VG-21 Squadron

Newsletters

VG-21 SQUADRON~

VARGA/SHINN/MORRISEY OWNER

No. 19 June 16, 1994

New Members. There's been a lot of activity in the membership. Please welcome aboard the following new members. Please note that many of these good people want to buy a Varga and they would appreciate your contacting them if you decide to sell yours or know of someone who wants to sell their VG-21.

Raymond J. Johnson 817 - 4th Ave. S. Libertyville, IL 60048 708-362-4578 N8282J

Robert & Margaret Trapp 8 Skyway Drive Naples, FL 33962 813-793-5587 N8270J

Douglas J. Ternes 205 S. Coach House Wichita, KS 97235 316-722-9568 N5080V (purchased from Keith Mashburn)

Robert L. Thornton 615 N. Miller Vinita, OK 74301 918-256-7708 (home) 918-256-3667 (work)(purchased wreck from Dick Pedersen - NEEDS PARTS)

John R. Fulton RR 2 Box 99 Covington, IN 47932 317-793-4028 Wants to buy a Varga

Clare & Patricia Weidman Rt. 1, Box 176 Eagle Rock, VA 24085 703-884-2675 N5144V ('62 Shinn)

Ed Brannon P.O. Box 602 Racine, WI 53401 414-637-8502 (work) 414-637-8582 (fax) Wants to buy a Varga

Bob Cean 48 Wardwell St. Adams, NY 13605 315-232-3064 N312BW ('62 Shinn)

Larry Downey RD #2 Box 408G Clearview Ct. Irwin, PA 15642 412-744-7197 (home) 412-778-5399 (work) Wants to buy a Varga

David Brown 3535 Sudachi Dr. Dayton, 0H 45414 513-898-1475 Wants to buy a Varga

Ray Pack P. O. Box 343 Issaquah, WA 98027 206-644-9981 Just purchased Varga from 90 year young owner in Montana. Will send N# etc when he gets it

George W. Shaw 8924 Cherokee Trails Tyler, TX 75703 (George - Need your phone no. and N #!)

Vargas are also wanted by Mike Mason, 1406 S. Elm St., Denver, CO 80222 303-756-9974 and John Becker, 31415 NE 122nd Ave., Battleground, WA 98604 206-687-2041.

The following folks have sold their vargas and should be crossed off your membership list. Rick & Sue Kendall, David Bernard, Keith Mashburn, Gene Mann, and Don Sparrow.

Fly-In Activity. The midweek fly-in to Columbia on May 4 for lunch was rained out. Weather throughout northern California was miserable!

June 4-5 to the Paso Robles air show and Formula I Racers was a great weekend but was poorly attended by VG-21 members. With 21 members within a 2 1/2 hour flight time, we had only 3 Vargas on the flight line. We flew formation on Frank Gulck and his co-pilot Dave White (Frank is based in Santa Rosa) and parked next to Bob Foote's Shinn now in military colors (bright yellow and beautiful). With the exception of Max Bishop (Ariz.), Del Lutz (Texas), John Vance (Calif.) and Rosemary DeAngelo (Calif.), no one else advised they would not be attending. This is an indication to me that there is very little interest among the VG-21 Sqd. members for fly-in's.

Just to rub it in a little, let me tell you a little of what you missed. Vargas in military colors were treated as war birds and given free lunches, wine, air show hat, and free shuttle service to and from local motels. The Reno type Formula I Racers were exciting to watch and at this show you could get right up next to them. Between races, we were entertained by fly-by's: B-25, B-26, P-51 Reno Racer, T-33 paired with an F86, a mock air race of 7 AT-6's, plus the usual aerobatic routines and parachute jumps. And the weather was ideal. Bob Foote arranged special parking for us and provided motel information. Thanks, Bob. We had a good time and appreciate all your efforts!

July 27-28 Shawano/Oshkosh Fly-In. Max Bishop is still looking for more West Coast Vargas to join him on a flight to Shawano/Oshkosh. Last report is that he still has one hotel room available. Max plans to take a two week vacation, from July 24 through August 6, to allow plenty of time. He plans to arrive at Shawano on Wed. the 27th or Thurs. the 28th and start back on Monday or Tuesday. You can contact Max at 717 E. Brooks EC Chandler, AZ 85225, Phone: 602-891-6152.

Lee and I plan to arrive in Shawano July 27 and leave for Illinois from Oshkosh on July 29. We're flying commercial to Illinois, renting a car, and driving to/from Shawano and Oshkosh. We'll be traveling something like 2,000 miles to meet you and see your airplanes so hope many, many of you can make it.

Oct. 1 6 2 Salome, AZ - Maintenance Seminar. Fly to Indian Hills Airpark for our annual maintenance get-together. This is being hosted by Chet and Mary Sweeley who are looking forward to seeing all of us. They have planned a bar-b-q for us Saturday evening ($5.00 donation from each attendee) and need a minimum of one week's notice if you plan to attend. They want to buy enough food! Please contact them at: Indian Hills Airpark, P.O. Box 517, Salome, AZ 85348, Phone: 602-859-3200. For motel rooms, contact Shefflers Motel, attn: Ron Maimer, P. O. Box 250, Hwy. 60, Salome, AZ 85348, Ph: 602-859-3801. Rates: $29 single, $35 double with one night's deposit required. Make reservations NOW AS THEY ARE USUALLY FULL THAT TIME OF THE YEAR!!!!

