Minutes of the March 11, 2003 Meeting of the Yellow Rose Squadron

By Dave Howard

The regular squadron meeting was held at San Marcos in the Centex Hangar Ready Room. Grant needed to attend part of the Centex Board meeting, so Jack Reeves called the meeting to order at 1809, with Grant returning later. Officers present were XO, Ops, Treasurer, Maintenance, Adjutant, Safety, and our new PR Officer, Robert Gardner. Twenty one members attended. Potential recruits present were Richard and Dan Kemp, thanks to Howard Martin, (their Instructor-kidnapper). Minutes from the February meeting were approved as printed in the newsletter.

Reports

Adjutant:

The 2003 mailing list has now been purged of non-renewing members. At present there are 47 members.

Operations:

Brownsville turned out very well. The PX practically sold out. Including the appearance fee and cockpit tours, our revenue was about $3000. Tyndall AFB will probably cancel. NAS Corpus Christi canceled. Burnet is firm. The Randolph Tattoo crew will be Ron (Pilot), Howard (Co-Pilot), and Mike (Crew Chief). The Fredricksburg Rotarians have invited us to make an appearance on 17 April.

Finance:

February's beginning balance was $19,010. The net of deposits and disbursements was $6,024 (including insurance), leaving an ending balance of $12,986. March activity to date has cost $8. No Payables are due, so the projected March ending balance is $12,978.

Maintenance:

The B inspection is complete. The #1 Nav/Com radio has some dark display segments, so we need to take it to a shop. The Co-pilot's seat rollers hang up. We need to reattach the mat beneath it and clean and lubricate the rollers. The flap position sensor in the bomb bay needs a protection shield to prevent damage from cargo. The Pilot and Co-pilot now have a/c power connectors for GPS's, etc., and the rear intercom is also on a/c power. (No more 9V batteries!) Finally, the Rose needs a good cleaning inside and out.

Safety:

The new Preflight Checklist distributed at the ground school has an error for Emergency brake accumulator pressure. It should be changed from 800 to 600 PSI.

Newsletter:

Jerry needs articles for the Newsletter!

New Business

William Foster reported that he has another screensaver CD covering Brownsville for sale for $3 (profit to the Rose).

Bob Gardner reported on his poster project, displaying two examples of theme signature posters for sale as unique items at air shows. Friends Kenny Kent and Skip Jones donated their creative talent. Howard Martin introduced a motion with Second from Ron Dietes to purchase 1000 of the Nose Art theme poster at $2.32 each.

Announcements

Grant announced that he is looking for someone to handle a new Membership Committee Chairperson's job. It would entail coordinating recruiting activities and "mentoring" new members until they are at home in the Squadron.

The meeting was adjourned at 1901.

Aircraft Sponsor Program

By Jack Reeves

Within its first two decades of existence, the CAF attained one of its major goals, the acquisition of one of each major type of combat aircraft to serve with U.S. forces in World War II. The principal funding for these acquisitions came from the Aircraft Sponsorship Program, which was then,, and continues to be now, a key ingredient in the success of the CAF.

Today, however, with significant World War II aircraft becoming increasingly rarer and more expensive, the emphasis has shifted away from acquisition toward increased restoration and maintenance of the CAF fleet of over 140 aircraft. (January 1999). This does not mean that new aircraft will not be added to the fleet, when possible, but rather reflects the need to preserve and protect the investments already made by past and current Sponsors, units and individual members.

The Aircraft Sponsor Program is intended as one means to provide capital funds for the restoration and major maintenance of CAF aircraft. All sponsor funds are credited to the sponsored aircraft's account at CAF Headquarters and are available to help maintain or restore the aircraft, as needed. The basic concept of the Sponsor Program is COST SHARING.

In the simplest terms, Sponsorship is a group of men and women who have a common interest in sharing in the cost of restoring, maintaining and operating a particular CAF aircraft. This program has made it possible for hundreds of CAF members who cannot afford to personally own and operate a World War II aircraft to enjoy this unique activity by sharing the costs with others. It should be emphasized that non-pilot sponsors are both needed and welcome.

