At 74, Canadian David Morrell has a shelf of literary awards to go along with his 30-plus novels. Creator of the American icon Rambo, Morrell is well-known in publishing as a man who prefers intense first-hand research over library-based research. “In 2006, I started to write a novel, ‘The Shimmer,’ about the mysterious Marfa lights […]
Girls look to the sky
All over the world in late September, thousands of girls were introduced to aviation. For the third annual Girls in Aviation Day, 74 events were held for an estimated 9,700 girls in the United States, Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Switzerland, and Zambia. The day’s mission: Help girls between the ages […]
Summer camp with altitude
Summer Camp on the SUN ‘n FUN campus is not your father’s summer camp. Here in sunny Florida on the southside of Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (KLAL), during the seventh year of the camp, 96 students enjoyed learning about aviation from experts. One year, Patty Wagstaff dropped in to talk about unusual attitude recovery. “We […]
Couple build World War I fighter
Retired USAF Colonels Blake and Sandy Thomas met at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. On their first date Blake took Sandy on a ride in a 1944 BT-13, a two-seat military trainer with a radial engine. “It was love at first flight,” Sandy said. In December 2017, they will celebrate their 23rd anniversary. Their […]
Smoking fun Stearman
Gary Rower of Rower Airshows donated a flight in his Stearman to the SUN ‘n FUN Media pool drawing and on Friday morning, April 7, 2017, I won. Abandoning dignity, I raised my arms in the air and gave a whoop of joy. For the 24 hours leading up to the scheduled Saturday morning ride, I […]
It’s all about the plane
Flying a P-51 Mustang is the dream of many pilots. Owning a Mustang, according to businessman and pilot Andrew McKenna, is a way of honoring those who flew them. At SUN ‘n FUN this year, McKenna was flying the USAF Heritage Flight in his P-51 Mustang in formation with the F-16 Viper and an A-10 Warthog. […]
Chinese aviators honor the Flying Tigers
During this year’s SUN ‘n FUN, a group of Chinese and Americans gathered beside the B-25J “Panchito,” an aircraft similar to the one used during the famous Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. The Chinese came to honor American airmen who fought with the Chinese against the Japanese in World War II. In particular, they commemorated the […]
E.T. and his Seabee: Sharing the joy
During a bright sunny day at this year’s SUN ‘n FUN, the people sheltered in the shade of the Seaplane Pilots Association (SPA) tent on Taxiway Echo all knew who owned the brightly-colored Seabee parked nearby. Built in 1947, the Republic Seabee RC-3 (N713ET), is a four-place amphibious aircraft. A plush toy from the movie […]
Repo Man Mike Kennedy: Aircraft and adrenaline
His hobbies include performing motorcycling stunts, skydiving, weapons trading, extracting venom from snakes, catching crocodiles, and oh, by the way, he owns a leopard he calls Spot. He is as comfortable in a wingsuit as a businessman is in wingtip shoes.