General Aviation News

Starships, Bonanzas, Staggerwings and more flock to Beech Party

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Every October, it’s time to head to the Beech Party in Tullahoma, Tennessee, where Beechcraft owners and aficionados enjoy a gathering of the family clan.

This year was the 44th annual Beech Party held at the Beechcraft Aviation Museum. However, the Staggerwing Club has been hosting the fly-ins since the mid-1960s, according to Jody Curtis, who has been associated with the museum since 1997.

“The most rewarding thing about Beech Party is the camaraderie and celebration of general aviation,” said Curtis, who wears many hats at the museum, filling the roles of director of marketing and membership and Beech Party and event planner. [Read more…]

Homage to the Golden Age

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Dave and Jeanne Allen flew their 1930 Waco ASO from Elbert, Colorado, to Antique Airfield in Iowa this year, not only for the Antique Airplane Association‘s annual fly-in, but also for the 15th reunion of the 2003 National Air Tour.

Dave and Jeanne are well known in the antique community as a husband-and-wife restoration team. Together they have tackled several Waco projects, each of which represents their superlative attention to detail. [Read more…]

Alby’s remarkable journey across America

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Alby was, at first, a mythical albatross that fledged in soaring pilot Sergio Colacevich’s mind.

Sergio, a record-setting soaring pilot and a retired California Department of Transportation  engineer, formally introduced the concept of Alby’s journey in the September 2008 issue of Soaring magazine.

Described as a curious and adventurous young albatross, Alby, who was confined by nature to a life above the oceans, wanted to experience soaring across North America. He wanted to behold terrestrial wonders, from towering mountains and arid deserts to lush emerald farmlands and whitewater rivers.

Alby was drawn to the humans who were able to soar in silent, sleek-winged craft along California’s coast. These soaring people ineffably understood Alby’s desire, and invited him on an unprecedented, historical soaring relay flight.

The mission: Fly Alby, a beautiful bronze sculpture, from coast to coast. [Read more…]

Flying through time

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Ryan Lihs of Sioux City, Iowa, is an enthusiastic-yet-humble sort of aviator. When he flew his handsome black-and-gold biplane to Antique Airfield for the 2017 Antique Airplane Association Fly-In in Blakesburg, Iowa, this past Labor Day, numerous admirers were irresistibly drawn to it.

He happily shared the history of his 1929 Pitcairn PA-6. In fact, he enjoys doing that almost as much as he does flying it — and he did plenty of both during the fly-in. [Read more…]

One Snazzy Super Ace

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Whoa! What’s that sporty little airplane flying by? It looks like it’s flying right off the cover of the April 1935 issue of Popular Aviation!

Truth be known, it’s one of O.G. “Ace” Corben’s homebuilt designs, and detailed factory drawings for this monoplane were published in sequential issues of Popular Aviation that year. [Read more…]

Back to Blakesburg

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Come one, come all, from large to small — to Antique Airfield in Blakesburg, Iowa!

The airplanes that fill the skies over Antique Airfield every Labor Day weekend are a treat to see and hear, and it isn’t unusual to spot a make or model you’ve not seen previously.

Ever see an open-cockpit biplane in which pilot and passenger sit side-by-side? Know what a flivver plane is? Familiar with Ford-powered airplanes? Recognize the sound of a Kinner engine? Know what a Curtiss-Wright Sedan is?

These rare types of airplanes and engines aren’t static museum pieces — they’re alive and well! [Read more…]

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Earhart Commemorative Flight

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Fifty years ago, Ann Holtgren Pellegreno departed Oakland, California, on June 9 in a restored 1937 twin-engine Lockheed 10 Electra. She and her crew followed the “Earhart Trail” eastbound around the world, and returned to Oakland July 7, 1967.

Ann and her crew — mechanic Lee Koepke, the owner and restorer of Lockheed N79237; co-pilot Bill Payne; and navigator Bill Polhemus — had meticulously planned the Earhart Commemorative Flight, as closely as possible, to arrive over Howland Island at the same time and day of the month that Amelia Earhart’s flight would have in 1937. [Read more…]

As cute as a bug: The Stits Flut-R-Bug

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There doesn’t seem to be a great number of Stits Flut-R-Bugs flitting about the skies today, but one did join the field of flying machines this past Labor Day at the Antique Airplane Association fly-in at Blakesburg, Iowa.

At age 85, owner/builder John Banes of Fairfax, Iowa, no longer flies, so his private pilot/homebuilder son, “JR” Banes of Toddville, Iowa, was flying the Flut-R-Bug. Father and son were both wiping dew from the Flut-R-Bug’s wings one morning, and shared a little bit about N5479Y. [Read more…]

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