June 22, 2007 - Sentimental Journey Fly-In
Bruce and I took off from work and hopped into the Citabria for a visit to The 22nd Annual Sentimental Journey to Cub Haven Fly - In, located at the historic William T. Piper Memorial Airport (KLHV) in Lock Haven, PA. 

We took off around 8:30 and headed north over Martin State airport and out of the ADIZ.  Our first stop was at York Airport (KTHV), where we enjoyed breakfast at Orville's Restaurant, at the tail end of that jet below.  First time I had ever been here.  It's a nice airport.  There's even a little pilot's shop next to the restaurant. 

You couldn't ask for better flying weather.  This picture doesn't do it justice.  Visibility was unlimited:  50+ miles.  Scattered puffy cumulous clouds against the blue sky.  Temperature was pleasant in T-shirts and shorts.  We did have a headwind but hey, you can't have everything.  Bruce wanted to fly above the cloud layer and we ended up climbing all the way to 8000 feet!  That's Harrisburg and the Susquehanna River in the center of the picture, off our right wing. 
The long Pennsylvania ridges were blanketed by a carpet of dark green trees.  Flying north through Pennsylvania is a series of flat, farmed valleys and 2,000 foot ridges.  We came over the top of a ridge and there was Loch Haven.  Of course, we could hear the traffic on Unicom long before.  Loch Haven was a happening place on this day.  Here we are on right downwind for runway 27.  It's pretty obvious why 27 has a right hand traffic pattern. 
On final for 27 Left.  Landing on paved 27 right was never a consideration.  Look at the sea of yellow to the left.  This was definitely Cub haven.   
Our yellow Citabria blends in pretty well with all the Cubs.  It also has the third wheel in the right place so we should be OK.

The Cub we are parked next to belongs to our friends (and brothers) William and Anthony who had flown in the day before. 

Bruce and his Dad used to own a Piper TriPacer like this one. 
Bruce used to own a Cessna 140 also. 
This is a very nice-looking Mini-MAX, truth that you can get into the air for a lot less than you might think.  It is powered by a Rotax 447 which puts out a whopping 40 hp. 
My plane of the day:  a very sweet-looking Monocoupe 110 "Clipwing" Special.  Built in 1937 but looks like it could have been yesterday. 
We toured the on-field Piper Aircraft Museum.  The Piper Aircraft Company was based here at Loch Haven for many years until moving to Florida in 1982.  But this is where all the Cubs, Apaches, TriPacers, Cherokees, Comanche's, etc. were built. 
Man, if Bruce would have had a desk like this in school, he might have done much better!
This PA-12 Super Cruiser "The City of the Angels", along with another PA-12 "The City of Washington" were the first light planes to circumnavigate the world in 1947.  Airworthy, the Museum flies it fly a couple of times a year.  It is IFR-capable by 1947 standards. 
The silver J-2 hanging from the rafters was the predecessor to the J-3 Cub.
A yellow Cub against the blue sky; this is what Sentimental Journey is all about. 
The military version of the Cub, which was used in WWII.
Even a DC-3 flew at the fly-in.  I think it was giving rides. 
William and Anthony were flying to this dinner hosted by a farmer at his airstrip and invited us along.  The farmer's strip was a few miles south at the base of a ridge.  We didn't know what to expect but Bruce and I hopped into the Citabria and followed the Cub to this field. 
 
I'd say 30+ planes flew in and many people drove it.  There were probably more than 400 people total.

This is the fourth year Farmer Dan has hosted this dinner and it's grown bigger every year.  

The hangar/barn where dinner was served.  There was a large tent setup behind the barn as well with picnic tables. 
 
The dinner spread was awesome:  roast beef, scalloped potatoes, asparagus, deviled eggs,  and the desserts!  There were so many different ones and I could only try two.  And they were great.  That's not including the home-made ice cream that was being made right there in the barn.  They had a bucket to kick in for all of this. 
Three Cubs in a row.  William and Anthony's Cub is the first one. 
Landings were closely observed by spectators including that Amish family on the north side. 
The family Citabria.  Excellent choice!
Farmer Dan had this "Oriole" in his barn.  It was built in 1929 by Doyle Aero Corp. in Baltimore.  Doyle built but 13 planes and this is the only remaining one.  The Oriole sat in a barn from 1938 to 1984 when Farmer Dan acquired it and restored it.  It has a 65 horsepower engine with a top speed of 103mph. 
Farmer Dan also had an interesting collection of vehicles including a WWII armored car and halftrack. 
Check out the "Lancair" weathervane.
Number 4885 giving me the look.
Is this a veal farm or what?
Looking down the strip from the west end. 
Bruce showing the Citabria to an Amish family.
William, Anthony, myself and their Cub.  Yeah, they're big guys. 
Anthony let me sit in the front seat of the Cub for the ride back to Loch Haven.  William rode in the Citabria with Bruce.  Here, we've just taken off.  That's Bruce in the Citabria, and yes, it's Trunk Monkey #1, Tom B. to the right of the Citabria, waving. 
You can see Farmer Dan's strip in the center of the image, just at the base of that ridge. 
It was kind of funny to see the ignition wires vibrating in propwash and wind. 
We got a good look at the Fly-In on crosswind. 

There was entertainment at night.  They had a German polka band and a donation bar.   We hefted a few beers and listened to some polka, then retired to our delux accomodations:  tents under the Citabria's wing.
The next morning at 6 AM.  It was surprisingly cold during the night -- I was glad I brought my winter sleeping bag.  I slept pretty well until 6 AM when a plane very close by fired up his engine.  That was like the starting gun.  He was followed by five others who started up and taxiied out.  So much for sleeping late.  Bruce and I had breakfast, got the Citabria some fuel and packed our stuff.  We had to get back to Essex Skypark for the annual wings and wheels Family day. 

All in all, this was the best fly-in I've been to in a long time.  Very grass-roots, lots of taildraggers, good food, good company. 

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