RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

Paul, dont forget; that DVII uses straight gasoline, not mixed gas, lol

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

Both Tricia ( wife ) and myself want to thank everyone involved for a great tribute to Del, he was surely grinning from ear to ear seeing all the pilots having a great time and also thanks to Lee for having his plane flown at the event. Special Thanks to Joe W. for having a spot for my wife on the cement pad so she did not have to fight the grass to get around. This was the FIRST time in our 38 years of marriage she has ever seen me fly.When ever she would come to the field it was always just after I landed or when I was packing up. See you all at the next Dawn Patrol.
Doug

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

Good to see you down there Doug. Funny you should mentioned that your wife saw you fly. Mine said that she wanted to see me fly my DVII so I told her I was taking it up, she said "OK!" then when I put the plane back in front of our pit area and asked "what did you think" she looked up from her book and said "You are kidding....did you really fly? No you didnt, you are messing with me!" I had to take her to several people and ask if I did indeed fly!! Yes, I get to tease her about this for years.

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

It seemed to be a perfect day.

The turnout for the event was beyond my expectations. It is evident that Del had picked up many friends in his lifetime. I was suprised that many of you traveled far to be at the event. I think David had the longest travel from MI, unless I missed someone.

GCRCC is a great club too. Although not a WWI focused club, they still offered up the field for the day and paid for lunch. I have not been apart of another club with this level of support and generosity. That could be why Del chose to have GCRCC as his home club.

See you guys later in the season.

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

Here's a little video from the "Fokker Scourge" on Sunday afternoon.

http://youtu.be/JMbXPSIFDc0


Richard Kuns
GCRCC

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

Joe W.

Thanks for making this happen; it was a great way to remember and honor Del.

Joe D.

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

Thanks Joe.... It was no problem and quite enjoyable.

Teus, your turnbuckles were admired by many at the event. I gave them away in a free raffle. The 1/3scale set went to Art S. and the 1/4scale set went to Chuck S. which is a GCRCC club member. Both are scale master competitors so I am sure they will put them to good use.

Mike, your fokker picture went to Gary "Birdman". He is always winning something :eek:

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

Great video! Thanks for posting.

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

If I see the photos and video I am certain that up there Del was watching with a very big smile during the day.

Joe, thanks to organise this day in memorial of Del. And everyone else for the photos and video so I could have an impression from the day.

Teus

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

Here's a selection of photos I managed to snag during this weekend's Fly-In and Remembrance for Del, starting with Waconut's Fokker Dr.I, one of the many Fokkers on-site to honor Del this last weekend:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8585.jpg

The event was hosted by the Greater Cincinnati Radio Control Club (GCRCC) and Del's internet fans will recognize the flying site - it's the same flying field where we test flew the prototype GTM 1/3 Fokker Dr.I.

Joe Westrich (below, holding for Joe Dirr) organized the event:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8575.jpg

The Joe's put on some good flying with their Fokkers - Joe W with his GTM 1/3 Fokker D.VI and Joe D with his BUSA 1/4 Fokker Dr.I:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8577.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8580.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8582.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8597.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8584.jpg

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

"Warbird" Sam Parfitt travels all over the midwest to events, but on Sunday he was back on his home field, and brought along several examples of heavy iron, including his Douglas Dauntless divebomber:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8598.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8673.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8704.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8626.jpg

Sam, I've still got to email you some pictures - should get that done tonight!!

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

Sam also gave and received help all day - his newest helper Braydyn (Waconut's grandson):

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8587.jpg

Braydyn was also there in support of Grandpa - Anthony "Waconut" Hixson, who brought his BUSA Fokker Dr.I for it's second-ever flight, with Sam spotting the flight went fine:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8589.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8595.jpg

I know Del would have liked this one very much - we'd been talking about Anthony's build thread over in the Kit Forum during the winter, and Del was looking forward to seeing this newest Fokker.


Anthony also brought along a very nice 1/3 scale Piper Cub:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8666.jpg

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

Del attended his first Dayton Dawn Patrol in 2003 along with myself, Doug Cox and Stephen Hill-Harriss (who won pilot's choice that year with his Sopwith Baby) - for this Fly-In, stephen brought out three of his electric models, and I snagged pics of two of them - his Peter Rake designed Bristol F2B "Brisfit":

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8596.jpg

And his "Miss Stick":

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8618.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8628.jpg

Another long time friend, Joe Dirr, not only had his Fokker Triplane, but also his paratroop dropping C-130 Hercules - couple pics of it as well (yeah, I screwed up on the drop pass, and missed the pic):

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8641.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8644.jpg

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

But of course, it's the Fokkers that Del would've enjoyed the most, so here's some pics of some of them in attendance:

Doug Bailey's SR Batteries (I think) Fokker E.I:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8593.jpg

Complete with "flichette" bomblets (War is Heck):

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8639.jpg

David "Prop Nut" Gibson's BUSA 1/4 Fokker D.VII (Briggs and Stratten Power):

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8629.jpg

Paul (GOT HORSEPOWER?!?) Westrich and his GTM 1/3 Fokker Dr.I:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8647.jpg

Mike "Lucky Dog" Bealmear had his BUSA Fokker E.IV:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8632.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8637.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8638.jpg

(And it flew MUCH better than what my camera thought - so there!!!).

