On Saturday, I attended the West Michigan Fly-In at Allegan, MI, a small local airport. Typically, the small fly-in draws a couple of interesting aircraft, but to be honest, I wasn't expecting what I got! Easily the best warbird turnout in the fly-in's short history. As I arrived, Nathan Davis was orbiting the field in his Checkertail Clan P-51, and the Indiana Aviation Museum F4U-5 was being pre-flighted on the ground. I hurried in and got to see the F4U-5 start-up and take off. The P-51 and F4U-5 each made some individual passes and then made a couple formation passes before departing for an airshow in Gaylord. This was followed up by a couple passes from an L-39 that was on its way to the same show. A few other warbirds were also in attendance, a T-28 from South Haven that I had not seen before, along with Tim Hibiskie's T-34, a T-6 and the SNV-1 "California Girl" which was giving rides. Some other attendees included the Meyers OTW owned by Ted Heckman and based at Allegan, a 7/8 scale SE5a replica, and a few Aeroncas, Sinson Voyagers and Ercoupes. An Army UH-60 Blackhawk also came in and did a demo and was open for tours. Needless to say, I had a fun Saturday!
This is really a great little fly-in and very friendly for warbirds. They set up a temporary tower for the day and offer $.40 per gallon discount on fuel for warbirds. It's also great seeing warbirds at these types of fly-in's because of how close you are able to get to the aircraft. Anyway, enough chatter, on some pics!
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