The Dixie Dispatch DIXIE WING, COMMEMORATIVE AIR FORCE, PEACHTREE CITY, GA www.dixiewing.org Col Frank Kalinowski, Editor - [email protected] September 2016 Education through living history. Keep 'em flying. Dixie Wing Staff Atlanta Warbird Officers /Contacts Weekend (AWW) will present its largest lineup of Wing Leader World War II veterans and Col Jay Bess aircraft for its third annual [email protected] event at Dekalb-Peachtree Executive Officer Airport (KPDK) in Col Larry Combs Chamblee, Ga., Sept. 24-25, [email protected] 2016. Attendees will see Adjutant eight Curtiss P-40 Warhawks Col Malcolm Lelliott among a total of 40 WWII [email protected] warbirds on the grounds. More than 20 WWII veterans Finance Officer will participate, including Lt. Col Paul Zampol [email protected] Dick Cole, the last remaining crew member of the famous Doolittle Raid over Tokyo. Warbirds will fly during Maintenance Officer the day, with a special P-40 formation flight at 4 p.m., and rides will be available Col Bob Heath on vintage Commemorative Air Force (CAF) WWII aircraft throughout the [email protected] weekend, beginning at 9 a.m. each day. Read more on page 18 in this issue. Operations Officer Col Jim Buckley [email protected] Recruiting Officer Col Michael "Zee" Zeeveld WHAT'S INSIDE? [email protected] 2 ..... From the Left Seat; Welcome New Cols Public Information Officer 3 ..... From Some Other Seat; What’s That? Col Steve Forsyth [email protected] 4 ..... XO Report 5 ..... Scenes From The Hangar Marketing Officer Col Moreno "Mo" Aguiari 6 – 8 From The Bookmaster [email protected] 9 ..... Trivia Time Quiz Safety Officer 10-11 Supermarine Spitfire– Part One Col Rodney Higginbotham 11 ..... Answer to What’s That? Rodneyhigginbotham @gmail.com 12 ..... Dixie Wing Elections; Help Wanted – Rental Facilities Officer Air Show Scheduling 13-14 Rides Program Col Phillip Beegle 15 ..... Trivia Time Answers; CAFactoid; Dixie Wing Christmas Party [email protected] 16–17 On The Horizon; October At A Glance; Web Watch Aircraft Rides Officer 18 ..... 75th Anniversary of the AVG at Atlanta Warbird Weekend Col Jerry Robinette [email protected] 19 ..... The Tailpiece Angel Squad Merikay Franklin [email protected] September 2016 The Dixie Dispatch Page 2 From the Left Seat: Col Jay Bess, Wing Leader We are a few days away from Atlanta Warbird gladly recommend Weekend 2016 and it’s shaping up to be an him and his services incredible event. Guests from over 27 states have to anyone who is in registered for the dinner, photography workshop the need of lawn and other activities. There will be foreign services. This is a dignitaries attending and potential national press burden off of our coverage of the weekend. Finally, we are honored members and it’s to be hosting two of the AVG Flying Tigers impressive to have veterans, the AVG Flying Tigers Association, the such a professional appearance when you drive in last Doolittle Raider, China/Burma/India Hump to the hangar! Thanks Kevin! pilots, Mighty Eighth Air Force veterans and many more distinguished guests. Of course, none of this We are doing a little “re-decorating” at the hangar would happen without the Dixie Wing Volunteers! and creating the Dixie Wing Hall of Fame! Our unit has earned many awards, citations and We will have visitors from Georgia State recognitions throughout the years and they’ve University on Saturday, October 1st. This is the been relegated to the back of the restoration shop, Museum Studies class that has taken on the Dixie boxes and cabinet drawers. The “hall” of fame, Wing as their semester project and they will be will be our opportunity to show off our touring the hangar and talking with you! As part recognition for hard work, honor those that have of their study of our organization, they want to Gone West, and showcase the spirit of the Dixie interview our members and get your opinions and Wing such as the Ray Niehouse award. This will feedback. Please welcome them to the Dixie Wing. exhibit our proud unit history and will feature descriptions of the awards. Thanks to Cols I’m sure you’ve noticed our impeccably manicured Malcolm Lelliott, Gerhard Frenz and Tom Walsh landscaping in the last month! Kevin Cheely, a for leading this project. former Cadet and CAF Colonel, has volunteered to maintain our grounds and has already made a Keep ‘em Flying, huge impact on the appearance of our facility. Kevin owns Greenway Landscaping and I would