Yuma Endurance Days schedule set
Re: Yuma Endurance Days schedule set
Best wishes to everybody in Yuma, from Eric and Dorothy the N1241H Restoration. Hope to see you all next year!
-
Paul Agaliotis
- Posts: 2589
- Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 18:49
- Location: San Martin, California
- Contact:
Re: Yuma Endurance Days schedule set
Joe,
Spent all day tacking in the sites. But the breakfast is at the airport till 11 and then it moves to Main Street downtown. They have a lot of support from the city. Should be a great time!
Paul
Spent all day tacking in the sites. But the breakfast is at the airport till 11 and then it moves to Main Street downtown. They have a lot of support from the city. Should be a great time!
Paul
Mailing Adress : Paul Agaliotis 2060 E. San Martin, San Martin,Calif. 95046
Re: Yuma Endurance Days schedule set
Thanks much and will see you hopefully no later than 8 in the morning.
Joe
Joe
Re: Yuma Endurance Days schedule set
Well everyone, we are having a great time here in Yuma. They are putting on a very nice show here and we are having a really good time.
Matt and Monika are here, as is Paul A and his wife. Mike and a friend (forget his name) flew in their Champ from Casa Grande. Paul flew their beautiful L-16 down.
Will post some photos once I get home later today.
Joe A
Matt and Monika are here, as is Paul A and his wife. Mike and a friend (forget his name) flew in their Champ from Casa Grande. Paul flew their beautiful L-16 down.
Will post some photos once I get home later today.
Joe A
Re: Yuma Endurance Days schedule set
It was a fun weekend in Yuma!
We got to talk to some of the original players of the 1949 endurance record. Thanks to everyone involved in the organisation for their perseverance and their hospitality! The pankaces were excellent and the talks interesting. And to Joe, the only one to fly in in an airworthy Sedan. Wished, there had been more Sedans parking in front of the hangar, but Joe's proved that the Sedan is truly an enduring construction. It kind of gave the event the fourth dimension – time!
Here are a couple of pictures for those who could not be there...
Matt & Monika
The record setting City of Yuma, less wings, was hauled to the airport, early in the morning.
Reunited with a Buick Super Eight, just like the one that was used to refuel, reoil and refeed the plane and its pilots.
Numerous visitors, including a beautiful white Champ.
Joe and his Sedan – welcomed like stars! He would soon learn that he is, in fact, a TV star...
Woody Jongeward (left) was one of the two pilots, Horace Griffen the donator and driver of the Buick convertible, in 1949.
Shirley Woodhouse Murdock and Jim Gillaspie, the authors of "The Longest Flight", the fascinating book about the story of the record flight.
Around 11 o'clock, the historic airplane was transported to Main Street in downtown Yuma for the evening program. This is kind of a meaningful photo: If it hadn't been for the 1949 endurance flight that motivated the military to keep their Yuma base, after the war, the two helicopters would probably not be in this picture, today!
But there was still some action at the airport: Joe became a TV star, when he was asked by a young, attractive journalist to report about the Aeronca Sedan and the event!
And another Aeronca visitor was also still there: Paul's marvelous L-18!
A little later, a beautiful red and cream Sedan was seen in the Yuma skies.... CFI Gareth Gilson drove all the way from the Pacific coast to Yuma. He offered Matt a Flight Review needed to legally fly N1331H in Switzerland, when that restoration is completed. Thanks again, guys, for your help and trust! You are just wonderful friends! From left to right: Gareth, Matt, Monika, Joe.
After enjoying a break from the sun and a refreshing shower at the hotel, we met again on Main Street, at 5 in the afternoon. The City of Yuma, the Buick, historic pictures and newspaper clips about the record flight and about the airplane's restoration caught the interest of the public. In addition, two aviation movies, Aviator and Hell's Angels were shown.
Another view of the Main Street.
Later in the evening, the principal players and today's supporters were honored in a speech. And by about 8 o'clock, when everybody had enjoyed dinner under the setting sun, the City of Yuma was, again, moved onto the truck and hauled into storage. While, following the restoration of the plane, it was airworthy and flown, it is no more, today. The team is now working on a solution to permanently display the City of Yuma in a building downtown – wings mounted.
We got to talk to some of the original players of the 1949 endurance record. Thanks to everyone involved in the organisation for their perseverance and their hospitality! The pankaces were excellent and the talks interesting. And to Joe, the only one to fly in in an airworthy Sedan. Wished, there had been more Sedans parking in front of the hangar, but Joe's proved that the Sedan is truly an enduring construction. It kind of gave the event the fourth dimension – time!
Here are a couple of pictures for those who could not be there...
Matt & Monika
The record setting City of Yuma, less wings, was hauled to the airport, early in the morning.
Reunited with a Buick Super Eight, just like the one that was used to refuel, reoil and refeed the plane and its pilots.
Numerous visitors, including a beautiful white Champ.
Joe and his Sedan – welcomed like stars! He would soon learn that he is, in fact, a TV star...
Woody Jongeward (left) was one of the two pilots, Horace Griffen the donator and driver of the Buick convertible, in 1949.
