Hey Guys!
Im Glad you spotted me Mustaine. I havent seen you in a while! Good eye!
It was good to see Kool and the gang as well. I didnt make it down to see Boot. That was a big disappointment, but there is always next year.
GunrCAF and I arrived on Saturday before the Convention, Got the new camper settup and weathered the first big storm of the week. We had another on Monday night but everyday of the show had decent weather and I never had to break out the poncho.
The big treat for me this year was my good friend Paul and his G/F Sara made it. I met Paul 6 years ago when they had a big tribute to Amelia Earhardt. Whenever there is a big Amelia thing happening, they send a family member as a representative. That would be Paul. He has camped with us every time since. Amelia was his Grandmothers Sister.
CrashCAF joined us later in the week as well, always good to have a squadie on hand. He brought his good buddy Scott who is going to be racing at Reno this year. We all had a great time around the campfire with those guys.
As some of you know, this was a bad year for losses. A few weeks ago we lost Jimmy Fanklin and Bobby Younkin. Iv gotten to know Jimmys son Kyle over the years. I got a chance to talk to him, but it was kind of ocward as I had to give my condolences. It was such a tuff loss... He did tell me he would be back on the circuit next year with an act, I figure as pilot instead of wingwalker.
We also lost Dick James during the show, He was well known to many of the guys in our camp. He was from nearby and is always at our local show. a Medical prob is suspected in the crash, but his P51 went staight in at about 300kts. It left a crater and wasnt much left of him or it.
Mustaine was there on Satuday and things were winding down. Actually there was alot more Ponys there. I think 5 of them had gone to Dicks Funeral that day (missing man at cemetary?) and several others had already headed for home. Id take a guess at about 20 were there for the Convention.
He also missed out on the TMBs, Regular Corsairs, The other Wildcat, 2 or 3 of the BearCats, The spitfires and half the T28s and SNJs. The Show he saw was much smaller than the friday Warbirds Extravaganza.
One thing I liked, they did have all the single piston powered Cats there, the Wildcat, Hellcat and Bearcat.
Friday had about twice as many planes invovled. Id estimate about 100 warbirds in air at a time. The had some nice bomber formations and bomb drops. The Wall of Fire always is a crowd pleaser
My favorite is always Howard Pardue in one of his warbirds, this year was his Bearcat. He does a neat ACM routine with some music and gives a good feel for what these planes are really like.
The Rutan planes were there and were pretty cool, Space Ship One and Global One. They flew when they arrived and again on Saturday. Off to the Smithsonian for SS1. Id say there was about 7,000 planes total in attendance.
The airshows each day were different and varried and we saw alot of new acts this year. It was really a good show.
As for the Orange Corsair, well its actually a Goodyear Super Corsair owned by Bob Odegard. Its a later version and is powered by the 28 cylinder R4360 rather than the 18 cylinder R2800. Its a regular at the Reno Air Races, but it was the only one still there by the last saturday.
There is so much I could say, but it again was a good Show, I had 9 good days of Aviation.
If you have never been, You owe it to yourself to attend, there is nothing like it in the entire world.
AIRVENTURE
