Warbird Information Exchange

(This was meant to be in response to the previous Warbirds Over the Beach thread...long weekend, short on sleep!)

I ventured on down to the Warbirds Over the Beach show along with three other friends. We were on site doing interviews, taking video and photos for our podcast and web site, The Hangardeck.com;

http://www.thehangardeck.com/intro-1/

https://www.facebook.com/TheHangarDeck/?fref=nf

Stand by while we post edit our material, but available this week will be an exclusive interview with the Bf-109G pilot, Mr. Rick Volker. He speaks in great detail of the actual first take off and of the differences in flying the "Gustav" vs. the "Emil". Phenomenal information! You have to hear it from the pilot himself.

We also spoke with WWII Luftwaffe pilot and ace, Mr. Hans Meyer and got his impressions of seeing a Bf-109 in flight again and of his own wartime experiences flying the aircraft with JG54 on the Eastern Front. To round out the Bf-109 discussion, we also interviewed Mr. Lynn Ritger, author and subject matter expert on the Bf-109 (and WIX contributor!) who gave us detailed information on the Military Aviation Museum's 109 restoration.

It was a very busy weekend for us. Despite the weather, lots of flying still took place and the down time for the pilots and maintenance crews meant lots of time to sit down with us and share their experiences. We spoke with several Warbird pilots, the Fighter Factory's General Manager Mr. Tom "TK" Kurtz (very entertaining and informative man to speak with!) who heads up the maintenance personnel for these fine aircraft, and the man who makes it all possible, Mr. Jerry Yagen, owner of the Military Aviation Museum. He gave us insight into the start of the collection but was cautious as to letting us know what is coming next for the collection!

We had a great time down there and met a lot of great folks, ran into a few old friends (shout out to Lynn!) and met a few new ones (howdy Liza!). Already looking forward to next year.

First start...



and taxi for takeoff...



(Photo credit to http://www.thehangardeck.com)