Formerly known as the Central Texas Taylorcraft Fly-In... this year, we merged forces with the folks from the Cessna 120/140 association. We also invited Champs, Cubs, and Stinsons. The result was a good time in spite of some unstable weather conditions on Friday, Saturday morning, and Sunday. As always, the crew at the Old Fort Parker Historic site and Fort Parker Flying Field were extra hospitable. The food was great, the people were awesome. Here are a few fun photos from this year's event.
Field Manager Darius Farmer proudly displays his custom Hand Washing Station
Uhhhmm... well it was all a big mixup and misunderstanding.
Mid morning lineup on Saturday.
The McGregor HS Howling Dogs Jazz Band entertained us under the Oak Trees.
Overhead view of the flying field and the old fort.
Sarah McReynolds is always a gracious host at the Old Fort.
View on short final coming over the trees to land on Runway 17.
PHOTOS BY NENA HADLEY, CASSIE HADLEY, AND ERIC MAJORS
Another successful Central Texas Taylorcraft Fly-in happened this past weekend at Fort Parker Flying Field adjacent to the Old Fort Parker Historic site near Groesbeck, Texas. Many Thanks go to Jed Keck, Darius Farmer, Mark Julicher, Sarah McReynolds and others for making this year a success.
Three Taylorcrafts and a half dozen other planes arrived on Friday which was an absolutely beautiful day with light cool breezes from the south all day. When evening came, the campfire was lit as others helped me prepare sausage links, chili, and all the fixin's for a good old-fashioned Texas cookout provided by Certified Aeronautical Products, LLC. Darius and his buddies Stan and Bill set the mood for a sweet time by providing some down home live country/blues tunes. After supper it was amazing to see the adults become kids again, roasting S'mores over the fire... just like we all did at summer camp back in the day.
Saturday morning brought a really different sort of "dawn patrol" for those of us accustomed to antique airplane fly-ins. Some of us began hearing this strange noise as we awoke to find out it was coming from a hot air balloon. We all witnessed the first-ever launch of a lighter than air craft from inside Old Fort Parker as we headed into the visitor center for excellent sausage and pancakes. This was the start of a fun day. A stiff breeze settled in for most of the day and gave way to a heavier south wind as the afternoon wore on. Various types of small planes came and went as a few more Taylorcrafts arrived. Some of the best entertainment of the day came as a result of efforts by Mark Julicher, who organized and marshalled a flour bombing contest followed by spot landing competition. Lawn chair observers lined the taxiway to watch as several un-practiced bombardiers attempted strafing runs over the airfield. The winning drop came to rest within 47 feet of the target. And only about 18 inches separated 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. Excellent lunch was then served at the Old Fort Visitor Center. Later in the afternoon, a slight cross-wind made for some interesting displays of pilotage for the spot landing contest, which was quite challenging to slip in over the trees making it down to the mark while keeping speed just right and simultaneously negotiating the wind. For most, it turned into a public display of 3-hopper landings. The best part of it all was the opportunity for renewed friendships and new acquaintances. As evening came, we all enjoyed stew and cornbread at the Fort Parker kitchen, followed by a special treat provided by the Hot Air Balloon folks, headed by Nick Stanko. Nick and crew set up their equipment and projected a bigger than life movie "Dr. Strangelove" on a makeshift screen across the side of their RV. More s'mores were roasted and consumed for a sweet end to a sweet day.
Aerial view taken Saturday afternoon by Neil Palmquist.
Here is another few photos from my friend Doug Ratchford, who attended the April 28th gathering at Kingsbury Aerodrome.
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Hey Terry,
Last weekend I went out to Pioneer Flight Museum at Old Kingsbury for their spring air
fair. I had a great time, saw several friends and made many new ones. I had so much fun I
decided to join and have already signed up for a get dirty project on some old (and I mean OLD)
display engines.
Several late model Cessnas flew in, a few Vans , two Stearmans and a really pretty Cessna 195.
Also the Cessna Bird Dog with the big dog teeth and hanging tongue.
Don Price, CAF Gulf Coast Wing Leader arrived later in his PT-26 (editors note - Doug I think you meant PT-22) and I had a pleasant chat with him. PFM had all their Model T fleet and antique bikes out driving around the patch which was lots of fun. Lots of grinning kids.
Here's a few pix. Check out this prehistoric engine lineup. The fuse at left is a 1917
Thomas-Morse S4 "Tommy Scout". Engines are L-R Hisso 150, Lawrance, Salmson, 2 Gnomes,
LeRhone, Liberty, Hall-Scott and any Robin driver should recognize that thing on the far right.
enjoy
doug
The following is a guest post from my friend Doug Ratchford, which I asked him for and then after he provided it, I got busy and neglected to post it until now. Doug did a nice writeup on the 2012 Central Texas Taylorcraft Fly-in held March 30-31 at Fort Parker Flying Field, in Groesbeck, TX. He has also provided some really nice photos he took himself. My apologies to Doug in dragging my feet to get this published. But I think the readers will agree it was worth the wait. Thanks Doug and nice work! Terry
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Tail Logo from NC22207 photo by Doug Ratchford
GUEST POST
I had a real good time with some fine people last weekend.
Terry and I finally met face to face, Doc and I had met before at a
warbird event and there were a couple of more folks I'd crossed paths
with at a fly-in last fall, so vintage av is still a small world. This
is my first guest post on anyone's blog so thanks for the invitation to
do so Terry and I hope y'all don't mind me rambling a bit.
