Sunday at the Wichita Vintage Rally

Well the rally ended today and as far as I could tell everyone who attended had a great time. The soaring weather today, once again, was not too fantastic but it didn't stop many of us from flying. First I must mention a few flights that I missed yesterday. One is that John Wells flew Richard Kirkland's 17 Meter Slingsby Dart. This was the first flight of this plane since the late 1980's and after some pretty extensive inspection work done to comply with the spar AD on this type. John used to be a part owner in this Dart and said that it flew just as wonderfully as the last time he flew it, nearly 30 years ago. Also, at least one flight was made yesterday by Neal Pfeiffer's Ka-2b which has been a regular flyer at the rally here, giving rides to vintage pilots.

Today we started out the morning with Matt, Cory, Pete, and I cutting down 3 dead birch trees in my yard. We arrived at the gliderport about Noon and concocted a plan. Matt & Cory were headed back to Iowa in the 150 so I planned to fly the NG-1 and Pete once again flew YYY. Other flights today included Dave Schuur and Jim Short in the MG-23, John McMasters in his Grob Std. Astir, Matt Gonitzke & Charles Pate in the WSA Ka-6CR, Neal Pfeiffer in his Ka-6BR, as well as flights made by the local Grob 103 and Neal's Ka-2b. Duration of over an hour was a pretty good flight, most were less I think.

The primary task as the afternoon wore on was de-rigging gliders. I had a handful with the Cirrus, NG-1, and Cherokee. I also helped Rafael get his Salto back in the trailer. We had a great time visiting with everyone who came up for the rally, we had a really strong out of town presence this year that was very nice. I'll be spending most of the week re-arranging trailers back to their rightful spots and generally recovering from the rally.

Leah and I are the new VSA T-Shirt mongers so if you're looking for new threads featuring your favorite vintage sailplane let me know. Nothing featuring the Cherokee II...yet.

I'll try to get some pictures from the rally up in the next few days.

Saturday at the Wichita Vintage Rally

Well we had another great day here in Wichita. A few new arrivals today as Scott Williams arrived from Oklahoma City, sans his SHK, Matt Michael & his friend Cory flew down from Iowa in Matt's 150, Rafael brought out his Salto with its nice new canopy and Steve Leonard arrived to display his ASW-12 which was quite the attraction to those ground-bound.

The morning started out with some presentations including Jim Short talking about the glider operations at Soaring 100, Matt Gonitzke showed some slides of his Std. Austria restoration, Neal Pfeiffer discussed operations at the gliderport and some specifics for us to avoid the airshow traffic down at McConnell Air Force Base today, and Harry Clayton finished up with a discussion about some repairs he's been working on.

Flying was slow to start with some high cirrus overhead not being too encouraging. Jim Short launched first in his new-to-him MG-23 and got a good flight in of over 2 hrs I'm sure. Chad Wille flew John Hardy's Ka-8, Matt Gonitzke flew the WSA Ka-6, I flew the Std. Cirrus, Pete VonTresckow flew my Cherokee II (YYY) and Matt Michael launched in my NG-1. Some fell out immediately and others had good soaring flights. I made it to 4500 MSL and got in just over an hour. Matt M and I had a lot of fun thermalling together. There were also flights made by the local clubs Grob and Lark and maybe a few others that I didn't notice.

Those of us who managed to stay up for a bit got a chance to see the airshow going on down at McConnell. I saw the Thunderbirds a few times doing their passes and otherwise a whole lot of smoke.

Harry & Sue organized the cookout tonight with some venison burgers supplied by Bob Holiday taken from the airport. Everyone had a great time and we enjoyed watching a bunch of old and new glider videos.

More tomorrow, hopefully Dr. Jack is wrong and we can get some better conditions.

Friday at the Wichita Vintage Rally

Well we had a great day today here in Wichita. Most gliders arrived yesterday and about 25-30 people attended the cookout we had here at the Condon house last night which was a lot of fun and a great way to open the Rally. This morning we awoke to 200 foot ceilings and fog but I pulled the Std. Cirrus out to the gliderport where Hank Claybourn helped me rig. Hank and I were planning to do his flight review in the morning, once the clouds lifted.

The main task for the day was rigging and by 3 PM we had the Cirrus and the Cherokee II assembled, Richard Kirlkland and John Wells had assembled the 17 meter Dart, Matt Gonitzke and Pete had gotten the WSA Ka-6CR from Sunflower and rigged it, Jim Short's new-to-him MG-23 was together and John Hardy had arrived and rigged his Ka-8. Hank and I finally launched shortly before 3 on his flight review. Cloud base was low but there was lift EVERYWHERE, especially on our second flight. We were running at 70 mph on NE/SW lines for about 4 miles each direction and not losing altitude. It was great fun! John Hardy launched in the Ka-8 to join us and Neal Pfeiffer flew his award-winning Ka-2b with a passenger, Dave Ochsner I think.

