FChat fly-in, last weekend in March

I can't fly there because my arms git too tard. Can't drive there because one tank of fuel won't make it BUT I know that I have recall of that area from when I was at Hondo in '44. It was different then for sure but we used to fly over that beautiful country quite often (can't think of the name of the lake northeast of Hondo, buzzed it a few times)...wide open, no people, no houses much, and probably the prettiest part of Texas. Lots of little towns around including Hondo; Uvalde, Del Rio, etc. Had good duty there.
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I think that I remember Lake Medina. That is where two intrepid flyers flew a PT-19 into the water when it was ,
" Weren't you flying?" NO. Weren't you flying?" It turned out that neither was at the stick and the airplane simply cruised into the lake as both thought that the other was doing a low level pass.
As another memory pops up. We had two AT-7's do a head-on over a railroad track one night. The civilians wondered just how we were training our navigators...we did too.
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I could probably make it.... on second thought thatd be a 2,100 mile round flight round trip in a 172, Might be a while.

 

Lordy ! I'm humbled by Russ' comments and certainly appreciate the intent but I have done little to earn anything worthy of note except to have been allowed to live a long life. I have not accomplished anything with my flying except a happy time with a goofy airshow clown act and trying to enjoy as many airplanes as my friends and money would allow. I attended a sort of reunion last weekend and saw many of my old flying buddies and at the height of our remembering the good times one of the guys looked at me and said, " It's true ! The older we get, the better we were." So I think that is where I am. I really didn't do much but I can sure talk about it. You are the guys that deserve the KUDO'S. Look at all you have done! That's worth the party. It would be fun to be there, though. Never any beautiful airport facilities like that when I was down there. I have a photo somewhere of a sign outside Hondo that said, " This God's Country, don't drive through it like hell." Some cadet inserted between the words "country" and " don't " the word "NAVIGATE" Also there were a few streets in Hondo that were still dirt.
Thanks again,
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Lovely family, Rob. Lovely facility in Fredricksburg, too, and a nice T-28.
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NOTAMS, TPA, ERV, MSL. What is all that stuff, Russ? Can't find the A or N anywhere in there.
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You must have read about it in a book somewhere. That system was the most God Awful thing to try to use ! It lost a lot of pilots who didn't even know that they were lost...like me.
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What a beautiful airport! I'm sure that you guys will have a wonderful time there. Things are sure fancy now.
I Googled Hondo, Texas and I couldn't believe that the airbase is still like I remember it from 1944. The long ramp running north and south had a line of AT-7's three deep with some Lockheed C=60's interspersed. The PLM ( Production Line Maintenance hangar was around the corner at the north end of the ramp. AND my barracks was on what is now MacHaughten St., I think. Almost in line with the wooden control tower. MAN ! What a jolt! I think that Hondo Golf Course is where the PT field was located. I'll always remember the nights at midnight when all the airplanes returned from their training flights and the sky was full of nav lights and all where trying to enter the circular traffic pattern at once. Screaming at one another for cutting them off when they were in the process of cutting someone else off. It was mayhem to get them down and to get them parked and serviced. It usually took until 0400 or better. Never to be seen again.
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Russ, you really know how to get an old fire horse pawing at the ground, or in this case looking at the sky. I hope that this plan works for everyone because it sounds like a blast. Your airplane is SO inviting and I'll bet that it is a joy to fly. I have never flown a T-28 but it looks like it is just waiting for some one to try it. The Navion is the same and I flew one once without a checkout and it was very kind to me. North American never built an airplane that wasn't rightly done, I don't think. before the P-51 they had the O-48 and the B-25 and the Navion and the T-28 are of the same ilk: sturdy, stabile, and easy to fly. My late brother in law flew the B-26 and the B-25 in the Pacific Theater. He said that he would fly the B-26 in action because it was the toughest and could take tremendous punishment. But as an airplane for everything else, he would take the B-25 because it was so well balanced in everything and much easier to fly. For shear fun, though, he liked the B-26 because it was like a twin engined fighter. Far more demanding.
You guys have a good fly-in.
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I am always looking for a reason to go to the Hangar Hotel. What a great place! We usually go there for the dances, but any time is good. I'm in.