50th Anniversary of the Skymaster - Dayton, OH

[Dale Campbell]

Originally Posted by Dale Campbell

I am going to try this year to be there. My wife is still under treatment for AML Lukiemia and we can not plan to far ahead. It will be down to the week before the meeting, that I will know for sure. Hope to see you all there.

I mailed my check and registration last week and made my hotel resorvation. Dale Campbell

[hharney]

Originally Posted by Dale Campbell

I mailed my check and registration last week and made my hotel resorvation. Dale Campbell

Fantastic Dale
It will be great to see you there
You are coming in on Thursday?

[hharney]

I have rented a mini van for Dayton. It will seat 7 plus some baggage. Does anyone else plan to rent a car? We will need at least one more van or 2 standard cars to shuttle everyone. Please respond to this post.

Check with one of the internet search sites like HotWire or Orbitz to see the best deals. Then I go directly to the vender site to secure the car. I got the mini van for $55 a day from Hertz. Hertz is normally the highest cost but not in Dayton, used my AOPA discount too.

http://www.hotwire.com/car/local/res...earchTokenId=1

[Dale Campbell]

Hi Herb,
I did not rent anything. I figured I would wait for taxi or airport shuttle to hotel. And see what everyone else was doing. Dale

[hharney]

6 Skymasters
1 Malibu
13 Passionate attendees
Perfect weather (tail winds are a myth)
Best reception at an airport ever - refreshments, snacks, our own area with welcome signs, treated like Gulfstream owners,
Hotel is awesome - two room suites, swimming, spa, cookies (warm chocolate chip) and a wonderful reception with eats and drinks on the house
We found the Dark Horse BBQ Pub and had a nice dinner together.

This morning is all business and at noon it's a race to the museum. Four hours of the greatest collection of aircraft in the country.

Here are some photos of the reception and dinner. More to come ................. stay tuned.

We miss you

[hharney]

The meetings on Friday were very interactive and informative. Jack gave a great presentation on the Skymaster wing and the associated issues, A/D's, and other aspects. The group has some good questions and learned a lot about the different wings on the aircraft. The business meeting went well and the group has selected some good potential locations for 2012. We had a lively discussion about using paper charts vs. the new trend of electronic flight bags. I think about 90% of the attendees have iPads in the cockpit. Foreflight was the app of choice. Paul got the spirits running with the Shoot the Bull session. No animals were harmed in this exercise. The discussion of Boom Bounce was interesting. No solid conclusions were made but lots of comments and experiences were presented. Rigging was the focus for best possible cures. Each attendee had a chance for introductions which included aircraft type, home base, occupation, experiences, etc. I attempted to present the SOAPA 2011 Skymaster Montage video but Murphy's Electronic monster reigned as victor of the challenge to play the DVD. None the less, DVD's were distributed so that everyone could watch it once they returned home.

Cessna was asked to participate but declined to join us. However, they did send a beautiful coffee table book on the history of Cessna and these were given to each person attending. Thanks Cessna, it even has a small section on the Skymaster. Lynn Justice from Guatemala brought calendars and a book he wrote for each person. What a treat, thanks Lynn, you are a true Skymaster gentleman. After the meetings it was northbound to the United States Air Force Museum.

[hharney]

If you have never attended the USAF museum it has to be one of the best, if not THE BEST, aircraft museums in the world. Most of the SOAPA members had not been to this spectacular facility, so it was really fun to attend with the group. We arrived in our 15 passenger chauffeured (Herb) van right at about 1 PM. This gave us a full 4 hours to check out the displays. Unfortunately, it takes about 12 to 16 hours to really see all that this available at this fantastic facility. One of the greatest parts of the tour, it's FREE. The whole place is free to attend, except the iMax theater, which some SOAPA members did. We attended the special on base tour which requires security clearance, so that ate up some of our time but was well worth the look. It's like the back stage tour. We are bussed through the gate onto the actual Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to a twin adjoining hanger that features Presidential planes on one side and closet cases on the other. The Super Constellation, Columbine III that Eisenhower used, a DC-6 that Truman had and the 707 that carried Kennedy from Dallas in a casket. Along with other presidential and political aircraft scattered about the floor of the hanger.

On the adjoining side was a collection of wanna-be's and historical record breaking planes. Towering over all the interesting aircraft was the venerable XB-70 Valkyrie super-sonic bomber. Also seen was the XB-1 that broke the sound barrier, the x-15 and many aircraft that had great intentions but just never made the cut. It was a once in a lifetime chance to see these unique aircraft in one location. The collection was phenomenal. Everyone enjoyed taking the extra base tour. We then returned to the museum and scattered to various points of interest within the 3 enormous hangers that separate the aircraft displays in era's of use and time. Early years, European Campaign, Pacific Campaign and the Cold War days. Just to get a perspective of the size of these hangers, the cold war sections has a B-36 Peacemaker, B-1B bomber, C133 Cargo Master, B-50 and dozens more all in one of 3 hangers. It was truly a visit that all will want to come back to spend more time in the future.

I took some time and visited the memorial park that is just outside the museum which features memorials from all the different bomber and fighter groups. There must be 3 or 4 dozen granite and bronze memorials that recognize these brave men and their tribute to the fight for freedom that we enjoy each day. It really stirred my emotions several times while taking at least an hour to visit this dynamic holy ground. I humbly walked through alone only imagining the lives that have been touched by these memorials. It is something everyone should take time to experience, Lest we never forget.