The Dixie Dispatch DIXIE WING, COMMEMORATIVE AIR FORCE, PEACHTREE CITY, GA www.dixiewing.org Col Frank Kalinowski, Editor - [email protected] June 2016 Education through living history. Keep 'em flying. Dixie Wing Staff Let’s Face it … Facebook is For Officers /Contacts Everyone Who Likes the Dixie Wing Wing Leader Col Jay Bess If you still think that Facebook is a place only for teenagers to share photos [email protected] and comments, then you’ve not looked at the Dixie Wing Facebook page. Executive Officer Col Larry Combs Here are some of the items you’ve missed: [email protected] Adjutant • vintage print advertisements from WWII; Col Malcolm Lelliott [email protected] • photos of WWII vets with our planes and our members; Finance Officer • links to videos of our Living History series; Col Paul Zampol [email protected] • photos of our and other CAF aircraft at events around the country; Maintenance Officer Col Bob Heath • video of the Missing Man Formation performed by our pilots at the WWII [email protected] Weekend in Reading, PA. Operations Officer Col Jim Buckley Whatever your age, you are never too old to sign up and keep abreast with [email protected] the Wing’s activities. Recruiting Officer Col Michael "Zee" Zeeveld [email protected] WHAT'S INSIDE? Public Information Officer 2 ..... From the left Seat Col Steve Forsyth [email protected] 3 ..... From Some Other Seat; XO Report 4 ..... Focus on Finance; What’s That? Marketing Officer 5 ..... From The Bookmaster Col Moreno "Mo" Aguiari [email protected] 6 ..... Web Watch; New Education Project 7 – 8 The Story of “Bad Angel” Safety Officer Col Rodney Higginbotham 9 ..... Answer to What’s That? PX Changes Rodneyhigginbotham 10-11 Scenes From The Hangar @gmail.com 12 ..... Blastards; Trivia Time Quiz Air Show Scheduling 13 ..... 2016 Atlanta Warbird Weekend Col Phillip Beegle [email protected] 14 ..... Trivia Time Answers; June 25th Cookout 15 ..... Gone West Aircraft Rides Officer Col Jerry Robinette 16 ..... CAFactoid; Candler Field Restoration News [email protected] 17-18 On The Horizon; July At A Glance Angel Squad 19 ..... The Tailpiece Merikay Franklin [email protected] June 2016 The Dixie Dispatch Page 2 From the Left Seat: Col Jay Bess, Wing Leader The tide is finally turning in our favor! After a near rainout at the Reading, PA WWII Weekend event we finally had a successful rides weekend in Cincinnati with the P-51 and a great air show appearance at Jimmy Stewart Airport with the Corsair and Kate. We have been building relationships with other CAF Units and air show performers that just paid off when another performer could not make an air show and recommended the Dixie Wing to come through! The Corsair is headed to the Vero Beach Air Show this weekend! We recently participated in a study of Peachtree City with the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Explore Georgia and the Peachtree City Convention and Visitors Bureau. The outcome of our part of the meeting was the Dixie Wing was identified as a tourist draw that needs to be developed for the growing market in Peachtree City! We will be working with the state and local tourism bureaus to find new opportunities to develop and promote the Dixie Wing. In conjunction with that development, we have partnered with Georgia State University to do an in-depth study of the potential of an expanded Dixie Wing museum and educational programs. They have created a class next fall and we will have their museum studies students working on the project. This class has experience working through this process with other Georgia historical societies and museums. GSU will also be creating another class to help develop and curate our CAF Dixie Wing exhibits at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in 2017-2018. This is a great partnership that was fostered by The Georgia Center for Innovation in Aerospace. The highly successful CAF Rise Above educational outreach program is in the process of being expanded to include the inspirational story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). Currently, the program tours the country in a large tractor trailer with a 60-seat movie theatre and has been booked solid for over 6 years. CAF HQ is developing a program for the individual units and we will be working with them to create a program for the local school systems in Georgia. Finally, the Dixie Wing has participated in several local events such as the Peachtree City and Senoia Memorial Day