Thanks. Life is a bit short to just 'hold north of the field as published'. Twenty seven yards of concrete: Image Unavailable, Please Login
Russ, if the walls don't go all the way down to the floor a lot of Gremlins are going to get in. better talk to those people who are building that hangar.
About three standard ww1 single seat fighter sized aircraft (~30 x 20), and room for a work shop and spar/wing table. The placed was sized for a 2 seat Be2 and a Camel with a little extra. Bob, that hole is so we can work the concrete from the sides... and to let very short people have access. Hopefully the cedar siding is being delivered today. It would have been WAY less expensive to go with metal or vinyl, but a WW1 hangar should be wood, so there we are. Trees are also supposed to go in this week down the drive.
Russ- Very nice. If you ever decide to do another one for a German aircraft, they used a very simple design with the front door folding down to act as a work surface for the mechanics. Designed to be assembled over dirt, with a wooden floor and front door combined. Aircraft is Fokker F.I 102/17, Werknummer 1729, one of two preproduction Fokker Triplanes turned over to JG I in late August, 1917. MvR's personal aircraft, in which he scored victories 60 and 61 before going on extended leave. Kurt Wolff was killed in this aircraft on 15 September 1917, after a lucky shot from a Camel hit him in the head. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Yes - the Germans had more "do-able" hangars. I wish I could find someone with a full size German plane to partner with and I would build a small Hun camp at the other end of the runway
I may have mentioned this before but when I was 11 or 12 I built a WW1 aerodrome with 1/48th scale balsa models--SPADS, D-7's, SE5's,etc. that covered a good part of the living room carpet. It had a hangar built from pictures from G8 and His Battle Aces, and Bill Barns Air Trail's. I don't imagine that anyone remembers Phineas Pinkham. Anyway, I was pretty sick at the time and couldn't go out to play so I spent my time building my WW1 air force. I think that they were mostly Comet kits with some Megow thrown in. So, I wish that I was much younger so that I could at least build a full size Fok D-7 and harass the other end of the field every morning by dropping four day old donuts on it. This project gets me excited.
That is amazing! I don't know of anyone who ever heard Bill Barnes or any other heroes that I worshipped.
Craig- I have a full size one upstairs. They are beautiful. Even prettier with the Axial decals, which mine has.
Wrong war and wrong aircraft but it is funny! An old Irish World War II Spitfire pilot and flying ACE, was speaking in a church and reminiscing about his war experiences. "In 1942," he says, "the situation was really tough. The Germans had a very strong air force. I remember," he continues, "one day I was protecting the bombers and suddenly, out of the clouds, these Fokkers appeared." There are a few gasps from the parishioners, and several of the children began to giggle. "I looked up, and realized that two of the Fokkers were directly above me. I aimed at the first one and shot him down. By then, though, the other Fokker was right on my tail." At this point, several of the elderly ladies of the church were blushing with embarrassment, the girls were all giggling and the boys laughing loudly. The pastor finally stands up and says, "I think I should point out that 'Fokker' was the name of a German-Dutch aircraft company, who made many of the planes used by the Germans during the war." "Yes, that's true," says the old pilot, "but these fokkers were flying Messerschmitts."
Continued slow progress. After a couple of warm days the grass has started to come in on the airfield. It will still need a couple of months, though. To review, the airfield section is 1600' x 150', while the entire lot is 1650' x 300'. The sides are going up on the hangar - it seems much taller than I thought at 14' x 46' door opening. You can see the person door in the back on the photo. If left unpainted or unstained, I'm told over time the cedar will turn dark, then turn grey. I am thinking of staining it a bit darker golden tan color, but it does really smell good right now. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Russ, Awesome thread, thanks for sharing. I'm not sure how I missed it until now. You are definitely living the dream. A buddy of mine and I have been putting together plans on starting a fly in community for the past year or two, but we are still trying to decide on a location. Our jobs are such that we can live anywhere we want. My hobby is antique airplanes, and my wife and I have talked about having a grass strip and building a vintage style hangar and European style cottage/home....please keep the pictures and narrative going, absolutely awesome......
We have our first hangar resident - a Robin sitting on eggs. They can stay until the babies are bigger. The actual airdrome is not that long, but quite enough at 1600 feet. The landing area is quite wide taking half of the 11 acres being 150 feet. This gives a pretty good selection of 'angle offs' to correct for wind. What is good is the approach on both sides, being bean fields, somewhat functionally extending the length. One can see the grass has really responded to our 3 warm sunny days. There is a small 2.5 acre section at the end of the runway I may try to get next year which will take the runway out to 2000 feet, but 1600 feet should be quite enough for WW1 type aircraft. Image Unavailable, Please Login
That is starting to look really good. Now you've got to get an old Renault staff car, a fuel bowser, a wind sock, tail skid dollies, and a Victorola to play your 1917 songs. Oh, forgot . A pet lion cub.
Russ- Looking really good. Grass is growing fast, no doubt helped by the end of the drought. Your facility will be big enough to host WW-I fly-ins, which are usually tow-ins.
Filed registration papers with the State of Ohio and the FAA today. On a suggestion from a French WW1 enthusiast, the official name will be Aerodrome Les Noyes as a typical French name. Flanders Field was taken already. The name reflects the English Walnut orchard by the Farmhouse driveway.
Just got some excellent input from another aerodromer on asymmetry and prompted a re-look at the Aerodrome cottage dormers. The rear will need stay the same, but the front will either be deleted alltogether or replaced by a much smaller one, just to give the eye something to rest on. I have reworked some brilliantly excellent drawings by a friend, into what may be a modest, simple 3 bedroom 2 bath farm cottage on the Route Guynemer to the Les Noyers Aerodrome. Thanks to everyone who has helped and taken the time to improve my humble retirement cottage and aerodrome. Here are front and rear drawings: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
