Pacific Perspective - November 2004

Oliver 2005

	PP 01… The ramp at Oliver FAST Days 2005. Bessy, the Yak 52, and Peter Herzig’s massive T-28.
	PP 02… Yak 52 driver Dennis Lenton, of Port Townsend, WA, and Peter Herzig discuss formation technique.
	PP 03…  Tense moment at Walt’s.
	PP 04…  Les Mitchell arranges the Hankin birthday kids for the Great Avia Acro Wing Test at Delta.
	PP 06…  Delta’s Terry Wilshire wow’s the kids with his aeronautical quiz.
	PP 07… Rob Prior admires the gorgeous B.R.E. (Big Round Engine) going back on Dad Bruce’s classic Cessna 190 at Delta.
	PP 08… Billy Bishop Legionnaires Jim Custy, and pilot Jim Heise pose at Friday Harbour. Photo courtesy Jim Custy.
	PP 09…  Bill Brandon checks the ground is still there at the Bellingham customs stop. Photo courtesy Jim Custy
	PP 10…   That looks like Friday Harbour! Photo courtesy Jim Custy.
	PP 11…   On the desert, Mesa AZ, July 77. Ex RCAF Harvards 20222, 20405, and 20345 await rescue. Where are they now?
	PP 12… A stripped out panel… Typical of all 22 airframes in the Mesa yard.
	PP 13… A privileged sneak look at Bruce Underhill’s fabulous RV9a project. Photo courtesy Sneak Lookiloo Anon.

With such a nice weekend we couldn’t leave old Bessy cooped up in The Barn so soon after her operation. She, and we, needed some exercise.

A trip to the magic Okanagan would be just the job. We hadn’t been on a serious cross country for quite a while, and it took a bit to get things sorted out. Whilst Mary fretted over what to take for a lengthy trip away from home overnight, I pored through my always up-to-date A.I.P. to find all the relevant numbers, beginners radio frequencies and the like.

Spent all afternoon planning the great one hour saga across B.C.’s verdant valleys and pointy mountains coming up with four different ‘direct’ routes from Delta to Oliver.

Yet again I boned up on the fancy ICAO VFR Flight Plan Alpha Numerical codes, only to find when I eventually had it sorted, the NAV CAN WX Brief Customer Service Person asked all the questions in plain West Coastian English anyway.

Having only comfy old obsolete charts at home, I had of course to do it all again Sat’day morning after blowing 15 bucks on a new one at B.Bay’s Pacific Flying Club, and LO! As suspected, the mountains, valleys, railways and stuff were still in the same place. Sigh. This, and other complications like topping up with 140 litres of gas, and 10 litres of oil, took up a lot of  pre-flight time, and put us two hours beyond our ‘Take-Off by’ date.

JUST TELL US!

This meant that unless I rescheduled pretty quick , huge Hercs would be looking for us before we took off. Thank The Lord for cell phones! …They were very nice about it. “Just tell us when you’re off” they said.

Now in recent years I’d been given some weird forgettable numbers to open with Kamloops Radio, however happily we’ve reverted to dear old 126.7, which I remember from Flight Cadet days during the Korean Thingamy. Except that now we’re to call Pacific Radio, so as not to confuse people. Life was never so simple.

The Mary managed to cram all we owned into a simple carry bag or two for our lengthy overnight stay, and apart from helping lift her foot over the cockpit sill, all went smoothly.

The actual flight was a wondrous doddle. Right on one of the four tracks, the sky was severe blue except for the cloud layer at the cruising altitude we should be at, and mountain tops at the next level down. But nevertheless, Oliver turned up as promised, and we were soon slithering in on final over the grape vines and taxiing to the ramp to join the Nanchengs, Yak 52 and a couple of Harvards. It’s been a while.

It was the Annual FAST Formation and aerobatic forum, and everyone was deep in hand waving discussions. We were a mite late, but only there for a social visit, not to get serious.

However, my AME bloke, Colin, was there, and we went off for a few whiffodils to check the recent AD work was on tight, and spent an enjoyable 10 minutes in the practice area.

Though we found that heading straight down over spartan scrubland is similar to being over water, in that your mind can’t believe the altimeter because there are no buildings to provide scale. Wooheeee!

Afterward there was a great feed in the Lannon Hangar, with its Nancheng fuselage decor. The one man band was great, and there was even Bea’s Fabulous Honky Tonk piano music on a CD I brought from The Billie. It was good to see our hosts Walt and Eva Lannon, and Paul Dumoret keeping everything perking.

