Old pictures have been one of the main topics around the Squadron lately. Here is our own "Yellow Rose" on display at one of her first public appearances after restoration. She was on static display at the Randolph Air Force Base Armed Forces Celebration in May of 1983 or 1984. Note the paint scheme, black prop hubs, and other subtle differences from today's appearance.

       Photo by Jerry Taylor

LEADER'S WORDS

By Grant Lannon, Squadron Leader

  We had a successful appearance at Dyess AFB in Abilene and a memorial flight out of Galveston. The Rose is starting to complain and we have work to do on her before our next appearance at the New Braunfels fly-in. After that, it is a free weekend before we go to Wichita on the weekend of the 20th and Midland the weekend of the 27th.
  Meanwhile, we are getting closer to the staff elections. I have received letters from both Hugh Hunton and Scott Park asking us to consider them for our votes. Scott says that we need to find new and better ways to promote and fund the CAF. Hugh was at the Alice Airshow and seemed to be as concerned about the future of the CAF and is willing to work hard to ensure future success. You can read their biographies, and the other candidates, on the member website at www.ghostsquadron.org. Remember to send in your absentee ballot so it is received at headquarters by Sept 22nd. Those ballots were in the last newsletter but if you cannot find them, just send a note requesting a ballot to Midland with your printed name, Colonel number, and signature. The address is
    Keith Lawrence
    Director of Administration
   Commemorative Air Force
   P.O. Box 62000, Midland, TX 79711.

'till next time, Grant

MAINTENANCE MATTERS

By Ron Dietes, Squadron Maintenance Officer

Another month has gone by and the Rose continues to perform well. The Angel Fire show is now in the history books and we did the Memorial Flight. We're getting ready to do New Braunfels and then into the heavy part of our Airshow schedule.

The hydraulic leak on the left outer brake has been fixed and we seem to have made a dent in the oil drips. Also, thanks to Dave Howard, the rotating beacon seems to be fixed. Jim Liles is leading the efforts to keep the Rose spic and span. A lot of folks have commented on how good the Rose looks. Way to go Guys and Gals! Don't mis-understand, we still have many tasks that need to be done on the Rose, and as time permits we'll eventually get to them all. For example, the left engine has been starting very hard. We have checked the spark plugs and also swapped out the starting vibrator, but that did not correct the problem. So the next items that we're going to checkout are the magneto's. Hopefully, we will change those this Saturday, providing Aero Accessories gets two of them certified. We also have to change out the starting vibrator that the Lone Star Flight Museum loaned us while we were there for the Memorial flight. A very big thank you to those folks. We'll get that changed out on Saturday too. I am supposed to start the T-6 annual on Saturday, so it is going to be a very busy day for us maintenance folks. Also, the right generator needs to be looked at since it pops offline every once in a while. I am hoping it is just dirt in the brushes. My thanks go out to the folks that come out to the hangar, Saturday after Saturday. I positively could not keep the Rose flying without your continued help. So remember, even if you are not able to turn a wrench or replace a pushrod tube hose, you can still help out. For example, the nacelles are almost always covered in exhaust and oil residue. The main wheels always need to be cleaned. The passenger area always needs to have the empty water bottles removed. The chocks we keep in the Rose could use a wiping. The leading edge of the wings always have bugs on them, etc. Plus, the paper work we carry around with us could use some organization. Anyway, you guys and gals get the idea. It takes many different talents to make our squadron work so come out and lend your talents to the hard working group that is there every Saturday.

MINUTES of the August 12, 2003 Meeting of the Yellow Rose Squadron

By Dave Howard, Squadron Adjutant

The regular squadron meeting was held at San Marcos in the Centex Hangar Ready Room. Jack Reeves called the meeting to order at 1800 and presided so that Grant could attend the Centex Staff meeting. Officers present were Executive Officer, Operations, Maintenance, Treasurer, PX, and Publicity. Twenty members attended. Minutes from the July meeting were approved as printed in the newsletter.

There were no visitors present, but several members were recognized with a "welcome back" round of applause. Those members included: Steve Gladwin and Pat & Charlene Moore.

 

REPORTS

Executive Officer: No Report

 

Adjutant: No Report. However, the Adjutant wishes to thank Letty Dietes for filling in for him at the past two meetings.

 

Operations:

August 16: Dyess confirmed.

August 23: We have been approached and we have agreed to spread ashes of a deceased B29/B24 pilot over the Gulf. Don Luttrell has been asked to assist in this.

September 5-7: New Braunfels airshow confirmed.

September 20: Wichita confirmed.

November 1-2: New Orleans conflicts with Randolph. Decision in process.

El Paso is NO GO due to date change.