Jay WE WELCOME NEW COLONELS NEW COLONELS SINCE APRIL COLONELS NEW TO THE WING Name Date Recruited Recruiter Jeb Harper 4/3/16 George Harrison James Jones 4/1/16 John Basch 4/16/16 Angela Decker Matthew Hayduk 5/25/16 Danny Cook 6/3/16 Jay Bess Rick Graham 6/13/16 Rick Joslyn 5/31/16 Chris Madrid Ron Barron 6/15/16 Paul Crawford Mo Aguiari John Southwick 9/9/16 Mark Woodfil 6/15/16 Jerry Robinette Robert Price 8/9/16 Gerhard Frenz Wayne Nelson 8/11/16 Jim Buckley Bart Nelson 8/19/16 Charles Burcher Brandon Fink 8/22/16 Joe Broker Richard Taylor Jr. 9/10/16 September 2016 The Dixie Dispatch Page 3 From Some Other Seat: Operations Col Jim Buckley, Operations Officer Things are getting back to a bit more normal. The SBD is back on the line and most of the re-qualifications are complete. Both the PT and the LT-6 are ready for business too. Red Nose came back for a few days of maintenance after it's highly successful northern tour for the Red Tail Squadron. With the help of squadron leader Bill Shepard, we grossed over $35,000! She didn't get much of a rest and right back out for the Crossville TN event and on the the Upper Cumberland Airshow at Sparta TN. She will have a few days rest before the Atlanta Warbird Weekend at the PDK airport on Sept. 24/25. I hope to see many of you there. The Corsair, P-51 and Kate are scheduled for the Robbins Airshow the very next weekend. Be on the lookout for an updated ride price sheet. Effective Nov. 1, some of the ride prices are going up. Happy trails Col Jim Buckley, Operations Officer WHAT’S THAT? Col Frank Kalinowski A few hints: • It was in the same competition as a novel fighter aircraft as last month’s Black Bullet. • Again, only two prototypes were built. • Although it had a number of unique features, including a pressurized cockpit, it did not demonstrate improved performance over existing aircraft, thus ending the program. • It took its name after a popular song at the time. WHAT’S THAT? Find the answer on page 11. September 2016 The Dixie Dispatch Page 4 XO Report: Col Larry Combs, Executive Officer It’s funny how you clean but when they’re gone, this task is learn something as a sometimes overlooked. kid that sticks with you for the rest of your We’ve all heard the saying “you can lead a horse life, yet most of us at to water but you can’t make him drink.” Well, my age (73) have you are all volunteers and without you, we would difficulty remember- not exist. Thousands of people would not enjoy ing what we ate for touching and feeling our WARBIRDS and for a breakfast. When I select few, actually get to fly in them. We are not joined the Air Force in paid employees so no one can make us do 1962 and was sent to anything we don’t want to do. I just hope we can Lackland AFB for motivate all to take the initiative to either correct a basic training, our trip hazard yourself when you see it or bring it to Technical Instructor (TI) gave the command “fall someone’s attention. We do not want anyone to out and police the area.” This language was become injured when it can be prevented. So my foreign to my ears and most of the other 59 pings request is to fall out and police the area each time so the TI gave us further instructions by saying you’re at our hangar. Thank all of you who already “pick up everything that moves and if you can’t do this without being asked. pick it up, paint it green.” While this seemed trivial at the time because the area around our Larry barracks appeared to be immaculate, we began our search for “anything that moves.” Low and behold, we began finding small fragments of paper left over from cigarette butts and many other things such as match sticks, etc. By now you’re wondering, where is he going with this so here you go … A couple of weeks ago, one of our members took a serious fall in the hangar while wing-walking one of our WARBIRDS as it was being moved about the hangar. He slipped on a small pile of cardboard that knocked the wind out of him but luckily was not seriously injured. Thanks to Tom, Gerhardt (Shultz), and Rodney for coming to his aid. On any given day you can walk through the shop, the Connex buildings, back yard, and the hangar and spot trip hazards. It doesn’t have to be something as obvious as cardboard but may be a spot of oil, hydraulic fluid, water, or gasoline. As Fall is just around the corner we can expect leaves and dry grass clippings to accumulate on the hangar floors if we don’t keep them swept.