Bought a Fairchild 24

[Dave Hadfield]

Thanks, Spanner. And James, you're quite right -- if any aviating device on this planet should be described as an aeroplane, not airplane, it's the Tiger Moth. It's not just British, it's Stag-Lane-early-1930s-British, and there's a whole mind-set that goes along with that.

Dave

[AIRIC]

I don’t think Dave had any fun at all during the CWH 40th Anniversary Airshow at Hamilton this past weekend









Cheers,

Eric

[Dave Hadfield]

Hah! Hi Eric. Yes, Hamilton was a great airshow, but most of what I saw was a Big Blue Bird out my left front window. Flying in a formation like that is surreal -- you focus very intently on doing a job with your aircraft, yes, but every once in a while you glance over and see the others and think, "That is just SOOOOO cool!!!"

All in all, wonderful airplanes flown by and maintained and supported by some very fine people.

There was even a WIX contingent, and we met up at the Whistling Walrus for libations and fine dining on the Saturday night. I took no pictures, but perhaps JDK did?

BTW Eric, I've still got your Chris-signed, F-86-singed T-shirt -- looks like you'd better email me your postal address and I'll ship it to you, unless you'll be at Hannover this weekend?

Dave

[Dave Hadfield]

The big news on our Home Front is that Robin bought an RV6A. (Turns out she had a savings account. Good thing I didn't know about it.)



It's not exactly a cream puff, but I think it's a good, solid little aircraft, and the engine seems good. I very much like the way the Vans aircraft are supported by the manufacturer -- tons of data -- and it will be simpler to have this one on the homebuilt side of the fence. It isn't vintage, but it should be very practical. Fast and simple. And it will be a good machine for Robin to take out on her own while she finishes re-activating her PPL.

She sure is happy about it. I keep getting emails and cellphone calls while I'm out of the house, as she finds manuals and magazine articles and checklists on line and do's and don'ts and everything to do with owning such a machine.



Right now we can't fly it until the new C of R comes back from TC (some paperwork was missing), but that'll give us a chance to go over it.

I hope she'll let me borrow it from time to time....

Dave

[JDK]

There was even a WIX contingent, and we met up at the Whistling Walrus for libations and fine dining on the Saturday night. I took no pictures, but perhaps JDK did?

Great weekend, really neat to meet you Dave, and (briefly) Robin, as well as lots of new and familiar faces and names. Good to catch up at the Walrus, but sadly I didn't snag any pics (too busy trying to talk to five people at once) and I don't know if anyone else did. Pity, but a great evening!

Regards,

[1bdvet]

Beautiful airplane, fly high!

[Dave Hadfield]

Thanks!

Had the Fairchild out yesterday. Flew to Collingwood for their annual RAA Fly-in.

Hot day! I had 3 guests, Robin and Kelly and her friend Vicki, but elected not to take off with all 4 of us on board. There was no wind, the strip is 2300 ft of grass, and the density altutide was about 3500 ASL. So I ferried Robin to the fly-in first, dropped her off (so she could schmooze, which she does excellently), then returned for the other 2.



It was Vicki's first time in a light aircraft....



So I made her fly, of course.

Last edited by Dave Hadfield on Sun Jul 15, 2012 12:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Dave Hadfield]

All the regular sorts of aircraft were at the fly-in, plus this one,



We ate the typical hamburgers, and Robin met someone who had helped build our RV6a. He's got a spare rudder, which we'll probably buy since ours has a superficial ding at the bottom (what did I say about schmoozing?). Then, getting ready to go, I got introduced to the pilot of the Bell 222 which had arrived. It turns out we've met briefly, plus have many friends in common -- Richard C. So when I asked if the girls could sit in it, he said sure.



So I went back to fill the oil and check the gas in the Fairchild (it's a radial....), and as I taxyied up to collect my passengers, they'd all abandoned me.

[Dave Hadfield]

Richard said he'd fly them all to our home strip in Alliston, and I'd meet them there in the Fairchild. (Remember the schmoozing?...) Fine, but I noticed his son Kevin, so I invited him to come along in the fixed-wing, and he did -- he's a pilot too, but had never experienced anything quite like a 30s-vintage taildragger. I think he enjoyed the stepping back in time.

Anyway, when we arrived, the 222 was already there. It turns out Kelly had done most of the leg.



Richard was impressed that she knew what yaw was (she'd commented on the lack of aileron drag). Not bad for a pre-med student!



A very unusual sight at our little out-of-the-way grass strip...



Fun day!

Dave

[JDK]

Looks life's treating you hard, Dave. Landscape's about the same, but being midwinter here, when we don't have fog or frost, it's been drizzling, and the roo mob were a bit close to the local grass strip for comfort ...

Keep battling on for the rest of us!

[Dave Hadfield]

So, JDK, if I flew a Fairchild where you live, I'd have to put a Roo-Bar on it?

I guess this is one of yours then, right?



I like the way they put the guard-wires around the back, too, to stop the cheeky beggars from sneaking up from behind.


Dave

[JDK]

Heh. Indeed. If I wanted to discourage people, I'd post some of the roo-aircraft accident reports; it's about as good as hitting a moose, except roos move faster across (or into) the strip and it's not the first one you see that gets you. They also are remarkably well camouflaged. I was watching the local mob this morning and when they stop, they just fade into the landscape.

Funnily enough the only Casa like that I've seen in Australia had skis on - it's used by the ANARE in Antarctica, and was on show at Avalon's big aviation trade fair.

There's a few 24s here, including one in nice pre-war style USN colours in Queensland IIRC. No roo bars though!

Regards,

[1bdvet]

Keep flying, great acft.

[Dave Hadfield]

Thanks, bdvet!

Had a great time at the Norseman Festival in Red Lake Ontario. Initially I thought of taking the Fairchild, but it's a long way north (10 hours each way), and it's over very rough terrain (400 miles north of the Minnesota border), so we went commercial. Maybe next year... if I can combine it with a trip to Oshkosh and if I can get summer vacation...

I was invited there to play some of my bush songs, particularly the aviation ones. Here's a promo photo, which serves as conclusive evidence as to why I'm not a famous folk singer.



They had perfect days there, and 5 Noorduyn Norseman aircraft in attendance. Most are still in commercial service. This one was giving rides all day, which didn't stop these local boys from staying cool.



The one on the left is brand spanking new, just restored by Gordon Hughes of Ignace, ON.





Gord is an interesting man. He goes way back, and knows a lot about Fairchild 24s. He rebuilt several many years ago, at Orillia. He said they used to use the Ranger engine, and of course got them from surplus Cornells. He said they used to cut them off the Cornells, throw the wooden body away, then hang the engine on.

[Dave Hadfield]

Her pristine, and largely authentic panel.



Another cool activity -- very cool, actually -- was the float pumping contest. The idea was to see how much water you could pump out of a set of Norseman floats in a given time, and your receiver had to catch it in a pail and get it weighed. Here's my son Austin pumping towards -- and all over -- his mother. (He used to fly a Champ on floats, which leaked.)



And here is Austin showing his nephew, a 3 year-old budding Norseman pilot, how to do it.