around here are terribly pessimistic these days. It's like they're scared of being sued.) The fighters were cancelled, but a good crowd showed up. A few interesting flyers arrived, such as this gorgeous Stinson Gullwing. owned by Ross A, a friend from work.



Here it is on departure with a beautiful Pacer, owned by Paul G, another co-worker I've flown with many times.



And we were there with C-FEKC of course (Robin runs the event). Here she is just before I put her back in the barn at the end of the day...



For those who run fly-ins, and are trying to generate funds with them to keep a Club going, having a Wings and Wheels event works very well. The car-clubs tend to show up even when there are showers in the forecast that keep the airplanes away, and they bring a crowd. In fact they bring in drive-bys, because while many people have had no exposure to airplanes, and wouldn't think of going to a fly-in, they nearly always are intrigued when they see a '58 Corvette. So they drive in, are pleasantly surprised by the airplanes, and find that they have a good time.

Having car-clubs attend as a Wings and Wheels event, actually works as a kind of weather insurance.

Dave

[Dave Hadfield]

A lot of wonderful photos from the VWoC airshow -- Gus Corujo's site. He and Cora have been at every show this year, in this neck of the woods.

Here are some formation shots.



It's always interesting flying on the wing of a large airplane, particularly as #2, trying to figure out the angles and presentation to the crowd. As for me, I usually give up and, in this case, just follow the guy with the big red spinner. (I'm in the Hurricane.) (On the other wing is the Corsair and Spitfire.)



On Day 2, for the Battle of Britain flypast at nearby Rockcliffe, the Lancaster scrubbed due to a faulty starter, so we had to join as a 4-plane, and substitute. (Once again I'm in the Hurricane, filling-in for Rob E, who was quite ill.)

[Dave Hadfield]

I love this shot. The cardboard cut-out figure in front of the F-18 is of my brother Chris, who launches on a Soyuz on Dec 19.



Taxying out as a 2-ship, me in the P-40 and Joe C in the Hurri. We each did separate displays during the airshow, on both days.



"...man-oh-man, I wish I had this aerobatic sequence memorized..."

[Dave Hadfield]

Dave

[K225]

Sorry to hear about Rob hope he's OK. First year I missed it, been busy sailing instead. Reenacting the war of 1812, this was my ride.