Indy Transponder 29-APR-2011 2359z

Blue Angels to perform over Pensacola Bay - Crestview News Bulletin | In commemoration of the Centennial of Naval Aviation, the Navy's premier flight demonstration squadron, the Blue Angels, will perform over Pensacola Bay May 3 and 4. Numerous aircraft will also be on display at NAS Pensacola for the two-day event. ...

Flying Circus Airshow Takes Off This Weekend - Patch.com | Starting this Sunday, May 1 the Flying Circus Airshow will get underway in Bealeton, VA, about 1 hour south of Lorton. It will run each weekend until October. The show has been in operation for almost 40 years ...

Oklahoma State UAS Airshow from sUAS News | This weekend, students can fly away from the stress of finals, even if just for a little while. Oklahoma State University will host its first Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Invitational Airshow and Speedfest on Saturday. Sponsors of the show include the OSU School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University Multispectral Laboratories, NASA Oklahoma Space Grant Consortium and Stillwater Radio Control Fliers Club. Aerial events will  ...

Men and Wings: Exposition of the Air Force - Passionate about aviation via Translator | Tomorrow, April 30 at CORA Cormontreuil (near Reims) ends the exposure of the Air Force: Wings and Men.  The car park two aircraft are exposed retired from active service Mirage 2000 and Jaguar. The public is invited to sit in the cockpit of these aircraft under the guidance of pilots and mechanics. ...
   
IAF air show at MSU tomorrow - Times of India | As a part of the ongoing celebrations of Swarnim Gujarat, the IAF has organised an air show in the city. This is for the first time that IAF has participated in the state government's celebrations. Entry for all the citizens is free. ...

Classic Fighters Omaka Air Show - from EAA - The Experimental Aircraft Association | The Classic Fighters Omaka Air Show has grown from humble beginnings in the late 1990s to become one of the world's great aviation events-arguably the top showcase for the aerial fighting machines from The Great War.

Lancaster team - MSNBC | Lancaster pilot Flight Lieutenant Ernie Taylor, Flight Engineer Master Brendon O' Sullivan, Navigator Flight Lieutenant Bill Williams and Co Pilot Squadron Leader Jamie Watson stand in front of the Lancaster which will lead the flypast for the royal wedding. The RAF conducted a flypast rehearsal at RAF Coningsby in Lincoln.
More on the Royal Flypast here

Wings & Wheels Festival - Brantford Expositor | And that special combination will be on display the weekend of May 28-29 when the Canadian Air & Space Museum hosts its 6th annual Wings & Wheels Heritage Festival at Toronto's Downsview Park.  The museum is situated in the former de Havilland Aircraft hangars at what once was Downsview Air Force Base. This is one of Toronto's earliest airports, first used in 1929, and is currently where Bombardier Aerospace builds its regional jets that are sold around the world. ...

The Golden Knights above Central Virginia! - US Army Golden Knights | The Golden Knights Tandem Team took over Dinwiddie County Airport near Petersburg, VA on Tuesday.  The Tandem Team will be in Central Virginia until Friday conducting Tandem jumps for COI’s in the Area.  A “COI” is a person deemed Center of Influence.  This person may be a High School or College Teacher, Principle, Counselor, Dean, Educator or Media personality.  The COI’s will spend most of the day with the Golden Knights learning about ...

'Osprey GP-5' Super Sport Racer Reno 2010 from vimeo.com | Here is a short clip of the V-8 powered homebuilt racer ‘Osprey GP-5’. After many years the plane finally made the trip to Reno only to have the engine let go during a qualifying run. As can be seen in this clip, Lee Biehl managed to get the plane down in one peace, the plane should be back to try again for the 2011 races. More info can be found [at AirPigz]

Texas Flying Legends Museum to Sponsor CAF Traveling Tuskegee Airmen Exhibit from EAA - The Experimental Aircraft Association | The Texas Flying Legends Museum (TFLM) will donate $1 million to the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) for CAF's traveling Red Tail "Rise Above" Mobile Exhibition and Education Tour based on the history of the Tuskegee Airmen.

Important Cargo on Board: The History of Air Force One from ASB.tv | ... One of the most recognizable symbols of the U.S. Presidency, Air Force One does not actually refer to the actual plane transporting the President but is the radio call sign used for any U.S. Air Force Plane transporting the President  ...
   
