LEADER'S WORDS

By Ron Dietes, Squadron Leader

     I would like to thank Tim Black, Judy McMillan, Letty Dietes, Jerry Taylor and everyone else that that helped make the Christmas Party and Fly Day such a success.  Everyone that attended the cocktail hour, dinner and social hours in the Hangar Hotel Officers Club know what a fun time was had by all.  It was good to see so many of our members having a good time and enjoying each others company.  One thing that made it better were the Howard Martin weather gods that smiled down on us and provided beautiful weather for both the flight up to Fredericksburg and the Fly Day in San Marcos.  I think everyone that attended the Fly Day truly enjoyed it.  A really big THANK YOU goes to Grant Lannon, Dave Howard, Calvin Allen, William Foster, Ron Iberg and Mike Renck for flying their aircraft in our Fly Day activity.  Hopefully we will be able to do this again next year.

     No word has come back from our fund raising proposals.  But keep your fingers crossed that Bob and Richard will have good things to report in the New Year.

     We have begun thinking about the Air Show schedule for next year and hopefully we will be able to book lots of profitable and fun shows.  Although we did not attend ICAS, hopefully the new marketing efforts by CAF headquarters will help us get shows for the Rose.  I have already received one call about a prospective show in Florida.  Hopefully, it will work out and we’ll have booked our second show by the time you read this.  We have already been invited to attend the ADA show.

     We are starting to plan for the 2006 B-25 ground school.  We normally have the class on a Sunday in February and right now the two most attractive dates from which to choose and Feb 19th or Feb 26th.  So be prepared to cast your vote for one of those days at the January meeting.  We’ll cover the normal topics we covered in past years and remember everyone is welcome. You do not have to be a pilot, co-pilot or flight mechanic to attend. Safety will also be discussed, so come out and join the group. If we do it like we did in past years, the class will start at 9am and will wrap up around 3pm. That way we can do a Rose walk around and we'll be able to show you exactly what we have been talking about and where it is on the Rose. Like previous years, lunch will be in the Break room.

The following folks were elected to office for the 2006/2007 years:

Tim Black Executive Officer

Judy McMillan Finance Officer

Jerry Taylor Safety Officer

So be sure to offer your congratulations and thank them when you see them around the hangar. I can tell you, it is a time consuming job and I thank them for stepping up and taking the challenge for another two years.

 

Squadron guest Brooke Bell prepared for her ride in the “Yellow Rose”

Photo used with permission from Brooke

CHRISTMAS PARTY and FRIENDS AND FAMILY DAY a BIG SUCCESS

Day 1 - Fredericksburg
Yellow Rose Christmas Party 

By Letty Dietes

     Our Yellow Rose Squadron has been known to throw some great get-togethers.  Our Christmas Party is no exception.   December 10-11th was the 2nd Annual Christmas Party held in Fredericksburg.

     Everyone arrived around 11:00 Saturday morning.  Some by car, some by plane.  A day of shopping lay ahead so everyone headed for town.  First-timers this year included the  Clayton’s, the Colaluca’s, Don Hayden, Irene Renfro, Jan and Carla Wagner, Cowden Ward and his wife, Sherry, Curtis & Debbie Hall and many more that I can’t remember (and I apologize in advance to those I haven’t mentioned).

     After a day of shopping and visiting the Fredricksburg Winery, we gathered at the O’Club of the Hangar Hotel for a little happy hour before dinner.  A few movie stars showed up including Arnold Schwarzenager, Tom Selleck, and Ray Romano.  (Those of you who didn’t attend will just have to keep guessing).  Everyone enjoyed fajitas for dinner and peach cobbler and brownies for dessert.  Ron took this opportunity to give awards out to deserving members and we honored Howard Martin, our dear friend.

     After dinner we congregated back at the O’Club for a little Crud.  Irene Renfro, Grizel Black, Sherry Ward and Judy McMillan showed their skill at this game.  And so ended Day 1 of the Yellow Rose Christmas Party.  We met back in San Marcos around 11:30 on Sunday and began Day 2 – Fly Day.

Yellow Rose Christmas Party

Day 2 - Fly Day

After a full day of shopping and partying in Fredericksburg on Saturday, December 10th, the Rose made her way back to San Marcos on Sunday for a beautiful day of flying. The purpose of "Fly Day" (Day #2 of the Annual Yellow Rose Christmas Party) is to thank the members of the Yellow Rose Squadron, their families and close friends for their support throughout the year. It takes many people, many man-hours and a lot of money to keep our lovely Rose in the air. The Yellow Rose Squadron takes great pride in its airplane and that pride showed on Sunday, December 11, 2005 with a record-breaking showing of people in San Marcos.

Ron and Tim brought her in Sunday morning with Grant flying the "Triple Nickel" on her wing. Low passes, applause and smiles consumed HYI. The sky was clear blue and the Rose looks her best against a beautiful sky.

Judy McMillan and Judy Gardner made their way up to the Officer's Club to organize the lunch and the covered dishes that were being brought in while Jerry Taylor and I manned the "Sign-Up-To-Fly" table. Christmas lunch started about noon with Craig Cuny's famous meatloaf. Everyone was enjoying their meal, but it was obvious that the anticipation was getting the best of everyone. They all wanted to head for the sky! Ron finally announced Flight #1 was ready to go and everyone headed down to the ramp.

