WWI Flyin @ Dayton, OH

[stephen]

Hey, anyone who attended the WWI Flyin event at the USAFM in Dayton last weekend, please give a lengthy, detailed report for those of us who were unable to go! Many thanks!

Well you missed a GREAT time. There were 22 aircraft present and the museum folks said there were over 9000 visitors on Saturday a record! Dispite high winds most of us flew all morning and early afternoon until gusty and unpredictable winds grounded us. The R/C models continued to fly and entertain the crowds. Robert Basley Brought his new Fokker E-III and it looked great! And it was ultralite legal! There were 3 Rotary powered aeroplanes, Sopwith Pup, Sopwith Tripehound, and Fokker DR-1 Triplane. There was the Fokker E-III, 2 Triplanes, and a D-VI. A Siemens Schuckert D-I. 9 Nieuports, Types 11,12,16,17,23,& 27. a OMF prototype, a Curtis Jenny JN-4, And 4 SE5a. WE all had a wonderful time and I won the balloon busting contest and got 2nd in the flour bombing contest. The museum folks treated everyone very well. Most Pilots were in uniform and there were also WWI reenactors putting on a living history display. I hope maybe we put the bug in several people to build and fly with us soon.
Cheerio,
LFT. Dwight Rudder, RFC

PS: I flew my Nie.16b 650 miles one-way to get there and made it halfway home before Hurricane Georges stopped me.

[stephen]

Terribly sorry I missed it all. What exactly was the balloon busting competition? Who won the flour bombing, and what a/c did they have?

Anyone else out there go??

[Vigilant]

9 Nieuports and 4 SE-5s!! I'm drooling on my keyboard!
Any mock dogfights?

Balloon busting was two small ballons released as the aircraft approaches and the pilot guides his plane to intercept (bust) them. Dwight scored an unbelievable 3 1/2 in two passes!! The 1/2 wasn't a bust-just kind of fizzled to the ground. Might say a forced down out of control.I saw a Spad 13 also but it didn't make it in the air. The Pup had a blank firing Vickers. An actual firing weapon, not rigged up with gas like you usually see. See the Basley web sight: www.sunflower.org/~baron/ for info on the Eindecker-neat!!!

I am quite the novice when it comes to the WW1 re-enactments. This was my first. But I can't forget one snapshot of the event. I was back from the crowd line a little. I was looking at three triplanes sitting wingtip to wingtip. To the right was the WW1 encampment with the soldiers standing around it uniform. From beyond the triplanes came a flock (six?) of biplanes. Dwight's Nie16 was in the formation. All that was needed was a little airbrushing to remove the modern day citizens and it would have been a real winning photo.

I hope the event was successful, in the minds of the producers, so that it will grow and prosper. I will be there.