VG-21 Squadron |
NewslettersVarga/Shinn VG-21 Squadron No. 14 Feb. 16, 1993 For those of you "back east", let me assure you that those of us in California and Arizona haven't had much of a winter flying, either! While we're all thankful for the rain, surely spring and VFR weather can't come too soon for most of us. Del Lutz and his Varga flew in from Dallas last month, a week late due to weather, then had weather problems all the way home and ended up leaving his plane in El Paso for a couple of days while he flew commercial El Paso/Dallas/El Paso so he wouldn't miss the Super Bowl game. Just talked to John Vance and he had to RON in Bakersfield last week due to fog. Come on spring, hurry up! NEW MEMBERS Please add the following new members to your membership list and if you live or fly in their area, I'm sure they'd like to hear from you. Keith Mashburn 1977 Varga 2150A N5080V 3152 Township Ave. Simi Valley, CA 93063 Gene (GK) Mann 1560 Royal Ave. Simi Valley, CA 93065 Keith keeps his Varga at Camarillo Airport. He purchased it in August 1992, and due to repairs, annual, and work, has only flown it about 10 hours. Keith is a Fire Captain for the Ventura County Fire Dept, has two daughters ages 13 and 6, and his wife, although very supportive, prefers to remain on the ground. (I'11 have to talk to her!) GK Mann retired from the Ventura County Fire Dept. several years ago. While GK doesn't own an airplane nor have a pilots license, he's very involved with Keith's Varga and wanted to join the VG-21 Squadron. Chet & Mary Sweeley Indian Hills Airpark P. O. Box 517 Salome, AZ 85348 (602) 859-3200 1976 Varga 2150 N5068V Chet & Mary keep their Varga in a hangar near their home. Some people are lucky and live at an Airpark! Indian Hills is about 90 miles west of Phoenix and they do most of their flying in the immediate vicinity. Their Varga was featured on the cover of "Private Pilot" magazine, flown by Mira Slovak, Aug. 1976 issue. BAD NEWS Received a letter from Myron & Jeanne Buswell letting us know that their Shinn suffered extensive damage when the engine quit. Myron says that after 54 years and 22,000 hours flying, Murphy's Law caught up with him. He had a student up doing low altitude maneuvers, and while trying to switch to the other fuel tank, the engine quit, executed an emergency landing, and both walked away unhurt. Bill Morrisey is being very helpful to Myron and finding parts to repair his Shinn. But Myron's list of needed parts is very long and includes the following: carburetor heat box and lower engine cowling with heat box extension and a mould or pattern for nose cowl, right wing tip pattern for fiberglass, a Sensenich 74DM 59" to 61" prop and spinner, and back plate and center plate, may need landing gear main struts & axles, shimmy dampener and 2 steering rods and T Bar for nose gear, and a pair of scissors for main, exhaust pipe system, and someone familiar with Shinn wing repair, including replacement of rear spar. Please call Myron COLLECT if you can help him 503-838-3737, To those of you who own Vargas, a reminder. The "good book" on the Varga states that maneuvers (at any altitude) should be done only with both fuel tanks ON and the fuel boost pump ON......and that includes take-off and landing! INVITATIONS The Greeley Weld County Airport and the Rocky Mountain Sport Aviation Fly-In Committee would love to have some VG-21 members attend their 15th Annual Fly-In, June 26-27, 1993. Kitplanes, homebuilts, antique, classics, warbirds, and ultralights will be judged with 1st place winner receiving a custom oil painting of their aircraft. Approximately 25 other awards to be given. Friday arrivals welcome. No registration fees, free camping on the field, free transp. to town, food available on the field, ample motels, restaurants and car rentals. Other activities in Greeley include Greeley Stampede Rodeo and Parade and night shows including George Jones, Alan Jackson, Doug Kershaw and others. For more info contact: Bill Marcy, 6068 S. Lakeview St., Littleton, CO 80120 303-798-6086 or Bob Kelly, 2435 5th Ave., Greeley, CO 80631 303-353-5514. EAA Chapter 723 invites us to their 13th annual Camarillo Fly-In at Camarillo Airport, April 30 to May 