LEADER'S WORDS

By Ron Dietes, Squadron Leader

Another month has flown by and we have made a lot of progress this month. The Rose is back in the air and I have to tell you, it feels really good. All the hard work really paid off. The maintenance flight went very well and after that flight the Rose was washed for the trip to Sheppard AFB.

The right engine ran great for the trip to Sheppard AFB and although the right oil temperature was a little higher than we liked, the flight was uneventful. We contacted Drake Air, the company that overhauled the oil coolers for the right engine, about the higher oil temperature and as it turns out, we had three different types of valves in the Rose. We now have only two types of valves and we think that will solve the oil temp problem. Work has begun to lower the oil consumption on the left engine. Jim Liles worked all week replacing pushrod tube hoses. Hopefully, that will help. We should know if we resolved the problem soon.

I have contacted Global Aircraft Engines and requested a price quote on certifying our other donated engine. Until he disassembles the engine he is not sure what needs to be done, although he told me last week, that the paperwork does not match what he saw when he looked at the engine back in June. As soon as I have something regarding the cost and timing, I will let everyone know, so we can make an informed decision. We don’t have quite enough money yet, but our Finance Officer has some ideas to finance the other engine certification.

Remember that the squadron elections will take place at our next squadron meeting. That is Tuesday November 13^th at 6pm in the hangar briefing room. We will be electing an executive officer, finance officer, and safety officer. The slate of officers will be presented by the nominating committee and of course, nominations can also be made from the floor. Any absentee ballots will not be sent until after the November meeting.

The Christmas party will be held on Saturday December 8^th at the Faust in New Braunfels Texas. The Rose will not fly to New Braunfels, but we will have our Squadron Fly Day as in past years at the hangar in San Marcos. Details will be coming out soon, so mark your calendars. If you need more current information, contact Tim Black.

Ken, Steve, and Grant are beginning to gather information and dates for the 2008 Air Show season. So far, we have a couple of prospects, but I am sorry to report, that I have heard that there will not be a 2008 Brownsville Air Show. It seems that the airport construction will interfere with the air show. Just keep your fingers crossed that there will be a 2009 Brownsville show. We don’t make a lot of money going to Brownsville, but it great to see friends that we only see at the Brownsville show.

MINUTES OF THE YELLOW ROSE SQUADRON MEETING, November 9, 2007

By Greg Young for Pat Moore, Squadron Adjutant

Meeting commenced at 1812

Pledge of Allegiance and Prayer

Ron stated to hold off approving of previous minutes due to 2 errors

REPORTS

Ron started the meeting by calling on the various officers to make their reports:

EXECUTIVE OFFICER: Tim Black had 2 subjects to report on: 1) As chairman of the Nominating committee he stated that the committee has submitted the following nominations: Executive officer: Bubba Renfro Safety Officer: Mel Soderberg Finance Officer: Judy McMillan . Tim stated that anyone wishing a absentee ballot email or contact Tim Black. It was also reported that the committee was recommending Steve Gladwin for the vacant Operations Officer slot. There was discussion that this position could be appointed but Ron stated he wanted staff approval. 2) Tim than reported on the Christmas Party and stated that the best option that he found was to have the Christmas party at the Faust Hotel in New Braunfels starting the afternoon of Saturday, December 8. Tim reported that he reserved 15 rooms and that there was a deadline of November 24 for members to reserve rooms. Individual members should make their reservations directly with the hotel at 830-625-7791. The cost is $104.00 a room. There is flexibility as to where the group might eat or do other activities and there is also a microbrewery there at the hotel. The Fly Day would be at San Marcos on Sunday, December 9. The airplane would remain in San Marcos.

ADJUTANT; No report

 

OPERATIONS; Although he is not the operations officer, Ken Udcoff has been doing many of the duties of that position. He reported that he is going to ICAS in Las Vegas in December to represent the Yellow Rose there in obtaining airshow commitments. He showed the group a brochure that he developed. Ken solicited ideas from members on what items could be displayed there at ICAS. He stated that the Rose is still scheduled to go to Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls on October 19. He is also working on a possible flyover for Killeen Texas on December 15. Ken also stated to let him know when a member who was scheduled to go to a show (in particular, one on a military base) had to cancel so that he can pass on the new information to the military. Grant brought up to Operations issues. One is a November 12 Veterans’ Day flyover of Hutto, Texas in which $500 was offered. It was decided to pursue that possibility. The other is the airshow at Waco on November 10^th. Ron stated he would inquire into that before a final decision was made on whether to go to that show.

 

FINANCE: Judy was not there but Grant presented her finance report for squadron approval.

 

MAINTENANCE: Jim Liles reported that the right engine is on and he gave a list of things that remained to be done before a test flight can be done. He encouraged members to come out and help. He also stated we will be using W oil from now on and that the remaining plain oil would be put in the left engine until it ran out.

