May 2008 Newsletter

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BRIEFINGS
May, 2008	The Newsletter of the Yellow Rose Squadron	Vol. 11-05
	Briefings e-mail address: B25YR@msn.com

LEADER'S WORDS

By Ron Dietes, Squadron Leader

     We have successfully completed two air shows on our 2008 schedule (Kingsville & SUN-n-FUN) since my last Leaders Words and I am happy to say the Rose performed extremely well. We only had a couple of small problems on our return trip from Lakeland (SUN-n-FUN) and those items have already been repaired and ground tested. You should find more detail information on the Kingsville and Lakeland trips elsewhere in this newsletter. We did well with cockpit tours and PX sales at both of these shows. However I have to tell you, by the time we arrived back at San Marcos after these shows, we were worn out. Some of the crew was gone for ten days and most of those were sixteen hour days. That will wear you down quickly.

     The maintenance crew has been working to get the Rose washed and the interior cleaned for our trip to Dyess AFB on Friday May 2^nd. We have a really full schedule so if you can spare the time, come out to the hangar to help get the Rose ready for the next show. I will send out reminders of when we will be working at the hangar and also to keep everyone apprised of what needs to be done. I really hate to keep bringing up the topic of helping out, but I am sure you realize that if the same folks keep doing all the work, pretty soon they will tire of coming to the hangar and then we will have a problem, that I am really trying to avoid. I think you get my meaning here. Enough said.

     The Yellow Rose business card cards have been delivered to those of you that ordered them and I have to say that everyone that has picked up their cards is extremely pleased with the cards. They are very well done. The San Antonio printer did a really good job. He even cleaned up the picture on the back and did not charge us for that updated art work. So, if you need some printing, let me know and I will give you his information. He is just a little shop but he seems to have the right connections for getting a good job at an affordable price.

     It has been quite a while since I have removed squadron member names that have not renewed their membership in the Squadron and I plan to update my broadcast list next week. So, if you have been getting my broadcasts and have not renewed, you might want to send your yearly dues to Judy McMillan, ASAP. The reason I have written this in the newsletter is in case you know someone that has not renewed, you can inform them they will no longer receive my squadron emails once my list has been updated.

     Although our second engine is ready to be picked up, I have not had the time to actually drive to Oklahoma City to pick up our second engine from Global. But plans are in the works to have our engine in the hangar by the beginning of May, certainly by the middle of May at the latest. I am also trying to have the cylinder we removed from the current left engine overhauled, so we have a spare lower rear cylinder ready to go, just in case we need it. I also spent a little time talking to Roy from Global about our intermittent stutter in the current left engine. He seems to think it is a sticking valve. Rudy Blakey and I also discussed this problem and he also thought it was a sticking valve. Sure do miss that Rudy guy.

     I am sorry to report that I was unable to locate spare oil coolers. I was hoping to locate two coolers and have them overhauled and ready for installation, so that we could save the five weeks it takes to overhaul the coolers installed in the Rose. We have to have the coolers overhauled so Global will warranty the engine.

     Using the company that Greg Young found to monogram our Yellow Rose crew shirts, I had three oxford style shirts monogrammed and wore two of them to dinner while we were in Lakeland at SUN-n-FUN. I received favorable responses from the crew so I plan to bring them to our next Squadron meeting which is Tuesday May 13^th for all to see. If there is enough interest we will pursue having some shirts made. Along those same lines, Mike Chalk is investigating having Yellow Rose jackets monogrammed. Mike will present the information he has gathered to date, at our next squadron meeting.

     The FAA has approved Tim Black’s flight medical paperwork and Tim will schedule his check ride so he can once again fly with us. This is absolutely great news. The holdup on the check ride was the flying schedule of the Rose and Grant has been out of the country for most of April, but Grant should be back by the time you read this.

     I am still working on a jump seat for the Rose. I am hoping the Pacific Prowler will be in Fort Worth when I make the trip to Oklahoma City as Jim has a spare seat and I can take measurements and pictures of the seat mounting, so we can have a seat and mounting fabricated for the Rose. Hopefully I will have more info at our next squadron meeting. After talking to Tim Jackson (Miss Mitchell), I don’t think the seat in Miss Mitchell will work for our needs.

     Fly safe and keep the rubber side down.

