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Memorial Day 2010: Motorcycles, airplanes, and tanks -- oh, my!

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LaserDave said:
Money and PC BS.
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That sums up so much about the CAF right now.

StromXTc said:
Yes but is Fifi alive?
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FiFi is alive and very much a sore spot with many former CAF colonels and volunteers, myself included. It's a long story, but suffice it to say that the money that got her back into the air came under condition that both she and the CAF headquarters be moved to DFW. This after decades of local tax incentives (along with an incalculable amount of other monies and man hours) went into the facilities and events at KMAF. Certain legally binding agreements aimed at keeping both the headquarters and the American Airpower Heritage Museum in Midland were flagrantly ignore, and the facility is now mostly abandoned. As a guy who volunteered on the B-29 maintenance crew in my early twenties and lent countless hours of my time to marshalling and turning wrenches on lots of airplanes out there, the whole thing really, really hurt.

xcaliber said:
Back in the late 80's early 90's I was in the Confederate Air force Marshaling Detachment West Houston Squadron. Flew around the state putting on airshows and partying with the pilots. Was great fun.
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I was a marshall in Midland. It was great fun, indeed. Wonderful memories. This is me and a couple of other buddies. We were marshalling Texas Raiders that day and took this pic just before pulling the props through. As usual, I got my hands on the prop first. LOL:

256315

Finally, a note regarding the Memorial Day ride about which I originally created this thread. A decade later, I no longer participate in this event because it became such a **** show over the years. It got too big, became a haven for inexperienced riders, and people started getting hurt. It's a real shame that it devolved the way it did. Anyway, thanks for the bump. Going back through this thread brought back some fun memories.
 
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Ole Nygren in flight suit, still flying with us and Houston wing, and I see Bud Bearce's face on the left over the red shoulder.

The whole thing with KRBD in Dallas is a large joke with many a man. Midland got royally screwed.
Fortunately the (insert expletive stream here) former CAF CEO stood up in the office one day and walked out.
Unfortunately a lot of damage was already done.
 
TWTim said:
I'm glad you guys enjoyed the post. BTW, there were two Beech 18s. The other was painted in a Navy scheme. Unfortunately, I don't think I got any pics of it.
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Probably this one which my wing now has. Best pic I have a the second. Navy JRB version. Plush interior!
 

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LaserDave said:
The whole thing with KRBD in Dallas is a large joke with many a man. Midland got royally screwed.
Fortunately the (insert expletive stream here) former CAF CEO stood up in the office one day and walked out.
Unfortunately a lot of damage was already done.
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So true, so sad. :(


LaserDave said:
If you marshaled, I'll assume you know Marty Huvar.
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Affirmative. Super nice guy. Haven't seen him in forever. Of course, I've been out of the loop for a number of years now.
 
I was in the CAF the last years they were in Harlingen. Most of us at the time didn't particularly like the move to Midland. There was a hope for Kelly in San Antonio or Ellington in Houston to generate foot traffic for the museum but the rent was way to high and Midland was nearly free as I recall. I never made the Midland location. Worked shows from Harlingen to Barksdale AFB in Shreveport, they treated us like kings there. I also worked Howard Pardue's show in Breckenridge. That was known at the time as the airshow pilot's air show as they got away with stuff they normally couldn't do. HP, Connie Edwards Lefty Gardnier haven't thought about them in years. CAF legends.
 
xcaliber said:
HP, Connie Edwards Lefty Gardnier haven't thought about them in years. CAF legends.
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Connie sold his remaining Messerschmitts a few years before he died. He had them all in a hanger south of Big Spring about a mile from my buddy's house. They went to Switzerland and Australia. No numbers have been released, but in aviation circles here, word was that the amounts were record-breaking and astronomical. Taking those airplanes from that movie set in lieu of pay was just one of many crazy-smart things that man did in his lifetime. RIP, Connie.
 
I remember hearing that he had a number of those planes in his hanger but didn't know for sure. Great story. Remember him landing at the shows in his PBY with speaker blarring "the Stars and Stripes Forever" and waving the flag out of the window.
 
Seems appropriate to bring this one back to the top. :-)

So much history in the "Air Force formerly known as the Confederacy".

Early 80's I dated a gal who was part of the CAF and worked/crewed on the B17 "Chuckie". She was a hoot and got me a hop on the A26 Spirit of Waco simply with her smile. Now I'm wondering where all my slides/photos of that era reside. Hmmm... Might have to go look for them. I also vaguely recall Texas Raiders nose art having considerably less clothing than she does now? I could be wrong, but she seems to have been covered up some over the years. And many years I attended the Harlingen airshow snapping pics of the warbirds over the water. Then over the years I would read about this or that aircraft crashed. That became somewhat sad after a while.
 
Otto's "bomb girl" is a real favorite, and I did not know it was preserved and now owned by Everett Gibson, a genius of a man.
Kevin M, better known as K5 in the wing because there's too dang many Kevins does a great job with the history in this article.
The last example was mostly fondly known as Bo Peep, and while we wanted something far racier, Gary Velasco's latest is nothing to sneeze at.

warbirdsnews.com

Setting the Record Straight, B-17 Texas Raider’s Nose Art EvolutionCol. Kevin “K5” Michels

The Commemorative Air Force Gulf Coast Wing's Flying Fortress, the iconic Texas Raiders, has been a fixture on the U.S. air show circuit since 1967. Originally built as B-17G 44-83872, the aircraft never saw combat, but it did fly airborne early warning operations with the U.S. Navy as PB-1W...
warbirdsnews.com warbirdsnews.com
 
xcaliber said:
I also worked Howard Pardue's show in Breckenridge. That was known at the time as the airshow pilot's air show as they got away with stuff they normally couldn't do.
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I've only been there once with TR, and you are right. No AGL restrictions and let me tell you, me behind the pilots as FE was mighty thrilling.
On the last photo pass, I fully expected the entire crew to be arrested for questionable judgement.
But my 2 pilots there were/are incredible and it was...... exhilarating.......
 
dangit Scott.... haven't seen the plane in over a year. will I this year? pretty iffy at this point but as we know, miracles do occur.
and the bug is back.
Lazer Dave.jpg
 
lddave said:
First Air Show of the season for me airshow in San Marcos this weekend. I will be with the Flight Line Service crew pumping oil.
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How's Joeseph C doing? He had a heart issue a while back. Say hi to Troy for me. Is Don the SR22 pilot still doing this?
 
LaserDave said:
I've only been there once with TR, and you are right. No AGL restrictions and let me tell you, me behind the pilots as FE was mighty thrilling.
On the last photo pass, I fully expected the entire crew to be arrested for questionable judgement.
But my 2 pilots there were/are incredible and it was...... exhilarating.......
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you guys did an amazing job with that aircraft keeping it flying. and the after show parties at the "O" club were legendary!
 
M38A1 said:
Hmmm.... I might be thinking of another aircraft then. That was an interesting article on the history of the YR nose art.
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The last "full frontal" nose art I saw was an R4D Navy version of a C47 called Ready for Duty. No longer full frontal.
 
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