The 53rd National Waco Club Reunion was an outstanding success with no less than 35 beautiful Wacos attending, representing 21 different models of aircraft as produced by the Waco Aircraft Company of Troy, Ohio. Since 1989, the Reunion has been held in Mt. Vernon, Ohio at Wynkoop Airport the last full weekend of June. Wynkoop Airport has been owned and operated by the Wynkoop family since the 1940's and is truly a grassroots-type airport retaining all grass runways in a beautiful country setting. Owner Brian Wynkoop goes out of his way to make the NWC members feel welcome and is a true asset to the Club.
The Reunion normally runs Thursday-Sunday, as any typical antique gathering, however, since the 50th Reunion 3 years ago where we had the largest gathering ever of Waco airplanes (52), people begin arriving as early as the previous weekend. This year was no different as we had 10 Wacos on the field by Tuesday! The highlight of the entire gathering was the first arrival of a Waco 9 in the 54 year history of the Club. Owner/restorer Frank Pavliga of Alliance, Ohio flew his Waco 9 the 90 miles to Wynkoop with only one gas stop enroute!
Other notables were three brand-new restorations; Dave Tyndall from Louisianna in his 1938 Waco EGC-8, Paul Carmichael from New York in his 1940 Waco UPF-7 and Sean Soare of Illinois in his 1937 Waco YKS-7. The oldest Waco Cabin, a 1931 Waco QDC, was flown in by new owner Forrest Lovley of Minnesota and the last model of the Cabin series, a 1941 Waco SRE, was flown in by Steve and Tina Thomas of Illinois.
The rare Waco CRG, built for the 1930 Ford Air Tour, was flown in by owner Pete Heins of Ohio. Other rareties included the only flying 1930 Waco KNF, flown by Tim Pinkerton of Ohio and the only flying 1935 Waco YKC-S flown by Club President Andy Heins, also of Ohio.
Each year, the Reunion is run by a famous Waco clan, the Parsons Family of Carrollton, Ohio. Club Vice-President Doug Parsons, who flies a 1934 Waco YKC, heads up organizing and running the entire week of flying and the Reunion itself. Along with Doug, brother David Parsons, owner of a 1934 Waco UKC and father Lee Parsons, owner of a 1931 Waco QCF-2, take control of the field and make things run smoothly. With the Parsons family and the generous group of volunteers, the operation is finely tunned to a science.
Andy Heins