Still ironing out details for Corpus Christi.

 

Finance: July's beginning balance was $18,670. Net deposits and disbursements leaves a July ending balance of $25,195. August activity to date cost $1,799. Payables are $760. Receivables are $5,000. Projected August ending balance including payables is $20,635. Balance in the Aircraft Account is $35,776.

Maintenance: Recent maintenance work included repairing rotating beacon, fixing broken P-lead on left magnetos, fixing leaking banjo on left outer brake assembly, and adjusting the nitrogen in nose strut. Aerotrader is working on the gear actuating cylinder.

 

PX: Tommy reported that re-orders have been placed to get us through the rest of the year. PX will be loaded before leaving for Dyess. Non-member caps are available for sale. They are in the locker.

 

Announcements/New Business

Jack Reeves expressed concern that we need more volunteers to work the PX in Midland because he didn't get to see the airshow last year as he was working the PX the entire day.

All members are encouraged to send in absentee ballots.

Adopt-an-Airport is being finalized. Mike Colaluca volunteered to manage the project.

It is time to form a nominating committee consisting of 3 non-officers. You can nominate (volunteer) yourself or be nominated by someone else.

Airshow posters are being signed to sell at airshows.

FINA posters were handed out advertising Airsho. Everyone was encouraged to take a few to put in public places.

Howard Martin expressed an idea for a money-making project. He suggested we raffle off an "Almost Ready to Fly" (ARF) radio control model airplane.

Jack Reeves mentioned that Flight Mechanic Checklist forms need to be copied.

John Parrish is recovering from bypass surgery and doing well.

Last but not least, several members brought photos of themselves that were over 20 years old. They were a great conversation piece.

Meeting was adjourned at 1846.

ROSE TRAVELS

August, 2003

Dyess AFB, August 16-17

Submitted by Jack Reeves

    A successful trip is usually due to good planning and coordination. This trip was no exception. Several crew members came to the hangar the Saturday before to help with the cleaning and preparation for the trip. The day we departed, everyone arrived at the hangar in plenty of time to complete final preparations and we were airborne on time. We had to climb over scattered clouds and had a pleasant hour fight in the cool upper air. Tommy came up front and went to the nose while Cowan made himself at home in his favorite lawn chair sitting over the rear hatch. He was obviously the most comfortable one on board, with the possibly except of Ron and Grant in their Captains chairs up top. Herb and Bob were possibly dozing. Mike got some experience looking over Ron and Grant's shoulders trying to figure out what all those instruments did.
     Upon arrival at Dyess we were escorted to a very nice aircrew check-in with lots of cold liquid refreshment. Then it was on to a reception at the Officer's Club where we renewed old acquaintances and made new ones. Contrary to last year's show, we were billeted in a very nice motel with private rooms for each crew member.
     Grant, Ron and I were up early the next morning and off to the base for the pilots briefing with our friend Bob Jones. After touring most of the base we finally located the Dining Hall (Mess Hall for all of you older troops). I would highly recommend seeking out these facilities whenever the opportunity presents itself as the food is great and the price is right, $1.15 for a full breakfast. The rest of the crew got to sleep in a little and met us at the Rose later.
     Everyone chipped in to unload the PX which we set up under the Rose's wing. Ron had to perform a little maintenance on the throttle linkage with the help of Grant and Herb. PX business and cockpit tours were pretty slow, due in part to the fact that the crowd area was spread out so much that we didn't have many spectators in our parking area.
    We took off with the Spirit of Waco A-26 and the SB2C for our part of the air show performance.  Bob was out taking photos or video with one of his new cameras. Tommy and our PX guys were spared a considerable amount of work by not having to move the PX when we departed or arrived back from our performance. The Rose was towed out before engine start and towed back into position upon our return.
     As is our habit, the Rose stayed until the end of the show and with everyone chipping in to load the PX we departed for home with everyone hot, tired but I think happy after another good appearance by the Yellow Rose. Shortly before we arrived in San Marcos Ron noticed Grant flexing his right hand and asked: Are you getting that cramp already? (private joke) Grant responded with: No, I've really got a cramp this time.
     We arrived safely home after another uneventful one hour flight. Jim and Julie met us at the hangar with the doors open and the Rose was quickly wiped down, unloaded and towed into the hangar, culminating another successful mission.

2003 Yellow Rose B-25
Squadron Staff Officers

Squadron Leader - Grant Lannon

Glannon@texas.net

Executive Officer - Jack Reeves

Madjac2@aol.com

Finance Officer - Judy McMillan

heyjude@texas.net

Adjutant - Dave Howard

Dave.howard@baesystems.com

Operations Officer - Howard Martin

bigbad@tstar.net

Maintenance Officer - Ron Dietes

Dietes.ron@heb.com

Safety Officer - Phil Lockett

dlockett@itouch.net

PX Officer - Thomas Koepke

koepke@ctesc.net

 

CAF AVIATION GLOSSARY

 

Murphy's Law: If an airplane part can be installed upside down, some CAF mechanic will install it that way.