The "Sign-Up" table was an organized Chinese Firedrill at first. But soon everything smoothed out and the sign-ups went easily.

Other pilot friends volunteered their planes to fly. Those included Grant flying the Triple Nickel, Mike Renck flying the U-11, David Howard's C-120 and William Foster's C-150. Calvin Allen and Ron Iberg also volunteered the T-6 and Kate to take people up and we appreciated them contributing to the success of our Squadron Party. Thanks also to the Rose crew - Ron, Ken, Tim and the F/M's - Mike, Jerry and Bob. Thanks to Bubba and Jim Liles for assisting with the flight mechanic preparations.

It was obvious that the Yellow Rose Squadron is very proud of its gal. And with the overwhelming support from the people who attended our event, proves we've got a great future in front of us for the Yellow Rose Squadron.

A quick count showed that 44 passengers flew that day. We had about 55-60 people eat lunch and even more people showed up later in the afternoon simply to watch the show and give their support. All in all I think we had close to 70 people show up to the Yellow Rose Squadron's Christmas Party. Thanks again to everyone for coming to the Christmas Party and the Fly Day. It's great to see the support for what we do. Merry Christmas.

Squadron guest D.J. Nick prior to his ride in the "Yellow Rose"

Photo courtesy Brooke Bell

Editor's note: Some of the comments overheard from the Fly Day guests were:

"Everyone from the Squadron is so friendly."

"I cannot believe the generosity of everyone with their time and planes for flying guests."

"What a thrilling experience (after riding in the Yellow Rose)."

"You have made a dream of over 40 years come true (again after riding in the Rose)."

 

Maintenance Matters

By Jim Liles, Maintenance Officer

After Ron's PPE flight we will be doing a "B" inspection . During the "B" inspection the number 1 cylinder on the right engine has to be changed due to two of the exhaust studs missing. This means the intake has to be removed in order to accomplish this. The brakes also have to be rebuilt. The right main brake leaks under pressure.

I also want to add my thanks to those who have helped with the maintenance to keep our "Rose" flying.

Operations Report

By Grant Lannon, Operations Officer

We all had a great time in Fredericksburg and everyone behaved, except around the pool table while playing Crud. Coming out of the Nimitz museum, a bunch of us saw John McCain (or his twin) going in. One of our group, who shall go unnamed, asked if we should throw rocks. The fly day on our return was a great success and so our Christmas activities have remained a great success. While the Rose gave rides, Mike Renck, Dave Howard, Calvin Allen, Ron Iberg and I gave rides in the other airplanes to families and friends who came to the Sunday event. Calvin, Ron, and I flew two and three ship formation flights in the two T-6s and the Kate. I am including a picture taken by Ray Clausen of Triple Nickel and Calvin's T-6. Leti Dietes did a great job of signing everyone up and making sure they were at the airplanes in the proper order.

I have talked briefly to Clif Walker about how things went at ICAS and we are planning to coordinate our efforts after January 1st to come up with a tentative airshow schedule. I still am missing information about how Howard followed up after ICAS and, as you know, I had to cancel out of ICAS at the last moment. Hopefully, Clif can help me with that process. We still continue to get calls for repeats of events we have flown in previous years and we hope to expand on that.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for the new year to you all. I am sure the squadron will have the same spirit of fun and camaraderie in the coming year as we have had for the past several years. What a great spare time mission with a great group of hard working, enthusiastic people!

Calvin Allen and Grant Lannon in formation during one of the flights they made during the Fly-Day festivities.

Photo by Ray Clausen

Financial Summary for 2005

By Judy McMillan, Finance Officer

At first look, I thought we had spent more in 2005 than we took in and the numbers do come out that way, BUT we paid our aircraft insurance for 2005 in January and for 2006 in December. If you ignore the 2006 expense, we had these numbers:

 

Total income of all sources: $57,553.72; Total expenditures of all types: $55,564.89.

 

I'm always amazed that we seem to bring in what we need. However, the obvious fact from these numbers is that we didn't make progress on accumulating funds for new engines.

A more detailed breakout: Income PX Sales ---- $11,844.23 '05 Dues ---- $3,650.00 Air Show Fees ---- $25,286.90 Donations ---- $14,157.45 Miscellaneous sources ---- $2,615.14   Expenses PX Supplies ---- $4,561.14 Rent ---- $2,400.00 Fuel/Oil ---- $10,948.99 ANUAC ---- $5,510.00 Repairs ---- $19,065.48 Travel & Meeting Expenses ---- $1,194.45 Miscellaneous ---- $388.16 Insurance ---- $10,590.00 Sales Tax ---- $183.52 Shipping ---- $723.15

2005 Yellow Rose B-25
Squadron Staff Officers

Squadron Leader - Ron Dietes

dietes.ron@heb.com

Executive Officer - Tim Black

tangblack@austin.rr.com

Finance Officer - Judy McMillan

heyjude@texas.net

Adjutant - Dave Howard

dave.howard@baesystems.com

Operations Officer - Grant Lannon

glannon@texas.net

Maintenance Officer - Jim Liles

james.liles@tstr.net

Safety Officer - Jerry Taylor

james_j_taylor@msn.com

PX Officer - Greg Young

tbolt52@hotmail.com

Publicity Officer - Bob Gardner

bob@rhga.com