NWTC Point Mugu Airshow

Made it safely to Point Mugu. Departed Gillespie on Friday with Janet, Patrick and I. Landed at French Valley and picked up George. Then flew on to Burbank, landing there to pick up Wayne and Ed (noting that our picture is NOT yet on the Wall of Fame from our previous visits). Departed for Point Mugu, checking the weather to find out that Pt Mugu was IFR. We picked up on IFR clearance and shot the PAR (precision approach, radar) into Mugu. Met AC2 Lewis, got our rooms, cars (no fuel) and went to the club where we met /hung out with Julie Clark. Got the BOQ around 130am. Next day we bagged on the airshow and took off to the wine country, for some wine tastings. Made it to Santa Inez Airport where we hung out for an hour or so grading landings from thieir nice grassy / shady viewing area, then on into Solvang for beer tasting. Made it into Santa Barbara for a nice dinner on the pier, then back to Port Hueneme for our BOQ rooms. Next day we made it to the show, watching Julie Clark, Amanda / Kyle Franklin wing walking, Red Bull (Crazy) Helo Pilot, and then the Thunderbirds. Waiting forever for fuel (8pm at night the fuel truck finally got to us) and launcded for French Valley around 830pm. Dropped off George and then got into Gillespie at around 10pm ;-( Secured the plane and headed out around 1040pm. PS New Pacific Flyers in the Hangar.

C-45 Catalina Fly In 7-18

Here is a shot of us landing the C-45 at Catalina's "Airport in the Sky" yesterday around 1130am. We had planned to fly over with Dave in his T-28A but he had canopy emergency extension problems, so he bagged out. Greg was flying over some folks from work in his Cardinal and he was delayed by the weather (weather was solid overcast from Montgomery to Catalina. Gillespie (our airport) was clear all day, as way Catalina. You can see the "undercast" below the airport (1602 ft above see level) in the background. A hiker heard the radials, and hurried to the airport to get this dramatic photo of us nearly touching down. (Any landing in this plane is dramatic BTW). We had a full plane load of people. Warren joined Janet and Christian and I as well as Jessica and Buddy - some new friends we met that morning. We did hook up with Greg who finally got out of Montgomery and made it over. After a nice meal at the Airport Cafe, we headed back to Gillespie and put the C-45 away (it needs a good bath especially the flap area behind the engines. Later that day we took up Mikael and a friend in the Navion for a tour of East County! Hopefully the weather continues to be nice for flying. Next up is the Point Mugu Airshow in 2 weeks!

Repainting the C-45 Black Paint before FEDEX Day

Patrick, Larry, Chris, and Warren all worked on the C-45 during this past week in order to get all the "fading" black paint redone before flying the plane to LAX. The inner / outer leading edges "de-ice" boot paint was redone, as were each inboard nacelle, and the nose anti glare paint. Shown here is Patrick going to town hanging masking paper after Jim put on the masking tape along the paint lines. The paint came out looking really good for a cost of about $16 in paint (4 Rustoleum Satin Black spray paint cans). Good job! Thanks guys!

C-45 Up at Flabob (KRIR) for 2 Week Annual

Patrick and I flew the C-45 up today (Sunday 6-13) to Flabob Airport to have Justin do the annual inspection. Since the 50ft wingspan wouldn't fit between the hangars, Janet graciously drove up the CUCV PU and the tow bar, so we could tow the C-45 across the infield grass and over to Justin's hangar. The weather was perfect, the plane was light on gas so we wouldn't burn up lots of runway, and there was a CALM wind, making it an uneventful landing! Any volunteers welcome to help out Justin in the next two weeks. Then the T-28 Annual is next up. We should swap planes at Flabob in two weeks.

WWAM Attends FEDEX Family Day at LAX

Thanks to Cindy Macha (Director for the Western Museum of Flight) for arranging for WWAM to provide static aircraft for the annual FEDEX Family Day at their LAX Maintenance Facility. Larry Bierma flew up in his T-34 with our C-45, and Jon Goldenbaum (Poly Fiber) brought over Miss Flabob (DC-3) to the event. Over 1300 family members were in attendance. A Fedex Miniature Golf Course was set up in the hangar, as well as a dunk booth, swing dance classes, and the FEDEX NASCAR, in addition to a ramp full of FEDEX planes, delivery cars etc. The hospitality was tremendous, with dozens of FEDEX maintenace workers, supervisiors, engineers, and managers all asking what they could do for us. Larry got his phenolic canopy rub rail re-installed, and I couldn't think of anything to have repaired, painted, or fabricated! A great experience landing at LAX. Each controller kept asking -- "You want to LAND at LAX?" Even the ground controller asked "Why are you guys here?" I should have said we wanted to taxi to the airport cafe for a burger! -- Great event!

