After I had a shower I started to get a little hungry. So I decided to walk across the street to the local Alberson's and buy a doughnut. Yummy, I bought a vanilla filled maple bar doughnut. I then walked back across the street and waited to see if the man, Jim, and his wife, Jeanette, who were supposed to pick me up had not arrived yet. I walked back to the dorm room to see if they had left a message for me telling me they would be late. They hadn't so I walked back to the pick-up stop. They were right on time. They picked me up and we proceeded over to the Confederate Air Force Hanger. We were met by Fred, a B-25 pilot in World War II. He had opened the gate for us so we stopped and thanked him. We drove up to the side of the hanger and walked inside. Fred had already opened the hanger doors and lined up the tug that they use to pull the plane out. I hooked the tug up to the TBM and he pulled it out. The night before, Jim and Jeanette had already packed all of the PX into the plane. I learned that PX was the CAF’s name for things that they sell during an Air Show. They included styrofoam airplane gliders, die-cast models, calendars, ear rings, postcards of the TBM, and a few plastic models. The weekend before, they had flown the TBM to an air show that was nearby, also, so the TBM didn't’t need any fuel (100LL type). Along with Fred, I turned the prop fourteen times to pump the oil out of the lower cylinders of the engine. If you don’t do this when you engage the electric starter it will blow the cylinder seals apart when the engine starts up. We were ready to go. I got into my flight suit, opened the lower Radio Operator's door and climbed in. Fred then shut the door for me since I did not know how hard I had to slam it shut. I wiggled my way around inside the fuselage until I was able to climb up into the turret. I had already been in the turret before so I knew how to buckle the safety belt. But I was actually quiet amazed to find that the turret gunner only has a lab belt. There is no need for the shoulder straps since he is riding backwards. I had been warned before to shoot down any Zeros that I saw so I was prepared for battle. I took out my camera and got ready to shoot those Zeros. Jim and Jeanette climbed into their seats. Jim was the pilot and Jeanette was just riding like I was. Jim pumped the hydraulic pump handle until the wings came down into their down and locked position. He had to do it because the automatic Hydraulic pump only works when the engine is running. When the wings were down he called down to Fred to remove the chalks from the wheels. Jim then turned on the fuel pump.End of Part One Part Two few weeks ago I was planning on going to the Steamboat air show. But we had problems with the plane. We had packed everything and were getting ready to start the engine, but something was wrong. The pilot, Bob, had started the electric starter motor but the prop did not turn. It turned out there is a little electric thing that engages the electric motor to the prop and it had broken. It took them five or so days to ship the part to Texas and then get it back installed in the plane, all before the next weekends air show. Talk about a pain! So anyway, Jim started the fourteen cylinder Wright R-2600 two row radial engine. Wow! That makes a hell of a sound! Just idling you need to have the headphones on so you don’t hurt your hearing from the sound of the engine. We taxed to the active runway at the WALKER FIELD Airport. Just before he pulled onto the runway Jim had to do a warm up on the engine to make sure it was acting normally. This took about three minutes. He then radioed permission to take off. Once we were cleared we accelerated quickly down the runway and soon became airborne. Since the FAA has had all sorts of regulations on flying, Jim had to file an VFR Flight plan. We cruised up to an altitude of around 11,000 msl. The max speed of the TBM Avenger is 278 mph and cruise is around 180 knots. The scenery along the way was amazing. For about half an hour we passed over hundreds of small rivers carving their way through the red sandstone mesas and hills. Unfortunately the glass in the turret was slightly dirty so my pictures will probably not turn out very well. But it was amazing! I strained my neck to the left side of the aircraft to see where we were going. I saw the San Juan mountains ahead and thought that Telluride must be in them. I remembered hearing that Telluride was located in the mountains and they were the only mountains I was able to see. I was right. We flew over a few mountain peaks and started to descend into the canyon. I started to wonder where the hell we were going because flying in tight canyons is very dangerous to do, especially in an old plane that could have engine problems at any time! We passed over a few meadows and it reminded me of the scene in the movie “Pearl Harbor” where the boys are playing baseball in the field and they see the thousands of ZEROs fly overhead. Now we were about 1,000 feet AGL and I figured we must still be pretty far away from the runway. Boy was I wrong! I suddenly saw that the hills rose up so that they were only a hundred feet or so below us. Then suddenly the runway was under us and we landed. That's about as close to simulating a carrier landing as I will ever come. You can appreciate how the pilots really have to be certain about their altitude or they will hit the hull of the ship on final approach. The same thing could easily happen at this airport! Kind of scary. You can see in the picture at the top of this page how the runway looks like it is sitting on top of a table. The landing area of the runway is in the top left of the picture so you can really see the dramatic elevation change! Part Three We taxied over to the tie down area for the airplanes that were there for the air show. I unbuckled the seat belt and hopped down throughout the bottom of the turret and out the navigator’s door in the lower fuselage. One of the great benefits for fly-in airplanes was that their crew got a complimentary breakfast of pancakes and sausages, along with orange juice and milk. We walked back over to the TBM after breakfast and set up the PX on some PVC tables that were built so we could fit them in the plane. When people started to walk over to plane I sat down on my stool and collected the donations they made so they could “walk the wing”. Walking the wing was where if they donated a buck or two they could climb up the stairs and look in the cockpit and turret. We had some stairs at the back of the wing that they would then walk down. The stairs were designed to be lifted into the bomb bay of the plane, much like torpedoes were. So, that's about all I did until about one o’clock. I also answered peoples questions. Some people really caught me of guard and asked if I flew it. I told them that I didn't but that the old Gorge Bush President did fly one of these planes and was shot down when he was 19. At approximately one o’clock the air show flying began. First two parachutist brought the Colorado and United States flag in. Second came some fly-bys of the SNJ, AT-6, and Skyraider. They flew in formation in some low altitude flying which was pretty neat. After those planes had landed a WWII/Korea cargo plane did some fly-bys. Next came a fly-by from a “Sea Flurry” which is supposedly the fastest prop plane ever made in production. Yes there are faster prop planes at the Reno Air Races but most of those are modified to fly faster their “textbook” speed. Now came the “Grand Finally”, a reenactment of an actual Vietnam War rescue. In the Vietnam War there was an actual rescue that took place where some men were shot down in their planes. The US was able to rescue these men with the help of three other planes. A cargo plane, a Piper Cub (the military version), and a Sky Raider. To make a long story short this hole rescue was reenacted with many pyrotechnics. It was spectacular. They simulated the napalm bombing, and air to ground rockets were shot from the Sky Raider. WOW, it was awesome. |
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