ROSE TRAVELS AND ACTIVITIES
The Burnet Air Show
(New Guy Style)
April 9 &10
By Shane “New Guy” Arnwine
It was a beautiful day when everyone arrived at the hanger, you couldn’t ask for a better for flying. Grant was busy giving a surprise birthday ride in the Triple Nickel and getting her ready to go.
Tim Black, Doug Rosendaal and Jim Lyles were double and triple checking things on the Rose, while I tried to get in the middle of things and at the same time stay out of the way. After three touch and goes to get Doug checked out to fly passengers, Doug’s friend Virgil and I were “hot loaded” onto the airplane. It was a very exciting ride as Virgil snapped away with his camera and I sat in the back looking for the air conditioner vents and the in-flight movie.
On our way to Burnet we decided to sight see as we passed over the movie set of the “Alamo”. Too bad the Rose couldn’t have been present for that battle; Old Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie might be alive today. We left the Alamo and continued on our way. I was having the time of my life; not many people can say they had their “hands on history”. We arrived at our destination way too soon for my taste and after some quick advertising we brought the Rose in for a perfect landing. Well, Tim brought her in; I just sat there wishing that I could; maybe one day.
We pulled up to the gas pump to get some gas, clean the windows and get a quick check under the hood. I hopped out for the “Blue Towel Boogie” and met some friendly faces. Bob Gardner and Mad Jack Reeves had arrived to help with the task and welcome us to the fun.
The CAF Ground Crews lead us to our spot
on the airfield. Just as we parked the Rose we were swarmed by the curious. I heard a lot of oohs and ahs and they weren’t coming from me this time.
After we got the Rose set up for Saturday’s show we headed over to the hanger to get some welcomed chow. On the way we said hello to the “Air Boss’ Howard Martin and watched the other planes come in. One of the planes that came in right behind us was a P-47 Thunderbolt. I’ve never seen one of those up close before. Soon, Grant, Ron and Calvin cruised on by in the Triple Nickel and that white plane named after my favorite knife and gun club. (Calvin, your plane is perfect, don’t paint it!)
An Extra 300 decided to practice some acrobatics and “Oh Man!” my stomach was queasy after only a couple of twists and turns. Good thing I was on the ground. Even the Air Force was there! They had a couple of their AT-6 Texan II’s putting on a show.
Next, the P-47 and an A-10 performed a
heritage flight. Those are some tough looking airplanes. Did you know that Tim was the commanding officer of an A-10 squadron? /span>The A-10 is a really effective aircraft - not so ugly anymore? Isn’t that right Tim?
Then the Blue Bonnet Bell (C-47) flew some
passes with Calvin, Grant and Ron in formation. After watching the show for a while we decided to go to the hanger to eat. I’m learning that air shows are really family reunions with really cool airplanes.
When things started to settle down, Grant,
Tim, Calvin, Jim, Ron, Jack and I headed over to Howard’s lake house to bunk down for the night. Man, you Air Force guys have nice accommodations; if this were a Marine Corps function, they would have us sleeping in tents and eating food that’s been sealed in plastic for two or three years. After arriving at the Hotel de Howard, we unpacked and started telling flying stories and a few “diet” stories. Of course the only flying stories I could tell started out with, “You know Southwest has these really big planes.” Of course that didn’t impress anybody - including me.
We then decided to call it a night and hit the rack. After trying to sleep through Grant and Calvin’s snoring (or was that my snoring?), we all got up bright and early. Well, early at least. We piled into the Highland Lakes van and headed on back to the airport. For some reason the trip back didn’t seem to last as long as the trip out there. (Inside joke, sorry Grant I had to throw that in there).
Once back at the airport, we got
everything out for a great day ahead and went to the hanger for a delicious breakfast. Tommy and Brenda Koepke, Letty Dietes and Judy Gardner started up the PX with the precision of the Thunderbirds. Our Centex comrades set up right next door, it was going to be a great day at the show. A little while later a DPS helicopter flew over the PX area and scattered the Centex merchandise like it was a leaf blower. Fortunately, there was no shortage of people helping put things back together.
Back at the Rose, we had started the tours and Bob wowed the crowd with his great Doolittle Raid lecture. Bob, did you ever think about teaching college history? As all of this is going on the Blue Bonnet Bell with Doug on board did a series of touch and goes. That was neat, since I had never seen a C-47 up close before either. There were a lot of first for me at this air show. While that was going on the Devil Dog came in to set up shop. The line at the Rose didn’t take long to get really long for the nickel tour. (It’s still a dollar for those looking for a discount.) We had young and old (yet young at heart); we even had some folks from Australia. One kid even called me, mate. Hmmm.
Things were going pretty smooth when I learned that some of the aircraft scheduled to come in had to cancel because of some weather. About this time a Wildcat came in for a landing and again I have never seen one of those up close. Suddenly I heard a few gasps from outside. I looked down at the end of the runway and the Wildcat was upside down. She had flipped over, trapping the pilot inside. After about 30 to 45 minutes they got the pilot out and fortunately he was more angry than injured.
Then it really started to rain and the air show was canceled. The rain had everyone hiding in the hanger to stay dry. But all was not lost, we were able to visit and people could meet and greet Tex Hill and his lovely wife Mazie. You could also meet Colonel Stewart who was quite the soldier’s soldier during WWII.
Now that the air show was canceled we had to figure out what to do next. With the Easter holiday upon us, some of us could not wait another day to get home. We were told that there might be a break in the weather long enough to get some planes back home. So, when the rain stopped we headed out to the Rose to make our escape. Once we were airborne we figured out that the ceiling was not as high as we were told, so we had to
turn around and land. Calvin tried to take off right behind us but Doug and Tim radioed him to not even try. We landed just ahead of the rain and I learned to never stand down wind of the engines right after you land. I have clothes with oil stains on them now. But how cool is it when people ask “What happened to your clothes?” and you can say “I have engine oil from a B-25 on them”. Unfortunately for Calvin, he didn’t make it back to the hanger before the rain came back. Poor guy was soaked to the bone when he made
it to the hanger. I bet that doesn’t happen at Delta.
Some folks were able to stay an extra day
to make a flight back to San Marcos but some of us made our escape thanks to Mad Jack’s RV and pickup.
Even with the rain, I had a really great
time and I’ve learned what a great family I have become a part of. I thank everyone who showed me the ropes to make my first official air show a blast.
Semper Fi!