The Museum of Flight | Liberty Belle B-17 flight | Video - Seattle Post Intelligencer | Take a flight on a World War II B-17 bomber or a Curtiss P-40E fighter on Saturday and Sunday, April 30 and May 1, at the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field in Tukwila. Rides on both planes will be available hourly ...

A Swarm of Mosquitos from www.eaa.org | t’s not even summer in the Northern Hemisphere and yet there is at least one Mosquito flying and two others are under construction. We reported on an effort to restore a full-size Mosquito from a dilapidated hull found in Canada. That project is being finalized in New Zealand and may fly soon.In Florida, a World War II veteran who flew A-20s in Europe has begun a project to build a 3/4-scale version of a Mosquito. However, the first to the air in this Mosquito swarm is the Mosquito 75 project built by the RRAA (Reconstructions & Répliques Avions Anciens), which flew its 3/4-scale project for the first time last weekend. ...

The daring Dambusters raid was one of the most audacious in World War II. But can a team of engineers recreate it 70 years on? - Mail Online | The daring 'Dambusters' night-time raid when the RAF bombed three heavily defended dams deep in Nazi Germany is the stuff of legend. The attack in the country's industrial heartland was immortalised in the 1955 film and starred Michael Redgrave as Barnes Wallis the inventor of the 'bouncing bomb' which was used to such devastating effect.  The bravery of ...

In Praise of The Squadron Pooch from Vintage Wings of Canada | When I was a child, when dogs were free-range, when days were forever and being inside was prison, I knew a German Shepherd Dog named Sheba. Sheba was massive, collarless, dirty with oil from sleeping under a dump truck at night and frightening to strangers, but she was profoundly and warmly gentle with our group of neighbourhood children. At night she guarded wrecked truck carcasses and parts heaps in the back lot of Corkery's Cartage and by day she was free to wander...

Aviation museum in Pearl Harbor gets new plane - San Antonio Express | The Pacific Aviation Museum in Pearl Harbor has acquired an airplane that trained pilots in the early years of the jet age. The T-33 arrived at the museum from Honolulu Community College on Thursday. The museum plans to house it in ...

B-29 training hangar added to historic register from Air Force Times - News | GULFPORT, Miss. — The U.S. Interior Department has added the Gulfport Army Air Field Hangar to the National Register of Historic Places.

Flashback Fridays—Found Treasures from Nuts About Southwest | I love going to airliner shows, and I always try to attend at least the one held here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  Over the years, I have developed very specific interests, and those are books, timetables, and postcards.  I especially like postcards because they often have a personal meaning for me.  This year’s show was a few weeks ago, and I think I hit the jackpot. ...

Pilot to presidents comes clean - The Orange County Register | If I wanted to hook you into this column, I'd start with the time retired Lt. Col. Gene Boyer was asked to dim the lights in the president's helicopter with one of the world's hottest actresses aboard.  Or I'd tell about the time he flew first lady Pat Nixon into a combat zone. Or I'd mention the time President Lyndon Johnson got drunk. Or...
   
International Learn to Fly Day - Vertical Magazine | Young Eagles will sponsor a pancake breakfast from 8am to 11 am. At 10 am the show will open with singing of the National Anthem and the presentation of the American flag by the CAP South Florida. We will also have helicopter and airplane rides, ...

Katja Jourdan from Flight To Success | May 21st, Katja Jourdan is hosting a Fly It Forward event at Kingston-Ulster Airport, N.Y.   What's amazing about this event, and Katja, is that she is only 17 years old. Her first flight lesson was on September 26, 2010.  And she just soloed on March 20, 2011. Yesterday she passed her written! For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term "written," that's the first--huge, and very stressful-- test, that every pilot must pass as a step to obtaining their license. And this flying event? Well, this began as her Senior Project. ...

2011 - 04 - Zephyrhills, Flock & Dock 7.0 (trailer) from vimeo.com
April 2011, a large group of skydivers from all over the world gathered for the 7th 'Flock & Dock' Wingsuit meeting in Zephyhills, USA. Camera & Editing: Jarno Crdia Full video coming soon

Private pilot builds full-size 737 cockpit in his home - SmartBrief | Microsoft employee and private pilot Salvador Patuel built a full-size 737 cockpit in his house as a compromise with his wife. "When we got married she asked me to fly less hours so I tried to negotiate a win-win situation," said Patuel, who obtained his private pilot's license 15 years ago. ...