 

PX: Greg Young reported that we made $650 in PX sales at the Midland show which he and Jim Liles drove up to in their respective trucks. Colonel Sales were approximately $288 in additional funds. Greg will not order any more items until after inventory.

 

PUBLIC RELATIONS; Bob Gardner had a schedule of the 2 shows on KLRN which were WAR and IN OUR WORDS. The Yellow Rose was in some of that presentation.

 

GUESTS/NEW MEMBERS Bubba introduced Mike Ballagh

 

SICK CALL/GONE WEST: Tex Hill is getting hospice care (he has since passed away) Ed Liscomb is getting chemotherapy Jerry Taylor’s wife is improving and Jean Soderberg is getting therapy after foot surgery. Nolan Herndon, one of the Doolittle Raiders, passed away.

 

FOR THE GOOD OF THE SQUADRON: Ed McCafferty will update the online application to include the member’s email. Ron than passed out awards for members participation in the Doolittle Reunion and other activities. Jim Liles reported that he is in contact with Dick Cole and his daughter to have Dick sign some of the remaining books and posters from the Doolittle Reunion. It was decided to have an auction of the donated items during the Fly Day on December 9.

 

Jim Liles made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Jerry Taylor at approximately 1855.

YELLOW ROSE TRAVEL, EVENTS and REPORTS

From Ken Udcoff

SHEPPARD AFB

OCTOBER 19, 20, 21

By Greg Young

The long awaited moment occurred on Friday, October 19^th when the Yellow Rose took off to participate in her first airshow since the new right engine installation. On board were the intrepid crew of Ron Dietes, Ken Udcoff, Jim Liles, Jim Stahl, Bubba Renfro, Curtis Hall, and Greg Young. It was a great feeling to be flying north towards Wichita Falls and that the Yellow Rose was back to doing what she does best. After approximately 1 ½ hours, the Rose was on final approach to Sheppard AFB where we landed on Runway 15R. We were parked on the warbird ramp which initially appeared to be quite aways from the main crowdline. However the ground handlers were very good in moving the airplane closer to the crowd entrance and insuring that we would be able to do cockpit tours and sell PX right after the Rose flew near the beginning of the airshow. After securing the Rose, the crew set off for the airshow party which featured some night air acts and was set up next to one of the most immaculate P51s (privately owned) that I had ever seen and also the CAF Corsair. It was interesting talking to crew members of the Air Force’s CV22 Osprey, an aircraft which they stressed does not deserve the bad press that it has received. It was then off to our quarters which were excellent with each crew member getting his own suite. Saturday morning found the crew eating an excellent breakfast at very reasonable rates in one of the Sheppard mess hall. After breakfast the pilots attended the crew briefing and the rest of us prepared the Rose for the day. Soon Ron, Ken, and Jim were starting up the Rose and she taxied out with the warbirds which included a P51, F4U, Hawker Sea Fury, and a C47. It was a great birthday present (yes I turned 55 on that Saturday, Oct. 20) to watch the Rose take off and do what she does best. Once on the ground, the crowdline was expanded to include a passage to where the Rose and P51 were. The announcers were good in telling the crowd about going to see the Rose and Mustang. The crowd responded and we sold $735 in the PX and did $285 in Cockpit tours which are always a good thing to do. Again the Rose was secured and we headed off to Texas Road House for dinner and good camaraderie. The next morning (Sunday) was bright and sunny with some wind but soon we loaded up and headed South. It was a beautiful morning to fly and about 1 ½ hours later we were landing back home. The Rose was put back in her ome….mission accomplished. The right engine had passed the test.

BLACK SPEAKS TO SUN CITY AVIATION CLUB

From Tim Black, Squadron Executive Officer

On Oct. 13th I spoke to the Sun City Aviation Club in Georgetown on the Doolittle reunion.  My talk consisted of discussing the reunion and the raid itself, and then showing a dvd.  The dvd covered the raid with a lot of original pictures and some narration from Gen. Doolittle.  Then I showed them a collection of pictures that were taken during the 65th Doolittle Reunion in April that we hosted.

After a question and answer session, I presented them with the print of the Doolittle raid that we are selling in the PX.

Approximately 50 people were in attendance from their club.

Except for some minor hick-ups with the dvd, everything went well.

 

PX REPORT

By Greg Young, Squadron PX Officer

: October marked another positive month for PX activity with the highlight being the Sheppard Airshow on October 20 which netted $735 in PX sales, $285 in cockpit tours, and there were $101 in Colonel Sales. There was also $60.26 in the donation bomb. Some of our popular items are depleted or short of supply but I will wait to order anything until after inventory and after a tentative airshow schedule is drawn up after January 1. There are items in the PX which would make good Christmas gifts so if you desire to buy anything, please let me know. That is about it for PX news, until next time, Happy Landings.

