EAA AirVenture 2018 Airbus Theater

It was with  thankfulness to Corey that I was able to get down to EAA AirVenture Airbus Theater Tuesday evening July 24,2018, to catch the movie Dunkirk with him. I know he'd been busy with the guys at Replica Fighters Headquarters during the day while I stayed in Appleton inside recuperating from the respiratory illness contracted as we left from home Sunday, so I would be able to attend the movie. 

While the evening was settling in, the Ultralight people were getting their crafts put away...The sky writer was busy letting everyone know what the Experimental Aircraft Association felt about those in attendance and otherwise hectic schedules were beginning to take on a slower pace as night fell over the crowds wherever they chose to be.

After arriving to the open air theater for the evening showing, I began to experience some allergy symptoms and not thinking ahead initially I didn't place a person's best friend in that type of situation, kleenex in my purse. Corey was very helpful in going to  the car to get a supply so the evening wouldn't be a total loss with me feeling the pressure not to breathe. Since this was the only movie evening fitting into our schedule of which we were sure of the weather being half-way descent to sit out in the open.

The movie brought anxious moments for me just thinking about how the young men standing without any type of protection from enemy fire must have felt. The choices to leave the injured and dying because there wasn't any room to return to home.

If you have an interest in watching war movies , I would suggest this one because the outcome is one of heroics when the small boat fleet arrived to pickup survivors that otherwise may not have had a second chance at life.

The emotions of the Survivors often lead to choices to right what they see as a shortcoming in their own lives on the Battlefield. 

 

Thank you for giving us a chance to see the movie  at the AIRBUS Theater - EAA AirVenture 2018!

Afternoon Airshow EAA AirVenture 2018

How far sidetracked can one individual get?!? Well, let me see...After a year and a month , maybe, I'll work on relating what I saw during my days at EAA AirVenture 2018.

I remember having some interesting conversations with Replica Fighters Association /EAA members while sitting on the front porch of Replica Fighters Association Headquarters. I must admit I wasn't at my best health-wise during Corey and my visit to AirVenture.

Monday afternoon Corey and I headed down to the Airfield after stopping to see about some Experimental Aircraft Association wearables and trinkets. We were successful in getting t-shirts but couldn't find the yearly hat pin for his hat.

The following pictures are those I  snapped as we sat in the hot sun. Spectacular sights were to be had with all the planes lifting skyward, looping, twisting and then gliding over the runway in front of us to a stop.

I'd come down with a respiratory ailment Sunday morning as we loaded the car to head north.  The respiratory difficulty was a replay of 2016 when I caught what was going around in our community, pneumonia like in expression : seems to arise during allergy season and of course the heat and humidity aren't my friend either when these symptoms take root.

I alternated visits  staying inside at our hotel with mainly  fresh air excursions at Oshkosh.

Tuesday, I stayed inside listening to music and sermons by Dr. David Jeremiah, getting time to be quiet and looking at all the Airshow pictures I took on Monday,  while Corey got to spend time with the guys as I healed from my respiratory ailment. I took my selfie in our room in Appleton after Corey had gone.

I'm going to put a few fun pictures in from the Airshow. I'd put every picture I took through my whole trip on here, but you know...

It looks like I'm going to write a few more posts about my experiences with Corey at EAA AirVenture 2018 at Oshkosh and just maybe add a few other ones about the birds and bees.The things I do to make my daily life a little more interesting.

No, I won't try to do it ALL today...

Our Celebration

We found ourselves back in river country to celebrate our Anniversary...

The Saylorville Dam park system is a favorite spot for almost any special occasion in our book. They have some really nice shelters that provide grills on the inside,  put a fire in the Barbecue for ambiance on a cool day, or if you like the outdoor grilling experience you can find that too.

Eyes to the Sky were key words for the after barbecue festivities.We kept our eyes scanning all sides of the river and the airspace around us...
 

Blue Herons - Photo by Corey Butcher

Blue Heron - Photo by Dianna Butcher

Blue Heron - Photo by Dianna Butcher

 

If it isn't one kind of bird it's another! Photo by Dianna Butcher

 We found ourselves  beginning to have some competition with strong breezes and developing clouds. It was a surprise to see this little Cirrus circling Ankeny airspace in the pattern it had chosen.

Photo by Dianna Butcher

If you've reached some years of  life experiences,do you ever go back to see your first home? Whether it be where you lived as a child growing up, or maybe after the schooling and onto the becoming Man and Wife part of life.

You've heard the word "We" used multiple times in this post; of course that was the subject for the day.

We decided to check-out our humble beginning.

As a young married couple we lived south of  Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary. We didn't attend but had the opportunity to meet some fine individuals that were apart of the Music Ministry studies at the time. I was invited to play their piano that occupied a great deal of space within their apartment. My knowledge of the keyboard wasn't as great as theirs but was told my sight reading ability was good. I smiled and said "Thank you"...

Well, it's time to close this little post and wish everyone a "Have a Great Day!"

Let's Celebrate

Life keeps moving on...

Corey has completed his work on the Replica Fighter Association's 2017 Pre-Oshkosh Airventure magazine. Now that it has been finished, and we've celebrated our oldest Grandson's Graduation, more time will be focused on working on our Voisin 3\5 rebuild.


