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Seven planes showed up at Smyrna. Herb in the eighth plane was late and met us at the next stop. He was coming from New Jersey and ran into some traffic. Or it might have been he forgot he was flying the Citabria instead of his RV-4.

The airport owner, Mr. Jenkins, runs an aircraft boneyard on the field. We checked out some of the airplanes that had seen better days. Mr. Jenkins came out and talked to us. He's a very interesting guy -- flew P-61 Black Widow nightfighters and Beaufighters in the Mediterranean theatre during World War II.

We landed at Laurel Airport (N06), taxiied back and took off again. Laurel has a big skydiving operation. At the time we landed, there was an overcast layer around 5,000 feet so they weren't jumping. There were a lot of people standing around -- probably waiting for the weather to improve -- and it looked like they enjoyed us coming by. After all, how often do you see eight brightly colored taildraggers flying around together?

Next stop was Bennett Airport, just outside of Salisbury, Maryland. Again, we just landed, taxiied back, and took off again. Bennett has a small skydiving operation and it was the same deal, a bunch of skydivers were standing around waiting for the weather to clear. You have to make your patterns tight at Bennett; there are good size towers all around the airport. Not to mention the obligatory tall trees at the approach end of the runway. Everyone got their slipping proficiency in this day.

Downwind at Kentmorr Airpark. This grass strip on Kent Island, adjacent to the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, is a little airport community and is a couple of hundred yards from a marina restaurant.

The fabulous Trunk Monkeys! From left to right: Tom, Peggy, Bill, Pete, Al, Mark, Tim, Dick, Joe, Bruce and Herb.

Massey is one of those great, grass roots airfields that are always good to stop in on. They always have some interesting projects and planes in their hangars to check out and friendly people to hangar fly with.

Dick's Super Decathelon.

2nd Annual All Grass All Day Delaware-Maryland Tour September 4, 2006
Although Hurricane Ernesto ruined the flying weather for most of Labor Day weekend (and knocked the power out at my house for 36 hours), Monday's weather was pretty good. The All Grass All Day tour was a GO! We all met at Smyrna Airport (38N), Delaware at 8:30 in the morning. The air was smooth as silk flying over from Essex Skypark (W48) and the visibility was outstanding -- 40+ miles. Grass strips don't come much better than Smyrna's: 125 feet wide! For today's all grass tour we had 8 airplanes and 11 people: six Citabrias, one Super Decathlon and a Cessna 170. We called ourselves the Trunk Monkey flight. Pilots were from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland.

Seven planes showed up at Smyrna. Herb in the eighth plane was late and met us at the next stop. He was coming from New Jersey and ran into some traffic. Or it might have been he forgot he was flying the Citabria instead of his RV-4.

Getting a large group of pilots moving is tough to do, but we finally got going and headed for our next stop -- Jenkins Airport (15N). Here, we're all parked on the parallel taxiway since there wasn't much ramp area.

The airport owner, Mr. Jenkins, runs an aircraft boneyard on the field. We checked out some of the airplanes that had seen better days. Mr. Jenkins came out and talked to us. He's a very interesting guy -- flew P-61 Black Widow nightfighters and Beaufighters in the Mediterranean theatre during World War II.

Our next stop was Eagle Crest, which is an airport community just inland from the Delaware Bay. We landed, taxiied back, and took off.

Leaving Eagle Crest, we hopped over to the coast and headed south. You can see Trunk Monkey #2 and #3 behind me.

This Citabria towing a banner passed beneath us heading north.

We landed at Laurel Airport (N06), taxiied back and took off again. Laurel has a big skydiving operation. At the time we landed, there was an overcast layer around 5,000 feet so they weren't jumping. There were a lot of people standing around -- probably waiting for the weather to improve -- and it looked like they enjoyed us coming by. After all, how often do you see eight brightly colored taildraggers flying around together?

Herb in Trunk Monkey #8 greasing it on.

Next stop was Bennett Airport, just outside of Salisbury, Maryland. Again, we just landed, taxiied back, and took off again. Bennett has a small skydiving operation and it was the same deal, a bunch of skydivers were standing around waiting for the weather to clear. You have to make your patterns tight at Bennett; there are good size towers all around the airport. Not to mention the obligatory tall trees at the approach end of the runway. Everyone got their slipping proficiency in this day.

Leaving Bennett, we headed northwest towards Cambridge. Here we're flying over the Nanticoke River. Tom brought his section up alongside. You miss out on seeing all the other planes when you fly lead, so I enjoyed watching Tom's flight.

We stopped at Cambridge for fuel, then headed north towards Kentmorr, our lunch destination. Tom has taken his section down low to look for deer, although he has detached Herb in Trunk Monkey #8 to fly topcover. The Choptank River is at the top of the picture.

Kentmorr Airport is within the ADIZ but you can transit there without talking to Potomac Approach if you squawk a designated code. We flew north until we were due east of Kentmorr, then turned west squawking the code. On the way, we flew by Talisman Farm Airfield. I didn't know anything about this great looking grass strip until recently and have never landed here. Unfortunately a new owner just purchased the property and evicted all the planes living there. The future of this field isn't very bright.

Downwind at Kentmorr Airpark. This grass strip on Kent Island, adjacent to the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, is a little airport community and is a couple of hundred yards from a marina restaurant.

The Citabria's looking good at Kentmorr.

The fabulous Trunk Monkeys! From left to right: Tom, Peggy, Bill, Pete, Al, Mark, Tim, Dick, Joe, Bruce and Herb.

Everybody feeling good after a great lunch of Maryland crab cakes.

The Kentmorr restaurant from the air.


Leaving Kentmorr, we headed due east to get out of the ADIZ, then headed north and followed the Chester River to Massey Aerodrome (MD1) which was the end of the All Grass All Day tour.

Massey is one of those great, grass roots airfields that are always good to stop in on. They always have some interesting projects and planes in their hangars to check out and friendly people to hangar fly with.

Bruce and I flew back to Essex Skypark. The last leg home is always good. You reflect on the day's flying, the engine purrs steadily, and it's just a relaxing ride. You hate for it to end. Below is a nice shot of the Chester River. Surprisingly, the weather turned crummy over the Chesapeake Bay and we got rained on! Nevertheless, fun was had by all. Chalk up another successful All Grass All Day tour.

Pete's 7ECA.

Al's Citabria 7ECA.

Tim's, wait -- that's a strange looking Citabria. Actually, it's a Cessna 170. But the third wheel is in the right place.

Tom's 7GCAA.

Dick's Super Decathelon.

Mark's 7GCAA..

Herb's 7KCAB.

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2nd Annual All Grass All Day Delaware-Maryland Tour

September 4, 2006