100+ Museum Quality Plastic Models Donated

Tracy Fish donated over 100 extremely detailed models to WWAM last week. Tracy has been looking for a home for these fine models since her husband (who built them all) passed away a few years ago. Our old hangar wasn't big enough to display them to visitors, so I asked her to wait until we moved into the "new" hangars on the 70 acres. Since we aren't sure when construction will start, and we now have a much larger hangar at High Performance, I asked if she was still interested in displaying them. She was and she and her friend Sherry brought them all out last week. We unpacked the first box, which contained a highly detailed B-17, B-29, F-14, and an assortment of scale British and German AF planes. We need to spend an additional day getting all the models out of their boxes and on display.

Thanks to the Hangar Move Crew!

Thanks to Chris, Bryan, Patrick, Robert, and Larry. Also Woody (not shown). Bryan and Woody set up shelving in the off airport storage locker, and helped load the storage unit. Robert provided his 2 trucks, with Larry and Chris providing thier vehicles. We now have basically cleared the hangar and just need to clean the old hangar and then restow all the gear "adrift" in the new hangar.

Almost Done with the Hangar Move!

Working all weekend the "old" hangar is almost 100% cleaned out now. The flags are now down, as are all the contents. This photo was taken mid afternoon on Sunday. For the rest of this week I will be taking down the hooks, screws etc for the photos that used to be on the wall, and then Robert has offered to come by and patch all the dings, dents, holes etc. This coming weekend we will be cleaning the carpet and hangar floor!

Patrick, Jim, Woody, and Bryan worked 530 - 830pm and got all the "heavy" items moved (mainly thanks to Patrick and the use of Dee's forklift). The first class airline seats, binnacle, radar repeater, display case, giant E6B and the simulator enclosure, are all relocated to the new hangar. Tomorrow we will continue moving tools, cabinets, shelving, tables, chairs, and all the miscellaneous items to the new hangar and the new storage locker on Johnson Street! Starting at 0900 - 1630 or so.

Patrick and I worked last night on moving more items from the old WWAM hangar to the new one. Thanks to Dee for the use of his forklift we moved the L-29 jet engine (Motorlet 701) on it's stand, also the F-4 Ejection Seat, the Soda Machine is already over there. We also moved the refridgerator into the new hangar. I purchased a "wheel dolly" from Harbor Freight which now supports the C-45 tail wheel and makes it a LOT easier to move sideways without the tailwheel spinning and send the tail moving 3-4 feet in the sideways direction. We also have all the oil drums and parts cleaner tank relocated. This weekend (Sat / Sun) we will move the lounge chairs, and the rest of hangar contents (tables, chairs, lockers etc.)

Patrick and I and Chris Lawler setting up Glamour Gal at MCAS Miramar Flying Leatherneck Museum after the Patriot Day Parade. We were set up by 1130, so we departed for lunch, since we weren't scheduled to "fire" GG until 3pm. Larry returned with us to be the camera man and we were able to tell the crowd about GG history and then fire 2 rounds to the enjoyment of all. Next time we need to bring more ammo! GG is now stored up in the FLM annex onboard MCAS Miramar.

Patriots Day Parade (Tierrasanta)

Patrick Joyce and I are all suited up in WWII USMC cammo uniforms helmets and pistol belts for the Armed Forces Day Parade in Tierrasanta (HWY 52 and Santo Road). With Chris Lawler we spent Friday evening retrieving Glamour Gal, cleaning vehicles, and getting GG all hooked up. On Saturday am we headed to the parade and met up with Glenn Elliott and Dave Pierce and another gentleman from Tierrasanta in his WWII jeep. The parade started on time (10am) -- a first for parades -- and was a mile or so long. Lots of kids expecting candy along the route. Then we departed for MCAS Miramar to set up for the 105 shoot there.