Decals & Stickers, The enclosed decal and sticker are a "thank you" from us to each of you. The minimum order, however, was 125 of each so I have extras! The art work drove the cost of these skyward, so I'd love to sell the extras at cost = $3.00 per set (1 of each) or two of the decals or 2 of the stickers. The decals, incidentally, are designed to affix to the inside of glass. We have ours on the inside of the rear canopy. Drop me a line with a check if you want extras.

Letterhead. At the same time we ordered the decals and stickers, we also ordered new letterhead. Hopefully, you noticed it on the first page of this newsletter. John Vance, guess what. You provided letterhead to us just three days after the letterhead we ordered was delivered to us! I can't say "thank you" enough for your thoughtfulness and generosity. If it's OK with you, I'll use the letterhead you provided as "stationery" letterhead (correspondence to members, publications, etc.) and the letterhead we ordered as Newsletter letterhead.

Copies - Copies - Copies! Do I owe anybody copies of anything? PLEASE LET ME KNOW - DON'T BE BASHFUL! I really try to mail everybody copies of everything they ask for, but sometimes I wonder if I've forgotten something. If I've not mailed something to you, for heaven's sake, let me know. I'm truly not trying to cheat anyone.

For Sale, Exhaust Pipe Support Springs. Member Jeff Klain needed some so had them made. It was a minimum order situation, so he is anxious to sell the extras. Please contact Jeff at 23 Sanford Rd., Colorado Springs, CO 80906 phone: 719-578-1880.

Discount on Canopy Covers. Tom Blaine of "Bruce's Custom Covers" phoned and is offered VG-21 Sqd. members a 15% discount for a 30-day limited time, July 1 to July 30, 1994. You can call him at 800-777-6405 or write to 910 East California Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086. Thank you Tom!

Parts Available. Received a phone call from Steve Miller, phone 508-485-0069, who advised he has many Varga parts available for sale. Sorry I don't have his address. He said he would mail me a list of parts and the prices, but so far I haven't received it.

Parts Available. Somebody advised that there is an aircraft salvage company in eastern Washington that has Varga parts. No address; but their phone number is 509-826-4770.

Wanted. Member Rosemary DeAngelo wants a 337 far air/oil separator. We don't have a copy of a 337 for this. Do you? If so, PLEASE mail a copy to Rosemary at 6542 Ocean Crest Dr., B210, Rancho Pales Verdes, CA 90274, phone: 213-541-4455 and PLEASE mail a copy to us for our file.

Wanted, New member Robert L. Thornton purchased a wrecked Varga from member Dick Pederson. He's rebuilding it and needs parts.

Bill Morrisey. Received three enthusiastic reports from members Don Tate, Pat Baylor and Bob Foote about their visits with Bill. Don and Pat even sent photos which we put in the photo album. They thoroughly enjoyed meeting you, Bill, and confirmed what we already knew - you're one great guy!

Air Traffic Control. You may have read in some aviation publications that the proposed establishment of a U. S. Air Traffic Service (ATS) Corporation would hit the recreational flyer hard in the pocketbook. According to the latest information, a 33-page fact sheet, there will be no financial impact on the recreational flyers who operate small aircraft.

Auto Fuel STC. Thanks to Max Bishop, we now have a copy of this STC. Some time ago, someone phoned and asked if we had it and at the time, we didn't. So if it was you and you still want a copy, let me know.

Have a great summer, keep in touch, and hope to meet many of you in Shawano and Indian Hills Airpark!

Pat Beery

Review of John vance's Flight Tips (Newsletter 117) by Lee Beery

I read with great interest John Vance's report on landing a Varga using the Overhead Break. It was a good article and I'd like to take this opportunity to add to it. It is a maneuver that flourished during World War II because it allowed formations of aircraft to break formation and land in rapid order and the high "G" climbing turns assisted landing gear extension. Plus it allowed the pilots to see the runway at all times after the "break"

Before Pat got her Varga and while we were still working for United, I did my "fun" flying with a group called "The Chicken Little Air Force". We flew out of Hayward, Calif. and had about ten members. All but Joe Conners (VG-21 Member), flew experimentals, mostly aerobatic biplanes, and flew in and out of Hayward in formation. Part of this was due to the fact that some of these airplanes had no radios. We used the overhead approach to landing all of the time with the blessing of the tower as we could land 5 or 6 of us in-the length of time one normal landing could be made.

Our method was a little different than John Vance's, but then we were flying 9 "G" planes with a glide ratio of a flat rock. As we passed over the tower, the lead aircraft cut power, pulled up into a steep banked turn and maintained this turn all the way to the runway. Each subsequent aircraft would allow 3 seconds and then follow the leader's flight path. This gave us about a 1,000' separation and allowed each pilot to have the aircraft ahead of him and the runway in sight at all times. Because of this group and the type of flying we did, my exposure to formation flying was just part of each day's flying activities. We also had a great task-master who insisted we do it safely and could communicate very well. I think I learned the most because when I first joined the group, my biplane, although stressed for 9 "G"'s had the least horsepower and was not able to fly inverted so I had to work hard to keep up. By the time we retired from United and moved to Kelseyville, I had moved to the front of the pack with the most horsepower and a fully inverted system. So, for a change of pace in this club's Newsletter, I will write an article on how to fly along with someone safely and without stress.