June

May Proves Successful
Hello Everyone,
It was a busy May. In the early part of
Wing Leader May the
Temple Air
Show took
place. May
12th was the
Corsicana
Air Show.
May 19th,
Col. Russ
Coonley
took the BTCol. Steve Bennett 15 to Brady,
Texas for an event. During the
Memorial Day weekend, the
Mesquite show took place. We
also had jumpers one weekend
in May.
On Monday, May 28th, Col.
Russ Coonley was giving a
check ride to Col. Tommy Williams in the Stearman. During
climb out the oil pressure
dropped and the temperature
rose. A decision was made to
return immediately to the airport. They managed to touch
down on the runway before the
engine stopped. Col. Coonley
and Col. Williams had to pull
the aircraft off the runway to a
taxiway. Col. Jim Breitenstine
used the tug to return the aircraft to the hangar.
Colonel Coonley and Colonel
Williams are to be commended
for their great efforts to get the
Stearman back to the airport
with no dings or dents. The
DFW Wing has great pilots.
This Saturday, June 2, a crew
of Colonels pulled the engine
from the Stearman. It was a
great team effort. We are in the
process of determining what
broke in the engine.
The regular Wing Meeting will
be Saturday, June 9th beginning at 1:30 pm. Please attend
because Col. Coonley will be
discussing Warbirds on Parade. This event will be September 1, 2012. Please volunteer for
a job for this day.
I would also like to thank
all the members who volunteered for many May events
the Wing was involved in.
June 16th we will have the
Paratroopers back at the
hangar making jumps from
the R4D. If you haven’t seen
this, please come out.
Just a reminder if you haven’t made reservations for the
Midland Airsho 2012, you
need to do so now. Hotel
rooms are going to be very
scarce that weekend. The
Airsho dates are October 1415. Make your reservations o
attend an excellent air show.
See you at the hangar,
Steve
Index
Schedule of Events
Page 2
Museum Article
Page 3
Airborne Heritage Platoon
Page 4
Recruit and Retain
Warbird Updates
Pages 5/6/7
New Members
Schedule of Events
2012
1
Saturday, June 16
Paratroopers will be jumping out of the R4D
Saturday, September 1
Col. Tracy L. Toth
Warbirds on Parade will take place this week
end. Please try to come out and help out with
this big event!
Joined CAF and DFW wing
Be sure to welcome her when you see her!
October 13-14
CAF’s Airsho
Hangar Needs
Drum Liners
Please email me any items that may be of use at
the hangar.
Propwash
Thanks for all your kind donations.
Published monthly by
the DFW Wing of the CAF
Writer/Editor
CDT. Matthew Case
Send comments, questions, or articles to
[email protected]
2
Honor Flight
May 8th my Daddy, who will
be 93 in August, was a participant
on an Honor Flight. I was so worried it would be too much for him
but he had a wonderful time and
was so happy he went. Veterans
check-in opened at 0115; buses departed Columbia, MO at 0215 for
0600 departure
Wing Historian from Lambert
Field, St. Louis.
for Baltimore.
A 45 minute
ride by the
White
House
and Capitol took
the veterans to
the
National
Mall to visit the
WWII MemoriCol. Elaine Webb al.
This was
followed by visits to the Lincoln,
Korea, and Vietnam Memorials,
changing of the guard at Arlington
National Cemetery at the Tomb of
the Unknowns. He was able to locate his nephew's name on the Vietnam Wall. Then they were off to
the Iwo Jima Marine Memorial. and
Air Force Memorial. At 1715 the
group returned to Baltimore for their
2155 flight home. They were scheduled to arrive Columbia at 0120
after a very full day.
people were saying “Here you are
boys, this is your day!” One of the
gentlemen was 101 years old – can
you imagine?! When they were
about 50 miles east of Columbia
there were about 500 motorcycles
waiting to cheer and escort them.
The motorcycle escort set a Guinness World Record. He also said the
whole town of Columbia must have
turned out to greet them as there
were so many people and little kids
shaking hands that he actually got
tired of shaking hands.
After their return the veterans were
given messages of appreciation written to them by family, friends and
students.
These gentlemen were thrilled with
their Honor Flight. On the chance
that some of our members would
like to contribute to this endeavor to
provide this honor I am including in
this newsletter contact information.
