The Arlington Fly-In is in full swing and the new vintage-antique area is great! Volunteers in Arlington spent months building the barn that serves as the center point for the vintage and antique airplanes. Outside there are lots of great looking old airplanes and inside there are lots of airplane parts and memorabilia.

The barn is truly a great addition to the fly-in and a huge thanks to everybody in Arlington who came up with the idea and put it all together!

The museum has been working with the fly-in organizers and has provided many of the items on display. Inside the barn is our Pietenpol Sky Scout and Ford Model A engine. We also have several smaller items, and the speed corner with information about the Hall Bulldog project and other air racers.

Outside the barn we also brought several airplanes down for display. Our Ryan ST-A Special, Fairchild 24 and Waco INF are parked next to several other incredible looking airplanes. We even brought down one of our latest projects, a yet to be restored 1939 Stinson HW-75.

The airplane just came out of storage thanks to the help of a group of Civil Air Patrol cadets from Bellingham. The Stinson served with the Civil Air Patrol during World War II along the St. Lawrence Seaway and still has some of the original markings. After the war the airplane was put in storage and it still includes many original interior pieces.

We will be working with the CAP cadets in the area over the next several years to restore the airplane back to its original glory. There has been a huge interest in the rusty old plane, especially from the kids who want to help with the restoration!

The weather forecast continues to look like nothing but blue skies and thankfully slightly cooler temperatures for the next few days. Be sure to make the trip to Arlington this year and stop by the barn to say hello.

The July meeting of the MAAG will be this coming Sunday, July 11. Please note the eating time is pushed back to 5:00 PM to allow the sun to be on the other side of the hangar. However, feel free to fly in (or drive in) earlier if you like and visit. Hot dogs and hamburgers are on the menu. Please feel free to bring a side dish or desert. Drinks will be provided. As always, friends are welcome.

Sky trying on a Creve Coeur Stearman for size. Now he's got the "Stearman-cough!"

Arlington is less than a week away, and we’re busy getting ready for this year’s show. The exciting news is there will be a much bigger vintage/antique aircraft presence this year with the new vintage barn that has been built by volunteers over the past several months, and Friday will be vintage airplane day.

The barn is truly an amazing project. It has been built from scratch, with logs literally being milled into lumber by volunteers to make the structure. It should be a great gathering center for the vintage crowd.

We will have a few of our airplanes on display in Arlington. The Ryan STA-Special will be back this year along with our Fairchild 24G. We’re planning on bringing at least one more airplane down, but haven’t figured out if it will be the Waco INF or the Fairchild PT-19.

We’re also going to bring some of our projects down to the Vintage Barn display. The Pietenpol Sky Scout project will be on display with its air cooled Ford engine. Also on display will be our Stinson HW75 project. This airplane is a former Civil Air Patrol Airplane that served in the northeastern United States during World War II. We have a group of CAP cadets from Bellingham who will be helping get the Stinson prepared for next week.

We look forward to seeing everybody at Arlington, be sure to stop by and say hello!

Over the weekend the NW Super Cub Fly-In was held here at the airport in Concrete. It was the first time they have held the event here and it was a lot of fun. There were around 15 airplanes that flew in on Friday and spent the night camping on the field.

Saturday morning a group of the bush wheel equipped planes headed out on the Skagit River and found some off airport places to practice their STOL skills. By lunch time the weather had cleared up and airplanes kept arriving all afternoon.

The take-off and landing competition was held on the grass runway parallel to the main runway here at 3W5. The organizers set up a orange stripe about a third of the way down the runway to give them plenty of room to slow down for their ultra short landings and keeping things as safe as possible.

By the time the competition was underway there were around 40 airplanes that had flown in for the event. We had more than a dozen Super Cubs, most with giant bush wheels. There were a handful of Cub Crafters Top Cubs and Sport Cubs as well as the company’s amazing Carbon Cub. A few Aviat Huskies showed up, including one on amphib floats. At the bigger end of the bush plane scale were six Cessna 180s and a 170. There were also quite a few spectators who flew in for the event in a random assortment of airplanes.

Watching the STOL competition was quite amazing. A few of the airplanes were able to get off the ground in under 100 feet and stopping in well under 150 feet. The shortest take off of the day was just 55 feet in a Cub Crafters Sport Cub, a stock version! The overall competition was won by Jason Gerard in his Piper L-21B Super Cub. Painted in Italian livery (it was one of the many L-21s that served in the Italian military), Jason managed a best take off of just 91 feet and a landing of 107 feet!

It was also fun watching some of the competitors in the “light touring” category. There was a 150 pilot and a 172 pilot both showing off their STOL skills in the airplanes most of us are familiar with. Results from the event can be seen here near the bottom of the page.

We have a bunch of video as well, should get those on the computer in the next few days. in the meantime enjoy a bunch of the photos below from many of the competitors.

What would you find at Stearman Field (1K1)? How about a bunch of Stearmans. We stopped by for dinner this evening and saw 7 Stearmans parked on the ramp. It was a beautiful day to fly, though a little hot (near 100). Perfect open cockpit weather.

Monosport that is. Manufactured in 1929, this is the fourth Monocoupe Monosport built out of 16 in all. Powered by a Kinner K5 of 100 hp, it has a listed cruise speed of 110 mph. The Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum obtained this aircraft from the estate of Bud Dake, who was the 3rd owner.

Glenn is starting work on this airplane while he waits for the carb and fuel pump off the Standard's Hisso to be overhauled.

The aircraft will be painted black with orange wings, at least at this point

Today was the 23rd celebration of Gus Wiebe's 65th birthday at the Halstead, Kansas airport, Wiebe Field. About 150 folks gathered, including about 15 airplanes. The temperatures were hot, in the upper nineties, but a strong southerly breeze helped keep it reasonable

Lots of tasty beef and pork were prepared and everyone brought something to contribute. To top it off, a band provided entertainment in addition to the occasional fly-by