Progress

There is progress being made! This is what has been accomplished during all the work parties so far. (The small wood airplane in front). Thanks to those of you who have been able to help out on this project!

Flying Club Meeting

We will be meeting at Stewart Pollock's home (565 - 8A Avenue West in Cardston) this Thursday, April 14th at 7:00 pm to check out the progress on his RV-10.

Hope to see you all there!

Mid-air Repair

Fabulous footage, although grainy, due to time and bad equipment in those days compared to today, but what nerve this gal had!

Gladys Ingles was a member of a barnstorming troupe called the 13 Black Cats in the 1920s. Ingles was a wing walker; in this film, she shows her fearlessness in classic barnstorming fashion to save an airplane that has lost one of its main wheels. Ingles is shown with a replacement wheel being strapped to her back and then off she goes as "Up She Goes", a duet from the era, provides the soundtrack. In the video, Ingles transfers herself from the rescue plane to the one missing the main landing gear tire. She then expertly works herself down to the undercarriage only a few feet from a spinning prop. It's certainly a feat many mechanics wouldn't even try on the ground with the engine running.

(Thanks for the e-mail, George!)

P-51 Restoration Project

We had a great time today. The P-51 is coming apart very well and we have cleaned out most of the birds nests. We hope to have another work session in two weeks and finish disassembling the aircraft. Hope to see all of you there.

Doug Murray
Cardston Flying Club

Guest Speaker: Tony Burton

Tony Burton is a retired CF (and RCAF) officer living in Claresholm since 1980. He has long been active in many sporting and organizational aspects of soaring. He soloed in 1968 and has about 3600 hours in 46 glider types including 480 hours of instructing time. Tony is particularly active in cross-country and contest flying and in making record attempts – it keeps skills sharp and the mind focussed, he says. He has recorded about 87,000 km of cross-country flights (three over 700 km) that include many competitions and 22 national records to date.

While serving as a CF Exchange Officer in the USA in the 70s, he built a glider in which much of the above flying was done. He currently flies one of the smallest sailplanes on the market, the Russia AC4-C, which has a 12.6m wingspan and weighs only 350 lbs.

In the mid-1980s he was the organizer and project pilot for the joint Canada/US "Chinook Project", in which an instrumented 20m sailplane (the Alcor) was flown to gather high altitude atmospheric data. These flights were made from Claresholm and High River.

Organizationally, he has run two national competitions, wrote a manual on contest organization, was the Executive Director of the Alberta Soaring Council for 18 years, has been the editor of the national magazine Free Flight since 1982, and is a member of the international committee that writes the rules governing the sport.

Someplace To Fly To

We are starting a spot on the blog called "Someplace To Fly To". Here is a copy of part of an article I found in EAA Chapter 1410 newsletter. This ought to be a close flight and interesting.

We are challenging YOU to fly over and take a photo and then bring the photo to the next meeting. We will try to do this each month and then there will be a prize for the one with the most photos at the end of the year.

(click on the photo to enlarge and read)

We will have to find a new location each month and maybe it will be only a long/lat. and a unique object to photograph, so if you have any ideas - please e-mail them to lenlou@telus.net

Happy Flying!!!

Midnight Sun Challenge

You'll have to come to our next Flying Club meeting on September 9th to hear all about the adventures of participating in Midnight Sun Challenge to the Yukon!

Doug Murray and Lennard Nichols ready to head out!

Jim & Caroline Alcock on the way to Wetaskiwin the first day.