October 25, 2025 - Golden Age Air Museum
Great Pumpkin Fly-In
We were airborne in the Super Decathlon by 9:30 Saturday. It was a little cool in the morning but I knew it would warm up.
As you can see, there is some color, but nothing spectacular yet.
Having reached the top of the Bay, we cross Interstate 95 as it heads northeast towards Wilmington.
We landed at Grimes Airfield which was practically filled to capacity already.
An old engine pumping water.
The Bowers Fly Baby is a homebuilt, single-seat, open-cockpit, wood and fabric low-wing monoplane that was designed by famed United States aircraft designer and Boeing historian, Peter M. Bowers.
This particular aircraft was built in 1976. Powerplant is the venerable Continental A-65.
A polished Cessna 170.
The Cessna 170 is a tail-dragger produced by the Cessna Aircraft Company between 1948 and 1956. 5,174 were built.
It is the predecessor of the Cessna 172, the most produced aircraft in history, which replaced the 170 in production in 1956.
A Cessna 140. The first time I ever flew with my brother-in-law Bruce was in his Cessna 140 out of Lee Airport in Annapolis.
Cessna 140s were first produced in 1946, immediately following the end of World War II. Production ended in 1951, and was succeeded in 1959 by the Cessna 150, a similar two-seat trainer which introduced tricycle gear. Combined production of the 120, 140, and 140A was 7,664 units in five years.
Pietenpol Air Camper, built in 2001, based in Tennessee.
A Piper PA-24 Comanche 250 with nice retro paint scheme. This particular aicraft was built in 1963. The model 240 featured a Lycoming O-540 powerplant giving the Comanche some nice speed.
The Comanche was designed and built by Piper Aircraft and first flew on May 24, 1956. Together with the PA-30 and PA-39 Twin Comanches, it made up the core of Piper's lineup until 1972, when the production lines for both aircraft were destroyed in the 1972 Lock Haven flood. Almost 5,000 were built.
A couple of Essex Skypark friends have one of these.
1948 Stinson 108-3.
A pink Citabria taxiis up to receive the next pumpking dropper.
Spectators watching the pumpking dropping.
Close-up of the boat. Photo by GAAM.
A Citabria makes a drop; you can see the pumpkin overhead the Geo Tracker. You were supposed to drop from 300 feet.
Griffin with his three pumpkins!
Carey J. Beitler took this excellent shot of us making a pumpkin run in the Decathlon.
The Decathlon's door is designed to come off quickly and easily, I guess to facilitate egressing with a parachute (the Decathlon is designed for aerobatics). We didn't plan to bail out, however; we took the door off so we could drop our pumpkins.
A hasty shot during the final pumpking drop.
We checked out the show cars.
I've never seen this car before. It's an Avanti, an American performance sports coupe based on the Studebaker Avanti and marketed through a succession of five different ownership arrangements between 1965 and 2006. A small and often interrupted stream of increasingly modified cars was made before all production ceased in 2006.
Immaculate Bücker Bü 133 Jungmeister.
The Jungmeister was an advanced trainer for the German Luftwaffe in the 1930s.
From another angle. I need to come to Grimes again and see it fly around with the Triplane and Pup.
From the GAAM webpage: This aircrft has the same outward appearance as the original, but it differs significantly internally. The wood and wire braced fuselage is replaced with a lighter and stronger welded steel type. An original Hispano-Suiza engine is very difficult and expensive to obtain, so a more modern Continental O-470 six cylinder 230 horsepower engine was installed. This aircraft is much more reliable than an original and is capable of flying to away locations very safely.
Three highwings fly by and drop candy for the kids.
I saw this RV-7 and wondered whose it was. It turns out it's my old friend Mike B's ride. He helped me put my wings on my bird way back when and finished his shortly after mine. I should have known it was his -- look at the N-number. I didn't see him fly in or run into him though, unfortunately.
Kids returning from the candy drop, having picked the area clean.
A nice Kitfox. Vans Aircraft has been the dominant kitplane manufacturer by far the last few decades but in the late-80s and 90's it was Kitfox.
1999 Warner Revolution II.
Also marketed as the Spacewalker I, this plane is an American homebuilt aircraft that was designed and produced by Warner Aerocraft of Seminole, Florida. When it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit or in the form of plans for amateur construction. The aircraft is intended to be reminiscent of the open cockpit monoplanes of the 1930s, such as the Ryan ST.
The Pumpkin-drop fly-in was so well attended that some pilots had to park their aircraft at the east end.
Heading home, we took the straight shot towards Essex Skypark. Here we are crossing the Susquehanna River.
Coming to Essex Skypark from the north requires a transition approval from Martin State Tower. No big deal, they are always good about it.
Back at the ranch, Griffin and I had fun riding ATVs around the Skypark. Great aviation day!