2. Event includes aircraft judging and awards, kit plane mfg. reps and prototypes, mfg. and FAA seminars, an aircraft orphanage, Friday night dinner with a featured aviation speaker, pancake breakfasts and Sat. night awards dinner and USO Dance Party. There's flight demos on Sat. and Sun including military fly-bys. A Best of Type award for each aircraft type with six aircraft registered for judging. Please confirm your participation by March 12, 1993, to Larry Hayes, 303 Fox Hills Drive, Thousand Oaks, CA 91361-1304 805-373-5144. Passport to Cruising, 12729 Leo Lane, Wilton, CA 95693 916-687-7517 and Holland America Line will have their 1st Annual Air Race Fans Alaska Cruise, May 22, 1993. Please contact Passport to Cruising for details. PHOTO ALBUM The photo album made a round-trip from Kelseyville to Tony, WI. Dick and Karen Pederson said they enjoyed so much the photos of the Vargas and their owners. If any of you would like us to UPS it to you, and will take an oath in blood that you'll return it within a week, we'll be glad to get it on its way to you. For those who have recently mailed photos to us, a sincere thank you. To those of you who haven't sent photos to us - shame on you! CORRECTION In the last Newsletter, I commented that about 15,000 people attended the Beale AFB open house and inspected my Varga. Wrong! Heard from Beale the other day and there were 100,000 people at the Open House. In any event, that adds up to a whole bunch of people who now know what a Varga looks like. 1993 VG-21 SQUADRON FLY-INS AND EVENTS - MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND JUST DO IT! April 3 - Watts Woodland for lunch. Plan to arrive no later than Noon. May 1 - "Mini" Maintenance Seminar at San Luis Obispo. John Vance is the host and you will receive a "flyer" from him soon. June- 5 - Merced Fly-In. Let's plan to fly-in on Saturday! For those of you in S. Calif. and Arizona, please contact John Vance and let him know you're planning to attend. For those of you in No. Calif., contact Joe Conner. (See membership list for addresses and phone numbers.) Or, let me know! Sept. 25 - Lampson Field, for annual maintenance seminar. This event scheduled on same weekend as seaplane fly-in on Clearlake. Lunch at the Skyroom Restaurant on the field. Plan to come for the weekend and enjoy the seaplanes on Sunday. NOTE: Carl Sigg needs a Varga ride to the April, May and June fly-ins. PLEASE get in touch with Carl if you're flying with an empty back seat! (Carl's Varga is torn down to approximately 1,547,210 parts, and he hasn't even started on the engine. He estimates it will be back together by mid-summer.) MAINTENANCE Lee's doing the write-up on the maintenance items, as usual, but did want to remind you to read them carefully. Carl Sigg found a major item during his tear-down process. Also, have received a couple of phone calls and a note regarding inability to trim nose-down sufficiently. Shim under horizontal stabilizer will help A LOT as well new engine mounts. If your Varga hasn't had new mounts for a 1,000 hours or so, I'11 guarantee you it needs new ones and makes a remarkable difference. TRIVIA Just noticed that the first newsletter for the VG-21 Squadron was dated April 1990. Little did I know in 1990 that this group would go from 10 members to nearly 50. MY WISH FOR 1993 That all of you would stay in touch with each other. Look at your membership list for those that live fairly nearby, go fly someplace together, do some hanger flying, and enjoy! Pat Beery P.S. Just in from John Vance - he's flying again after $8,600! He flew his Varga to Chino last August, and after testing engine compression, his A&P asked him if he had flown it in or taxied in! Compression on three cylinders was in the 40 Ib. range. Overhaul included cerma-crome cylinders, new cam, new valves, oil pump, shim under horizontal stabilizer, new front tire, annual, and all the labor. He's gained 200/300 fpm climb, and about 10 to 15 knots increase in cruise speed, which he attributes to change in horizontal stabilizer. He reports 110 to 115 knots at 3500 to 4500 MLS at 2500 RPM and engine seems to run quite a bit cooler as well, Temp. range in cruise is now in the 185 degree range. |