These photos by Gilles Auilard of Antique Airfield show that the field was nearly full on Saturday.

Harman Dickerson, Chairman of the AAA/APM Fly Mart at the Blakesburg Fly-in, would like to thank all of the volunteers that make the Fly Mart run.

p.s. Your editor would like to thank them too!

Gilles Auilard captured the VAFM Fokkers Dr.1 and DVII in flight at Blakesburg.

Recently Texas Chapter member Howard Hollinger started a project to replace the leading and trailing edges on the wings on his Luscombe, as well as painting the wings. The badly cracked windshield was also replaced. The repairs and painting were done by Joe Sills at Kitty Hill Airport northwest of Austin. Howard had hoped to finish before the Fly-In at Blakesburg, but a couple of late problems showed up after the first test hop. Just as well, as the weather turned ugly between Texas and Iowa and flying wasn’t advisable. He did have a big smile when the bulk of the project was completed. Article by Dick Ramsey.

Sunday morning a memorial service is held at the Gone West Memorial at Antique Airfield. This year Carolyn Applegate coordinated a moving service, and attendees were invited to say a few words in remembrance of friends and loved ones who had gone west in the past year. The local VFW posts provided an honor guard and the Stearman contingent flew over in a missing man formation.

Photo by Gilles Auilard

On the way home from Blakesburg, your editor detoured a bit and stopped over in Marshall, Missouri at the Nicholas-Beazley museum at the municipal airport. If you're not familiar with Nicholas-Beazley, they started out in the surplus OX-5 parts business in the 1920s and rapidly became what in today's terms is Aircraft Spruce + Sporty's Pilot Shop combined together, selling through mail order catalogs. NB at its height would sell you anything from OX-5 parts to pilot's googles to dope and fabric to steel tubing, and they also branched out into aircraft construction and a large flight school.

The museum documents the history of NB through stories told by local residents, artifacts, and several aircraft. The facility is only a few years old and run by community volunteers. In addition to NB artifacts they've assembled a collection of aircraft including an NB-3, NB-8, a Taylorcraft WWII glider trainer (restored to glider configuration), and a locally significant Flying Flea.

The museum is working on a website, but they're open weekends and are a few hundred feet from the Marshall airport terminal. Worth the visit if you're in the area.

Photo by Don Parsons

Photos by Brent Taylor

Saturday was a stunningly good day for flying at Blakesburg: smooth air, 70 degree temperatures, light breeze, and unlimited visibility. Lots of people took advantage of the conditions, and over 350 planes were on the field. Here are plane photos. Lest there be doubt, there are lots of people at Blakesburg too - which I've separated into the next post for those who like their hardware pure, without the squishy bits. Photos by Tam Williams unless otherwise noted.

Photo by Rob Bach

Often people initially come to Blakesburg for the hardware - there are antique and classic planes that you will never see anywhere else in such variety and quantity. But I think what keeps people coming back is the people. Blakesburg is grassroots aviation at its finest in aircraft, flying, and community. Here's a selection of the community of people who make Blakesburg what it is. Photos by Tam Williams.