The Aeronca Aviators Club will stage its annual Southwest Fly-In at Flabob Airport May 20-22. The group is expecting to attract Aeronca and other antique owners from Southern California, Nevada and Arizona.
“We’re not sure how many will come in, but there are a lot of Aeroncas in this part of the world,” said organizer Jim Spee. “We hope that there will be enough interest to make this an annual event. It’s going to be low key, but most owners prefer it that way.”
Initial arrivals are expected to begin on Friday with an informal dinner planned for the evening. On Saturday there will be a pancake breakfast sponsored by Flabob Express, the DC-3 group. Flabob is staging its Open Hangar and Historic Display on that day. Spee will be discussing the Aeronca designs with EAA Chapter One’s active Design Group and another speaker will address the Aeronca owners on Saturday afternoon. There will be a catered dinner in the evening in the Chapter One facility. At breakfast at the Flabob Cafe on Sunday morning, participants will swap stories and tall tales one more time before departing.
One Aeronca Chief is already at Flabob. It is an aircraft that was restored by students in the Riverside area and then flown to the Oshkosh AirVenture. Today it is being used to provide flying lessons to other young restorers.
For more information: Jim_Spee@hotmail.com or Aeronca.org