The Sponsor Program is a major foundation of CAF aircraft operations and financial support, and it should be given top priority in Unit planning and activity, right along with membership recruiting and development. All members and potential members should be made aware of the opportunities available through the Sponsor Program, and all members should be encouraged to participate in both this program and other CAF Unit activities. The Yellow Rose has 60 full paid sponsors.

The Basic concepts and implementation of the Sponsor Program are outlined and discussed in the section to follow.

WATCH FOR MORE INFORMATION NEXT MONTH

"Rose"and crew at Brownsville

Photo courtesy William Foster

Brownsville Airshow, March 8-9

By Ken Udcoff

As I write this, our finest, the pride of our nation are once again in "Harms Way". Seems that the young are always off on another mission. At Brownsville we paid tribute to a generation whose youth has come and gone, men who courageously flew aircraft like the "Rose", with some making the ultimate sacrifice. Bravo, to all that have worn the uniform of the USA.

The "Rose" was superbly flown by Ron and Grant in the fly bye's. The skill of the other participants were equally up to the task. The final formation flown about as tight as you can get, by an F15, P47 and A10 was the piece de resistance. (Sorry about the French, they may be back stabbing weasels, but their language does have a certain panache)

Mother Nature threatened her wrath at times, but being the forgiving matron that she is the show went on without any major problems.

PX sales were good as were the number of cockpit tours. Hope the treasury was enhanced by the efforts of all.

On a personal note, being a new member of the squadron participating in my first CAF show, I want to thank Ron, Grant, "Mad" Jack, Bob, Tom, Bill and Herb for giving new meaning to the word camaraderie. I joined the "Rose" Squadron for fun, guy's you gave new meaning to that word at Brownsville. I'm looking forward to a long and happy relationship.

Support

The

Troops

One Participant's View

by Grant Lannon with the T-6

The Tattoo is an event out of Randolph AFB that celebrates a tradition of small bands closing the bars in Scotland decades ago by marching through town to notify the troops that it was time to go back to their barracks. The main part of the event is musical with military bands and music over several hours at dusk. The T-6, T-33, P-39, and B-25 from San Marcos took part in the event. It now occurs over the Verizon Amphitheatre close to the Retama Racetrack just North of San Antonio and in the backyard of Randolph. The flyover is about 30 minutes and, in this case, included vintage Warbirds and current military aircraft. From a pilot's viewpoint, esteem is established with the whole group by making your Time Over Target (TOT) at the exact time that was programmed for you. The most interesting aspect of the current process is that the modern aircraft have all sorts of sophisticated equipment to ensure that this can be done. The vintage aircraft rely on hand-held GPSs, kitchen timers or wrist watches, and some skill in dead reckoning. The sponsors at Randolph have sophisticated computers that can crank out a list of taxi, takeoff, orbit, IP (Initial Point), and target times to the second. They can also crank out flight plans that if entered into sophisticated GPSs, can tell the pilot exactly what his status is. The rest of us are putting a finger to the wind (in this case, a strong tailwind) and trying to decide all the techniques we can use to arrive at the right point at the right time. If you hit your TOT exactly, it is called "a shack."--the goal of all present. Let us just say that some of us did not meet our goal. In addition, in the present situation of increased security, 1000 feet had to be maintained over the crowd and the visibility on practice day was much better than it was for the event.

Through it all, we had a great time. We killed a lot of time waiting for briefings in mid-afternoon while enjoying our free rooms and the practice day debrief at the Officers Club. The organizers and the flyers learned a lot and if the same people do it again next year (highly doubtful), we have some new ideas on how to approach the problem. When there is any change to "the plan" cranked out by the computer, the computer has to be rerun. This may mean that you are waiting in the briefing room with little to do while hoping the final product gets to you before you have to go to the aircraft. Just as in an airshow, once the props start turning, the plan may be of limited value. If the aircraft in front of you screws up, you have some decisions to make on what you are going to do. Watching all those aircraft taxi out and take off to go to their orbit points was thrilling. We think the crowd enjoyed the flying part and there were thousands still arriving for the musical portion when we were headed back to San Marcos. All-in-all, it was a great time!