Glamour Gal to Fire at Flying Leatherneck Museum 5/15 3pm

Thanks to Steve Smith FLM curator and his liasoning with the MCAS Miramar Fire, PMO, EOD he obtained permission this am for us to fire our 105mm Howitzer at the Fun Bike Center Rally on May 15th at 3pm. We will attend the Patriots Day Parade first in Tierrasanta then head over to MCAS Miramar FLM. Be there!

Annual T-34 Fly In to Palm Springs Air Museum This Weekend

This weekend is the annual T-34 Fly In to PSAM. We have 15 confirmed T-34s (A's and B's) and 1 possible C model coming out to the Museum for a weekend of fun formation flying, and friendship. If anyone is interested in seeing large (for today's standards) formations of former military aircraft, come out to the PSAM on Gene Autry Trail at the Palm Springs Airport. (Friday pm, Saturday and Sunday)

March ARB Airshow this past weekend

This past weekend we did a LOT of flying! On Thursday the "Trainer Parade" re-assembled at March ARB in Riverside CA for thier bi-annual airshow. Dan Kirkland and I brought our T-28C's to the show. (So did Mark Bauer). Larry Bierma, John Flippen, and George Watson made up the T-34 contingent. Lips Hertberg, and Jason Somes from the Camarillo CAF were flying T-6s, there were (2) PT-17 Stearmans onhand from the Phoenix area, and Greg Colyer in his T-33 and his wingman (Zippo) in the POF T-33. We practiced Friday mid morning (winds were picking up) and then drove to San Diego Gillespie Field to pick up the C-45H and fly it up to the show for static display. Steve Davis and his wife, Janet, and my Dad, and Claude Genest rounded out the crew. After a 30 min flight (Steve at the controls) we landed in a 50 deg 18 kt crosswind (nice landing BTW) and taxied over to get fuel next to Heavenly Body (B-25J). We met up with the rest of the gang and had dinner, and got some sleep for the show on Saturday. A gorgeous day dawned, with the constant winds being the only factor for flying. We had a great flight, and the March hospitality was outstanding (VIP tent for food / drinks all day) and then off to dinner (again!). Sunday we flew our Trainer Parade Show at noon, and then "air departed" with the T-34s to San Diego. After parking at our new hangar location (High Performance) I drove back up to March to get the C-45 after the show. Mark Bauer (T-28C) and Rick Morrisson (AD-4) and I all departed at 515 or so for Gillespie, for an arrival at 6pm. Nice show, had a great time!

C-45 Back from Prop Shop in Mesa Az

Yesterday Josh flew Vital (737 Co Pilot from Brazil) and Patrick, Janet and I to Falcon Field, Mesa Az to pick up the C-45. Air Response had finished installed the newly AD'd (and painted) props and we were looking forward to flying the C-45 again. After a 2 hour flight in the Plus One Piper Apache, Josh and Bret (his IP) dropped us off at Air Response. After an engine run up, we departed Mesa, and headed up to Sedona Az to have lunch and check out the red rocks! Then we headed off to the Grand Canyon, which was covered (on the North Rim) with snow. The canyon always looks immense! After the overfligtht we flew back to San Diego, and took an aerial tour of the WWII General Patton Training Camps, ending up at Chiriaco Summit (then called Camp Young) and then back into San Diego Gillespie Field. We washed the dirt off the C-45 so we are all set for the March ARB Airshow this weekend.

C-45 Props back on the Plane;

Billy from Air Response in Mesa AZ wrote the the C-45 props are back on as of today. The prop dome is polished vs dull aluminum, and the blades are painted black with the Navy prop arc danger markings now on the tips vs the USAF yellow that used to be there.

We are flying out on Monday to Mesa to pick her up and fly her back to San Diego, so the C-45 will be available for the March ARB Show next weekend.

This weekend we are flying the T-28 -- up to Hemet then Palm Springs tomorrow, T-34, and L-29 on Sunday.

The new hangar is being painted tomorrow so if you are in the area of Gillespie this weekend, stop by.

WWAM Hangar Buildout Continues

I stopped by the "new" WWAM hangar tonight to check out the progress. The dividing wall between the two hangars is now gone, with the exception of the extreme rear wall between the two bathrooms. This gives us a 50 x 110 ft hangar, which will house 4 of the 5 WWAM planes at least.

