April 30, 2011 -
Massey Chili Fly-In |
| Upon landing at
Massey Aerodrome (MD1), we
were parked with the other RVs. Bruce R and Richard S. were already
here. I think I counted eleven
RVs at the fly-in -- the most of any plane type probably. I knew
most of the RV drivers. |
|
 |
|
|
Massey is probably my favorite small fly-in because of the large
numbers of airplanes that show up and the diverse types. In addition
to RVs, there were Taildraggers of every type, Ultralights, Trikes,
Gyro-copters, Bunker By131 Junmann (2), Sonexes, a big Grumman Goose
amphibian and of course the main attraction, the 1911 Curtis Ely
Pusher.
It was overcast over the Eastern Shore and actually a little
cool. It finally burned off around 2PM or so. |
|
 |
|
| There was much
food to be had in the open hangar to the right. I brought some of
Lynnette's homemade cookies -- they didn't last long. |
|
 |
|
|
Taildragger alley. |
|
 |
|
|
The historic1911 Curtiss-Ely Pusher,
the first aircraft to takeoff and land from a ship. Retired Navy
pilot Bob Coolbaugh built this replica to honor the 100th anniversary of
Naval Aviation. He and Andrew King have and will be flying it
around the country to let people see it. |
|
 |
|
| The battle-weary
DC-3 with the beautifully restored Chevy out front. |
|
 |
|
|
Loyal readers will know the
radial-powered Cessna 195 is one of my favorite planes. |
|
 |
|
| A Kitfox with an
unusual paint job. Check out the 100 dollar gbills on top of the
wings. |
|
 |
|
| A single-seat Kolb
ultralight. |
|
 |
|
| A nicely-done
Waiex. It has the V-tail, just like Bruce's Xenos. The Xenos
wings are twice as long though. |
|
 |
|
|
The Trikes had fun flying around
towards the end of the fly-in when the sun came out. |
|
 |
|
| An Essex Skypark
pilot taxiing out in his Cherokee, heading for home. |
|
 |
|
|
Brian, also flying a Cherokee,
heading back to Essex. |
|
 |
|
| A Bunker Jungmann
showing off on takeoff. |
|
 |
|
|
A good look at the front of the Pusher which is not an exact duplicate,
but it does look exactly like the 1911 plane. The engine is a 125 hp
Continental C-125.
|
|
 |
|
| |
|
Can you believe how many wires are holding this aircraft together!
Sport Aviation has a good article about Coolbaugh and the Pusher
replica in the January 2011 issue.
|
|
 |
|
|
The winds weren't bad, but they weren't
what I would call light and variable, so I didn't think the Pusher was
going to fly. But all of a sudden around 2PM they started pulling it
towards the runway. |
|
 |
|
| While they were
positioning the Pusher, the second Bunker Jungmann took off. |
|
 |
|
|
He's going vertical! |
|
 |
|
| The Pusher taxiied
to the south end of the runway while everyone gathered on "the grassy
knoll" to watch the take off. Then it was coming towards us. I
think it was airborne fairly quickly. I was about 75 feet high by the
time it passed us. I could see the pilot -- Andrew King --
working hard, moving the control wheel constantly to keep the wings
and level and the nose in a shallow climb. |
|
 |
|
| Here he
comes. |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| Andrew made three
passes down the runway. The last one was very low, pictured
here. |
|
 |
|
| The crowd cheered
when Andrew taxiied in. He looked happy -- and relieved. |
|
 |
|
| Well done, well
done. It was like witnessing history, seeing this plane fly. Just
magnificent. |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Ely's aircraft
actually touched the water
briefly before establishing flying speed. |
|
  |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| The Naval Aviation
Museum in Pensacola has this model of the USS Pennsylvania
with the temporary flight deck that Ely landed on. |
|
 |
|
| The Pusher on the
flight deck of the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77). |
|
 |
|
| In 1995 as part of the 50th anniversary
celebrations of the end of WW2 the Navy allowed the launch of 3 B-25s, 2
Corsairs, 2 Gooses, a Wildcat, a Dauntless, and a couple of others from
the deck of the USS Carl Vinson. Unfortunately they didn't give permission
for the Curtiss Pusher to do it.
|
|
 |
|
| But I
digress. Back to the fly-in, Ralph C. from
Laurel, MD flew in with his brightly colored RV-6A. |
|
 |
|
|
Arjan showed up as well. This
was his first-ever landing on grass. Survived to tell the
tale! |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
| Two gyro-copters
flew in: one enclosed (pictured here). The other was
unenclosed and flown in by Bob S. who is a fellow member of my EAA
Chapter. He just got his instructors license in the
Gyro-copter. |
|
 |
|
|
A Pietenpol Air Camper (2-seater)
taxiing out. |
|
 |
|
| Aussie heading
home to North Carolina. |
|
 |
|
|
Aircoupe showing off in
a steep-climb out! |
|
 |
|
| Nice looking Piper
PA-22-150 Tri-Pacer. This aircraft was buiit in 1957. |
|
 |
|
| Bruce R.
explaining either a complicated aerial maneuver or the philosophy of life
perhaps to Ralph C. The last time I saw Ralph's RV-6A was at
Campbell Field and it was bare aluminum with primer grey on the fiber
glass pieces. It looks like a million bucks now. |
|
 |
|
|
The biggest plane to fly in was this Grumman G21
Goose. It was originally designed as an eight-seat "commuter"
plane for businessmen in the Long Island area.
345 were
built overall. This particular one was built in 1943 for the U.S.
Navy. It was sold in 1956 was the unbelievable sum of
$22,222.22. Now it is based at Forest Hill Airport in
Maryland.
My group of five RVs
were waiting as the Goose taxiied by and then took off. Five of us
RVs took off after the Goose. Although Massey is only 3000 feet
long, I think the Goose was off in the first 1000 feet.
We took off and then came around for individual
low-passes. Then Bruce R. and I played around a little bit before I
headed back to Essex Skypark.
I thought the Massey fly-in was a great
success. They had big turn-out with a lot of interesting planes, not
to mention the incomparable 1911 Curtiss-Ely Pusher. All my pilot
friends were at Massey (except for Bruce who was getting his Cub
annualled). Today was a great aviation day.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|