 

NEW FRIENDS

From Grant Lannon

At the Houston Air Show, we were approached by a woman who wanted to know which airplane was a B-25.  After pointing out Special Delivery, she told us that her husband had bought 150 letters from a B-25 pilot to his girlfriend during WWII.  She and a friend were transcribing them and plan to write a book about this love story using the letters.  She and her husband are coming to the Dinner Dance in San Marcos and plan on interviewing Jim Stahl, myself, and others who can help them understand the airplane that this pilot flew.  She is gathering specific questions to ask us.  Anyway, they will be sitting at the Yellow Rose tables so if you run into Rene and Kent Armstrong, make them welcome and thank them for being so enthusiastic about B-25s and WWII history.

CAF Awards TO YR MEMBERS

By Judy McMillan, Awards Committee Chairman

At the October meeting of the YR Squadron, Ron Dietes, Squadron Leader, presented the following Commemorative Air Force awards:

 

Alison Ender:  CAF Letter of Commendation for non-CAF Member; awarded by the Squadron for her invaluable assistance to the success of the Doolittle Reunion by being in charge of ticket sales.

 

Bill Sugarek:  CAF Unit Service Award; awarded by the Squadron to acknowledge his generosity, service and support to the Squadron by donating the engine cores that facilitated our engine overhaul of the right engine.

 

David Stevenson:   CAF Unit Service Award; awarded by the Squadron to acknowledge his generosity, service and support to the Squadron by donating the engine cores that facilitated our engine overhaul of the right engine.

 

Bob Gardner:  CAF Unit Letter of Commendation; awarded by the Squadron in recognition of his efforts and presentation that resulted in the Doolittle Reunion coming to San Antonio and being sponsored by the Yellow Rose Squadron and the USAF.

 

Pat Jopling:  CAF Unit Letter of Commendation; awarded by the Squadron in recognition of his efforts and presentation that resulted in the Doolittle Reunion coming to San Antonio and being sponsored by the Yellow Rose Squadron and the USAF.

 

Ron Dietes:  CAF Silver Magnolia Blossoms Award; awarded by the Squadron to acknowledge his tremendous work and guidance to the committees that resulted in the success of the Doolittle Reunion.

 

Steve Gladwin:  CAF Unit Service Award;  awarded by the Squadron in recognition of the major role his work as Ways and Means Chairman and coordination of sales and vendors played in the success of the Doolittle Reunion.

 

Letitia Dietes:   CAF Unit Service Award: awarded by the Squadron in recognition of the major role her work as Contact Point for the Raiders and their guests and for outstanding and coordination of many behind-the-scenes requirements that played a key role in the success of the Doolittle Reunion.

 

Bret Renfro:  CAF Unit Service Award;  awarded by the Squadron in recognition of the major role his work as Events Chairman and help with the PX and many other areas played in the success of the Doolittle Reunion.

 

Julie Pulcipher:  CAF Unit Letter of Commendation; awarded by the Squadron in recognition of her work in coordinating transportation for the honor guests at the Doolittle Reunion and enabling the flexibility in the planning to meet all requirements of the guests.

 

Ray Janss:  CAF Unit Letter of Commendation for non-CAF Member; awarded by the Squadron for soliciting three sponsorships for the Doolittle Reunion and for the ongoing support his organization donates to the Squadron.

 

Judy McMillan:  CAF Silver Magnolia Blossoms Award; award by Headquarters Financial staff in recognition of her continuing good work as Financial Officer.

WWII HERO GONE WEST

Courtesy photos from the USAF Link

The world was saddened on Tuesday, October 11, by the death of David Lee “Tex” Hill from congestive heart failure. A US Navy pilot prior to joining the American Volunteer Group, he was a hero against the Japanese in both the AVG and the USAAC in China during WWII. “Tex” was credited with 10 1/4 Japanese planes while with the Flying Tigers and overall had 18 1/4 aerial victories in China. During the closing months of WWII, Hill commanded the first jet unit in the then Army Air Forces. The group flew the Bell XP-59 and the Lockheed P-80. In July 1946, he resigned his commission and left active duty to ranch at Mountain Home, Texas. Shortly thereafter, he joined the newly organized Texas Air National Guard and became the youngest brigadier general in the history of that service. He resigned from the military in 1968. “Tex’s” medals were many, as well as honors. He was inducted into the CAF Hall of Fame in 1997. In addition to his other activities the last few years, he was an advisor to the Yellow Rose Squadron. We send our condolences to Mazie and the extended Hill family. ‘Pappy’, you will be missed by all of us and a grateful nation.

 

2006 Yellow Rose B-25
Squadron Staff Officers

Squadron Leader - Ron Dietes

t6cpilot@netzero.net

Executive Officer - Tim Black

tangblack@austin.rr.com

Finance Officer - Judy McMillan

heyjude@texas.net

Adjutant - Pat Moore

patrickmoore99@mail.ev1.net

Operations Officer -

 

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