Construction continues to install a sink / cabinet in the "men's bathroom" and some plastic removable railings with plastic chains to "alert" folks in the hangar of the 6 in step down between the two hangars.

The T-34 is in the hangar, and the T-28 should be able to join it this weekend.

Friday pm I am making a fuel run to Brown Field after work, then on Saturday / Sunday we are flying the T-34, T-28, and L-29.

T-34 Annual Complete; Aircraft back at Gillespie

Thanks for Justin's hard work and thoroughness he finished the T-34 Annual Inspection today (Sunday 4-18). He found that the compression was fine -- all cylinders in the 70s (it was allegedly low last year), he also found most of the spark plugs were only hand tight, no one had torqued or even tightened them last year); He fixed an oil leak on the pre-oiler, and fixed the CHT temp probe gauge issue; and blew out the R/L hand fuel tank vents as I was having a hard time starting on the left tank (maybe a plugged vent line?). The plane flew well, taking off into the perennial Flabob hurricane force winds. As I approached Temecula Gillespie was reporting 1800 OVC, so I landed at French Valley got out the IFR charts, a flash light and prepared for an instrument approach into Gillespie. SOCAL vectored me for the LOC-D approach and I never actually got into solid IFR and landed in the rain at Gillespie. T-34 is in the new (old CAF hangar) for the week getting ready for rides next Saturday.

L-29 Flap Retract Issue Fixed

Saturday was a busy day! Vlada (Aero Vodachody Factory Mechanic) returned to Gillespie from Thermal to finishing testing the flap micro switch installation. Patrick was on hand to work with Vlada and Rebecca (OC College A/P student). We got out the L-29 and ran it on the ramp (much to the chagrin of the Jean's Flight School students. After the test run, we put the L-29 back into the hangar and proceeded to reinstall first the right wing, then the left. Thanks to Janet for buying / providing lunch for all in the hangar.

Larry texted he was leaving Redding in his T-34 after his annual inspection, and after a refuel stop at Visilia he returned safely to Gillespie and was on hand for the wrap up of the L-29.

Josh Huggins called from the "closed" Gillespie Cafe with a couple of students (one from QCOM) and he taxied over to each the rest of our leftover lunch. We secured for the day!

L-17A Navion Annual Completed - Flown Back to Gillespie

Justin finished the annual inspection on the L-17A. He found the mixture set extremely lean which was causing the backfiring on engine start and taxiiing. Also the gas colator had the wrong gasket. He also rebuilt both main landing gear struts so they move freely now. Good job Justin. The plane flew great back into the low overcast over Ramona, which LUCKILY had not extended to Gillespie which was clear. Justin had kept the towbar, so the Navion is back on the ramp, vs in the new hangar. (Justin now has the T-34, T-28, and L-17 tow bars ;-)

T-34 Flown Up to Flabob for Annual

I dropped off the T-34 at Flabob Airport after work 4/14, and gave a couple of the Wathen School students a ride in the T-34. Mondo student #1 is working on completing his A/P at Flabob, and Justin is trying to get him in the Air Guard. Austin is a student pilot and ready to take his check ride. Both enjoyed the flights. Now its up to Justin to get the Annual completed in the next week before he returns to NY 4/20 and more flying of C-130s. All squawk list items will be completed in San Diego by our Maintenance Team (Rebecca, Patrick, Josh, Lisa, me and everyone else who wants to come out and help).

Los Alamitos Airshow L-29 Confirmation

Looks like we are going back to Los Alamitor AAF at the end of October with the L-29. Nice show (static); Typically Rick Morrisson goes along as well in the AD-4 Skyraider. (Ed and Wayne pose at MCAS Miramar next to the L-29). I will finish up painting all the red numbers this weekend while Patrick, Rebecca, and Vlada put the wings back on and test out the flaps / hydraulics.

New Batteries for the M151A2

Thanks to Brodings Batteries, near EDCO / Grossmont Center, we now have 2 new batteries in the M151. Broadway Auto Electric couldn't get them from Interstate. Deka Battery makes them (they are a US 2HN for military vehicles). So now we are back in business and don't have to push the jeep in / out of the hangar everytime we want to fly.

