Around the middle of August the town of Halstead, Kansas, holds their annual Old Settlers’ Day. In conjunction with that, the Mid-America Antique Airplane Group holds their annual Fly-In at Wiebe Field, Halstead’s official airport. Some thirty planes showed up this year. They ranged from a T-6
to a Midget Mustang
and all manner of planes in between. Some very interesting planes there were a Mooney M20A.
This was the last of the wood wing and wood tailed Mooneys. Your author was instrumental in designing the M20B which converted the plane to all metal.
Notice the huge Tundra Tires on the Super Cub
But I can’t let this article go by without alluding to the airplane that got me going in EAA. In the early sixties I read a book written by Pete Bowers about his designing and building the Fly Baby. I later met Pete in Seattle where he was member of that chapter. (He looked a lot older than his picture on the book cover.) Well, lo and behold, there was a Fly Baby there at the Fly-In.
It was this plane that got me interested in The Experimental Aircraft Association and that association continues to this very day. (I should have bought a lifetime membership then, but $200 was big money at that time.)
The day started at 7:30 am with the ubiquitous pancake and sausage breakfast. Around 10:00 am the planes began to line up so that they could make a pass over the Old Settlers parade route – fastest planes first so that they wouldn’t run over the slower planes.
About 11:30 a pickup hauling a big smoker pulled up with a great selection of pulled pork, sliced brisket and chopped brisket for our lunch. Everyone enjoyed a great lunch.
Trailer Mounted Smoker
And the Winners Were…
Best Antique - Jeff Newsome's L2 Taylorcraft
AAA and People's Choice - John Frisbie's T- Craft BC-65
Best of Show - Raymond Doerr's RV-10
So there you have it, folks. Keep next August open for a great show at Halstead, KS.