Shirley Woodhouse Murdock and Jim Gillaspie, the authors of "The Longest Flight", the fascinating book about the story of the record flight.
Around 11 o'clock, the historic airplane was transported to Main Street in downtown Yuma for the evening program. This is kind of a meaningful photo: If it hadn't been for the 1949 endurance flight that motivated the military to keep their Yuma base, after the war, the two helicopters would probably not be in this picture, today!
But there was still some action at the airport: Joe became a TV star, when he was asked by a young, attractive journalist to report about the Aeronca Sedan and the event!
And another Aeronca visitor was also still there: Paul's marvelous L-18!
A little later, a beautiful red and cream Sedan was seen in the Yuma skies.... CFI Gareth Gilson drove all the way from the Pacific coast to Yuma. He offered Matt a Flight Review needed to legally fly N1331H in Switzerland, when that restoration is completed. Thanks again, guys, for your help and trust! You are just wonderful friends! From left to right: Gareth, Matt, Monika, Joe.
After enjoying a break from the sun and a refreshing shower at the hotel, we met again on Main Street, at 5 in the afternoon. The City of Yuma, the Buick, historic pictures and newspaper clips about the record flight and about the airplane's restoration caught the interest of the public. In addition, two aviation movies, Aviator and Hell's Angels were shown.
Another view of the Main Street.
Later in the evening, the principal players and today's supporters were honored in a speech. And by about 8 o'clock, when everybody had enjoyed dinner under the setting sun, the City of Yuma was, again, moved onto the truck and hauled into storage. While, following the restoration of the plane, it was airworthy and flown, it is no more, today. The team is now working on a solution to permanently display the City of Yuma in a building downtown – wings mounted.
Re: Yuma Endurance Days schedule set
Interesting article in the Yuma newspaper about what if they tried the endurance flight today.
~~~~~
Could endurance flight take place in current era?
October 10, 2009 12:17 PM
BY TERRY ROSS, SUN NEWS AND INFORMATION CENTER DIRECTOR
One of the disappointing things that happened to my father, and probably a lot of other "shade tree" do-it-yourself mechanics, was the computerization of automobiles.
Prior to the installation of these onboard computers - designed to improve fuel efficiency, reduce pollution and monitor the various systems - vehicles were mostly mechanical. You know, you took a part out and you replaced it with a new one.
That's still true to some extent, but the heart of the vehicle - its engine and fuel systems - is usually much more technologically sophisticated these days. It is harder to flip the hood up in your driveway and start fixing or tuning up things - you need specialized computer readers to find out what is going on.
Prior to that, someone with a mechanical inclination and a basic knowledge of automobiles - perhaps fortified with some auto repair manuals - could actually do a lot to repair or modify their vehicles.
I was thinking about this as I read an article we published this week about the modifications made to the City of Yuma, the airplane used in 1949 to set a flight endurance record of 47 days here. The event was celebrated Saturday.
I was wondering if this would have been as easy today.
I am sure airplanes, like automobiles, have become more sophisticated and complicated over the years. It likely is not as easy to "jury-rig" modifications as it was in 1949.
Of course, the modifications on the airplane were supervised by Paul Birch, a well-respected member of the local aviation community who met an untimely death some three decades ago when an airplane crashed into a hangar at the airport. He was the head mechanic at Marsh Aviation in 1949 and was a key figure in making the endurance flight possible.
So the comparison probably isn't quite the same, but still it appears the 1948 Aeronca Sedan AC-15 airplane used in the flight was pretty basic and therefore easy to modify.
It was chosen in part for the flight because it had a large cabin to provide the space needed to install two auxiliary fuel tanks once seats were removed, said Yuma author James Gillaspie.
Gillaspie co-authored a book on the flight with Shirley Woodhouse Murdock, sister of one of the pilots, Bob Woodhouse. The other pilot was Woody Jongeward. Gillaspie also spearheaded the effort to find and return the historic plane to Yuma in the 1990s.
He recounted to the Yuma Sun the modifications made to the airplane. Once the extra tanks were installed in the cabin, a way had to be found to transfer the fuel to the main wink tank. This was done with a hand-operated pump installed in the cabin.
Depending on which way one of the pilots cranked the pump, they could put fuel in the auxiliary tanks from small cans handed up to the plane from a speeding car underneath the plane or transfer fuel from the extra tanks to the wing tank.
Another significant modification, Gillaspie noted, was the ability to change the engine oil in midflight, which was changed every 100 hours of flight. Oil lines were installed from the engine to the cabin so new oil flowed into the engine as old oil flowed out another hose.
Various other mechanical modifications were made, as well as adding needed control panel gauges to the rather rudimentary aircraft.
I find the idea of fueling and changing oil while in flight with the engine always running to be fascinating. It demonstrates the kind of determination and ingenuity necessary to accomplish the record-breaking flight.
It also underlines the risky nature of this venture. Handling fuel is inherently dangerous - imagine doing it from cans over and over again as the engine continued to run.
And transferring fuel and other items from a car to the airplane as they raced along together nearly touching each other repeatedly day after day is equally as dangerous.
