Friday, October 18, 2013

Are Your Charts Up To Date?


Instrument Approach Chart for Charlotte, North Carolina from 1943, compliments of Joe Baker.


Instructions for using the approach chart, compliments of United Air Lines Captain Duncan "EG" Flett.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)


Morris Field, Charlotte, North Carolina (looking southwest) compliments of the Carolinas Aviation Museum.


If the weather cooperated, maybe the captain gave you the landing!  If you were ahead of schedule, maybe there was time for coffee with the pretty gal working the lunch counter. . .

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

When I Grow Up. . .

Octogenarian Neil Deye in his '56 Piper Apache

I want to be like Neil Deye.

Photo by Eddie Price

I want to hop in my vintage Piper Apache on Saturday mornings and visit my neighbors, because I know that tree top fly-bys always make them smile.

Photo by Eddie Price

And they know that pictures of tree top fly-bys always make me smile!

Photo by Eddie Price

All of that smiling will entice me to grab my other vintage airplane and do it again!

Photo by Eddie Price

And again. . .

Photo by Don Schmotzer

. . . and again!

Neil Deye & Eddie Price

Because smiling is contagious, especially when you have great neighbors! 

You can never have too many pictures.  As my good friend Eddie Price likes to say:  "You don't know how you look, till you get your picture took!"

Sunday, October 13, 2013

PBA Customs & Immigration


NOTAM PB1013 - 1

ALL TRANSIT FLIGHT CREWS ARE REQUESTED TO HAVE CUSTOMS AND IMMIGRATION DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE FOR INSPECTION UPON ARRIVAL AT POND BRANCH AIRFIELD. 

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

What I missed at the 2013 Fall Vintage Fly-In

 
The Carolinas - Virginia Antique Airplane Foundation's Fall Vintage Fly-In was held this past weekend at Woodward Field in Camden, South Carolina.  Sadly, the crews from Jellystone Air Park were mostly absent.  Brother Baker managed to squeeze in a few hours---between the ground fog and Benny Zimmer's wedding---on Friday.  Brother Barbeau and I missed the fly-in completely, victims of having promised the ladies a weekend in the North Carolina mountains.  Thankfully, our good friend Eddie Price, the Chief Pilot at Pond Branch Airfield, was able to attend on Saturday.  Eddie always has a camera close at hand.  Here are a few photos from this year's Fall Vintage Fly-In, complements of the head honcho at Pond Branch Aviation Images.

THE EXOTIC:


1929 De Havilland DH-60GM Gipsy Moth, built under license by the Moth Aircraft Corporation of Lowell, Massachusetts.


I agree with Brother Baker, "Yeah, that thing was gorgeous!"


Perhaps a centerfold in a future issue of Vintage Aircraft Magazine. . .


Moth Aircraft Corporation was acquired by the Curtiss-Wright Company in 1930.

A PAIR OF KINNERS:


A nice looking Ryan ST3KR. . .


. . . and a 1939 Fleet 16B.

A PAIR OF TRAINERS:


A 1942 Boeing PT-17 Stearman. . .


. . . and a 1942 Beechcraft AT-11.

A PAIR OF HOT RODS:


A 1945 North American P-51D Mustang, and a 1947 Luscombe 8E.

A PAIR OF TAILDRAGGERS:


A 1953 Cessna 180, and a Cub.  Nice lines.

PARTING SHOTS:


Woodward Field, Camden, South Carolina.


Looks like Eight Four Charlie has met it's match!


Eddie Price, Head Honcho, Pond Branch Aviation Images.

THE VIEW FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FLY-IN:


To the ladies, Gary said:  "Check out this view!"  To me, he said:  "There's a mountain in the way!  How can we see the Fly-In when there's a mountain in the way?"


The 2013 Carolinas - Virginia Antique Airplane Foundation Fall Vintage Fly-In from our vantage point in Roaring Gap, North Carolina.


Vintage Fly-In sunset. . .

SCENES FROM SATURDAY'S DRIVE OUT:


Pepsi Cola mural, two blocks off Main Street in downtown Elkin, North Carolina.  When I stopped to take this picture, Gary casually said:  "I wonder what they're drinking down in Camden this afternoon?"  (The girls were out of range.)


The eighty-two-year-old Italian gal tending bar at the chocolate shop in downtown Elkin. . .


Gary, Yvonne, and Nancy in the shade of the chocolate shop.  Nancy's body language says:  I don't want chocolate; I want a 1929 Great Lakes Biplane!  I love my wife!