Warbird Information Exchange

Oshkosh 1980...My first time going, so as you can imagine the excitement level was extreme...took along a local Kansas cutie to make the event more fun....Left Kansas City mid afternoon, right out of where we both worked, and drove non-stop to Oshkosh....Being young and thrifty, and half broke....we brought a two person tent, which we threw up quickly when we arrived at the airport early in the AM. on what we thought was an open grassy area.
When we woke up, it was probably around 10:30, we could hear a lot of car engine noises all around us...I popped my head out and to my horror, realised that we were set up in the grass road that led to the parking area.......We saw a lot of smiling faces and got a lot of waves as we tried to get dressed and break camp

Oshkosh 1980...My first time going, so as you can imagine the excitement level was extreme...took along a local Kansas cutie to make the event more fun....Left Kansas City mid afternoon, right out of where we both worked, and drove non-stop to Oshkosh....Being young and thrifty, and half broke....we brought a two person tent, which we threw up quickly when we arrived at the airport early in the AM. on what we thought was an open grassy area.
When we woke up, it was probably around 10:30, we could hear a lot of car engine noises all around us...I popped my head out and to my horror, realised that we were set up in the grass road that led to the parking area.......We saw a lot of smiling faces and got a lot of waves as we tried to get dressed and break camp

I was once trying to close the cargo door hatch on Dave Fain's T-6 'Old Timer' and figured the knuckle holding it open would just fold if I pulled the door down, but it turns out the knuckle folded the OTHER way and I wound up breaking it so that you now had to manually hold the door open if you wanted to get anything out.....Dave took it all relatively in stride (don't know if he ever got it fixed ot not) but it was a tad embarrassing...

Mark

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Mark Morris

Well, after looking like a chicken with a cattle prod stuck up its keester trying to grab onto the invisible handles that we all reach out for in a moment of panic, I managed to land in the most uninspiring and unglorious fashion on the side of my head!

My date confessed later that she really wanted to laugh when I stuck my landing and I told her she should have just yelled "Safe!" to break the tension.

This ranks up there with running out in front of dragster to back it up to the line and running into the VHT traction compound and falling in front of a packed grandstand! Thank God it was to loud to hear what the announcer said about it, but the crowd sure did enjoy it! Lesson, don't run on a very sticky surface unless you are ready!

I was at an airshow at Robbins AFB a few years back and decided to sit on an S-3's main mount tire so I could eat my 8.00 hotdog. I was wearing shorts and did not notice that some steel was poking out from the tire. (how often do they change those things?) I sat, got stuck in the back of my thigh and the hotdog went one way while I went the other wondering what had 'stung' me.

While announcing the 1997 Geneseo Airshow with Charley Fox, I decided it would be a good idea to fall off the announcers stand (the back of a Diamond T Farm Truck) and badly sprain my ankle at the close of the show. I was permanantly attached to the back of the EMS's Four Wheeler for the rest of the night. Missed a ride in a BT-13 as a result of it.

Runner-up, my "dance" routine at the 2004 Skyhaven Airshow while trying to catch a balsa airplane with a metal nose thrown by a snivelling rugrat at the fabric rudder of the CF F4U-5NL Corsair. Those suckers are mighty tough to catch... and it would have been fine if krlang and Shannon weren't there to witness it. They'll never let me forget that one.

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Ryan Keough
Stow, MA

As an 8 or 9 yr old at an airshow in Pine Bluff, Arkansas in the early '80s, my Dad bought me a tour of Texas Raiders. They were buttoning it up to go do the Tora show (remember the one-wheelers!) and I was still (unknowingly to myself and them) in the tail gunners' position. They had already shut all the doors when my Dad came running up. I probably would have been caught before takeoff, but I was sure sore at my Dad for awhile....

Dumbest thing I ever did at an airshow???
The day is too short, but...
Agreeing to be nominated as Wing Leader at the last WOH.
I told the youngsters no, but then they went and got the vets.
It was the veterans who swayed me.
If THEY ever figure that one out I am IN TROUBLE!

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Support Your Local Warbirds! KBO!
The only reasons the airplanes matter is what the veterans did with them... and why.

Here's one on me, fortunately not in a plane. I flew in to Fon du Lac, rushed to grab a rent a car, sped down to Oshkosh, parked the car and ran in, making it in time to see the show. I planned to fly my plane down in the morning with a couple of Mustangs. I had a good time, then as it was nearing dark went out to find my rental car.There is a huge field of lots of rent cars many looking about like the next one. I realized in my hurry I had not paid attention to the car, I didn't even know the brand, much less the model, just that it was small and light colored, about the same as 500 others in the same area. I was dead tired, sore feet, and in the spirit of good will that the EAA engenders there, a volunteer in a golf cart rescued me and drove me around to finally find the car. It wasn't so much that I didn't remember exactly where I left it, more that I didn't know what I was looking for. As the field thinned out we found the little Chevy hatchback.
I even overheard a guy on the bus once in the same boat who lost his rented plane, as the driver passed row after row, the guy says, "It's got to be here somewhere, it's a white Cessna."