Sunday evening we brought the fuselage up the drive to get the rigging started for the wings...

We did a little maneuvering to move the fuselage into the shop, removing both sliding glass doors and taking off the radiator made everything workout as planned.

Next step after that will be fabric application. We keep moving bit by bit closer to the goal of getting the Voisin 3\5 air bound.

Corey gave me a smile before he got back to rigging the bottom right wing this evening.

Corey was making everything look real easy as I watched him thread the steel cable into his modified strut attachments.

Please forgive me if I don't have the proper name for the thingy-ma-jigs. All I know at the moment is that Everything is looking GooD!

Corey shared that his goal for this evening was to get the center section attached so he could lift the top wing into place and get that rigged as well.

Before I left the shop I wanted to get a view from the fuselage, and the length of the new wing.

I can only imagine how it will allow for faster travels and maybe a little more stability in winds up to 20 mph. Corey has always been a safe flyer and due to his experiences knows the limits of his craft. 

We've shared this picture below before on the Voisin 3/5 website...I snapped the picture of The Last Flight of 2007 from our grass strip in November. The weather was getting to cold for the Voisin 3/5 open cockpit flights so after it's return, things were prepped for winter storage.

It is our hope that Corey will be able to get some aerial photographs yet this year.

Memorable Twist to Good Friday

Yesterday was a one week celebration of sorts. I will share the experience with you from my point of view.

Our Easter Road Trip was moving along smoothly on Good Friday afternoon,or so we thought...That is until we reached a bridge with a big bump north of Fargo. The edge of the bridge can be seen at the far right of the picture. Time wouldn't allow for a second chance to get another shot.  Unexplainable things began to happen after we hit the bump, the car pulled hard to the right. Well, it didn't take long to decipher that we had just lost a very important part to keep everything working to power the Voisinmobile. The Serpentine Belt had successfully decided to make a split....one of those eternal vacations.

Today's Smartphones sure are a Blessing when you need to go looking for help. We called here and there in Grand Forks to try to locate the right belt. Tried the little town of Hillsboro not far to our south, but they had nothing that would match. Kyli checked in Langdon before coming to help.

We spent four and a half hours keeping this bridge company until our daughter Kyli arrived to chariot us away, back to Fargo, to pick-up a Serpentine Belt.

On our return from Fargo we attempted to fix the difficulty with the tools Kyli had gathered from the home arsenal.The method we chose brought close results,almost fixed in other words, so many times ,but after fighting a long day, getting hungry and temperatures dropping after sunset in a wind cooled location we gave into the "We'll finish it tomorrow" mode. The next morning we gathered more tools and used another method thanks to Youtube to get the job done.

If you happened to see this guy running around in the Fargo, Grand Forks...etc...areas , I wasn't far away.

I have to smile really big. The Mazda came around Christmastime. So, I thought some vanity plates to complement the little Voisinmobile were in order.                                This is the view that kept us entertained while we waited. I spent time musing about what people were thinking as they passed by. It gave me a laugh to keep my anxiety at bay.

It was time to draw on our resources in God. This event was not one you wish on anyone...especially on a holiday weekend.

The State Trooper that stopped to see what he could do to lend aid, offered information that we might find it difficult to find stores open to get a replacement part.We had anticipated some issues with holiday and time of day. However, we were pleasantly surprised to discover the process wasn't as hard as we originally thought.

We had already started the rescue process with confidence that one way or another EVERYTHING was going to workout. 

Thanks be to God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ for everything we experienced...

Voisin Reconstuction Begins

Our work space for the Voisin 3/5  rebuild has reached the point where we can now bring in the wings to start the process. A few days into the process it was decided another shop light was needed and has now been added for our low-light refurbishing hours.
 The Voisin 3/5 has suffered storage decay when she was parked in 2011, after a weather related mishap during a visit to the yearly Father's Day celebration at Gardner,KS ( please click Gardner,KS for a full story of the trip)led to instability in steering. Animal accessibilty caused some damage that has to be addressed to make the frame strong once more.We speculate that either a raccoon or possum had made a wonderful bed in the cockpit. A safe haven for sure from the elements!

Corey removed a top wing to bring to the workshop to begin stripping away the fabric. What a surprise! Asian beetles had found an inviting environment to share with a common denizen of the field,the mouse.

Time to take a closer look at what time and animal damage has done to the frame. The assessment for this wing has been done, lists are being written...Now we need the weather to warm-up again to get the cleaning accomplished.

This is our goal...to modify the proto-type wings to make it easier to disassemble and assemble for easier transporting long distances. We want to see her finding her way back into the air, to see her rise again to greater heights....

 For more information on plans to build your own Voisin 3/5please click here.

The Voisin 35 Rises Again

     I said "YES!" and "AMEN!" when I heard Corey, my hubby say we are going to put on a new skin and do some structural modifications on the Voisin 35 to get her air worthy once again. She has been sitting collecting dust since a mishap brought her to rest.
    We are taking stock of what it will take to make the rebuild progress easier and hope to get that early tear down stage started within the next month. Please take a look around  http://www.voisin35.com/Home.html for more information and check back here for updates too!