Warbird Fly

The last Propbuster event in October was our Warbird Fly set for Sunday, October 24th. This has been one of the best fall flying seasons in recent memory. The sunny and warm Sunday we had for the Warbirds was no exception. The forecast had not led us to believe it would be this nice. And, indeed, it was cold and rainy as the sun came up in Rapid City.

Even though there was rain and fog in town, lots of flyers showed up at the field and were rewarded not only with Warbird Fly director, Jim Kammert’s donuts, but sunny skies and warm temparatures. And believe it or not, the weather improved as the morning passed.

Jim Kammert brought along his Hanger 9 P-47 but it spent most of the day belly up on a flight table. His radio would not seem to range check properly even after trying suggestions from many of those assembled.

Doc McGuigan brought along his time-tested Mustang and put on several great-looking flights.

Tom Pekarna and Jim Grimes made the long drive from Custer to join us. Tom displaying his twin .15 powered P-38. He did not put a flight in on the warbird, but did manage a few flights with his electrics until a bad battery connection forced a nasty ground strike with his red Great Planes Sportster.

Jim Grimes spent most of the morning trying to bind his new electric trainer to his radio with no success. It looked like the thing had a faulty receiver or ESC. Like Jim Kammert’s morning Jim Grimes morning was spent in futile tinkering.

Clancy Kingsbury brought along ‘The Duck’. Not knowing the story, I was told to watch it taxi and it does indeed have a very duck-like waddle from gear to gear. Clancy had several non-duck like take offs and landings and enjoyed the day with this veteran AT-6.

Zac Roller flew several planes, but his warbird contribution was his little F4F electric. That little hot rod really performs. Zac’ cousin Dan Roller was visiting from North Dakota and joined in our fun

I put a couple of flights on my Black Horse T-28, but could not seem to make a landing without the nose wheel touching before the mains.

Ken Gatze, Bob Olson, Darrell Cassidy, Neil Lutke and Ken Corrin also joined in the flying fun with non-warbird types.

The flying went on well past noon on this grand autumn day. There was no shortage of planes, pilots and fuel.

How long can this autumn flying weather hold out? Let’s say we paid our dues last winter and now our flying Karma is now repaying itself. Better get out there while you can, this can’t last forever.