ROSE TRAVELS AND ACTIVITIES

 

 

The Brownsville Air Show Trip

12-15 March 2004

By Dave Howard

     Our departure schedule was 1400 on Friday, but at 1100 it didn’t look good.  It was raining!  As the crew was “trickling” in we were entertained by a videotaping session conducted by USAA.  Local Raider Dick Cole, co-pilot for Jimmy Doolittle, was being interviewed in the cockpit of the Rose!  After that, Sandy Sansing, Bill Powers, and Grant were interviewed as a group in front of the Lexington’s jeep.  You never know what you might see at the Centex hangar.

     The Tora bunch left around 1230 between showers.  By 1330 things were looking better, and we were only slightly behind schedule when the Rose took off.  Grant was PIC, Ron was SIC, and Mike Francis was Flight engineer.  After we were leveled off, Ken Udcoff took Ron’s place to get some flying time.  As we flew south it was hazy, and we flew above a low scattered layer and below a much higher overcast layer.  The view from the nose was awesome, as usual.  South of Corpus Christi the lower cloud layer started to tighten up, so we dropped below it and the view really got interesting.  Soon we could see the beach and the Intracoastal Waterway, and flew along beside it over sand dunes and vacation hideouts. The weather was decent at Brownsville and all too soon we were parked on the ramp (the first of many parking places!)  The famous wipe down was done in no time, because our hard work this winter sealed almost all the leaks!  We unloaded the PX and trucked it inside the hangar to our tiny booth space.  Too small, I pointed out, so in grateful appreciation for my powers of observation they appointed me PX Poobah for the trip!  Not to worry, the coordinator assured us that we could expand in the morning.  Reassured, we checked out the famous bar on the ramp.  There we watched the local TV news on the tube as they televised live shots on the ramp outside in front of the Rose.  Some of us had a cool one or two and nibbled on our generous host’s array of veggies and appetizers.  Howard secured a soccer mom’s dream van, so we all piled in and headed for the motel. Jim Lyles managed to get us there without getting lost in spite of 6 navigators to help him.  We dropped the bags in our rooms and drove down the road to Tony Roma’s for dinner.  Finally it was back to the motel where some of us checked out the bar, then crashed; and some just crashed on the first pass.

     Saturday morning we enjoyed the complementary breakfast buffet at the motel and then headed for the field.  Half of us prepped the Rose for cockpit tours and the air show flights, and half began setting up the PX.  The friendly jewelry shrew adjacent to our booth immediately complained about our table setup; but we had friends in high places and soon we were in a triple-width space with no neighbors and a restaurant freezer behind the curtain in case we got hungry.  The crowd entered the ramp area through the hangar, passing our booth first on arrival and last on departure.  The weather was threatening both days of the show, which undoubtedly reduced attendance.  Even so, we had about $1000 in sales.  Many thanks to the Poobah’s assistants, who never deserted and ran the PX like pros.  Sunday the PX team even included Centex PX veterans Ginny and Harold Miller.

     Saturday night Ron directed us to Garcia’s Restaurant in Matamoros for dinner.  Having gone to high school in the Valley many years ago, I wasn’t expecting a restaurant of that caliber in a border town.  What a treat.

     Sunday was much like Saturday, except that the weather looked even gloomier at first.  On both days the show went off without a hitch and our Rose was flawless.  The missing man formation was particularly moving because it was dedicated to those servicemen from the Valley who had died in Operation Iraqi Freedom.  The formation was made up of the Rose, a T6, a T28, and an SB2C.  It approached the crowd head-on from across the field, and then the SB2C pulled just before they reached the ramp.  A number of family members in attendance were moved and expressed gratitude for the honor and remembrance we left with them. 

     Sunday afternoon we couldn’t get a decent enough forecast to guarantee VMC to San Marcos, so we had to stay for the survivors’ party.   The Blastards’ ladies toyed with the Tora pukes for a time, but soon declared that “bomber crews need hugs, too” and jumped in our laps.  (We need to figure out what to do about those pictures.)  Finally, it was back to Tony Roma’s and an unplanned night at the motel. 

     Monday morning it poured during breakfast.  Not a good sign.  Brownsville intersections were starting to flood as we drove to the CAF hangar to wait for a break.  Some Marine pilots were there waiting to leave as well.  It seems that someone forgot to rent a start cart for the Marines’ E6 Prowler and they can’t use a 28 volt one, so they were a little bent.  The Valley Wing folks were still on the job, however, keeping us fed with little sandwiches and generally being helpful.  Some of us took the opportunity for a closer look at their museum, one of the best wing museums I’ve seen.  Howard kept up a dialog with the Flight Service Station and learned that conditions at San Marcos were fine, we just had to get an opening between bands of low clouds and showers coming out of Mexico and passing over South Texas.  At last our opportunity occurred at about noon   The Rose took off just a little before the Tora guys left.  This time Ron was PIC, Grant was SIC, and Mike got to keep his job as Flight Engineer.  I got to go up to the nose again to “navigate”.  After we leveled off, Grant gave up his seat to Ken.  The clouds dropped down a lot in the “no mans land” between Brownsville and Corpus Christi, so we had to maintain VMC by passing Corpus Christi on the east.  North of Corpus Christi we turned toward San Marcos and, finding the good weather we had been promised, flew straight home.

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LEAD ACTIVITIES

By Ron Dietes

The Law Enforcement Appreciation Day was held at the Centex hangar on Saturday March 27th from 9am until 2pm.  I have to tell you in my opinion, the event was a smashing success.  Since the Rose was not able to travel to Tyndall AFB, we set up a small PX under the wing and did cockpit tours.  Although we only had three people to help, we did manage to put about 200 children thru the Rose.  My thanks to Bob Gardner and Judy McMillan.  Without them, we would not have been able to do the cockpit tours and generate money for the Rose.  But the PX sales were sparse.  We only sold two posters. Next year we will do better.  Thanks also to Grant for helping get us started.  Since I was out by the Rose, I was not able to get into the hangar for the those events, but from the many tables and chairs, it had to be crowded.  All in all, I think everyone that was able to be there enjoyed themselves.  The lunch was excellent and the many smiles I saw on the kids, definitely made it memorable.  There was one little girl that did the cockpit tour at least four times.  I thought that perhaps she wanted to be a pilot and liked airplanes, but when I asked her she told me she just liked to crawl thru the cannon tunnel.  That sure gave me a chuckle.  So, well done CENTEX.