Warbird Information Exchange

The 109 flew three times on Friday the day before the actual show.
I was there and it was spectacular. The DB605 sounds like a AA fuel dragster compared to a Merlin or Allison.
The restoration is phenomenal! Meier Motors does stunning work.

I gather that the first two flight had zero squawks since no adjustments at all were made to the plane. I know that on Friday night, it was up on jacks doing gear swings. I THINK that the gear indicator lights were not matching what the gear was actually doing. I am guessing that the gear was down and locked, but the pilot was not getting two greens in the cockpit. That is what I inferred from the Fighter Factory's Facebook page.

The first takeoff was very long and I was told why by one of the mechanics, but it is not my place to post here. The needed changes were made and the second takeoff was much more normal. Landings were straight and uneventful, always good with a 109 in a crosswind.

I did not see the third flight, but the video of the take off looked to be identical to the second flight.

I was lucky to see one, and only for the day, high speed pass down the runway and there is nothing that sounds as good as that DB605. Oh my....the exhaust note, the extreme supercharger whine, simply fantastic!
The inertia starter has the best startup sounds too. Hear it wind up, then bang! cough, roar, whistle, then it settles down into a loud symphonic cackle of burnt aviation fuel.

Yes, 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...or is that southern France in May of '44???



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

Howdy.

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[size=85]Photoz by Liza

Hey Whitey! Great to see you and catch up this weekend, glad you and your guys were able to swim home safely!

You cannot imagine my disappointment in missing that high-speed pass... I was alerted the flight was going to happen, but I was enroute and didn't make it there in time. Such is life.

Cheers,

Lynn