With drenching rains and mild temperatures, we had an excellent turnout for our first 2012 Breafast and Meeting. Word must be getting out that our $5 breakfast now includes pancakes, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, coffee and orange juice.

To prime the pump for Oshkosh 2012, we will be showing a video on the subject at our February Breakfast and Meeting.

Let’s have another great turnout!

Despite the warm temperatures, we had a GREAT turnout for the August Meeting last Saturday – so good in fact that we ran out of plates and had to make a mad dash for supplies!

Thanks to Lance Flynn, Jeff Reuschle and others for relaying their experiences at Oshkosh this year. Sounds like they had a great time.

We would also like to welcome new members Hansel Brand and John Scroggs. Hansel is a CFI and A&P. John just purchased a very nice Cessna 152  and is returning to flying after a long haitus. Be sure to welcome John and Hansel when you see them.

On October 16th, 2010 we lost Keith and Christopher Newcomer in a tragic crash at the Monticello airport. On october 15th of this year, we will be holding the Keith and Christopher Memorial Fly-In at the airport in memory of these two wonderful people. More details will follow.

Again, thanks to all who made this month’s meeting extra-enjoyable!

Thanks to Paul Martin for passing this along….

Cinderella DC-3 from 2010 returns

By JAMES WYNBRANDT

Detail of the D-day markings on the C-47, restored by Clive Edwards of Edwards Brothers Aviation in Welling Kent, England. Photo by Tyson V. Rininger Last year AirVenture attendees were captivated with the Cinderella story of a derelict DC-3 that was restored to airworthy condition in time to attend the 2010 commemoration of the type’s 75th anniversary. But with little attention paid to the aircraft’s cosmetics during the restoration, N74589 hardly looked like the belle of the ball. “The original plan was to get an old, ratty plane and show we could get it to Oshkosh,” said Eric Zipkin of Oxford, Connecticut, who currently pilots the DC-3. Owner James Lyle, an Englishman living in New York City, planned to offer the aircraft for sale after the fly in. But DC-3s, as their 76 years of history attests, have a way of sticking around, and the same holds true for N74589—which, as the restorers’ research found, is a true warbird. “During World War II it did fly on D-Day with the 74th TCS Squadron, which towed gliders,” Zipkin said. [Author’s note: My father, Ralph Wynbrandt, was towed into D-Day on glider as a member of the 101st Screaming Eagles. His glider crashed shortly after takeoff; the soldiers were loaded aboard another glider and successfully towed across the English Channel. I wish he were around to see this airplane!] “The airplane turned out to be in such good condition, and when we found out it had a genuine war history, James decided to keep it and paint it as close as possible to the markings it had on D-Day,” Zipkin said. So this year the Cinderella DC-3/C-47 (C-47 is a military designation for the DC-3) is back, dressed in all her historic olive drab finery. Lyle plans to restore the interior to an authentic wartime configuration, with benches along either side of the fuselage and navigator and radio operator’s station in the front. “The challenge is going to be to find the little bits and pieces” for the interior, Zipkin said. From basket case to airworthy Future plans notwithstanding, the story of her improbable attendance last year bears recounting. Two months before AirVenture 2010, N74589 was sitting in a field at the Covington Municipal Airport (9A1) in Georgia, vegetation growing through holes in the engineless airframe. “It had been there as long as I’d been there,” said Richard Helton, a flight instructor in Covington who helped with the restoration. “I knew it would be soft drink cans eventually. Somebody would have cut it up for scrap.” Instead, Clive Edwards of London, proprietor of Edwards Brothers Aviation in Welling Kent, United Kingdom, decided to rescue the aircraft. In April 2010, he and fellow Londoner John Dodd, a pilot for British Midland International Airlines, traveled to Covington to perform a pre-purchase inspection. But by the time the sale was completed, AirVenture was less than eight weeks away. With no logbooks, “We had to comply with every service bulletin, and every AD (Airworthiness Directive),” Edwards recalled. “We had the wings off, the fuel tanks out, we replaced all the hoses…we completely rebuilt it.” Helton joined the restoration effort after seeing the activity around the DC-3. “The second week, I just kept standing in front of Clive until he gave me something to do,” Helton said. “So he gave me the dirtiest jobs.” One step forward, one engine back… On the first test flight, seven weeks after restoration began, an engine suffered a catastrophic failure. “We were all disillusioned,” Edwards said, “and then we thought, ‘If we get another engine, we can still get to Oshkosh.’” Lyle okayed the purchase, and four hours after the failure a new zero-time engine was on the ramp, the crew working furiously to repair the oil lines and other plumbing trashed in the engine failure. Forty hours later, after one quick test flight, the crew took off for Oshkosh and their well-deserved heroes’ welcome. This year’s journey to AirVenture may have involved less drama, but for Zipkin, who piloted the C-47 and has been coming to the fly-in since the 1980s, the arrival was still an emotional highpoint. “This is the first time I’ve actually flown into Oshkosh proper,” said Zipkin. “It’s really exciting. With everybody watching, you just hope you make a reasonable landing.” For those who want to learn more, Richard Helton will be at the aircraft, located in the Warbirds area, to show attendees the airplane and explain the restoration. His thoughts about having the aircraft he first knew as an abandoned hulk back at Oshkosh in her wartime livery? “This brings us full circle,” Helton said.