Right after Hank and I landed I started quickly getting YYY ready to launch about the time it started sprinkling, which literally washed John & Neal out of the sky. All the gliders got a nice bath too, at least all that were sitting outside. The rain lasted for about 30 minutes which was long enough for me to decide not to fly after all, and we managed to squeeze everything in the hangar. Dinner was a local mexican place and lots of fun was had by all.

There are a lot of people here just visiting, without gliders, which really reinforces the always strong social aspect to a vintage glider meet. Lee & Dave from Lawrenceville drove over with Jim Short, Chad Wille is down from Iowa, Mike Weatherford & Hank Claybourn & Jim Duea & Steve Hard are all visiting from Oklahoma. Mike passed his Commercial Glider checkride last night, congrats to him!

Last I looked the soaring forecast is looking good for tomorrow and we'll have a few more attendees and a few more gliders too. I'll try to get a report up in the evening, I'm sure there will be some attempts for those coveted VSA coins to report.

Picture of N72DG

Dean Gradwell sent along this awesome picture of N72DG turning final at Montague. He'll be hosting a vintage/classic rally there over 4th of July weekend next year and it should be a good time. Not sure if I'll be able to make it but hopefully I can take YYY. We'll have to see.

Plans are coming together nicely for the vintage rally here in Wichita. Matt & I have been working nightly on his Std. Austria and the wings should be painted and all the parts will be assembled in time to be on display for the rally. YYY will be there flying as well as the NG-1. We're also expecting a couple 1-26's and some other vintage and classic gliders. I'll be posting updates here!

Updates and Wichita Vintage Rally!

Well I've had a few conversations lately that deserve an update here. We had a good time in Uvalde although stayed busy enough that I didn't get time to write much up. Seeing the Concordia up close and personal as well as all the other new racing gliders was quite a sight. I'm not sure how I'll deal with seeing the short span of YYY the next time its out of the trailer after spending the week with Open Class gliders.

Al Clark sent me the following picture of N4937C. He saw this glider in the hangar at Eagleville, TN when he first started flying gliders and eventually went on to own N4182 with John Chapman.

I also received an email from someone who is trying to sell a Cherokee II project. Their Dad has had it for several years, hanging in his garage, and come to the conclusion that they won't have time or energy to finish it. I'm still working on getting details but if you are interested let me know and I'll get you in touch. It is located in Wisconsin.

Finally I checked in with Greg Pelfrey and they are still working on restoring N3393, an RM in West Virginia. As often happens, some other projects have gotten in the way but hopefully this winter they can get the glider finished up and back in the air for the spring.

Finally, the Vintage Sailplane Association's annual rally here in Wichita is coming up at the end of September. Please contact me at abcondon@gmail.com if you are interested in attending. Bring your glider or if you don't have one just bring yourself. We'd like to see as many people there as possible! I'll definitely have YYY and the NG-1 there, and probably Kate the Std. Cirrus. As we did last year I think Leah and I will have a cookout at our house on the Thursday night before the rally for any early arrivals, then you can see how slow the progress has been on 4653T. Speaking of, Matt is nearly finished with his Std. Austria, the fabric is back on the wings and tail surfaces and painting will probably begin next week. It has now cooled off to the point where it is bearable to work outside so we should be back to work on 53T once that project is finished.

Uvalde Day 1

Well this isn't exactly Cherokee II related but I'm in Uvalde, TX this week for the World Championships. Matt & I arrived yesterday evening and we both had a great time watching the first day of competition. The gliders here are amazing and on top of that I've enjoyed just one days worth of visiting with new and old friends that I've seen so far.  I did get a chance to have a good visit with George Applebay, who built one Cherokee II, with Mickey Jensen, in Wichita back in the late 50's. I believe that one was N7616B. Of course George went on to bigger and better things, notably designing the Zuni 15 meter racing glider. He also built a modified Cherokee II with a 15 meter wingspan. He told me that it is now hanging in a school south of Albuquerque.

Also saw Ritz who is doing the contest reporting for Soaring Cafe as well as Bill Elliot (WE) who is flying his 18 meter JS-1 for the US Team. He hooked me up with a Soaring Cafe bucket hat to replace my old one which was nice of him. It started off the day nice and white but with all the blowing dust here by the end of the day it was a light tan. By the end of the week I'm sure it will be completely brown.