Would something like this even be possible today? Could a group of community people get together and do something so spectacular and hazardous?
I can just hear all the arguments about insurance and the potential for getting sued if something went wrong and how it was just too dangerous.
It was a different era in 1949. World War II had recently been won. People thought big. They could get together and say, "Let's do it!" And there weren't a lot of "nannies" hanging around saying, "Hey, someone could get hurt!"
http://www.yumasun.com/opinion/fuel-534 ... s-one.html
~~~~~
Could endurance flight take place in current era?
October 10, 2009 12:17 PM
BY TERRY ROSS, SUN NEWS AND INFORMATION CENTER DIRECTOR
One of the disappointing things that happened to my father, and probably a lot of other "shade tree" do-it-yourself mechanics, was the computerization of automobiles.
Prior to the installation of these onboard computers - designed to improve fuel efficiency, reduce pollution and monitor the various systems - vehicles were mostly mechanical. You know, you took a part out and you replaced it with a new one.
That's still true to some extent, but the heart of the vehicle - its engine and fuel systems - is usually much more technologically sophisticated these days. It is harder to flip the hood up in your driveway and start fixing or tuning up things - you need specialized computer readers to find out what is going on.
Prior to that, someone with a mechanical inclination and a basic knowledge of automobiles - perhaps fortified with some auto repair manuals - could actually do a lot to repair or modify their vehicles.
I was thinking about this as I read an article we published this week about the modifications made to the City of Yuma, the airplane used in 1949 to set a flight endurance record of 47 days here. The event was celebrated Saturday.
I was wondering if this would have been as easy today.
I am sure airplanes, like automobiles, have become more sophisticated and complicated over the years. It likely is not as easy to "jury-rig" modifications as it was in 1949.
Of course, the modifications on the airplane were supervised by Paul Birch, a well-respected member of the local aviation community who met an untimely death some three decades ago when an airplane crashed into a hangar at the airport. He was the head mechanic at Marsh Aviation in 1949 and was a key figure in making the endurance flight possible.
So the comparison probably isn't quite the same, but still it appears the 1948 Aeronca Sedan AC-15 airplane used in the flight was pretty basic and therefore easy to modify.
It was chosen in part for the flight because it had a large cabin to provide the space needed to install two auxiliary fuel tanks once seats were removed, said Yuma author James Gillaspie.
Gillaspie co-authored a book on the flight with Shirley Woodhouse Murdock, sister of one of the pilots, Bob Woodhouse. The other pilot was Woody Jongeward. Gillaspie also spearheaded the effort to find and return the historic plane to Yuma in the 1990s.
He recounted to the Yuma Sun the modifications made to the airplane. Once the extra tanks were installed in the cabin, a way had to be found to transfer the fuel to the main wink tank. This was done with a hand-operated pump installed in the cabin.
Depending on which way one of the pilots cranked the pump, they could put fuel in the auxiliary tanks from small cans handed up to the plane from a speeding car underneath the plane or transfer fuel from the extra tanks to the wing tank.
Another significant modification, Gillaspie noted, was the ability to change the engine oil in midflight, which was changed every 100 hours of flight. Oil lines were installed from the engine to the cabin so new oil flowed into the engine as old oil flowed out another hose.
Various other mechanical modifications were made, as well as adding needed control panel gauges to the rather rudimentary aircraft.
I find the idea of fueling and changing oil while in flight with the engine always running to be fascinating. It demonstrates the kind of determination and ingenuity necessary to accomplish the record-breaking flight.
It also underlines the risky nature of this venture. Handling fuel is inherently dangerous - imagine doing it from cans over and over again as the engine continued to run.
And transferring fuel and other items from a car to the airplane as they raced along together nearly touching each other repeatedly day after day is equally as dangerous.
Would something like this even be possible today? Could a group of community people get together and do something so spectacular and hazardous?
I can just hear all the arguments about insurance and the potential for getting sued if something went wrong and how it was just too dangerous.
It was a different era in 1949. World War II had recently been won. People thought big. They could get together and say, "Let's do it!" And there weren't a lot of "nannies" hanging around saying, "Hey, someone could get hurt!"
http://www.yumasun.com/opinion/fuel-534 ... s-one.html
Re: Yuma Endurance Days schedule set
Sad news just popped up.
The FBO in Yuma that hosted our stay three weeks ago has suddenly closed down.
Their service and friendship was excellent and this is sad news.
http://www.yumasun.com/articles/airport ... x-air.html
The FBO in Yuma that hosted our stay three weeks ago has suddenly closed down.
Their service and friendship was excellent and this is sad news.
http://www.yumasun.com/articles/airport ... x-air.html
Re: Yuma Endurance Days schedule set
Yes, that is sad! And for some reason I get the feeling that things might have intentionally gone wrong....
In any case, the Lux Air staff was very friendly and helpful, when we were there. We thank them and wish them all the best!
Matt & Monika
In any case, the Lux Air staff was very friendly and helpful, when we were there. We thank them and wish them all the best!
Matt & Monika
Aeronca 15AC Sedan – Restoring and flying the classic 4-seater: http://www.n1331h.com