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

Several others had Fokkers there as well, Ron Cain and Gary Denzler to name just a couple that I didn't snag a picture of - but I did get pics of Greg "Eindekker" Emerick with his BUSA Fokker:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8671.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8680.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8677.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8679.jpg

We had one other Fokker there, and my thanks to Joe Dirr for snagging the picture (posted earlier) of me with Del's old "Farm Fokker" - somewhat a bit worse for wear (both of us, I know!!), but that old Fokker was flying fabulously none-the-less. And it really does show up in the air with that bright yellow top wing - I can see why Del never bothered changing it to his usual "Optical Illusion" scheme (black/white diagonally striped wing). It was also the lead plane during the "Fokker Scourge", so THAT was pretty cool!! No pics from me of all that, as I was driving Del's old bird, but I did manage to snag a shot of one of Del's favorite flying activities - passing the transmitter around to friends - here Doug Cox takes a circuit around the field with the Farm Fokker:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8645.jpg

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

Well, okay . . . . .

The Entente Powers showed up as well!! A few from that "other side":

Randy Adam's "Waldo Pepper" Hanger9 Sopwith Camel:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8609.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8610.jpg

Art Shelton brought along his scratch-built 1/3 Nieuport 11:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8672.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8630.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8634.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8636.jpg

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

Several GCRCC members brought their own early fighters to the front:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8648.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8649.jpg

Including Joe Dirr with a BUSA 1/4 Nieuport 17 (yeah, Joe was a busy flier all day!!):

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8681.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8683.jpg

And Chuck Snyder with his scratch-built Handley Page:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8606.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8605.jpg

Chuck gave us maybe the biggest scare of the weekend, when one engine went out on the HP-400. Fortunately, he kept it out of the spin, and executed a successful off-field landing:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8664.jpg

Okay - and somehow I think Del woulda liked this pose from the Moraine Saulnier (which we think is the French word for "Target"):

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8665.jpg

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

It was actually a very incredible day. The weather couldn't have been much better - nearly no wind most of the day, blue skies, there were lots of Fokkers and Friends, and also just a whole bunch of good flying. That we pulled off a "Twenty-One Wing Salute" still amazes me - mostly cause we only figured it out AFTER the flight!! - but no matter how many, it was still a great moment. And even better, we had NO crashes of note all day - only two planes (that I know of) suffered any real damage - Stephen's Brisfit knocked it's undercarriage off on a bit of an untidy landing, and Sam's P-40 took out one landing gear on a take-off attempt - that was the attrition for the day (not counting my Honda Odyssey which spent an hour at the tire shop, after picking up a nail on the way down - what is it about landing gear this weekend?!?)!!

Thanks to GCRCC, and especially to Joe Westrich for putting this all together - for me it was a very cathartic and needed flying day, and sure helped get me a bit out of the funk I've been in since March.


http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_8689.jpg

Thanks, everyone!!

Lee McDuffee
the WinterHawke

I'll try to get a video or two posted here as well later tonight . . .

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

It was a good day, Del would have enjoyed it.

Sorry that I missed Greg, he must have arrived after Michelle and I left.

Thanks again to Joe and GCRCC

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

Nice Post Lee,
Was a real pleasure flying with everyone and I will make my way back to GCRCC in the future.
Anthony

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

Great covering of the event Lee [8D]

Thanks,

Teus

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

We had a great time at GCRCC with all of you folks and your WWI and other giant airplanes. Got to love filling the sky with two and three wing planes!

I'd like to see you back on June 9 for the Cliff Kell Memorial Fly-In. More information is at http://gcrcc.net/Cliff_Kell_2012a.pdf

Richard Kuns
GCRCC

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

I'd also like to to thank all involved in Del's memorial fly-in. I had a great time and I was really proud to be a part of the Fokker Flight (thanks to Russ Kuhn for prompting me to get the prop back on and get up with the gaggle). A 21 wing salute, how appropriate! I was also happy to entertain with my "knife edge" take-off earlier. [X(] And on a nice calm day to boot. Where's a nice crosswind when you need one.? Some day I'll learn to fly......maybe.

Thanks to those who took photos and video.

Greg, Sorry to miss you as well. I wish I'd been able to stay longer.

I am quite sure that Del enjoyed watching all the fun, and I feel honored to have known him. That being said, let's hope that there's no need for another similar event for a long time.

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

So I don't have a 1/3 scale but just had to be part of Del's Fly-in. Thanks Dell for being a good friend, hope you like the showing of the Fokker's in your honor.

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/d...-39-44_913.jpg

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/d...-45-32_654.jpg

Lloyd...

RE: Something for Del Johnson
 

Thanks to Lee for bring the Dr.I that Del build and the sold to Lee shortly before his untimely departure.
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/d...d/P1040568.jpg

A small group shot of the flight of the Fokker's
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/d...d/P1040562.jpg

Paul's GTM Dr.I
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/d...d/P1040570.jpg

Lloyd...