Photo by Jerry Taylor

A Memorable Day

Submitted by Julie Pulcipher

Saturday morning August 23, 2003 started off like any other Saturday for most people, but for the family of Bill Cheney, it would prove to be a melancholy but memorable day. This day the Yellow Rose would provide the means to honor the wishes of his deceased father, a veteran pilot of WWII, who upon his death had requested that his ashes be distributed over the Gulf of Mexico. The Rose was scheduled to meet the rest of the Cheney family in Galveston at the Lone Star Flight Museum at around 1430. Mr. Cheney and his nephew were visibly excited upon boarding the Rose in San Marcos. They were very proud to share a scrapbook filled with pictures of his Father's military career and accomplishments. Don Luttrell and I sat in the back with the family. Don was aboard this flight as the observer who would brief and assist the family in the actual ceremonial process upon our arrival at Galveston. Steve Gladwin sat up front with the rest of the crew. Ron Dietes piloted the Rose while Howard Martin served as Co-pilot and Phil Lockett as Crew Chief. The trip to Galveston was uneventful. Upon our arrival we were greeted by several volunteers of the Lone Star Flight Museum. In addition, numerous museum patrons emerged from the hanger doors to get a glimpse of our arrival. The waiting family members approached the Rose as the engines ceased and the all clear was given. Don greeted the new family members, briefed them as to the procedures and assisted them in re-boarding the Rose. Even though the engines had not been shut down long, the left engine failed to restart. Ron and Howard made several attempts but were unsuccessful. By this time a larger crowd from inside had gathered at the hanger door. Ron requested the left engine cowling be removed to take a closer look. By this time one of the Flight Museum members had summoned one of their mechanics out to take a look as well. Between Ron and their mechanic it was determined to be one of two things. Within the hour the Flight Museum staff had provided us with equipment we needed (ladders and a new part for the left engine). In addition they had provided us with a large tub of iced soft drinks. I can honestly say that they went out of their way to make us feel welcome and could not have been more helpful. During this delay those of us not directly involved in the repair process had the opportunity to tour the museum. It was very impressive and so very clean. I was personally pleased to have had the opportunity to see their P-38 and Spitfire along with their B-25, "Special Delivery" as well as numerous other aircraft, too many to name. After touring the museum we returned to the Rose to observe the mechanics at work. It wasn't long after that that the crew re-boarded the Rose for a second attempt. Both engines fired right up and the ceremonial flight was right back on schedule (with less than a 2 hour delay). The Rose returned in less than a half an hour from its ceremonial flight. The family members said their goodbyes and the two we had met in Galveston departed the plane. Steve and I were summoned to get aboard with the engines running as they did not want to take any chances of experiencing a repeat of engine start failure. Upon the flight back to San Marcos as I looked across at the remaining family members I felt I could see a sense of sadness but also a sense of pride in having fulfilled their Father's and Grandfather's wishes. I was glad to have had the opportunity to have been a part of that day and I was proud to be a member of the Yellow Rose Squadron. We arrived back at San Marcos at about 1830. The Rose was wiped down and put in the hanger having been part of a very memorable day for the Cheney Family.

HONDO INFO

Submitted by Ron Dietes

Evelyn from the FlightLine Cafe has aranged a Fly In around the Yellow Rose for Saturday Oct. 25th with a rain date of Sunday Oct. 26th. We are planning to arrive in Hondo around 10am and then set up the PX and do cockpit tours.  Evelyn is going to have a lunch buffet available for a reduced price of $6.50.  So, even if you don't fly out on the Rose, the drive out for the buffet is worth the time. It's all home made and it is very good. She is still getting other folks to come but she told me Ray LeBlanc and the Cessna Bird Dog Club are planning to fly in. I am hoping some of the other planes from the hangar would also want to come out.

2003 Airshow Schedule

 

September

5,6,7 New Braunfels Air Show*
New Braunfels, Texas

20-21 Autumn in the Air*
Wichita, Kansas

27-28 Airsho 2003*
Midland, Texas

October

3,4,5 Aerospace America*
Oklahoma City, OK

18-19 Wings Over Houston 2003*
Houston, Texas

25 Hondo Fly-in*
Hondo, Texas

November

1-2 N'awlins Airshow*
NAS New Orleans, LA

* Indicates Confirmed Appearance