May 19, 2012 - Horn Point Fly-in |
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Today's main event: the 44th annual Horn Point Fly-In, held at
the Horn Point Aerodrome, east of Cambridge. The event is hosted by
the Potomac Antique Aero Squadron, a chapter of the Antique Airplane
Association.
The plan was to get an early start, meet at Cambridge, have breakfast,
do some Form, then go to the fly-in. Weather was outstanding I
took off from Essex Skypark, climbed to 1500, and the Chesapeake Bay just
opened up in a paranoramic view. I felt like I could see all the way
to Norfolk. A big freighter was crossing under the Bay Bridge
heading north.
Chef came up on the radio so we did a mid-air rendezvous south of Kent
Island, then went into Cambridge together. The air was so smooth, I
felt like I could have moved my plane next to Chef's and shake his
hand. Mugsy landed just after we did. We had a nice,
leisurely breakfast at the on-field restaurant, then mounted up.
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We decided to go straight to the
fly-in and do some Form practice afterwards. |
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| After an overhead
pass in V formation, we got in loose trail. I got a good
picture of the Horn Point aerodrome while on the downwind. |
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Safe on deck at Horn
Point. Bruce B. had arrived earlier in his Cub (on the
left).
I thought there was a decent turnout
for the fly-in but not as many planes as I remember from previous Horn
Points, despite the great weather. I would chalk it up
to AvGas costing over five dollars per gallon, plus a bad
economy. |
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| RVs lined up. |
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| Max's Champ parked
next to Mugsy's RV-8. |
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| Bruce showing off
his Cub to his two, rather large, friends: Anthony and
William. They also have Cubs. |
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The Cubs definately were out in
force, with at least ten of them at the fly-ins. Maybe that's
because they don't much gas -- relatively inexpensive to
fly. |
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| This beautiful
Fairchild PT-23 was my favorite plane of the fly-in. A professional
photographer let me use his ladder to take this picture. |
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This particular plane was restored at
Robertson Field, Michigan over a five year period. The plane had not
flown for about 67 years until flying on October 28, 2009. It had
once been sold in the 30's at a sheriff's auction for $11!
Here are some photos of the restoration: Link. |
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| A shiny red Starduster Too, also with a Kinner radial
engine. To get one of these, you either have to build it
yourself from plans (available from Aircraft Spruce), or buy a used
one. |
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| Like the
radial. |
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| A lot of people
were hanging out here where they could get close to the runway and watch
the planes takeoff and land. |
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A 1944 Cessna T-50 "Bobcat",
bertter known as the "Bamboo Bomber" although it is actually made out of
Spruce and Mahogany and fabric-covered. Over 5000 were built
during World War II. The plane was used in the 1950's TV show
"Sky King". Less than 30 are flying today. |
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| This isn't a
gyrocoptor, it's a real helicopter. |
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It flies! |
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| A nice-looking
1947 Stinson
Voyager, powered by a Franklin engine. |
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| When it was time
to leave, our flight of three RVs was behind two Cubs. |
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| Mugsy and Chef
doing their run-up. |
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We tried doing some formation
practice but it was just too bumpy, even up at 4500 feet. We gave up
and went our separate ways. I throttled back to 5 gal/hour and spent
the next hour flying low and slow over the Eastern Shore. |
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I flew over Ridgely Airport and
spotted Bruce and his Cub at the fuel pump. |
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The boaters were out in force as well
on this beautiful spring day. |
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