EAA 1025’s BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION # 21

EAA 1025’s June 2013 Pancake Breakfast and Meeting included a celebration of the Chapter’s twenty-first year. We had a GREAT turnout and a SUPER breakfast. In addition to showing a slideshow of over 700 photos covering the entire history of the Chapter, a video factory tour of Van’s Aircraft was shown and enjoyed by all.

We would like to thank Airport Manager Vincent Passariello for attending and providing an update on airport happenings. We would also like to extend a warm welcome to John Pomberg, a recent transplant to our area from the frigid North. Welcome, John!

Below is a recap of the event in pictures. All pictures provided by Mark Mumford (Thanks Mark!):

Standing Room Only!

Charter Member Steve Newcomer (left) and Airport Manager Vincent Passariello

Several COOL aircraft flew in!

An appearance by the Beauty and the Beast

July 4th Celebration

The Chapter’s July 4th Celebration was held in surprisingly cool weather on Wednesday. We had a great turnout, and everyone had a good time. Plenty of food including awesome bar-b-q. Thanks to all who attended and to all of the Chapter members and friends who worked hard to make this event a success.

Several aircraft were flown in for the Celebration, including Carroll Kent’s beautiful Stearman

BEST OF SHOW !

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 ! 🙂

Great Turnout for May Meeting

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.

IT FLIES !!!

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

Oscar Moffitt

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

Remembrances of Keith and Christopher

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/

And Life Goes On….

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”.

Passages

I miss it. During its 10-year residency at 9A1, I can’t tell you how many times I crossed the tarmac to say hello, to touch it, or to tell it how I would like to see it flying. I walked over to its’ old spot yesterday, thinking how elated I am that it is flying again, and what an incredible feat Clive Edwards and his crew accomplished in just 6.5 weeks. Delighted that it is in the air again. But – yep, I miss it.

The photo on the left was taken May29, 2010. The center photo was taken July 27, 2010 at 9A1. The right photo was taken by Jeff Reuschle at Oshkosh on July 29th, 2010. Wow.

Flight records are starting to show up on FlightAware.com. For those who would like to track this beautiful old gal while in the US, go to FlightAware.com and key in her tail number (N74589).

And the beat goes on….

Attendance was a little light at our May Pancake Breakfast, but it was an enjoyable morning. We had several visitors and visiting aircraft.

Kip Laurie dropped in with his Kolb FireStar. Kip completed the aircraft in 2000 and has been flying it for ten years. He is also building a Sonerai, but says he’s keeping the FireStar. Additional photos in Kip’s Gallery.

Patrick Horvath flew his beautiful Citabria. Patrick is a former Navy and current professional pilot and will be the subject of our next Member Profile. Additional photos in Patrick’s Gallery.

No doubt, Billy Waters has spent more time helping our other builders than building his own plane. Here, Billy installs his prop in preparation for his soon-to-be first flight. More photos in Billy’s Gallery.

The next project to take flight may well be Dick Seiders’ RV-12. Dick reports that the wings will be mounted this week, and canopy work is under way. More photos in Dick’s Gallery.

Our Chapter has FOUR projects that are within weeks of flying — Dick Seider’s RV12, Bill Bailey’s RV-7A, Billy Water’s RV-4, and Chris Metzger’s Metzger Special. Stay tuned for first-flight announcements and photos!

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