Though Endeavour launch is delayed, the Obamas get a shuttle fix at Kennedy Space Center from PhotoBlog | After touring the devastation left in the wake of Alabama's tornadoes (read the full story here and see the unbelievable images in our slideshow here), President Obama and his family made the most of their visit to Cape Canaveral after the high-profile final launch of the space shuttle Endeavour was delayed due to a problem with a heater in an auxiliary power unit. ...

Engineers and Managers to Assess APU Issue - NASA | Shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach stated that Endeavour's launch will be no earlier than Monday at 2:33 p.m. EDT. Engineers need that time to troubleshoot an issue that resulted in today’s launch scrub.  During today’s countdown, engineers detected a failure in one of two heater circuits associated with Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) 1. Heaters are required to keep the APUs’ hydrazine from freezing on orbit. Attempts to activate the heater were not successful and engineers now believe the problem might be associated with a Load Control Assembly, which is a switchbox, located in the aft end of Endeavour, or an electrical short in the wires leading into or out of the switchbox. ...

Space Shuttle Endeavour: Overview,History,Videos and Pictures from Aviation Blogs | Authorized by Congress in August 1987 as a replacement for the Space Shuttle orbiter Challenger, Endeavour (OV-105) arrived at Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility on May 7, 1991, piggy-backed on top of NASA’s new Space Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. ...

As shuttle fades, the space tourism race is flying high - Montreal Gazette | The company eventually connected with engineer Burt Rutan, creator of the first privately developed manned space vehicle, dubbed SpaceShipOne. SpaceShipTwo, being created for Virgin Galactic, will be able to carry six passengers 68 miles into the air. ...

We felt compelled to share this one again!  ... Reunion of Jesse R Frey & Pat Buzzeo with P51 "Aint Misbehavin"  - YouTube | It was nearly sixty years ago when Jessie Frey slipped into the cockpit of "Ain't Misbehavin" to escort allied bombers over Germany and back to their base in Great Britain. As part of the 362nd Fighter Group, Lt. Frey scored two enemy kills on those long missions. ... [embedded video]

Capt. Jesse Frey

Patriotism, honor, integrity and duty are just a few words that come to mind when I think of a veteran.  Most veterans will tell you "I was just doing my job."  Capt. Jesse Frey will tell you the same. 

My first encounter with Capt. Frey was this past June at the Indianapolis Air Show.  A member of the executive committee brought him to the air show so he could see the Horseman perform in their P-51 Mustangs.  After the show, we made an effort to get Capt. Frey out to meet the pilots before they departed that Sunday evening.  It was the right thing to do.  After all, Jesse could relate to them, he had flown that same aircraft during WWII.

I stayed in touch with the family after the air show and in September I was invited to their home to spend some time with this WWII veteran.  In retrospect, I should have taken the wireless microphones and taken lots of pictures.  I didn't.  However, it was a privilege to listen to him speak about his experiences, see his photographs and here the stories of those he served with.  It was during this time that a great story of how this veteran was honored began to unfold. 

As Capt. Frey began to show picture of the aircraft in the 362nd fighter squadron of the 8th Air Force while they were stationed in England, he began to tell me about a trip to the Gathering of Mustangs in Ohio a few years ago. He'd heard about a P-51 Mustang there called Ain't Misbehavin'.  Armed with his photographs from the war, he was on a mission to find this one plane at the gathering.

When he found the plane, one of the owners was there, and Jesse introduced himself and explained, "I flew a P-51 of the same name in the war."  Phone calls were made, and before long everyone associated with the plane was there to hear Capt. Frey's stories from WWII and see the pictures that he had brought.  Owners of P-51s aren't often humbled, but that was the case at the end of the event when Jesse handed over some of his pictures to the owners and told them he wanted them to have them. 

The owners did something wonderful with those pictures. They took those pictures and their airplane to the paint shop in the summer of 2010.  Ain't Misbehavin' emerged with a paint job that looked like that same plane in the WWII pictures.

Oct 23, 2010:  Reunion: Warbird, Pilot and Crew Chief
If ever there was a grand way to honor a couple of veterans, this was the way to do it (click the link for some background).  The Indiana wing of the Commemorative Air Force, Montgomery Aviation, and P-51 owners Wes Stowers and Billy Strickland deserve many accolades for a first class event. The generosity showed to Capt. Frey's and Pat Buzzeo's families by Billy and Wes was great to see.  Every member of their families got a ride in the P-51.  I really can't sing enough praises for those that put the event together.  I wish every veteran could be honored like this. 