PX Report

By Greg Young, PX Officer

April has been a very productive month for the Yellow Rose PX. First was the Kingsville NAS show on April 5-6. The PX netted $1437.00 in sales despite a somewhat remote location on the ramp. The snap together models, small children’s planes, and 50 cal. Shells all continue to sell well. Our goal of some empty boxes on the return flight was attained. After a quick overnight turnaround and reloading of the PX, it was off to Florida and Sun n Fun. I want to thank all of those people who helped with the turnaround which found the PX loaded and ready to go by scheduled departure time. Sun n Fun produced even more revenue to the tune of $1953.00 in PX sales. Due to the crowd at Sun n Fun being somewhat different in makeup than a regular airshow, the focus was shifted away from toys and we sold Yellow Rose and Doolittle Reunion items and thus eliminated some carry over inventory in Doolittle coins, books, and hats. It was a successful sale. Cockpit tours continue to be a gold mine for us with the Yellow Rose being a crowd magnet. Kingsville tours were $809.60 and Sun n Fun tours netted $2100.90. An estimate of the number of people who toured the airplane was over 900 individuals put through. Great job, crew! I have reordered several items already and have located a new 50 cal. Supplier in St. Louis, MO with whom I just placed an order and hopefully we will have them in time for the May airshows. That’s about it for now, Happy Landings.

SUN ‘N FUN

LAKELAND FL - APRIL 7-14

By Greg Young

On April 7, 2008, the Yellow Rose and her crew of eight set out on one of the longest missions in recent time to the Sun N Fun Fly In at Lakeland Florida. Sun N Fun is the second largest fly in in the country after the famous AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The crew consisted of Ron Dietes, Ken Udcoff, Jim Liles, Steve Gladwin, Bob Gardner, Ed McCafferty, Buzz Perez, and Greg Young. The mission was to help represent the CAF at the Fly In as a substitute for the B24A which was down for an engine problem. Between the Kingsville crew, Zach Armstrong, Letty Dietes, Ed Wertke, and the Sun N Fun crew, the airplane and PX were turned around between the 6-7 of April as the Rose had come in from doing the Kingsville NAS show. The crew showed up early on the April 7 only to have the departure delayed until early afternoon because of bad weather enroute. After takeoff, we headed east cutting across East Texas and Houston, Louisiana, and then Mississippi before our scheduled refueling stop in Fairhope Alabama. After fuel and oil, it was off to Lakeland where the controller fit us right in with no holding. The Lakeland area had experienced heavy rains for several days prior to our arrival so there was plenty of wet ground, this bad weather had also lessened the number of arrivals in the early part of the week. The Rose was parked on the Warbird ramp and we picked up 2 rental vehicles. We then made the first of many trips to Davenport Florida where our accommodations, a 5 bedroom house was located. The drive was approximately 40 miles each way but the house was more than adequate for our crew needs. Tuesday morning found us at the BOB EVANS restaurant where we became known regulars by the end of the week. The prior rains had made many areas muddy so traffic control became congested and it took several days to develop a regular route into the airport with no delay. Steve Brown, the CAF president, and his crew of volunteers were there at the CAF tent along with several other CAF aircraft including the Red Nose P51, the SBD Dauntless, and the SB2C Helldiver. A daily routine was established in opening the aircraft and preparing for PX sales and cockpit tours. The traffic flow of people increased as the week passed and more than 900 people toured the airplane and the PX brought in $2100 for the week. Each day there was a series of aerobatic acts and flyovers and the number of aircraft present increased every day. Bob Gardner took photos which ended up in the daily CAF report and also on the front page of the daily newspaper printed there at Sun N Fun. Crew members relieved each other so that everyone could tour the grounds for pictures, shopping for tools and avionic equipment, or just to see all the airplanes. Starting with Tuesday, the close up routine was established and the crew would celebrate the day at the SUNSET GRILL there on the airport grounds. Several crew members took rides in various aircraft from a New Standard biplane to the Red Nose P51. Some of us were also able to stop at Kermit Weeks’ Fantasy of Flight in Polk City. I highly recommend a visit and it is good to see Weeks invest quite a bit of money into this first class operation with aircraft that look like they just came off the assembly line. We saw Kermit Weeks taxi up in his red tail P51C. Each day was a full day schedule wise and after the SUNSET GRILL we would set off to either dinner or a hospitality gathering. I want to thank Steve Brown for buying us tickets to a shrimp broil and to the Cavanaugh Flight Museum group who had us over one night for a cookout at a remote farm-ranch estate. We also sampled the PUB and it’s night of entertainment with Elvis. I think we all wished that Elvis would have left the building upon our arrival. The week went by and the crowds increased with visitors including Miss Central Florida and the Thunderbirds who performed the latter part of the week. Monday, April 14 arrived and saw us load up and start the flight home. A cold front had come in and so the flight home was not the warmest in my memory. This time we stopped in Hammond, Louisiana where the folks were expecting us thanks to Gordon Richardson, one of our T6 friends. Buzz Perez and myself even were able to see some of Hammond as we went to get lunch for the crew. Soon we headed home on the last leg and arrived back in San Marcos shortly after 1600. It had been a successful week. The Rose flew well and the anticipated left engine change should improve the oil consumption rate. As we all know, fuel costs are a major issue and it was interesting to note the difference in price for gas with Fairhope being the most expensive, Sun N Fun the second most expensive, and then Hammond being the least expensive with the price range from around $4.50 a gallon to over $5,00 a gal. Jim Liles also experienced a vast difference in price on the oil that was bought. Last but not least, a big Yellow Rose commendation to the crew who paid for the trip out of their own pockets so that the Rose squadron can uphold our tradition of reliability and pride in showing her to the crowds of people, yes she truly is a crowd magnet.