Yeah, we’re a small EAA Chapter, but the proof keeps rolling in that we KNOW how to build and maintain airplanes. Yesterday at the Cracker Fly-In in Gainesville, our own SAM WOOTEN came away with BEST OF SHOW honors for his beautiful 1946 Ercoupe model 415-C. Sam and the Ercoupe have won many awards, but a BEST OF SHOW award is always extra-special.    CONGRATULATIONS, SAM!

(Note : You’re correct, that’s NOT Sam’s Ercoupe in the background !  :)

by Lee Depkin

On Monday I was privileged to talk to Major Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk at his home in Stone Mountain.  Now 90, he was the navigator and is now the only surviving member of the 12-man crew that flew the B-29 Enola Gay on its mission over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.  He had flown 58 missions in the European Theater before being picked by then Col. Paul Tibbets for the top-secret atomic bomb flight, his 59th and final mission.  His recollection of events during World War II remains keen and he is in demand as a speaker at historical and veteran events.  He is also nearing completion of a new book about his experiences during WWII.  More information on him can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Van_Kirk

May we always remember and honor those who gave so much for our country.

Lee

The beautiful weather was surely responsible in part for the excellent turnout for our May 2011 Pancake Breakfast and Meeting.  Thanks to all who drove and flew in for the event.  A special thanks to Brad Williams for providing a Young Eagle Husky ride to an excited youngster.

Bringing a close to an eight-year build, Bill Bailey’s beautiful  RV-7A took to the skies today, piloted by one of the best RV test pilots around — the venerable Billy Waters.  Billy cleared the runway  at 3:35PM and put the new Bailey RV-7a through its paces for about an hour, remaining in the general area of 9A1. According to Billy, the aircraft flew very well with no problems.   Congratulations to Bill on a great build!

Bill and Billy confer just prior to the flight

Pilot Billy Waters breaks ground after a short ground roll

N948WD in a beautiful January sky

On Friday, January 14, long-time Chapter member Oscar Moffitt passed away suddenly. Please keep Oscar’s wife JoAnn and his family in your thoughts and prayers during  this painful time.

Oscar was our engineer and fabricating genius. Give him a box of toothpicks and some resin and he could build a spaceship.  We’re going to miss him terribly.

Oscar’s EAA 1025 family

All who had the priviledge of knowing Keith and Christopher knew that they were both very special people. We may not have known the extent to which they touched lives all over this country. Below are some of the links to remembrances and articles about Keith and Christopher, most of which include hundreds of comments entered by the public. The first link is to a wonderful article written by Robin Newcomer, Keith and Steve’s beloved sister.

Article written by Robin Newcomer       (large article, downloads slowly)

http://www.northcoastjournal.com/blogthing/2010/10/19/arcata-exchange-co-owner-young-son-die-plane-crash/

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=63899

http://surfriderhumboldt.wordpress.com/2010/10/24/keith-newcomber/

http://www.rockdalecitizen.com/newtonnews/headlines/Pilot_and_son_memorial_set_for_Saturday_105499123.html

http://www.covnews.com/section/13/article/15105/

http://www.covnews.com/section/13/article/15099/

The Newcomer Family would like to extend their sincere thanks to all who were a part of Keith and Christopher’s Memorial Service this past Saturday.

A crowd estimated to be 225+ came to pay their respects to two wonderful people. Len Strozier led a service to be remembered by all who attended. Numerous friends and family related some fond memories of Keith and Christopher.

As Steve Newcomer, Keith’s brother stated’ “Keith Lee Newcomer and Christopher Lee Newcomer are flying side by side forever”.