Wednesday, June 25, 2008
AWC Fly-in 2008 (aka Creve Coeur)
Finally some decent flying weather! Spring in the upper Midwest has been pretty so-so from the standpoint of usable weather for Waco flying, but Thursday 19 June dawned clear and with light winds making for a beautiful flight from OSH to Creve Coeur (1H0). Here's a picture of the Waco at my fuel stop, Whiteside County airport, Sterling/Rock Falls, IL (KSQI). You can see how nice the weather was!
I arrived at Creve Coeur just after Noon, and was greeted by AWC president Phil Coulson. I fueled the Waco and parked next to Jack Hill's UEC.
I renewed some friendships, made some new ones, and just generally had a good time talking about Wacos and all the other neat aircraft based at Creve Coeur. Of course, I also gave some rides in the Waco!
One thing that works out pretty nice at Creve Coeur is that they've usually got hangar space available for most of the planes that fly in. This year Jerry Brown's UPF-7 and mine shared hangar space with a really nice Cessna 185, a Chevy truck, and a "monster mudder" Jeep.
Having the plane in the hangar really paid off this time because there was a pretty good rain that moved through overnight on Thursday into Friday morning. All the planes stayed inside until about 10 AM or so on Friday, when the sun came out and started drying up all the puddles. Friday afternoon was beautiful, and many rides were given in a number of Wacos (including mine!)
Here are a few pictures of some of the attendees. Gary Petersen of Nebraska brought his beautiful UPF-7 and also his Taperwing. Both airplanes are gorgeous!
Gary really keeps his planes looking sharp!
Here's my plane sitting next to a really nice UBF-2 out of New York.
You can see Gary's planes in the background, as well as a cabin Waco at the very back of the photo.
Here's an interesting comparison of the UPF-7 and the UBF-2. The photo shows obvious differences in the width (or "tread") of the main gear, as well as the difference on dihedral of the upper wing. The F-2 is also shorter and lighter.
I left for home on Saturday morning, as I had a family function I had to attend. From what I hear, my timing was perfect because a pretty good storm moved through in the afternoon, soaking the place with some rain. I'm sure everyone had a great time anyway!
I want to thank Gary Liming for allowing me to use his guest room during the fly-in. I had a great time, and I appreciate Gary's hospitality.
All in all, a great fly-in. I'm already looking forward to next year!!
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