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Three years ago I spent 3 hours one evening driving a lost EAAer around - I swear we went to each and every parking lot on the grounds, even running out of gas in the golf cart at one point and having to flag down another staff member to go fetch some gas for us. We finally found the car when his wife and kids spotted us driving around. Boy were they ticked off at dad for being "lost" for so long. At least they didn't have any traffic to contend with when they left...

Zack

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Volunteer Coordinator/Curator - Military Aviation Museum - Virginia Beach, VA
"America's Flying Museum"
http://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org

Well, mine was at my first "real" airshow for me to perform in. I was in my little Clipped Wing Cub during the EAA's Southwest Regional Fly In, in Abilene, TX. Since my act required an "air start", vs. just starting my show right at takeoff, it was briefed for me to make my departure on a different runway from the show line, while one of the other acts was going on (I believe it was OTTO, the helicopter). The idea was for me to stay nice and low while leaving the waivered airspace and then climbing to altitude, which took a while, before starting my act.

So when it came time for me to get going, I had someone (Brad Pilgrim, if I remember correctly) hand prop me and I taxied to the departure end of the runway. Well, over a crackled transmission on the radio, the air boss told me to go ahead and shut the engine down for a little while since they were running a bit behind with the timing of the show and he would tell me when to get started back up and launch. So, in anticipation for this, I went ahead and unbuckled my seat belt and left my parachute strapped on so that when I got the word, I could just jump out, prop the airplane myself (since I was now waaaay out in the boonies) and then take off.

Well, after waiting what seemed to be a long, long time, some poor ramp guy came running up to my airplane and said, "It's time to go...NOW!" Well, it seemed that the air boss' radio had quit completely and couldn't talk to me (they eventually found him another radio), so that poor fella had to run about a half a mile to tell me to go. He went ahead and propped the airplane and away I went.

So, now imagine being in your first airshow to perform acro in and dealing with the ensuing nervousness, AND being late now because of some radio glitch. That means that with nothing going on for a few minutes during the show, EVERYONE is sure to be watching now, waiting for some action. With that being said, I felt like I was as ready to do this emotionally as I could be...but something just didn't feel quite right. I just didn't feel the same in the seat as I always did when practicing over and over in hopes for this moment to finally take place. I couldn't place it, so just prior to entering the "box" for the airshow, I thought it would be a good idea to roll the airplane inverted to make sure my seat belts were tight. I always did this, because afterwards and once you were upright again, you'd be surprised how many more clicks of the ratchet (I had ratchet-style Hooker harnesses in the airplane) that you could get out of the belts. But just about the time I started to feel light in the seat, it hit me like a ton of bricks that I had forgotten to fasten my seatbelts after we got the engine started back up again!!!

I instinctively rolled the airplane back to the right, said a few explatives, fastened my seat belts....VERY TIGHTLY, and pressed on towards the show line. I reckon the performance went well, but all I remember about my first acro airshow was that I dang near threw myself out of the skylight window of my airplane before the show even started.

One thing about it though...I've never forgotten to fasten my seatbelts in an airplane since!

Gary

Like I always say "If You Can't Beat'em Join'em"

Here's how to be a "TOTALLY OBNOXIOUS CAMPER" at Your Next Fly-In Event!!

Ha! Ha! Be sure to take plenty of notes:

http://www.escape-co.com/obnoxious_campers.htm

Digger

I could be mistaken but I seem to recall that aircraft tires, especially military aircraft tires were made with exposed steel threads thought to help add durability to the tire. Yes, no

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

Many yrears ago I was ramp boss at a show and FG1D Pilot brought in an Avenger. As we had a tight ramp I had him fold the wings and on the Turkey you have to manually latch the wings when folded. I had told all the other ramp rats to be carefull (spinning props and all) and when time came to move to the otherside of the plane I found out the height of the TBM pitot tube. I am 6 ft. tall and the tube is 5ft 10. I planted it squarely between my eyes and started bleeding like a stuck hog, but trooper I am we finished latching the other side. Should of got stiches, but the party was about to start so didn't bother. (Doug you still owe me a ride)

I remember back in 1992? I was crewing on CF A-26 "Mighty Mouse" at the Mt. Comfort Show when we inadvertently dropped a bomb out of the bomb bay...in the middle of the ramp when we were turning into our parking space. According to the ramp guys it reminded them of the movie "1941" when the one fell out of the B-17 and rolled across the ramp. Needless to say we made sure they were lockwired in after that.

But is what I really would have liked to have seen, is when "FIFI" went on a bomb run and lost a tool box out the bomb bay. Now that was probably embarrasing, and expensive.

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Col Craig Duck
Life Member CAF
Life Member YAF
Life Member EAA