What could be nicer than building and flying your own Jungmeister? Why, having a buddy who’s doing the same! That’s precisely what Hank Galpin and Jay Billmayer have been up to for more than a decade. The two are longtime friends and hangar neighbors at Glacier Park International Airport in Kalispell, Montana. But first there […]
Flying through time
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, […]
One Snazzy Super Ace
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. The Corben […]
Back to Blakesburg
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 […]
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Earhart Commemorative Flight
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 […]
As cute as a bug: The Stits Flut-R-Bug
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, […]
Hayden’s storied Spokane Parasol
A silver Heath Super Parasol shimmered in the late summer sun as it flew by Antique Airfield. Its 20-year-old owner/pilot, Hayden Newhouse, felt the breeze ruffling through his hair, and couldn’t help but smile as he listened to the Continental A-40 humming happily along and the wind whistling through the Parasol’s wire-braced wing struts. Gazing […]
Back to Blakesburg and back to basics
The weather was so delightful this year that there were a record number of airplanes — close to 400 — that flew to Antique Airfield at Blakesburg, Iowa. Aircraft from 37 states were in attendance, and Classic Aviation of Pella, Iowa, stayed busy pumping fuel from its fuel truck, selling more than 3,000 gallons. The fly-in started on Wednesday, Aug. 31, […]
Wartime memories of a B-17 engineering officer
Note: This article has been excerpted and adapted by the author from her book “My Father, My Friends ~ Memories of World War II,” which is based on her interviews with World War II veterans. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, native Iowan and farm boy Chester Peek knew his life was headed in a […]