Plane Crazy Saturday – After Action Report December 18, 2010

Plane Crazy Saturday – After Action Report
December 18, 2010
What a great day in the rain at Mojave Airport! The aircraft parked on the ramp looked beautiful
with their reflections shimmering off the wet pavement. Alan Radecki captured some great photos
of the F-86 Sabre and F-100F Super Sabre.
Many thanks to Bob Green, owner and John
Ligon of Flight Test Associates for the use
of the Super Sabre as the Aircraft of the
Month for our Plane Crazy Saturday event.
As Dick Rutan stood in Voyager
Restaurant looking out at the F-100 parked
just outside the windows, he recounted
numerous stories of flying the two-place Fmodel while serving in the U.S. Air Force
at Phu Cat Air Base in Vietnam during
1968 and 1969, before and after the Tet
Offensive.
Before Rutan began his fighter pilot talk, he
took his audience back to Dec. 18, 1986, when
he and Jeana Yeager were flying in the Voyager
aircraft on the fifth day of their nine-day
journey around the world. Sleep deprivation,
violent storms and mountains looming kept
them stretched mentally beyond all limits of
normal. Dick just wanted to get past the land
and back over the ocean, so he didn’t have to
worry about the thought of running into any
mountains!
The mountain was Mount Cameroon and is
one of Africa’s largest volcanoes, rising
13,255-feet above the coast of west central
Africa. “We came within one mile of dead half
way up the eastern slope,” Dick told the
audience.
Each day on that historical flight presented
new life threatening dangers. The absolute
world distance records set during that flight
remain unchallenged today.
The cramped cockpit environment was most uncomfortable and sleep deprivation was the enemy.
Imagine being locked in a phone booth for nine days while flying at speeds of only 70 and 80-knots
navigating around thunder storms, near hostile countries, threatening to shoot you down, worrying
about whether or not you have enough fuel for the trip.
Four days following the historic flight of the Voyager, President Ronald Reagan awarded Burt
Rutan, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager the Presidential Citizen's Medal of Honor at a special
ceremony. The medal has been presented only 16 times in the history of the United States.
The actual Voyager aircraft hangs in the South
Lobby of the National Air and Space Museum
in Washington D.C. and a smaller version,
approximately 1/5 size radio control model
hangs in Legacy Park at Mojave Airport. This
model flew at Mojave Airport during the 20th
Anniversary celebration of the Voyager flight.
Glenn Dunlap of Cincinnati, Ohio builder and
RC pilot flew the model at the birthplace of
Voyager.
Dick signed many Voyager prints and books
with the history of the North American F-100F
Super Sabre.
Dick visited one to one with many
Veterans and friends who came from miles
around to hear about his flying adventures.
So many in the audience went back in time
with Rutan to their time flying in Vietnam.
Others were World War II veterans and
shared some of their stories with him.
This black and white photo shows a young
Rutan inspecting a hole that was blown in
the horizontal stabilizer of an F-100 during
one pilot’s last mission.
If you are interested in more information
about the MISTY Pilots go to
www.DickRutan.com and order the book Bury
Us Upside Down – The MISTY Pilots and the
Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail, by
Rick Newman and Don Shepperd.
Thank you to Chris and Riitta Martin for
taking care of the Mojave Transportation
Museum booth and selling the many items
signed by Dick Rutan.
Many thanks to Dr. Christian Gelzer for
coming out on a rainy day and setting up a booth
to sell his great new book called “Edwards Air
Force Base – Images of Aviation.” Dr. Gelzer is
the Chief Historian NASA Dryden Flight
Research Center.
We didn’t have the hundreds of visitors that
we usually have for Plane Crazy, but the really
“Plane Crazy” people were still there in force!
Thank you one and all for your interest and
support.
Thank you Ron Langford for setting up the
tables and chairs for us and for your concern and
help with me as I worked through my little
episode with Crohn’s.
See everyone next month – January 15, 2011!
Happy New Year!
Photos by: Cathy Hansen, Alan Radecki and
Bill Deaver