First flight...after too long

My restoration project is at last airborne again after 4 1/2 years of graft :silly:

Worth every minute and every penny!

 

Beautiful

Great job, Rob - congrats! Looks really nice.

Sometimes unbelieveable how much goes into building or restoring a flying machine, isn't it?

Someone once said that only 10% of these projects actually take to the air - so welcome to the 10%-ers group!

 

Yes a very nice job!

I have a friend who is rebuilding a Monocoupe. It was taken apart for rebuild in about 1966. After that he said it had about 12 different owners before he bought it a couple of years ago. He said each one of the previous owners lost some of it! He is making progress tho.

It is a joy to see your plane flying!
Wally

 

Looks really sharp, congratulations!

Also looks like a beautiful airfield to fly out of.

Best wishes to you.

 

Thanks for the nice replies.

In answer to Othman's comment about the airfield, it's a typical English 1942 wartime training field that was used by Stirlings of No 3 Bomber group to tow Horsa I and II assault gliders (in preparation for Operation Market Garden), and was later used by Dakota III & IV transports.

It was used as a launching point for some of the gliders used on D-Day.

As a result, we have the traditional triangular set-up of three hard runways, and we also have three short grass parallel ones in the centre triangle, making a total of six runways. Very useful for training (we can always land into wind or create our own crosswind).

 

Very nice, lots of history and beautiful countryside.

I'm now living about 15 minutes from Carp Airport just west of Ottawa, ON. It used to be British Commonwealth Air Training Program aerodrome, and has the same characteristic 3 runways in a triangle arrangement. One of the runways is a taxiway, and the other was a taxiway, and has been made back into a runway. I recently learned that the airport is going to become an airpark.

http://www.copanational.org/PlacesToFly/images/CarpAirport01A.jpg

 

Old Military Fields

We have a BUNCH of the old military training fields here in Florida. Some are still active airports, some still exist as a capable field but are not active, and some have been turned into racetracks - like Sebring.

Actually, Sebring is both an active airport AND a racetrack - and they co-exist nicely. Sometimes, when I can, I fly over there for the weekend, tie down by the barricade separating the two, and hop over it.

Valkaria and a few others are used as impromptu race tracks. The old Miami Blimp Base is now MiamiZoo, with lions and tigers and bears, Oh My!

When they built these old airfields, despite the wartime crunch, they really used good concrete and steel for the runways, taxi ways, and tarmacs.

BTW, we still have a goodly number of young Brits buried in Arcadia - from WW II training. And they are honored yearly on Memorial Day.

 

Very nice indeed!

I love the nostalgia of the UK and flying!

Enjoy the ride!

CJ

 

great looking plane! Good job! I hope to be feeling those same sensations in about 4 1/2 years myself.

ps. condolences on the Portugal game. Your lads put on a grand run. Much better than our expeditionary force.