December 6, 2009 - Massey Airport Open-House

Sunday was the 9th Annual Open Hangar Day at the Massey Air Museum.   I was worried that Massey, which is a grass strip located in northeast Maryland, would be too muddy to the Fly-In.  It had rained pretty hard Saturday morning, then the rain had turned to snow.  We got a couple of inches at our house.  But the Massey web page said they hadn't gotten much snow and their field drained well, so I decided to go for it.  Besides, I had promised Ray an RV ride.  I figured we didn't have to land if the field looked bad. 

At the airport, I pre-heated the engine with my Red Dragon, put some air into the right tire, and we took off.  The RV loved the cool temps -- mid-40s.   I let Ray fly for awhile.  I had him do a bunch of turns at various banks, then some slow flight. 

Approaching Massey, we could hear on Unicom that things were busy.  We entered the pattern on a long crosswind.  There were six Citabrias and an Ultralight ahead of us!  I recognized some of the voices -- the Trunk Monkeys were on the scene.  I entered a left downwind behind the six Citabrias -- I think the Ultralight bugged out -- and then a seventh Citabria came in behind me.  It was Tom B. in Delta Delta. 

The runway seemed a little soft but not too bad.  But as soon as I turned into the taxi area, I ran into soggy turf.  At one point, I could feel my RV sliding across mud.  As soon as I rolled into a dry spot, I stopped.  Everyone was just stopping wherever they found a good spot.   Looking at my wheels though, it hadn't been so bad.   Regardless, we were here and it was time to eat!

 
As you can see, there is still a little snow on the ground. 
 
Despite the soggy field conditions, there was a pretty big turnout.  I'd estimate 50+ airplanes. 
 
I don't know why but this event was practically an Aeronca/Champion Fly-in.  There were sixteen total:  one L-3, two Decathlons, five or six L-16's, and the remainder 7 series Citabria's in all variants.  (Hat tip to Tom B. for the Aeronca Champion count).  Plus many other traildraggers including two Cessna 170s, two Cubs, a PT-23 and two Pitts. 
 
The Easton RV contingent was on-hand:  Bruce R., Richard and Fred. 
 
Plus this one I havn't seen before.  Nice paint job!
 
This green and white Super Decathelon belongs to Cindy Rousseau who runs Women Fly, Inc. and is based at nearby Ridgely.  Buy Women Fly gear from her page. 
 
Bruce flew his Cub over.  It took him about a half hour to thaw out!
 
His Cub always draws a crowd. 
 
A neat Evektor SportStar Max.
 
A Warbird Champ.  This Aeronca 7BCM was one of 509 produced in 1947 as L-16As for the USAAF  The present owner restored this aircraft and has won the following awards: 
 
2005 EAA Warbirds of America AirVenture, Judges' Choice: L-16
2005 EAA Warbirds of America Sun 'N Fun Best Liaison
2006 National Aeronca Association Convention, Best Military Aeronca
2007 EAA AirVenture, Warbird Preservation.
 
The hangar building to the right is the workshop hangar where all the food and drink was.  The building to the left is relatively new and has lots of models, a Stinson project and the library. 
 
The full-scale Corsair model is assembled now and on a pedestal. 
 

Inside the hangar workshop which was packed with people.  There was a very nice spread laid on.  That's a Cub project in the foreground.  And a glider fuselage hanging from the ceiling. 

I enjoyed talking with the Trunk Monkeys and my fellow RVers. 

 
The Stinson project in the new building. 
 
A model of a Waco troop carrying glider hangs in the new building. 
 
The library has an excellent collection of aviation books and videos.
 

tThis Fairchild PT-23 was my favorite plane at the fly in.  The PT-23 was the radial-engined version of the famous PT-19 trainer. 

 

 
You have to give the pilot credit for flying an open cockpit airplane on a cold winter day like today. 
 
Neat.
 

The PT-23 was followed by this Aeronca O-58B (either an L-3B or L-3C). "This is the military version of the Defender, built in the early 40's. Give-aways are the step on the landing gear and the door (though many O-58's had a greenhouse door)."

"Interesting trivia, according to "Aeronca, A photo history" a test pilot, Maurice Fry, successfully emergency landed an L-3B after having THE ENTIRE ENGINE separate from the airframe as the result of an in-flight propeller  failure. Also interesting that Aeronca's were the ORIGINAL "grasshopper", a name now more commonly associated with Piper liason airplanes."

Hat tip to HGBoyd at the Citabria Yahoo Group.

 
 
The PT-23 flew low overhead the hangars.
 
I scouted a dry path through the taxi-area, and we were able to taxi to the runway without too much trouble.  We did some more RV-aviating before heading back to Essex.  I thought the Massey Open House was a great success.  Chalk up another great aviation day. 
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