Sunday, August 24, 2014

Bowman Field Fly-in

On Saturday we went up to the annual Bowman Field fly-in in East Livermore. Unusually cool  weather, nice planes and good company.
A Hatz amateur built experimental.
The general scene
across the runway
some came for the weekend
a home-built RV
and another side-by-each RV
RV stands for Ran-van-Gruvsen, but there is a reason the call them Ramp Vermin, they are everywhere.
160K$ Carbon Cub, proving once again that contrary to popular belief it is not physics but $$ and lots of them that makes planes fly
A 1940s Taylorcraft, more my speed
The dual bogey Hummel Cruiser stopped in for a visit
A Rans S-7 Coyote about to depart
A Zeenith CH-701 with a 100 hp Rotax built by a Dutch man
A straight tail Cessna 150 taildragger conversion.
And a later swept tail model with 150 hp engine.
And N6976S one of the planes I learned to fly in.
A Supercub on amphib floats
And a 1960s vintage Cessna 175 on floats
A Cub special
Citabria Scout with tundra tires
An older Searey with an 80 hp Rotax
 
A Mitchelwing lightning  home-built from the late 70s
Way too exposed for my taste.
After my ride in the powered parachute I think I'll stay with closed fuselage airplanes

The old Pietenpol project still forgotten in the hanger
Its wings stashed in anther hangar across the way.
The helicopter dropped candy for the kids
There were a couple of cars on display, this  a straight 8 rat rod monster with a newspaper mailbox for an air scoop.
the antique engine club had their huff-and-puff single cylinder engines going
magnificent simplicity, chugging away
nicely restored
simple colors
The name tags are an art form on to themselves
you don't see them like that anymore
An icon of early American farm equipment
A later emblem for the same company
Low HP high torque
a symbol of industry
A Foos Jr in action
A symphony of mechanical simplicity

13 comments:

  1. My friend, "the guru," goes to Osh Kosh every year; this looks like something right up his alley!

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    1. I went to Osh-Ca$h back in 87, way to big and crowded for me. Sun-and-Fun in Lakeland, FL in April is also interesting but simply to crowded for my liking. We have a few of these small local events around the state that we like to catch every year. Hopefully some day we will fly in in my own home built. Though at the pace it is moving it might take an Ice age or two to complete.

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  2. It asked me to reenter my PW. OK, did it and now it seems I should rewrite my comment... it's getting complicated pal...
    "Nice bunch of planes. Let's see if it works."

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    1. whatever your did worked Doug. Sorry I had to change my comment settings, but given that we have an anonymous idiot troll sending hate and abuse comments I cant have any more anonymous posters.

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  3. Not long ago, we had a B-24 and a B-17 on display at our little airfield. During the time they were there, the B-17 flew over my mountain. I heard the engines, went outside, and saw it pass overhead. It was awe inspiring.

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    1. If the B-24 and B-17 were together those are the ones from the Colings Foundation in Massachusetts. I have about 20 minutes at right seat of that B-24.

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  4. Am loving that helicopter shot.. It looks like it is " just there"

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    1. Hi John, yes the helicopter was jut there about 150 feet in the air. They used apple picker's bags to dump candy for the kids. The bags have a bottom release to dump apples in the bin, so the crew were able to target the drop quite well. Last year it was done from the white and red Cub on floats tipping over a paper grocery bag and the drop tends to be a bit more sketchy if the passenger dropping the candy does not time it just right. Sometimes the kids wind up having to scramble though the puckerbrush to collect the candy.

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  5. It is so green there, and very colorful too. I can not imagain how people can fly with those tiny airoplans...

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    1. Yael, for most people who don't know aviation it seems quite foreign. For us that are terminally afflicted with the addiction to aviation it is quite natural. Most of those airplanes in those photos are completely home built from kits or materials and plans, by amateur builders in their own garages and basements at home.

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  6. I think that you must be very brave to get addicted to that hobby.

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    1. Yael, not brave, but persistent. Learning to fly has its challenges and less than 10% of those that start taking lessons actually go on to obtain their pilot's license. It is a high wash-out rate, and it does take some degree of determination. So you really have to want to do it. I was always fascinated by airplanes ever since I was a child. I was one of those silly ones that look up every time one passes by, and still do.

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  7. Gracias Michael por compartir estas fotos. Saludos Agustin

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