My sum total Taylorcraft experience prior to this was seeing my
father in law's and uncle's 1942 DC-65 fly around the patch once about
fourteen years ago in Wisconsin.(7878Charlie is now in the Denver area)
Other than the Piper connection, I was pretty clueless. After close
to a decade in warbirds I've gotten more and more involved in the
vintage club/type fly-ins and really like the experience. I'm not
giving up my B-17 gig but I've really gotten to like the family
atmosphere of club fly-ins. Being an avid photographer too, it's easier
to get close ups of vintage GA aircraft than of a warbird several
hundred yards away. Not to mention easier to catch a buddy ride.
Saturday I heard the comment that looking at a lineup of the same
model, they all look alike at a glance but upon closer examination,
there are boucoup differences. "Like they never built the same thing
twice." Sounds like Wacos....hmm..
I was hoping to get some dawn pix Sat. since the a/c were facing
east but it got pretty froggy early on. No problem-muted early light
with everything all drippy makes good photo ops too.
Blue skies and tailwinds until the next event,
Doug "Ratch" Ratchford, Brenham, Tx.
member-Lone Star Flight Museum & National Waco Club
March 30-31, 2012: Groesbeck TX:
Although morning fog was a factor each day, we can say that the 2012 Central Texas Taylorcraft Fly-in was a resounding success. 8 gorgeous Taylorcraft airplanes, 4 other Taylorcraft owners, 8 non-taylorcraft airplanes, and several other Taylorcraft enthusiasts showed up for a really good time. Much praise and thanks go out to the folks at Fort Parker Flying Field and the Old Fort Parker Historic Site for an outstanding job of hospitality. Owner - Jed Keck, Field Manager - Darius Farmer, and Director,Old Fort Parker Historic Site - Sarah MacReynolds went the extra mile for this event and all the feedback I got was... it was great! What a nicely prepared lush and green airfield with God's special wildflower trimmings. The food, the hospitality, hard to find anywhere, but Texas!
Greg & Becca House - Low Pass down the runway. Photo by Jack Fleetwood
Thursday morning, as mentioned, started off with fog and low ceilings over most of Texas until around 9 am or 10 am. Lon and I finally got away fro Tick Hill Airfield at 10:50 in the yellow Taylorcraft BC12-D N95598... off for an hour flight to Deer Pasture Airfield to retrieve his white Taylorcraft BC-65 NC22207. We then flew together for fuel at Burnet and finally headed toward Fort Parker by 1:30 pm. To make a long story short ... we eventually both made it by 5:30 pm with only his '39 model. This came after some in-flight excitement for me as my trusty A65 developed a slight misfire. I had to set down 50 miles short due to a bad magneto. With N95598 tied down and secured for the weekend, we finally made it to the Fly-in to find there were already 3 other nice BC12-D's tied down on the field. We also heard that we had missed a Pietenpol, Kitfox, and Piper PA-12 that had already come and gone.
The Old Fort Parker Patriots were winding down their Cowboy shooting events for the day and graciously included all of us airplane folks for a really nice evening meal. I felt under-dressed as most of them were sporting their 1800's frontier attire. The ladies were especially fancied up in their nice dresses and hats. The clouds all vanished and cool breeze made for a really nice evening as one more airplane (a polished rag-wing Cessna 140) showed up in time for supper.
Saturday morning revealed more FOG. But this gave those of us in attendance a chance to visit and look over each of the airplanes. It is amazing to me how different the details are between each Taylorcraft. We concluded there must not have been any two built alike. But there is no doubt... each one there was really nicely kept and equipped. By 9:30 am the clouds began to lift and more airplanes arrived. From then on things got busy and more fun as the day went on. Some new relationships were started and some very nice taildraggers were shown. All-in-all... it's the airplanes that we have in common. But it's the people who make it worthwhile. Things really began to slow by 4 pm leaving only one sole Taylorcraft by dusk. Lon and I took the kids and some others for a few buddy rides as the sun set down.... then off to town for some real-live Tex-Mex... a sweet ending to a sweet gathering of tailwheel airplanes.
For those who missed it this year, we hope you can make it next year!
other taylorcraft owners in attendance (did not fly)
1. 1946 bc12d - nc43849 - s.n. 7508 - neal & miriam palmquist- grand
prairie, tx - restoring/grandpa bought new
2. 1946 bc12d - n95598 - s.n. 7898 - terry & leann bowden, moody,
tx - yellow/black - lost r. Mag on the way
3. 1946 bc12d - n43697 - s.n. 7356 - andrew roselle - muenster, tx -
airplane down for exhaust repairs
4. 1946 bc12d - n95135 - s.n. 9535 - james e coppenger - lampasas, tx
non-taylorcraft airplanes in attendance
1. Kitfox - n73bh - pete christensen - leander, tx
2. Pietenpol air camper - nx899kp - kevin purtee - austin, tx
3. Aeronca 11ac - n86249 - jack fleetwood - austin, tx - yellow/blue
4. Piper pa-12 n2315m - rod johansen - shady shores, tx
5. Cessna 140a - n5641c - e.r. "dick" more - conroe, tx - white/red
aircraft is for sale
6. North american navion - n5221k - greg young - spring, tx
7. Cessna 140 - n76887 - vic white - spring branch, tx - silver/polished
8. Cessna 140a - n80h - dean howard - san antonio, tx - black/gold -
owned for 32 yrs
other attendees registered
1. Doug ratchford - brenham, tx
2. Nolan & millie bell - denton, tx
3. Richard outlaw - groesbeck, tx
4. Ron, sarah, & judy rosell - highland village, tx
5. Rodney willett, groesbeck,tx
6. Joe nix, atlanta, ga - luscombe 8a owner
N95598 sits tied down after a mag failure and precautionary landing at muddy Salado airport. Nothing to do now but wait for my wingman to come back for me.
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