WINGS OVER SOUTH TEXAS

NAS KINGSVILLE, APRIL 4-6

By Buzz Perez, Safety Officer

     On April 4th, the Yellow Rose took off for Kingsville NAS for the Wings Over South Texas Air show. On board were Ron Dietes, Ken Udcoff, Jack Reeves, Dan Sims, Greg Young, Curtis Hall and myself. It was her second show of the season, and our gallant lady was looking and flying fine! It was my first flight aboard her, so as you can imagine; I was like a one-eyed cat in a seafood store. Most of the one hour flight down was spent trying to stay beneath a broken cover between three and five thousand feet. We landed about 1730 and secured the ship. Lo and behold, just down the road at the Officers Club was a reception for The Blue Angels at 1800. We put checking in to the hotel on hold, and spent several hours mixing and mingling with the folks there. Even though I have seen the Blue Angels perform on many occasions, as part of the ship’s crew it was my first opportunity to actually socialize with them. We had a great time there before proceeding to get checked in and rustle up some chow.

     The next morning was cold and windy. We did one PR ride instead of the expected two. We then set up the PX and started conducting cockpit tours. The Rose was the only “old” war bird on the ramp and we did well all day. The Blue Angels did a magnificent performance as usual and the gates were closed . We secured operations and headed back to the hotel.

     That evening we discovered that the Navy jump team, the Leapfrogs, was staying there as well. We all shared a cold beverage and a wide variety of sea, jump, flying and war stories. It was really great. Our crew then headed across the street to a steakhouse and chowed down.

     The next morning was not quite as cold and windy. We started off with a PR flight. I took the initiative to buy a Yellow Rose challenge coin and present it to the base X.O. He had been admiring mine the day before. It proved to be a worthwhile investment because he later came by with Kingsville NAS command coins for the entire crew! The PX and cockpit tours stayed busy today as well. It was another great day to be living in America, and be at an air show to boot. I don’t know who was enjoying the cockpit tours more: the kids, or the young naval aviators who had been flying simulators and T45’s. They were all grinning ear to ear.

     After the best of the best (they’re Naval Aviators, what can I say) did their Sunday show the gates closed and we secured ops. Getting airborne that afternoon was a concern due to the traffic there and our schedule for the following day but, those folks really worked with us and we were wheels up a little after 1700. After a great flight home we prepared for a quick turn around for Monday to fly to the Sun-N-Fun. But “that” as they say, “is another story”….

2008 Yellow Rose B-25
Squadron Staff Officers

Squadron Leader - Ron Dietes

t6cpilot@netzero.net

Executive Officer - Bret Renfro

bubba@gvtc.com

Finance Officer - Judy McMillan

heyjude@texas.net

Adjutant - Pat Moore

patrickmoore99@mail.ev1.net

Operations Officer - Steve Gladwin

skgladwin@suddenlink.net

Maintenance Officer - Jim Liles

james.liles@gte.net

Safety Officer - Buzz Perez

dabuzzard@austin.rr.com

PX Officer - Greg Young

tbolt52@hotmail.com

Publicity Officer - Bob Gardner

bob@rhga.com