Lunch Run and Bomber Tour

 Jeff F, (Jeffs Flying) had sent a text out last night wanting to know if anyone was around to catch up for lunch. How did he put it..."I'll hang out with the retirees", such a funny guy.  After I stopped laughing I told Jeff to count me in. The text was also sent to Frank D, (AirDorrin) so he flew in from Delaware Airpark (33N) since he also had a meeting at Delaware Coastal, Georgetown - KGED.

I immediately turned on the preheaters so I would be ready to go with out having to get to the hangar early. I guess I wandered in, in time to unplug, preflight and tug 08Romeo out into the chilly morning air. It was windy this morning so the last thing to do was pull the nose plugs then jump in and fire up.

METAR KOXB 181353Z AUTO 33014KT 10SM CLR 01/M06 A3042

I climbed out of OXB on runway Three-Two and headed for GED. It was bumpy but I found a sweet spot around three thousand and enjoyed the view. I dialed up the AWOS for KGED and decided on runway four. The last call on OC's CTAF and I switched over to GED to monitor.

METAR KGED 181454Z AUTO 34010G16KT 10SM CLR 01/M09 A3044

I made my call at five south and then crossing midfield to enter the left down wind for runway four. With the crosswind I want to concentrate on sticking the left main and I almost did...I made solid contact with the runway. After I taxied in and shut down I made sure there was no trailing parts, landings do keep pilots humble.

We ate at Arenas and enjoyed excellent flying conversations. Food and service was good, lunch is better than their breakfast. I had fish tacos and they were really good. After finishing up Frank offered a tour of the B-25 Mitchell Bomber, Panchito. Uh...yeah! we want to go!

It was a short walk from the terminal to the Delaware Aviation Museum hangar where Panchito is hangared and maintained. It was fun to check out the shop while guys were working on the B25 and get to take some pictures.

 

B-25 Brakes

NLG

All the business! 

Special Delivery!

Frank (red hat), Jeff (yellow hat), Marks shoulder 

One of the two Wright R-2600-92 Twin Cyclone 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engines

 

 

 

 

 

  I also got a glimpse of an immaculate Beech 18 in the hangar, privately owned so it was no touch, only look, at a distance.

File photo for a full view, not the plane at the shop

The fun had to end since Frank had a meeting and we all needed to get back in the air and point for our homes.

I taxied out and Jeff followed. It would be runway four for departures with a 60* cross wind. A bit of a ride on climb out but once settled in at three thousand the ride was smooth and with a tail wind.

METAR KGED 181454Z AUTO 34010G16KT 10SM CLR 01/M09 A3044

I got a shot of Jeff and his passenger Mark took a shot of me as we crossed paths headed home. Kind of neat to track each others tail numbers on ADS-B.

hard to capture with the iPhone  (N111RW)

N6708R

I switched over to CTAF at Ocean City after saying goodbye to Jeff and Mark.  The ride was quick and I made a nice landing to make up for the 'slam' at GED. With the cold temps the visibility was very good but the winds were changing. I still squeaked one on and that was a sweet ending to a great day of aviation.

 

METAR KOXB 181753Z AUTO 01014G19KT 10SM CLR 03/M07 A3043
METAR KOXB 181853Z AUTO 32013G20KT 10SM CLR 03/M08 A3043

Thanks for the tour, Frank!!!