ROSE TRAVELS AND ACTIVITIES
A CLEAN SWEEP BY THE YELLOW ROSE !
By Julie
Pulcipher
We couldn’t have been prouder. The Yellow
Rose made an outstanding showing this past weekend at the Morgan Adams Concours D’Elegance held at Centennial Airport,
Colorado.
I guess I’d better start at the beginning.
Several weeks ago Ron was contacted by Brett Derosier, an individual involved in assisting with the planning of an event held in Englewood, Colorado at the Centennial Regional Airport. The name of the event is The 2005 Morgan Adams Concours D’Elegance. The individuals (Joan Slaugther and Steve Adams) organizing the third annual event, lost their 6 year old daughter Morgan to a brain tumor back in 1998. In 2003 they founded the Morgan Adams Foundation which is dedicated to improving the quality of life and survival rates of children diagnosed with pediatric cancer. They organize several fund raising events, one of which is now the annual Concours D’Elegance, which features an aircraft and auto preview of some of the finest vintage /modern automobiles and aircraft in the world. The Yellow Rose was extended an invitation to be part of this event. Part of her appeal is how personable she can be in allowing visitors to get hands on and an up close personal experience.
We (Ron Dietes, Grant Lannon, Greg Young,
Dave Howard, Bob Gardner, Jim Liles, Mike Francis, Julie Pulcipher) met at the Hanger at 7:15 Thursday morning, where we were met by Paul Newkirk in a 15 Passenger Van. Paul deserves a HUGE Thank You for driving us out to Midland to pick up the “Rose” and then returning the van that evening back to San Marcos. What a team player! We arrived in Midland around 14:30. The “Rose” was a little dusty and a little low on oil but otherwise had been well cared for. Ron, Grant and Jim gave a PR ride to some of the Midland volunteers, who were very appreciative. While they were busy doing that the rest of us secured our nights transportation. (Which in this case was a 1985 pick up, that headquarters generously allowed us to use?) I thought for sure I was going to get stopped by immigration. But I guess a female driving around with 8 guys in flight suits (6 in the bed of the truck with luggage) probably did not look that suspicious being it was
Midland, home of the CAF. We spent the night at our usual hangout, the Parkway Inn, then headed off to the Legion after dinner. It must have been an unusually slow night at the Legion since there was only one other couple in the whole place. The Yellow Rose crew however, once again made the best of it. Jim Liles and I remain the current Shuffle Board champs. We arose the next morning and headed off to breakfast at Doby’s, a locally owed establishment. From there it was back to the airport to prep the “Rose” for one more PR ride, then it was off to Centennial Field. Ron had made arrangements for us to arrive at approximately 15:30 Colorado time. We had anticipated a 3 hour flight but we made it in approx 2 1/2 hours, thanks to a 20 knot tail wind. The ride up was uneventful; we had to divert slightly around some thunderstorms over Pueblo, but other than that is was a smooth trip. Upon arrival we were not initially exactly sure where we were expected to be. Interestingly, the Centennial Regional Airport is one of the three busiest airports in the country. This was evident upon our arrival. We made it to our destination and the “Rose” was backed up into her assigned position between the two hangers that would house Saturday’s events. We settled the “Rose” in for the night and headed off to the Holiday Inn, which was a 5 minute walk from where we were parked. We enjoyed a few refreshments at the bar, got cleaned up and headed to dinner at the local Outback Steakhouse. The next morning we awoke to Sunny Skies. We had been told the day before that we would need someone at the Rose early as they would be shooting brief promotional spots about that evening’s event. Jim met the reporters at the “Rose” around 6 am. This was just in time. Upon turning on the morning Weather, there was the weather man broadcasting the weather from the Cockpit of none other than the Yellow Rose. The “Rose” remained the lime light of the morning as they continued to change various autos and planes under and around the “Rose” for ongoing promotional spots. After shooting concluded, we headed off to the Perfect Landing, the local airport restaurant, and had a great breakfast. Returning to the “Rose” we entertained visitors with history and cockpit tours for the remainder of the day. We had prime seats as the majority of the event's cars and aircraft had to pass by us. It was an amazing arrangement of vintage/modern cars dispersed throughout modern and vintage aircraft. Unfortunately we had a 20 minute rain storm approximately 2 hours before the event started. It was a car scramble into the hangers, followed by a lot of wiping. Those cars are kept spotless. We regressed momentarily into the hanger to wait out the rain. The weather cleared just in time for the event to start. The “Rose” was scheduled to fly at 18:30 accompanied by a Spitfire, Yak, and P 51; other aircraft included a formation of four T-6’s, and a Stearman. They made 3 passes and if I might say the “Rose” looked great. The events participants were in various forms of attire from jeans to evening wear. That was odd to see compared to the usual air show crowd. They had all assembled at the edge of the taxiway, all having a very up close and personal view of the fly bys. It was fun to hear people’s comments on the “Rose”. They were thoroughly impressed. The fly by was concluded by a missing man tribute made to Brett Derosier (this had been Ron’s initial contact to the event; he had been killed in an airplane crash on August 13). The “Rose” returned to center stage and was literally surrounded by event goers. As soon as she was cleaned up, we were open for cockpit tours. We had fewer participants going up to the nose…..but then this is hard to do in dresses and high heels.
Through out the night we were able to walk thru the hangers and view all the cars and planes participating: there were customized jets, a deHavilland DHC-2 Beaver, a Fokker Dr.1, Grumman OV-1 “Mohawk”, and a MiG-17 to name a few. The cars were too numerous to list, but to give you an idea I will name a few: Jaguar XK 140 Roadster (1956), Cord 812 Supercharged Phaeton, Dusenbergs (1936), Renault Towncar (1912), Lambgorghinis, Mercedes, Packard’s, Ferrari’s, Cobra’s etc. etc. It was an impressive showing even to someone who is not a big car person, I’ll have to say the guys were in heaven. My favorite was the Cord 812 Supercharged Cabriolet (1937) once owned by Barbara Stanwick. As the night was concluding and after the silent auction was compete the awards were presented. And…..The Yellow Rose was presented with ALL THREE AWARDS. These included: Morgan Adams Concours D’Elegance 2005- Peoples Choice Award –Aircraft, The Lyndrey R. Cunningham Peer’s Choice Award and The Brett Drosier Memorial Best in Show Award. What a surprise! The Rose did us proud again! After the event concluded we closed her up for the night and headed off to celebrate our awards. The next morning it was up and at it
and back to get the “Rose” prepped and ready for the rides that were donated as silent auction items. The individuals who had purchased the rides arrived early and were eager and anxious. After landing they were bustling with the overwhelming excitement that follows a ride in the “Rose”. After completing our rides we had lunch and headed back to Midland to refuel and top off with oil before bringing the Rose home. What a great trip, our Colorado hosts could not have made us feel more welcome. We hope that there event was as successful as was anticipated at its goal in raising money for Pediatric Cancer research, we certainly were appreciative of having been a part of it.
Photo from Bob Gardner.
Julie Pulcipher in the Cord 812 referred to in her article.