After the launch we met up with club-mate Steve Leonard who is crewing for his brother Dave (ZL) in the 15 meter class. With him we ended up back down by the US Team trailers which was a great vantage point to watch the action once gliders started coming back. The weather on course was tough with some rain build ups in the task area and the sea breeze all influencing to shut the day down early. This did not help the US Team any as 4 of the 6 pilots were scored as landouts. Ron Tabery (SS) was able to use his motor to still make it home but everyone else ended up at airports I believe. Dick Butler (DB) was aero towed home in the Concordia and we all were happy to help his crew get it tucked in for the night. What a glider!

Finishers were Bill Elliot and Dave Leonard. Dave said he spent about an hour trying to make it the last 10 miles to the finish. But, he finished!!

More tomorrow if I get time.

13.5 Meter Super Regionals Day 7

Well the contest finished off with a great day of soaring. CD Jim was faced with a dilemma this morning as there is always pressure to make sure everyone gets home for the closing banquet but the top spots in both the 13.5 Meter and 1-26 contest were pretty tight. He set us up with a 2.5 hr TAT that went down to the south with a big circle and then back up to the east of TSA, a steering point at Maypearl, and home. We gridded early, at 11:30, with hopes that we could get started early. The forecast was showing that the skies would blue out later. This would also allow any landouts to get back in time for the festivities. Unfortunately the sniffer report wasn't too great and we ended up launching just a little before our normal time. It went well though and the task opened quickly. Luckily we were towards the back of the grid so it was a short wait before the start and I found a few good climbs. I started good and high out the side of the circle and was on my way.

Out on course there were once again several mini-streets that made working into the wind relatively easy. Just south of the start circle I picked up a thermal with Glenn in 508 and Jacob in 430. We worked together a bit and Glenn and I headed out together towards Hillsboro. I had fun flying with him as we both tried different lines and more or less kept up with each other. However as we approached Hillsboro we both found a distinct lack of good thermals, or our standards were too high and we both ended up low east of town. I remembered my days of flying with the Silent Knights in Ames, IA and headed for the Wal-Mart parking lot where I found about 1 knot up. 1 knot was OK for the moment. I saw Glenn up around the north side of town circling and cheered him on, hoping he would be able to dig out too. At 2000 feet, for some reason, I decided to either be a hero or a zero and pressed upwind another mile or so for a nice dirt field that was getting a lot of sunlight. Luckily it was putting out about a 3 knot thermal and I dug out without too much trouble.

Back up high I managed to generally stay that way as I got to about the middle of the first circle. I wanted to go as far as possible into the first circle so that I wouldn't have to make up any more distance in the 2nd one and put myself downwind of TSA. I was doing good, I found a great climb over Hillsboro on my way back and couldn't help but notice that Glenn had landed out in the field I had picked out! He and 508 were just fine and this was his first honest to goodness land out in a real field. He had 'landed out' the rest of the week at airports, often getting an aero retrieve home. He did a good job but it was a bummer that he didn't make it around the task.

Somewhere after Hillsboro I managed top out at 6000 feet and was starting to get on the edge of a final glide. I just needed one more good thermal. I kept finding lift that would get me a little bit closer but never anything that would positively put me over the edge, and my max altitudes were starting to trend down. I nicked the 2nd circle and headed for Maypearl, still about 400 or so feet under final glide. I worked some weak lift and got that up to 100 under for a little while. I nicked Maypearl and turned downwind for TSA. Things were looking a bit grim for a while but I found some weak lift around 1000 feet and was able to drift a little closer to the airport while climbing slightly and made a good finish and had a comfortable pattern and landing. We de-rigged quickly and headed for the hotel to clean up for the banquet

YYY just landed with 428 on short final

The PW-5 guys dominated, with Francois winning the contest and Bill Snead in 2nd and Pat Tuckey in 3rd. 1-26 scores aren't final yet so we'll find out at the morning breakfast who the top 3 were. We enjoyed the banquet and the company. I presented Francois with the James LeSueur Trophy for his win. It is presented every year to the top finisher at the Region 10 contest, and the 13.5 Meter Super Regionals were the only contest this year in Region 10.

The Podium, (L to R), Bill (2nd), Francois (1st), Pat (3rd)

Francois receives the LeSueur Trophy

Tomorrow morning we have the 1-26 breakfast and awards, then we'll get two new tires for YYY's trailer and head for Wichita. It's been a great contest but I think we'll all be happy to be back home. I'm not sure what my plans are for YYY the rest of the season. The NG-1 needs some attention and "Kate" the Standard Cirrus needs to be flown too. I'll certainly have it out for the Vintage Rally at the end of September if not before.