| Saturday, March 3 at the Cactus Fly-in.  I am not a photog, so hoping someone with a camera will post.
 After a rough winter, including the coldest January on record, there was a sea of smiles as the Cactus Fly-in in Casa Grande, AZ got underway with sunny skies and temps getting up to 80.  Shortly before 10:00 a.m. FiFi, the CAF B-29, paid a visit - cirling the field a couple of times before shooting a missed approach, gear down and looking like she was going to land.  Awhile later, the B-17 Sentimental Journey gave us a sedate fly past at altitude.  On the large warbird side of things, there was a C-47 in civie colors from Flabob, Ca, joined later by the desert camo C-47 that is based nearby.
 
 The most spectacular departure came from a silver Lockheed R-50, with a fast flyby before heading out to the East.  A civie painted Albatross visited for a couple of hours.  In addition, just about every variety of Twin Beech, from tri-gear H, to polished C-45, along with more Stearmans than you could count.
 
 An SNJ took off and gave us a number of fly-bys with the gear down.  Several thought he had forgotten, but I think he was just jealous of the Yale.  I mean, who wouldn't be?  Later in the day, he did another round, this time noticeably faster with the gear up.
 
 The big surprise came after lunch when a formation of 20 trainers in five diamond-fours made a spectacular fly-by, heading off to the East.  You guys were fantastic!  Was hard to grasp all that was up there, but for sure a diamond of T-6's, leading the whole shebang, two of Nanchang/Yak, one mixed, and one of T-34's with maybe a Debonair in the lead?
 
 All in all, a fabulous fly-in, oblivious to the "S" calamity, pulled off safely without Federal assistance, no control tower, no DHS, just regular folks having a good time on their own dime.  Long may it be so.
 _________________
 Rob C
 
 Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. “
 
 – Michael Crichton
 
 
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