programs and two events at the Atlanta History Center. Great visibility and support in our local communities. I hope to see everyone and their kin at the Dixie Wing Family Appreciation Cookout this Saturday! Keep ‘em Flying, Jay June 2016 The Dixie Dispatch Page 3 From Some Other Seat: Operations Col Jim Buckley, Operations Officer The summer heat is now upon us, but that wasn't the problem at Reading this year. Our rotten luck was still hanging in there. We were able to get all 3 WWII Weekend flying shows completed, but before and after the weather was too bad for many Mustang rides. We were able to do a few, but, nothing like we expected. For a change we had no mechanical issues. A week later, we finally broke the curse. Great weather allowed us the do 8 Mustang rides at EAA chapter 18s ride event at Cincinnati. The Corsair and the Kate had great weather at our first time at the Jimmy Stewart festival at Indiana PA. Back on the home front, the PT -19 became airworthy after a long Annual and engine change. Our Mustang is currently at Indianapolis in support of the Red Tail exhibit and should be ferried home next week. We still have a lot of shows in the works and can still turn this into a good year for the Dixie Wing. Col Jim Buckley, Operations Officer XO Report: Col Larry Combs, Executive Officer installed and should be running in a week or so. The P- It occurred to me lately 63 is ready for testing as soon as the FAA signs our Air that 2016 has brought Worthiness Certificate. The newly overhauled engine is one bad news story after ready to install on the T-34 and lastly, the new engine another and the year is was installed on the PT-26 and it has been tested and not even half over. You returned to service. All of these accomplishments can’t escape it! You turn didn’t happen in a vacuum. It was because of on the TV, listen to your dedicated, hard working members that took each of radio, read the these challenges and stuck with it until the job was newspaper, read your done. notifications on Face- book, or hear the bad As good as this news is, nothing tops the amazing skills news over coffee around that Truitt Harper demonstrated when he had to land the break table. Bad our L-16 off field on a gas line right of way. A lesser news is everywhere! pilot could have killed or injured himself and the passenger but thankfully, both walked away without a Not to lessen the tragic loss of Greg Connell while scratch. We are very proud of our very own Truitt performing in the air show at PDK. Or one of CAF’s Harper. own, William Gordon who lost his life while ditching his P-47 in the Hudson River, and Jeff Kuss of the Blue I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy but even I get down Angels that many of us met when he visited Falcon occasionally. Let’s lift each other up when it seems Field last year. May they all rest in peace. there is nothing but gloom and doom in the air. If you notice someone doing a good job, tell him or her you But let’s focus on some of the good news that’s appreciate their efforts. Thank those loyal and happened at the Dixie Wing. Remember it wasn’t long dedicated VOLUNTEERS that show up early and go ago that our Mustang, SBD, P-63, T-34, T-6, and PT-26 home late as they give their all to get our Warbirds back were causing more money to go out of the door than in the air. Thank those who may not turn a wrench but was coming in. A new engine had to be located and who perform administrative, accounting, marketing, purchased for the SBD, an engine overhaul and new scheduling, and leadership duties. It takes all of us to propeller was needed for the T-34, a spinner for the make the Dixie Wing a success. Mustang, fuel pumps for the P-63, and a fuel leak in the T-6 needed to be repaired. The Mustang is back on the I am proud to be a member of the Dixie Wing and I road and making money. The SBD engine is nearly thank YOU for all you do. June 2016 The Dixie Dispatch Page 4 Focus On In addition to verifying the bills, we need Finance the fuel slips for Col Paul Zampol, another important Finance Officer reason: The CAF qualifies The financial results for the year are starting to look for a refund of better although, as reported elsewhere, Reading was excise taxes paid not the blockbuster event we had hoped for. Our on fuel (6%). balance sheet assets are back over the $1 million mark, HQ in Dallas handles this for us annually, and remits us and the loss for the year is down to less than $60,000.