Concord CFO Flyin

Duane Allen sends these pictures and the story of the CFO fly in held this weekend in Concord, California. Thanks to Duane and Leo Saunders for your hard work, as well as to Duane for the story!

From: Duane Allen (aerosol@pacbell.net)
Subject: CCR Fly-In

Many thanks to Leo Saunders for putting together the fly-in at CCR on Saturday.

As it turned out, the final count was 23 airplanes, one Toyota and two dogs. However, I think one of the dogs belonged to an MDPA member.

Leo and company did an excellent job on the tri-tip, so I heard, it was gone before I got to the food line. My wife arrived late with the salad fixings, but most of it was eaten anyway.

After dinner, we went back to the Sheraton and got a conference room where I downloaded Stu's and Lowell Dexter's digital photos to my laptop where we reviewed them.

I have sent them to Keith for posting on the webpage at his discretion. (I left my camera at home) so all I got was 35mm. but those will be available on Wed. in digital format. After looking at Stu and Lowell's I don't know that I did any better than they did.

The good thing about Lowell's, he got the pilots and passengers in his 17 photos. I didn't, I was just recording which aircraft showed up. He quit taking pictures and went to eat before all the aircraft arrived. So there may be a use for some of mine.

We had some beautiful aircraft show up, some with interesting mods. Especially Larry Wokral's RG. And some with beautiful or interesting paint jobs. Saw some really nice interiors too.

What happened to Steve & Barb Carstensen and Vince Endter? We missed you and of course we missed Tom Neale's RG critique. It just wasn't the same without you Tom. Leo did pass out your flyers.

The weather couldn't have been any better. The wind was even calm for Ray & Betty Greene when they left Lancaster (wind tunnel) FOX field. Very unusual, I know, I've been there.

Severe clear and light winds at CCR for the entire day. You can see that in some of the pictures. Mt. Diablo in the background of some a/c photos. I got a good sunburn parking airplanes as they arrived. Will have a peeling forehead (I have lots of it) by Friday.

Leo did a good job I thought, of hosting and gave way too much credit to me. I *am* the one who subscribed him to the Cardinal list in May but as for Sat. I didn't do a whole lot, except spend money.

We did wind up in the hole by a fair bit, and ran out of meat, but I guess that is the sort of thing to be expected when you don't know for sure how many are coming. OTOH, it was nice to see those who came unannounced anyway. Maybe next time they will let us know they are coming and we can plan accordingly.

The staff at CCR did a good job as usual. Only one controller showed up after he got off duty. New management has restricted them to 20 minute breaks and 30 minute lunches, so it makes it hard for them to get across the field and back within the time constraints. We wish them luck with their new "powers that be".

As a final word, thanks to all those who came. Hope you had a good time and a safe flight home. I'd like to hear about any GPS rollover anomalies. mailto:aerosol@PacBell.Net.

Duane Allen, 78FG at CCR

Click on each image to load a larger version of the picture.

The following pictures and comments are from Duane Allen.

From the right, the back of Ray Greene, Betty Greene, (red shirt) David McConnell and wife Marilyn to his left. Who's in the red hat? Not sure.	That is Tony Williams hand and his son at the left. The unknown couple, but I think it is the couple flying 34695, Pat & Bill Thomas. That is Tony Gaidos from Wattsonville with the red suspenders. I don't know the two fellows whose backs are to the camera.
That is Larry Workal with the smiling face. An older B17 pilot from Hamilton AFB who flew one into Concord many many years ago for static display. That is Larry's daughter next to him and her boyfriend next to her.	Betty Green, David McConnell, Marilyn McC. and Bruce Horn looking at the pictures on the wall. Don't know the guy with his back to the camera.
There's that couple again. I think it is Pat and Bill Thomas and John Potter from MDPA putting butter on his corn on the cob. Still don't knowthe guy in the blue shirt at the lower right corner.	Sid Sangal's daughter, wife, and son.
Sid Sangal and Avro. Sure is a nice T shirt Sid has on.	A nice shot of Harry Spence's airplane.
The missing airplane. One of the prettiest there. I didn't even take the time to look inside.	A good shot of the freshly polished Leo Saunder's RG. I am sure he worked harder than I did. Last time I saw it the red was quite dead. Amazing what a little elbow grease will do.
Nice shot of Lowell Dexter's RG.	Tony Williams 70 FG. Notice that he has changed it from 177AW (AlphaWisky). Those Kennon sunshields are nice, but I think they bake the plexiglass making it brittle.
Joe Pope's RG.	Look at all these bird tails. Wish I'd have called the firetruck over so I could have shot from above.
Nice shot of Dick Bechtel's airplane. I think this is the one we tried to photograph in May and he had radio problems.	I will have to let these go out while I am at the EAA meeting. I am already late. This is David McConnell's 78RG from Novato, CA. Just across the bay.

The following pictures are from Lowell Dexter:

The waitress took when Stu & Michelle Alpin, Ray & Bette Greene, Audrey and Duane had dinner at the resturant in the evening.	Lowell also met several of the pilots when they arrived. Any chance you captured who was who, Lowell? KP

The following pictures are from Stu Aplin:

Paul Millner shows off the Turbo FG that he owned at the time.	Every Cardinal owner's dream... a long line of Cardinals just waiting for inspection. :-) KP








	Here are Leo's engine parts left from his overhaul at 1700 hrs. showing damage. He has a story to tell about that.
	Leo walking away from the group to take pictures for others with their cameras.