PLANE CRAZY SATURDAY

I received this bit of news form our new Aerospace Education Officer, 2LT Linda Abrams, about..well..let's let her explain it:

Major,

Here's another news tidbit for you: Mojave Air & SpacePort hosts a "Plane Crazy" day, every 3rd Saturday of the month. Attached in pdf format is a report on the latest one. See p. 2 for a mention of CAP recruiting there:

"Colin Momberger of the Tehachapi Composite Squadron
46, California Wing Civil Air Patrol, United States
Air Force Auxiliary was on hand with some brochures
for recruiting new members. "Cadet meetings are held
every Tuesday at the Tehachapi Airport from 6:00 p.m.
to 8:30 p.m. For more information contact
661.823.9231 or go to http://sq46.cawg.cap.gov "

Here's a nice After Action report included that sheds more light on this interesting event:

PLANE CRAZY SATURDAY

MARCH 16, 2013 – AFTER ACTION REPORT

Windy, windy, windy – but we had a great time anyway! Was blowing 30-knots WNW at 8:30 a.m. and let up slightly around 12:30 p.m., then later in the afternoon the direction shifted to SW. The hangars are full of dirt, again!

Mojave Transportation Museum Foundation volunteers decided to set promotions table up inside the administration building so the post cards and posters didn’t fly down the flightline! Thank you to Midge Wright and Bill Deaver for their time and energy.

We were amazed at how many visitors were from other states and outside the U.S.! Guests from the United Kingdom and Brazil were thrilled to be at Mojave Air and Spaceport, plus we had visitors from Las Vegas, NV; Phoenix, AZ; Atlanta, GA; Melbourne, FL; and Oak Harbor, WA. It was great to see folks from other parts of CA too, including: Penngrove, Santa Clarita, Los Angeles, Acton, Encino, Whittier, Long Beach, Lancaster, Bakersfield, Tehachapi, Ridgecrest, Edwards and Thousand Oaks.
Aviation artist Doug Castleman joined MTM in the hallway with his beautiful display of aviation paintings and prints.

He has a new painting of the Century Series aircraft on display at Edwards called Century Circle. Also on exhibit was an unusual water color on canvas with a new texture and brilliant colors.

Mike Massee, MTM Vice President and XCOR Aerospace photographer and graphic artist gave an extraordinary presentation in the spaceport board room about rocket photography. We couldn’t say ‘standing room only’ as there was no place left to stand! There were people sitting on the floor

and standing in the hallway, because all of the seats were taken! XCOR had invited many guests up from the L.A. area to view the mockup model of the Lynx Spacecraft located at their hangar, after Mike’s presentation.

World War II WASP, Flora Belle Reece was in the audience for Mike’s lecture and enjoyed every minute. Bill Deaver took a photo as Flora Belle and Mike shared a laugh.

Second District Kern County Supervisor Zack Scrivner and his two sons stopped by Plane Crazy Saturday and couldn’t find an empty table in the Voyager Restaurant. He was in Mojave to help kick off Opening Day of the Mojave Little League by throwing the first pitch! Al and Cathy Hansen were delighted to accept an invitation to throw out the first pitch for softball, as well. So many volunteers work together to make Mojave Little League a great success. Always say yes when you are asked to support our local youth sports programs!

Colin Momberger of the Tehachapi Composite Squadron 46, California Wing Civil Air Patrol, United States Air Force Auxiliary was on hand with some brochures for recruiting new members.

Cadet meetings are held every Tuesday at the Tehachapi Airport from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

For more information contact 661.823.9231 or go to http://sq46.cawg.cap.gov

Wen Painter is a faithful volunteer at Plane Crazy every month signing in pilots and is always happy to do a little ‘hangar flying’ with visiting pilots! Doug Triplat, Mojave Air and Spaceport hangar owner and Rosamond Sky Park resident flies one of his planes to Plane Crazy Saturday every month!

This month Doug flew his 1964 M20C Mooney over. He said the wind was right down runway 30 and the flight was very smooth from Rosamond.

Everyone tied their airplanes down this month! You never know when a strong gust of wind will whip up from another direction and flip your airplane over. It has happened many times at this airport in years gone by.

Alan Radecki, photographer, aviation historian, MTM Founding Board Member, train buff, maintains the Vintage Air Blog and author of A Mojave Scrapbook – Volume 1, is a regular at Plane Crazy Saturday. We always enjoy seeing Alan and Rebecca!

Alan, his wife, Barbara and his step-daughter, Rebecca Amber, journalist for Aerotech News, attend the same church as Flora Belle Reece, so they are good friends.

We had a nice contingent of motorcycles ride in from Thousand Oaks. Some were members of the Patriot Guard Riders. They added to the large group of patrons in Voyager Restaurant!

Deidre, one of the servers at Voyager, never had time to stop for lunch for herself. She just worked non-stop!

Look at the size of the engines on the motorcycles! Look like six-cylinder machines. They are all Honda’s. They look very powerful and very expensive!!

Affectionately known as the “Stoof,” (S-TWO-F).

The 1958 Navy S2F-1 Tracker torpedo bomber made by Grumman was on display. The Second World War demonstrated to the U.S. Navy that one of the key weapons needed to combat the deadly menace of unrestricted submarine warfare was a carrier based hunter-killer anti-submarine aircraft. The Navy took delivery of its first Grumman S2F-1 Tracker in October of 1953.

Conceived in 1950, when jet aircraft were rapidly replacing propeller driven aircraft in the Navy, the Tracker nevertheless went on to have a remarkably long service life. The first Tracker flew in December 1952 and it was the first aircraft design to combine the detection equipment and armament to hunt and destroy submarines - and operate from an aircraft carrier. Before Trackers went into service in 1954, the U.S.Navy had been using single-engine Grumman AF-2 Guardians, working in hunter-killer pairs, with one plane detecting and locating enemy submarines and the other actually attacking it. Individual twin-engine Trackers could do it all, as they were equipped with radar, searchlights, sonobuoys and Magnetic Anomaly Detectors (MAD) for detection and location, and sub-killing weaponry that included depth charges, homing torpedoes and bombs.

The Canadair Mk-VI or more commonly known as the North American F-86E Sabre looked like she was ready for a flight.

Even as the powerful F-100 and other Century Series jets were carrying the U.S. Air Force to supersonic speeds in the 1950s, the North American F-86 Sabre was still a trusted fighter. Its reputation as a MiG killer, earned during the Korean War, made flying the Sabrejet a young airman's dream. It wasn't easy, especially considering the competition. Many F-86 pilots were World War II veterans with combat experience.

When the F-86 was rolling out to U.S. bases in the 1950s, North American Aviation dispatched its legendary test pilot, Bob Hoover, to show the fighter's safe handling and flying capabilities to Air Force pilots all over the world.

Special thanks to Ron Langford and Mojave Air and Spaceport staff for their assistance with Plane Crazy Saturday. Thank you Ron for allowing some of our out of country visitors to purchase some spaceport hats and shirts!

See you on April 20, 2013 when Elliot Seguin has a special Experimental Aircraft fly-in for Plane Crazy Saturday!

..thank you, Linda. Looks like an exciting event and well worth visiting!

Bill

W. H. Phinizy, MAJ, CAP
Commander
Long Beach Senior Squadron 150