Everyone danced and talk talked into the evening, and we had a good laugh at the framed Swain Cartoon about ‘Lannon Aviation’on the wall, presented to Walt a decade ago when he moved from Delta to Oliver for a more leisurely life, and to ease Eva’s joints. …And, unlike the old days, everyone was away to bed at a decent hour. 

Next day, after wistful good-byes to everyone, we clambered in Old Bessy, our magic carpet, and retraced one of our four tracks home. A wonderful weekend like the old days. But somewhat bitter-sweet… Because our faithful Old Bessy may be gone by next year. Sob! …And double sob!

A DELTA PARTY

It is much thanks to one Rick Hankin, retired chief of most things at GVRD Parks a few years ago, that the Air Park still soldiers on. Rick’s leap of faith in a bunch of enthusiastic airplane people allowed it to happen - and we really appreciate that.

So when his daughter wanted somewhere to hold a kids birthday party we were just thrilled to have them use the pilot’s patio. I’ve not been to a kid’s birthday party in many a year, and as official Airport Stuff Guide, and Kids Hand Built Airplane judge, I had my work cut out.

Keeping a gaggle of 9-year-old kids corralled is a skill I never learned, but my foghorn voice kept ‘em in line for about 20 seconds, and I was proud of that. Showed ‘em the Tiger Moth, Les’s Avia Acro, and Terry’s upside down Spit.

Terry and Les were awesome with the kids, mesmerizing them with how airplanes fly, sitting on wings and poking around in Bessy’s Barn too, and thankfully, lost no-one in that Aladdin’s Cave.

It was a great experience, and we expect to see some of them back for a Young Eagle’s graduation!

BIG ROUND ENGINE

A few weeks ago Delta Secretary Bruce Prior and wife Jean drove way down to California to pick up the ultimate in airplane Guy’s jewelry - a big round Continental engine!

It had been down for major surgery at the Aero Engine Rebuild shop in Los Angeles, and boy, was it worth the trip! What a beautiful sight.

Bruce and son Rob fussed around hanging everything together and admiring the beauty of it all. It’s very much like a new baby with the fussing it created. Folks dropping by just to look and make admiring remarks. Airplanes really are magic things.

LEGION AIR GUYS

From time to time I hey myself down to the Local Billy Bishop Legion in Kitsilano to shoot the breeze with the guys in its comfy lounge.

The walls are hung all around with WW 1 and 2 airplane dogfight artworks. Even the fireplace grate is welded up from the blower, and a couple of con rods from a long gone Bristol Bolingbrook! Once upon a time I was appointed ‘Duty Pilot’ to fly ole Bessy by the Cenotaphs around town on November 11th.

There’s atmosphere in there. Squadron and Battalion wall plaques festoon the whole place. The Billy is a genuine officially recognized military museum type place. On Friday nights the incomparable Bea plays ‘The Old Songs’ on the pi-annah, you can even buy a CD!

Anyway, there was some big story telling going on about Bill, Jim and Tom’s big trip to the Famous Friday Harbour in Tom’s fancy Cessna. Seems that Bill was not exactly gung ho about flying in a small plane and on arrival for customs in Bellingham Bill took a close look at the ground!

However, he persevered, and eventually thoroughly enjoyed the flight, and after a couple of hours debriefing by the local Copaguy, decided to go take flying lessons so that next time he’d know what was going on, and could take over if necessary. Tom Custy took pictures, so here you go!

MESA JULY 1977

Having Bessy for sale makes me search down memory lane for Harvard stuff, and one intense one was from the days when big Jerry and I were pondering the Harvard Airplane Company. I chickened out. Who would want those things!  Sigh! Big mistake, but you can’t win em all.

Anyway, thought you’d like to see what happened to some of the Harvards surplussed in 1964. They ended up lined up in the Arizona desert, stripped of all their important parts. But they still retained a sort of dignity. Quite a sight. And there were Rattle-snakes!

AND FINALLY

A COPA exclusive view of the Underhill RV-9a Project progress! So whilst we look for a more sedate flying machine… Take care, and Fly Safe…

Tony Swain is a COPA director representing B.C. and Yukon. He has also been a COPA member for more than 20 years and has been an active participant in many aviation groups. He flies many types of aircraft and is concerned about the rights of sport pilots.