Registration is open for the 2016 AAA/APM Fly-in, Back to Blakesburg and Back to Basics. You can register online or use the paper form. Note that you must be an AAA member, but you can join on the spot or join in advance with your registration.

We have our first new restoration pre-registered attendee, which is a special ship. American Eaglet NC17007 has been under restoration for several years by EAA Chapter 211 in Grand Haven, Michigan. The ship is done and it will be back at Blakesburg!

Here are all of the people and airplanes that have pre-registered and that we have a picture of. If you register in advance and send us a photo we will publish it here.

	1932 Waco UEC NC12471 John Swander DeSoto, KS (Dave Miller photo)		1957 Piper PA22-150 TriPacer N8530D Steve Curcio Racine, WI (G.R. Dennis Price photo)
	1948 Cessna 195 N195H Jere Calef Mojave, CA (G.R. Dennis Price photo)		1943 Howard DGA-15P NC5604V David Bole Enumclaw, WA (Ken Babione photo)
	1935 American Eaglet NC17007 Air Power Museum Inc. Restored by Gray Van Farowe & EAA Chapter 211 of Grand Haven, MI (Gary Van Farowe photo)		1998 Super Clipper N5232H Rob Bach Pell Lake, WI (Dave Miller photo)
	Bentzen Sport Laura Bach Pell Lake, WI		1941 Fairchild 24 N28690 Gerry Flaugher Poplar Grove, IL (G.R. Dennis Price photo)
	2011 Pietenpol Aircamper NX912JG Chad Hill Bellevue, NE (Jeff Cain photo)		1939 Spartan Executive 7W NC17634 Jim Savage Gibsonia, PA
	1946 Cessna 140 N72481 Gary L. Greenland Three Springs PA (G.R. Dennis Price photo)		1949 Ryan Navion N4986K Karl von Kaenel Clemson SC (G.R. Dennis Price photo)
	1948 Luscombe 8F N1594B Sharon Tinkler Tullahoma, TN (G.R. Dennis Price photo)		2007 Hatz Classic NX230RS Gary Petersen Walton, NE (G.R. Dennis Price photo)
	1946 Aeronca 11AC "Chief" N4611D Richard Crawford Knoxville, IA (G.R. Dennis Price photo)		1952 Piper PA 22/20 N2557A Bryon Hubbard Midlothian, TX
	1932 Curtiss Wright B14B NC12332 Mike Rinker Martin, TN (TVR Photography photo courtesy of Mike Rinker)		1953 Cessna 170B N3107A Michael Tindall Webster City, IA (Don Parsons photo)
	1941 Taylorcraft BF-12 NC33935 Barry Wix Seaford, DE		1943 Beech D-17S NC79484 Honegger Stefan Bern, Switzerland
	1938 Ryan SCW NC18914 Russell Williams Bellevue, WA

Rick Atkins of Ragtime Aero in Placerville, CA has been making the first post-restoration flights in his Monocoupe 110 Special. Rick had this to say:

I got the Monocoupe project from Elden Iler in southern Ca. Dan McNeil helped me load it in to a rental truck and he drove it back for me and helped with the rib stitching. He has helped me a lot with this project and many others. The engine a 185 Warner was done by my friend Al Holloway at Holloway Engineering, and it's running great.

The Monocoupe was about a 6 year project working on it in my spare time in between my shop projects here at Ragtime. I have about 2.5 hrs in it and 9 or 10 landings in it. I am not in love yet but at the holding hands part of the relationship with the Coupe.

The Applegate Watermelon fly-in is coming up on August 7th. Grassroots flying at its best!

Click for printable flyer.

Rob Bach pointed out that new airplane owner Will Hamilton, of Fairfield, Iowa, just bought his first airplane. Will's a frequent attendee at Blakesburg, and his first ride was at Blakesburg 32 years ago in RJ Hardin's Waco YOC. Back to Blakesburg!

Rob Bach is looking for information on a rare homebuilt, the Billman "Little Pink Cloud". Rob says:

I imagine most normal folk have never heard of this airplane.

Built by Owen Billman in Upstate New York in 1955, we found its remains in the rafters of a barn recently.

What we need to get rolling on the restoration are Aeronca K wings, J2 Cub gear and tail feathers, and lots of information.

There are likely a few members that might know of this little bird (a near twin to the Bentzen Sport) or whereabouts of the parts we need.

Ideas?

Steve Carter has been showing his Ryan SC-W this past year from his base Ballarat, Victoria, Australia (near Melbourne). After a multi-year restoration, the Ryan has been done up in CAP colors and is a hit on the Australian fly-in circuit. Look for a tour of the UK this summer, together with his Morris van!

Online registration is now open for the 2016 AAA/APM Invitational Fly-In.

Click here to register online.

• BTB Days: Back to Blakesburg and Back to Basics
• First Timer's Guide to Attending Blakesburg
• Flying at Antique Airfield Video
• Registration Forms
• Accommodations and Activities
• Antique Airfield Rules and Information
• Registration Fees and Refunds
• Airfield Map

The latest issue of the "Antique Airfield Runway", containing info and advance registration forms for the 2016 AAA/APM Invitational Fly-in, is at the printers AAA members should see this latest issue in their mailboxes early the week of July 17th. (cover photo by Dave Miller)

The latest Brent Taylor Productions video is out: Our House.

Antique Airfield near Blakesburg, Iowa has seen some of the rarest flyable antique aircraft in the world grace the grass here. To the members of the Antique Airplane Association (AAA) it is considered home, especially during the Annual AAA/APM Invitational Fly-in over Labor Day weekend.

Always considered the “season opener” for the owners, pilots and lovers of antique & classic aircraft, the Cactus Fly-in begins in two weeks.

This, the 58th Annual Cactus Fly-in, is hosted by the Classic Aviation Association of Arizona (CAAA) (one of our AAA chapters) & will be held, as it has been for decades, at Casa Grande, AZ.

Along with lots of sunshine, warm temps and a plethora of antique/classic aircraft, the keynote speaker Saturday night will be Ann Pellegreno. Ann was the first to fly a Lockheed 10 Electra around the world (1967) on the Earhart Trail, and she dropped a wreath on Howland Island in memory of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan. She is also author of several books including World Flight and Iowa Takes To the Air, Vol. 1-3.

Always a bellwether for what to expect the rest of the year at fly-ins across the country, we hope to see many of our AAA members and their airplanes from throughout the US in attendance.

See you there!

Brent Taylor
President AAA