Florida Cub Flyers January 2012 Newsletter

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We have news of a major donation to the APM. Thanks to the efforts of AAA Lifetime member Ty Sundstrom, AAA Lifetime member Richard Nelson of Exeter, CA has donated his Cessna C-165 “Airmaster”, NC32454, and his Cherokee II sailplane, N1728 to the APM.

We currently are working out arrangements to transport the “Airmaster” and the Cherokee II to Antique Airfield and the APM.

We have some exciting plans for the Cherokee II - stay tuned for updates on that project!

Our sincerest “Thanks” to Richard Nelson for his most generous donations to the APM.

From Ty about the Airmaster and Cherokee II;

01/23/2012
Brent, Mike

We had the chance to get a few photos of the Airmaster in-between thunder showers today. We have so much stuff stuck in every corner around here, it’s really hard to get great photos. I think these are a good start but still should see what we can do about getting the wing available for photos. The miscellaneous bits and pieces are stored in boxes. I will see if I can get photos of all the control surfaces, seats, firewall etc. if desired. I am including a few cleaned up Cherokee photos as well.

Cherokee Pilot Dick Nelson

On 01/25/2012
Brent

Dick is quite excited about helping the AAA and finding a home for his Cherokee. I may have mentioned the Airmaster was a gift to him by his long time friend, the late Bob Kirk. Bob was an AAA member many years ago. Bob was famous for having two Airmasters hanging from the top of his hangar at San Luis Obispo airport for years. At my gentle urging, Dick thought the AAA would be just the place for both his Cherokee and the Airmaster. I’m asking around to see if we can come up with a historical photo of the lofty Airmasters.

At long last Brent Taylor Productions has finished the first video/slideshow about the 2011 AAA/APM Invitational Fly-in here at Antique Airfield:

We hope you enjoy this look back at last year's event even as we begin preparations for the 2012 AAA/APM Fly-in, Aug 29th - Sep 3rd, 2012 here at Antique Airfield.

Brent Taylor

As a reminder, we have yet to hear from several photographers/videoographers that were given special access by the fly-in officials. We still look forward to hearing from you and seeing what your viewfinders captured as it's not to late to send us pictures and video of last years event for future productions.

The Board of Directors of both the Antique Airplane Association and the Air Power Museum are pleased to announce the 2012 AAA/APM Invitational Fly-in theme: "Cow Pastures to Commercial Carriers", featuring the aircraft of the American Barnstormers Tour (ABT).

It's fitting that we feature the aircraft of the ABT; www.americanbarnstormerstour.com, as that idea was born under the wing of Clay Adams' 1929 Travel Air at Antique Airfield. That was in 2005. Since their first tour in 2006, Clay, Sarah Wilson and their cadre of pilots/airplanes have bi-annually criss-crossed the Midwest keeping the history of Barnstorming alive while introducing scores of young and old alike, to the fun of flying.

While the ABT group of a dozen or so antiques from the 20's & 30's will be arriving at the end of their official tour, we hope they will do a bit of Barnstorming while here at Antique Airfield for the enjoyment of our members and guests.

It's appropriate, as well as complimentary then, that we include the commercial carrier aircraft of the late 20's and 30's as part of our celebrations for 2012.

Clay Adams' Travel Air

We have already confirmed the attendance of two pivotal aircraft from those early days of commercial passenger service. One is Addison Pemberton's Boeing 40C (Pacific Air Transport), the oldest flyable Boeing aircraft extant. The other is Yellowstone Aviation's Stinson Model A tri-motor (American Airlines). We also hope Alan Lopez will be in attendance with his Stearman M-2 (Varney Air Lines), John Cournoyer will return with his Fairchild 71 (Pan American Airways) and other early and significant commercial aviation aircraft will participate.

Also in the works, a re-creation of an historic flight from 1930. It has been a long time since this type flying has been seen at Antique Airfield. Keep checking back here for details as they become available.

Addison Pemberton's Boeing Model 40

Of course we look forward to seeing those new restorations and interesting aircraft that help make the AAA/APM Invitational Fly-in the premiere aviation event for those that fly and love antique aircraft

Start making plans to attend today!

• Fly-in Home Page
• First Timer's Guide to the Blakesburg Fly-In

Only a few details are left to finish on Chuck Doyle's Stearman. Looking... turquoise, of course.

Jerry Thuotte at the Port Townsend Aero Museum (Washington State) sent photos and the background on their Pilgrim project. Jerry says:

Our Pilgrim project was donated by a gent from Tucson, Arizona. It was flown into a hillside, during white-out conditions, somewhat east of Nome, Alaska. This happened in 1943, and was a “total” loss, as they say. The pilot and a mechanic were the only persons on board. Amazingly, they survived, and even more amazing, they trudged out 80 miles before being picked up. This was in the Alaska winter, by the way.

No, the “Aero Museum” kids are not involved in the Pilgrim project at this time, mainly because the current work is being conducted off-site, as opposed to on the grounds of the Aero Museum. But we are making some progress due to the efforts of two gentlemen who wish to remain anonymous at this time.

There are actually 3 remaining Pilgrims . One is in a museum in Alaska, one in California, and ours. Ours was a Pan American Airplane, flying cargo and people throughout Alaska, before crashing. Our intention is to chip away at this project with the goal of restoring it to flying condition.

The airplane in California was used by Admiral Byrd on his trip to the South Pole, and is currently undergoing restoration.