Biplanes

tonycondon

tonycondon

Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
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Tony
so the American Barnstormers Tour is in Ames. They were supposed to be in Iowa City starting last weekend, but due to the fact that the airport is surrounded by water they came here early! its been AWESOME seeing them go flying and giving rides. Everyone is dressed up in 20's and 30's vintage clothing. all of the airplanes are mid 30's and older. The ride airplanes are 4 1929 Travel Air 4000's and a 1929 New Standard D25. The D25 holds 4 passengers, the others hold 2. Some real characters are along too, and really sweet airplanes. If its coming near you, I highly suggest you check it out!

http://www.americanbarnstormerstour.com/
 
David Marrs in the TravelAire is from MS. He's very into the barnstormer scene. Tell him I said hi if you get to meet him.
 
ill look for him Steve.

Another guy, Stu something, is the 19 yr old kid in Richard Bach's book Nothing to Chance. He ground crewed for Bach on his barnstorming tour back in the day. Pretty cool, and he LOVES flying rides, has been flying until sunset every night so far.
 
...man I wish I was around one of these tour spots. I loved Bach's book(s) and would love to get a chance to go up in one of those planes.
 
You should tell those guys to come east to WI....It is somewhat dry here :)
 
Steve said:
David Marrs in the TravelAire is from MS. He's very into the barnstormer scene. Tell him I said hi if you get to meet him.
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Great guy. He brought his Travel Air in to the shop with some problems and asked us to clean and gap the plugs. I did the work on it and ended up replacing both plugs in the #7 cylinder and changed his oil. The whole time David was great to work with. He came back and gave me a T-shirt with a picture of his plane printed on it from his company, Vintage Air Tours. Actually, the whole bunch of them are great people. They have been coming by the shop all day. Breaks have been a little long though, and we're not getting much work done.
 
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so the above story ends with "worked on the Travel Air and all I got was this stupid t-shirt!" :rofl:
 
Tony, awhile back you said you were working ground crew or something like that. It would be cool if you had some pics to post.
 
Steve said:
I'm sure they'd love to.

But they'd do it for pay.
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It's money that keeps those old planes in the air, just like any other. :D
And worth every penny, too! At least one biplane ride should be mandatory for any pilot. And you never know when you might get some stick time.

I wish they'd swing out my way one of these days... I'd run away with them. :D
They probably don't need another pilot, but maybe if I show up with a parachute...:D

Or I could "bark" for them: "See your town from the air! See the sunset twice! Nice and cool up there, folks... step right up!!" :D
 
i havent been ground crewing, busy working at the FBO. but ive been hanging out quite a bit. ive got a bunch of pictures and will post them when i get the chance.

and steve - David says hi, hes doing great.

estimates are that about 1000 people in Ames will have biplane rides by the end of the day. incredible weather and activity out here. its great.

im going to wait until after the tour is over and fly with one of the guys from Iowa City. He'll be able to get the stick and rudder back in the front seat which will be more enjoyable :yes:
 
tonycondon said:
im going to wait until after the tour is over and fly with one of the guys from Iowa City. He'll be able to get the stick and rudder back in the front seat which will be more enjoyable :yes:
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*Note to self: Go to airport after work today. ;)
 
That's a helluva spot on your lens but at least you didn't forget your camera unlike, say that d00d Nick. Thank you for the pics, Tony.
 
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