Another Participant's View

By Howard Martin with the Yellow Rose

As most of you may know, Rose participated in the Randolph Tattoo on March 27 along with 34 other warbirds and modern military aircraft. I hope the fly-over played well on the ground. From the air - well - let's be nice and say it was an experience. However, I would like to make an impassioned plea to Yellow Rose Squadron members. Before we do another, we need to take up a collection to:

1. Hire Ralph Royce to plan and brief the mission.

Buy the Lone Star Museum a GPS for B-17.

3. Acquire a working VHF radio we can loan to the Air Force.

Wednesday was practice day. Upon settling into a comfortable theater type seat in the briefing room we were presented with what was called an Air Force Form 70. What this turned out to be was a flight plan in minute detail timed literally to the second. From take-off, to orbit, to push, to IP, to target. All of this accompanied by a map depicting the routes for 35 airplanes to and from 10 orbits on a card approximately 3x5. You couldn't make out the departure airport much less the visual references for the orbit points much less the target. What's wrong with Ralph telling us to go out and hold in the East orbit and make our run in when he told us?

On the Wednesday practice, we managed to find the orbit, no problem. Our push time was 18:14:16!? I had Ron set up his turns so we would cross the orbit point at the prescribed time (5sectolerance per the briefing). Only one problem. The B-17 in the same orbit was supposed to push ahead of us. We delayed for a bit but when it became obvious that the B-17 was waiting, we called inbound. We picked up enough speed in the decent we were approximately on the time over target time despite the late start. Turns out the B-17 driver had not picked up the final briefing sheet which had the push order on it. He thought that because he took off behind us, he was supposed follow us to the target.

The next day for the real thing, the B-17 was off the orbit right on time, as were we. But once inbound and trying to line up on target, I saw the B-17 about our 2o'clock. Don't know what he was lining up on but it wasn't the Verizon Center. Bottom line we had to slow significantly to wait for him to get back on target because we were supposed to be 1min. behind. So, if we weren't in the right place, it wasn't out fault!

To confuse matters more, we each had a set of calls Air Boss wanted us to make such as "on station", "inbound", etc. which Air Boss was supposed to acknowledge. All civil aircraft including the vintage warbirds have radios on the VHF frequency band. In the Wed. briefing an Air Boss frequency of 138.2 was assigned, obviously oblivious to the fact that the highest aircraft VHF frequency is 135.9. After scrambling for a new frequency the problem was solved for that day. The next day a different freq. was assigned only to be changed again on an "all aircraft" call during taxi out. Arriving on station, we made our "on station" call with no response from Air Boss. Hearing other aircraft call in with similar results convinced us that if we were on the wrong freq. we weren't alone. A back-up radio Air Boss tried was barely readable. I was trying to remember our no radio instructions from briefing when somebody apparently hustled out to Radio Shack and got a radio that worked. Your modern Air Force at work.

Two days of fun with Rose and friends.

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The Spectator's Viewpoint

By Jerry Taylor

The evening was perfect-not too hot nor too cool. The tickets provided by the 12^th FTW Protocol office provided excellent parking. I began to realize that this was to be a good evening. The hospitality provided by the USAF was excellent and the DV crowd had many old friends-not only of mine, but of the Yellow Rose. Several were sponsors and military supporters. After drinks and munchies, it was time for the show to begin.