Time is running out to accord them
this honor.
Honor Flight Network is a nonprofit organization created solely to
honor America's veterans for all
their sacrifices. We transport our
heroes to Washington, D.C. to visit
and reflect at their memorials. Top
When I saw the itinerary I was sure priority is given to the senior veterhe would be exhausted and sorry he ans – World War II survivors, along
went, but he loved every minute of with those other veterans who may
the experience, and said he really be terminally ill.
did not miss sleep. Daddy said every place they went they were treated
Of all of the wars in recent
like royalty by people, and each memory, it was World War II that
always had a guardian with them to truly threatened our very existence
take care of their needs and they as a nation—and as a culturally dialways had a state trooper or local verse, free society. Now, with over
police escort. They always cleared one thousand World War II veterans
the way for them so they could stay dying each day, our time to express
on schedule. Daddy said it was like our thanks to these brave men and
every place they went
women is running out.
3
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Honorflight.com
and
Honorflights.com are NOT associated with Honor Flight Network, Inc.
(honorflight.org). The aforementioned sites are for companies that
charge a fee for flights to visit the
World War II Memorial. The flights
and tours that Honor Flight Network
provides World War II and terminally ill veterans are absolutely
FREE.
You can donate to this endeavor by
visiting:
http://www.honorflight.org/
or send a check to:
Honor Flight, Inc.Attn:
Gresse300 E. Auburn Ave.
Springfield, OH 45505
Diane
Please include any tribute or desire
to forward your donation to a specific Honor Flight and please say your
donation is in response to the article
in our newsletter.
Honor Flight Network is a Federal
Nonprofit 501(c)3 Organization.
Donations are Tax Deductible.
Airborne Heritage Platoon
The Airborne Heritage Platoon is
a parachute demonstration team
that specializes in military static
line parachute jumps at air shows,
commemorative events
and veterans reunions. They do
this to Honor US Airborne Veterans of all eras.
The team consists of experienced static line parachutists,
jumpmasters and parachute riggers.
Formed in 2010, the Airborne
Heritage Platoon has partnered
with the Commemorative Air
Force to help further the mission
of keeping WWII aircraft flying,
honoring our Veterans and sharing this history with the public.
They specialize in depicting
WWII era combat jumps by wearing WWII era uniforms and equipment, and using modern U.S. Military round parachutes. They
train and practice on a regular
basis at Lancaster Texas.
On Saturday May 12, the Airborne Heritage Platoon practiced
their jumping skills in our R4D.
The whole process was very interesting and neat.
The jumpers are very safe and
they check their equipment multiple times. They jumped from
about 1500 ft. The first guy landed
close to the target, but the last
guy landed in the corn field.
I suggest zooming in so that you
can see the pictures better.
4
R4D
R4D traveled to many air shows
over this past month. Lots of money was made through tours and
the R4D seemed very popular!
Keep working hard to keep her in
the air.
BT Corner
The BT came back in service with
just a few glitches, the worst was a
leaking propeller seal. The seals were
replaced three times with small improvements each time, but far from
acceptable for continued operation.
Carl Byam was called at Byam Propeller Overhaul and asked for a tech
to come help solve the problem. The
tech brought more seals that were
slightly larger than the ones that had
previously been used, and the leak
problem has been resolved (for now).
The BT flew the TPL airshow, missed
Corsicana (prop), but did fly the Brady
TX show the next week. The airplane
is in the hangar now for some leak fixes on the new engine, but aside from
that she is ready to roll.
5
Stearman Space
The following is a report from Col. Russ Coonley relating to the Stearman’s
loss of power.
Engine power loss, PT-17 N27933
The weather was VFR with winds 180@15, aircraft was full of fuel and
showed 4.2 gallons of oil (4.4 gallons full). The flight was a training flight to
complete the check out for Tommy Williams. We departed LNC runway 13
and turned east to climb to the practice area for some air work. Climbing
through 1500 ft, Tommy said the oil temp was going up and at about the same
time my windshield covered with oil. The next comment from Tommy was the
oil pressure was dropping. At this point we assessed our options, lots of newly
cut wheat fields below so we had that, but the engine was still making some
power and we were approximately 3 miles from the airport so we continued.