C-45 Prop AD and Tail Repair Nearing Completion

I got an email this am from Billy at Air Response (Falcon Field in Mesa AZ). He is nearing completion on the Hamilton Standard - every 5 year corrosion inspection --AD on the two C-45 props. No issues were found, and he is now painting the props black, and striping the ends IAW Navy Standards (White / Red / White); He has also buffed out the Prop domes to a "chrome like finish" and will finish and reinstall them by next Tuesday.

So I need to plan out a trip to Mesa and get the C-45 and bring it back in time for the March ARB Air Show first weekend in May. Anyone want to fly back in the C-45? Need to get a SWA ticket to Phoenix and donate some gas money!

CAF AG-1 T-6 Gear Up Landing at Ramona Airport Saturday

According to witnesses they were on a training flight and just forgot to put the gear down. Bent prop, required engine teardown, sheetmetal damage, and main wheels / rims ground down. http://www.faa.gov/data_research/accident_incident/preliminary_data/events01/media/11_7300C.txt

T-28 Prop Repaired at Golden State Prop (SLO)

On Tuesday / Wednesday of last week I flew the T-28 up to San Luis Obisbo thanks to Patrick and Rebecca getting the left main strut repaired. The weather was fantastic. To avoid LA Class B I headed North to Ontario, then Burbank, Van Nuys, Santa Barbara, past Santa Maria and into San Luis Obisbo (1.5 hour flight). Eric and his crew got to work right away, pulling the prop at the San Luis Jet Center hangar, tearing the prop apart and resealing it. The newly resealed prop was hung on Wednesday at noon, run up and I headed back to Gillespie Field. The T-28 is now ready for flight and the March ARB Airshow Trainer Parade.

WWAM Military Vehicles moved to Miramar FLM

After the early termination, on Saturday, of the L-29C wing / flap work, Patrick, Josh, and I headed over to Miramar to move all the Military Vehicles from the MCAS Miramar RV parkging lot over to their new home at the Flying Leatherneck Museum.

We got the trailer, water buffalo, M1010 Ambulance, M1009 Blazer, Mig 21 Cockpit on a trailer, and M1008 Pick Up plus the M35A2 "Duece and a half, over to the Flying Leatherneck Museum around 430pm. We got to chat with Dick Miller, a retired US Marine, the weekend manager, and also a FLM board member. He directed us to park the Military Vehicles between the F-4 Phantom and the Iraqi Artillery and Tracked Armored Personnel Carriers, which is where they now residing (see photo)!

L-29C Delfin Stuck Wing Flap Fix

This weekend Vlada from the Mig Museum at Thermal came to the WWAM hangar on Saturday am with Lilly (the translator and his lovely wife).

Volunteers on hand were John Janesta (who we found out speaks Czech), Larry, Josh, Patrick, and myself. We removed the cap strips to the wing attach points, which, thankfully came off fairly easily do to lubing them up when we re-installed them at the last annual.

As suspected by Vlada the microswitches were the issue. However there was no possible way to remove them from between the wings without "pulling" the wings. So after 1/2 days effort we went over to the Cafe for lunch, and Lilly and Vlada went home to return on Sunday with the L-29 wing jacks to pull one or both wings.

On Sunday Vlada showed up at 0710 and we commenced assembling the wing stand to pull the left wing first. After we got the wing off, we found flap actuating rod blocked the removal of the flap up micro switch. We then went and pulled the right wing, and same thing. Patrick suggested pull off the electrical connections, leaving the bad switches in place, and install the new switches in the plugs basically bypassing the bad switches. That would allow the flaps to become operational and the flap actuating rod would move out of the way of the micro switch. We did that (now its around 130pm) and no luck. The rod still blocks the removal of the switch. By then Larry (c/s McGuiver) had shown up, but even Larry couldn't figure out how to get the micro switch out of there. So Patrick and Vlada reverted to plan C, which was pull the flap actuator / rod off the wing rib. An hour later the actuator was off and the micro switch changed. Re-installation commenced, and then removal and re-installation on the right wing. After both switches and actuators were back in (430pm now) the battery was too low to start the engine and test the system's operation due to repeated use spinning the jet engine to provide hydraulics to the flaps.

Vlada departed around 5pm and Patrick and I parked the T-34 and T-28 in the "new" (old CAF) hangar to keep all the planes from getting rained on. We plan on starting again next Saturday (4/17) to test run the jet and re-install the wings.

During the week (after work) the plan is to work on re-painting the red / black markings on the L-29 nose.

Jim