Having participated in several previous Tattoos, I had never seen one from the ground, therefore had no idea just what to expect. There were thirty-two aircraft listed on the program and I knew from previous experience that the time was to the second, I felt it would start on time. Sure enough, at 1815, the first planes were announced. The F-86 and F-16 gained the crowd's attention and were right over the target. Followed by the superbly restored PT-17, we began to anticipate the next plane. The P-17 opened the 40's era of the tribute. The noise was from behind us-Oops--the B-17 was way south of the target. This could be a long evening!! But next was our star of the show-The Yellow Rose! At 18/28, Ron, Howard, and Mike were right on time and right over the crowd. This brought oohs and aahs from the spectators. Net was the P-47, then three extremely rare birds, the P-39 (looked good guys), the P-63, and the P-51C. Wow!

The 50's era consisted of the T-33, T-6 (Grant), and the O-2. So far, all had come at the proper spacing and with the one exception, over the crowd, as planned. Next came the HUGE MH-53 helicopter, followed by the A-26 Spirit of Waco, and a T-28. The next two performers, the C-130 and the KC-135 (with it's boom down) could fit in the 50s or even the current era of planes.

The 60's-70's were represented by the F-4, the F-15C, and the never aging B-52.

Now, the chronological kinda falls apart. The C-17 whispered overhead, followed by the F-16, with a noisy attitude. The B-1B came over the crowd with as much noise, but as soon as he cleared the crowd, the burners were lit and he pulled up hard. Boy, did it get everyone's attention!! Don't know what would have happened had all four burners lit. Number two did not light off. This really stirred the crowd. The F-15 was the end of the current era and was not the show that the B-1 was.

The finale was a formation of the 12^th FTW trainers-the T-43, the T-6A, the T-37, the T-38 and the T-1. All in all, a fitting ending to a great exibition and tribute to the centennial of flight. By the time it was over, the crowd was abuzz about the flyovers.

Following the flying, the Air Force presented a stage show paying tribute to the Ultimate Sacrifice paid by many for our country, a tribute to San Antonio, America, and the American Flag. All in all, this whole Tattoo was an excellent tribute to the United States and the military, and in light of the current conflicts, an excellent patriotic event. Thanks to the USAF for providing it .

RUMOR

From Grant Lannon

The models MAY arrive in time for the April 8 meeting. We will have them there if they do.

Summary of History of the Yellow Rose

By Grant Lannon

The Rose was built as a B-25J as serial number 43-27868. It was built in Kansas City, KS and delivered in April of 1944. The "43" in the serial number is not necessarily the year it was built. As shown on the website http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/usafserials.html ,quote: Starting in July of 1921 (the beginning of FY 1922) a new system was adopted based on procurement within each Fiscal Year. Each serial number now consisted of a base number corresponding to the last two digits of the FY in which money was used to manufacture the aircraft, and a sequence number indicating the sequential order in which the particular aircraft was ordered within that particular FY. For example, airplane 22-1 was the first aircraft ordered in FY 1922, 23-1 was the first example ordered in FY 1923, etc. This system is still in use today.

It is important to recognize that the serial number reflects the Fiscal Year in which the order for the aircraft is placed, NOT the year in which it is delivered. Nowadays, the difference between the time the order is placed and the time the aircraft is actually delivered can be as much as several years.

So here is the question for you: at the pace B-25s were being built in Kansas City in 1943, 44; do you think it took over four months between the time the aircraft was built to deliver it to the USAAF? The official records from Maxwell, which I have, do not show when the aircraft was built, only when it was delivered. I believe the Rose was built in 1944. But if you want to avoid an argument, you can say 1943.

The aircraft remained on the East Coast (approximately 2 years) at various bases until it was first put in storage in Texas in July 1947 (Greenville, SC; Hartford, CT; Westover AFB, Mass.) Two years later (July 1949), it was taken out of storage and assigned to Shepard AFB, TX in Wichita Falls as a ground instructional airframe and it remained there for almost 7 years. In April of 1956, it was flown to ayes Aircraft Co. in Birmingham and was converted to a TB-25N and returned to flying status. It was at San Marcos for 5 months, Laredo AFB for almost two years and was put back in storage at Davis-Monthan in September 1958. In December of 1959 it was sold to Fogle Aircraft Co. in Tucson, the Dothan Aviation Corp in February of 1960, issued registration number N9077Z in March 1960, and was converted to an agricultural sprayer in January of 1962. In October of 1975 John Stokes bought it and he sold it to the restorers in September of 1977. In July 1979 it was sold to the CAF and the registration changed to N25YR in July of 1991.