We knew that we would not be able to land on 13 due to the gradual altitude
loss so we alerted all LNC traffic and continued downwind for landing. We
turned final with some altitude, corrected for the tail/crosswind and rolled to a
stop, a few feet from a taxiway. The engine also stopped turning as we slowed.
Tommy and I vacated the airplane and were able to push it to the taxiway,
creating minimum disruption for LNC traffic. At the hangar we found the oil
tank empty with all 4 gallons on the outside of the airplane.
Russ Coonley PIC/IP
6
L-5 Lair
The L-5 has been operational this past
month, and it has flown to the various air shows
that took place in May. Keep working hard to keep
her flying.
DFW Wing Staff 2012
[email protected]
817 269 4081
Col. Tom Travis
[email protected]
972 241 8102
Maintenance Officer
Col. Robert Collier
[email protected] 972 641 4595
Finance Officer
Col. Jim Breitenstine
[email protected]
817 294 2936
Adjutant
Col. Curtis Green
[email protected]
469 964 0572
Public Info. Officer
Col. Tom Manley
[email protected]
612 817 0665
PX Officer
Col. Steve Bennett
See wing leader
817 269 4081
Wing Museum Curator
Col. Elaine Webb
[email protected]
817 478 0105
Wing Chaplain
Col. John Crane
[email protected]
469 261 2314
Hangar Deck Officer
Col. Dan Bunch
[email protected]
972 270 0461
Propwash Editor
Cdt. Matthew Case
[email protected]
972 837 5171
Wing Leader
Col. Steve Bennett
Executive Officer
Position Open
Operations Officer
7
Dallas/Fort Worth Wing
of the Commemorative Air
Force
738 Smith Lane
Seagoville, Texas
75159
Next Meeting is
Saturday, June 9
Wing Staff Meeting at 1:30
Take time to thank the following sponsors for their ongoing support of the DFW Wing
Texas Loan
Texas First Cash Financial Services
Southwest Airlines
Ellis County Press
Charles Schwab
Awards To Go
Back Country BBQ
Lancaster Regional Airport
Hickory House BBQ
Davis Jewelers
Coyote Roofing
Antique Heritage Tractor Club
Lancaster Machine Shop
24 Hour Wrecker Service
Lancaster K Auto Parts
Business Tech Applications
Select Aircraft Services
Fritts Car Shows and Awards To Go
PDG Services
Dallas Air Salvage
Jim & Mary Jane Goad Farms
Colonels:
Admiral Level:
Neils Agather, Steve Bennett, Michael Gaston, Bruce
Stringfellow, Jim Jackson, John and Donna Sweat, Russ Coonley.
Captain Level:
Tom Travis, Thomas McCoy, Donald Barton, Jean Paryl,
Shirley Wood, Dan Bunch, David Pasahow, Ken Linton, Russell
Hicks, Jim Goad.
Commander Level:
Russ Coonley, Bonnie Coonley, Neils Agather, Dr. Michael
Jez, Kathleen Chitwood, Phil Moroneso, Harold Savoy, Dan
Bunch, Jack Bradshaw.
Anchor Level:
Richard Betham, Robert Martin, Jay Hauteman, George
Lodge, W.N. Bentson, Edward Sharum, Jason Railsback, Ken
Norvell, Doris Goad, Ray Kinney, Tad Foran, Jim Wells, Candis Wells, Marty Case, Ed Halter, John Curry,Howard Webb,
Elaine Webb, Stephan Brown, Richard Warner, Richard
Brown, Tad Foran, Arine Knecht, Alfred “Lucky” Louque, Ben
Saladino, Jim Davis, Christine Poyer, Diane Darrah, Debbie
Chitwood, Ainsley Chitwood, Paul Chitwood, William Mcguire,
Larry Gollaher, Patricia Harvard, Curtis Green, Barbara Hair,
Aubrey Hair, Wyley “Coyote”, Smith, Ken Taylor, Phil Moroneso, Dan Bunch, Robert Martin, David Pasahow, Jan Collmer,
Jack Bradshaw, David Siegert, Steve Bennett, Charles Waldrop, Julian Banks, Maureen Wood, Matthew Chitwood,
Leigha McBride, Richard Stuntz.