What a pleasure it was to meet Pat Buzzeo, the crew chief that was awarded the Bronze Star for keeping Ain't Misbehavin' in the sky.  Capt Frey flew three hundred hours without an aborted mission for maintenance during the war.  You'll see in the photos in the gallery below that Pat was exuberant after his flight in the P-51!  I'll never forget his enthusiasm when he got out of the plane and exclaimed, "We pulled 4 Gs!"  While re-enacting a photo taken during the war (Capt. Frey on the wing, Pat shaking hand with him), he gave all present another good laugh when he told everyone, "you need to hurry and take your pictures.  My arm is getting tired!"

There was only one disappointment at this gathering.  The lack of media.  Most of us at the event thought local media should have been there.  None of us could think of a better opportunity to shoot a piece for a Veterans Day story.  How often do we we see a 90 year old crew chief, 88 year old pilot, and the airplane they served with, all in one place?  Disappointing. 

No harsh words for Warbird Digest.  They were there and we are looking forward to their article in their next issue. 

Below, you'll find a plethora of links (that have been published about the event.  If you were at the event and have a photo album on the web as well, leave a link in the comments.  If you were there, share your thoughts about the event, or, if you heard a good story from Jesse or Pat, we'd love to see that in the comments too.

Mike Souders/Indy Transponder

90 yr old crew chief Pat Buzzeo

 

Photos from Rob Sanders


CAF Members and Friends,
On October 23, Indianapolis Executive Airportcrew chief, Pat Buzzeo. It was an amazing day. About 200 people attended. The event has been captured in two different YouTube videos. Enjoy!! and the CAF hosted the reunion of the fully restored North American P-51 Ain’t Misbehavin' with its WWII pilot, Jesse "Dick" Frey, and his

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS6iFSZgOg4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UqKv0pvfco

Regards,
Col. Bruce Cooper  

From Capt. Frey's Church - their October Newsletter.

Jesse "Dick" Frey: American Hero

Captain Jesse "Dick" Frey, CPCC Elder Emeritus and former P51 Fighter Pilot, was recently reunited with not only a fully restored plane, also known as "Ain't Misbehavin'," but also his crew chief who is 90 years young.

The historical event was hosted by Montgomery Aviation, Inc. and the Indiana Wing of the Commemorative Air Force which is dedicated to preserving America's Warbirds and their stories.

For more information and a picture gallery, click here.

Reunion: Warbird, Pilot and Crew Chief

It was nearly sixty years ago when Jesse Frey slipped into the cockpit of “Ain’t Misbehavin” to escort allied bombers over Germany and back to their base in Great Britain. As part of the 362nd Fighter Group, Lt. Frey scored two enemy kills on those long missions.

On Saturday, October 23rd the Indiana native will see “Ain’t Misbehavin’” again. The fully restored P-51 will be flown from Birmingham, Alabama to Indianapolis Executive Airport for the reunion. The event is being hosted by Montgomery Aviation, Inc. and the Indiana Wing of the Commemorative Air Force which is dedicated to preserving America’s Warbirds and their stories.

The public is invited to the Fly-In to see an array of vintage aircraft and to meet Jessie Frey as he greets his old friend “Ain’t Misbehavin’.” The crew chief, Pat Buzzeo (90) will be there. The plane’s current owners will also be available.
Billy Strickland and Wes Stowers are two Alabama businessmen who have taken it upon themselves to keep this rare aircraft in flying condition so all Americans can remember the sacrifices of those who went into combat to preserve our freedoms.

Memories of the great war are slipping away as fast as the veterans themselves so we have a rare opportunity to meet one of the heros of World War Two in Europe and the plane he flew in combat.

Sat Oct 23, 10AM ‘til 2PM CAF Fly-In
11AM P-51 “Ain’t Misbehavin” & Pilot Reunion
Indianapolis Executive Airport , 11329 East State Road 32, Zionsville, IN
Three miles east of US 421 - Six miles west of US 31.

Contact:
Carl J Winkler VP, Business Manager
Montgomery Aviation Inc.
Office 317-769-4487
Fax 317-769-3207

Photos provided by Rob Frey

.