A couple of SR-71 Quickies

Submitted by Jack Reeves

In his book, Sled Driver, SR-71/ Blackbird pilot Brian Shul writes:

"I'll always remember a certain radio exchange that occurred one day as Walt (his backseater)and I were screaming across Southern California, 13 miles up. We were monitoring various radio transmissions from other aircraft and The Los Angeles Air Traffic Control Center as we entered the Los Angeles area airspace. Though they didn't really control us, the Center did monitor our movement across their scope. I heard a single-engine Cessna ask for a read-out of its ground speed. "90 knots," Center replied. Moments later, a Twin Beech requested the same. "120 knots," Center answered. We weren't the only ones proud of our ground speed that day; as almost instantly an F/A-18 smugly transmitted, "Ah, Center, Dusty 52 requests ground speed readout. There was a slight pause, then the response, "525 knots on the ground, Dusty. Another silent pause. As I was thinking to myself how ripe a situation this was, when I heard a familiar click of a radio transmission coming from my backseater. It was at that precise moment I realized Walt and I had become a real crew, for we were both thinking in unison. "Center, Aspen 20, you got a ground speed readout for us? There was a longer than normal pause.... "Aspen 20, I show 1,742 knots. There were no further ground speed inquiries.

In another famous SR-71 story, Los Angeles Center reported receiving a request for clearance to FL 60 (flight level 60,000 ft). The incredulous controller, with some disdain in his voice, asked, "How exactly do you plan to get up to 60,000 feet?" The pilot (obviously a sled driver) responded, "Center, we were hoping to descend to it. He was cleared immediately....

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

Briefings e-mail address:

B-25YR@msn.com

HEAR YE!! HEAR YE!! YOU ALL

The ladies are here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Betty, Martha, Rose, Squeeeeze me, and several others… All ready to be taken home to some lucky people who appreciate their beauty!!

Yes, you too can be a lucky owner of one of our lovely Nose Art posters

Each print measures 21' X 31" SUITABLE FOR CUSTOM FRAMING, OR trim off the white edges and you will have finished poster suitable for a stock 20" x 30" poster frame.

And not $25 or $ 35 as one may expect to pay in a Mall. But for a limited time only (Limited time =till we sell them all) JUST $20 buckaroos, YES I said only $20.00 US BUCKS.

2003 Airshow Schedule

April

4,5,6 NASCorpus Christi*
Corpus Christi, Texas

12 Bluebonnet Airshow*
Burnet, Texas

May

3-4 Temple Airshow*
Temple, Texas

9,10,11 Barksdale AFB
Bossier City, Louisiana

31-1 Little Rock AFB Airshow
Jacksonville, Arkansas

June

7-8 3^rd Coast Squadron Airshow*
Alice, Texas

13,14,15 Sheppard AFB '03 Airshow*
Wichita Falls, Texas

21-22 2003 Regional Air Fest
Cape Girardeau, Missouri

July

4 4th of July Airshow
Bay City, Texas

18,19,20 Wings Over Angel Fire*
AngelFire, New Mexico

August

15,16,17 KC Aviation Expo
Kansas City, Missouri

September

5,6,7 Airshow Oklahoma Fnd.
Mukogee, Oklahoma

20-21 Autumn in the Air
Wichita, Kansas

27-28 Airsho 2003
Midland, Texas

October

11-12 Amigo Airshow
El Paso, Texas

18-19 Wings Over Houston 2003*
Houston, Texas

November

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

* Indicates Confirmed Appearance

Other issues
BRIEFINGS
April, 2003	The Yellow Rose B-25 Squadron Newsletter	Vol. 06-04