WEST COAST SWIFT WING
MAY 2016
EDITOR: CAROL & GERRY HAMPTON AV8RGNH@SBCGLOBAL.NET 530-676-7755
The flying season is in full swing now—weather generally cooperating. Let’s try to get our wonderful birds out so the general flying public can feast their eyes on our Swifts. To that end, for NorCal Swifters, let’s meet at Nut Tree Airport on 28 May for their pancake breakfast that supports the Flying Legend Museum there.
Sun n Fun
From Ernie Hansen;
Sun N Fun 2016…a good time was had by all
Five of us headed for Florida in early April for the “Spring Break for Pilots” at Lakeland Linder Airport. We took the airlines, saving our cross country for Swift National in June. Three local Swifters (Ernie Hansen, Gerry Mahoney and Guido Perla) and two others tagged along (Dave Brandmeir and Steve Lone). I was in search of parts/components for my latest Experimental Super Cub project, and others just had money burning a hole in their pockets and wanted to spend some of it on airplane stuff! The weather was excellent…temps about 80, low humidity for that part of the country and only a shower while we were there. The QB facility (permanent building) is a great place to relax and have food and refreshments as well as meet up with others.
Swift had a great presence this year with a NEW tent! Bright yellow, with various Swifts displayed on all sides. I believe this was arranged for by Perry Sisson and Carolyn Graves. This was a focal point for meeting other Swifters and lunch was served daily, thanks to Janie Nelson.
Perry Sisson provided the following:
“I think we had a total for the week of 16 planes
Some of what I remember about Swifts that flew in were John and Carol Davis, Steve Whittenberger flew in with Flea Carpenter, Perry Sisson, (Carolyn drove the tent transport vehicle) Sean Sweeny, Paul and Sandy Mercandetti, Bill Jennings, Daniel McDevitt and his son, Gary Daulton (look for his Swift on a future cover of Sport Aviation and an article in the magazine) Ashley Atkinson flew fiancé’ Mark Brown’s Swift in with her father as co-pilot, Todd Bengston and his dad landed at Plant City and drove over. Paul Barnett flew a Kingair in with 3 of his buddies. 3 guys from Diamond Point (Mexican brothers I think), Steve and Lynn Roth commuted back and forth in Lynn’s 172″
That’s it…see you in Athens for Swift National!
Westover 2016 Sept 23-25
Carol and Gerry Hampton are well into planning for the West Coast Swift National at Westover Field, JAQ, Jackson, CA. The fly-in hotel is again the Best Western Amador Inn, 209-223-0211. We have a block of 40 rooms reserved. Call and tell them you are with the Swift group. Room rate is $85 a night. They will provide van transportation again this year.
We have a change in plans this year. We are going to have 2 nights in the hangar. First night will be a BBQ as in the past; Saturday night will be Prime Rib dinner with all the fixings. We will still have an open bar. The theme this year is “Repeal of Prohibition”, more details to follow.
We are planning on wine tasting again and will have a formation school if there is a demand.
Please put this on your calendar to attend.
Swift National 2016 June 8-12 Athens, TN
Swift National 2016 — Athens, TN, Jun 8 – 12, 2016: This will be the major event of the year for Swift. We are pushing hard to complete the Swift Museum by June and plan on a dedication at that time. We are also urging all of our members to attend if possible. As a minimum we would like to have 70 Swifts fly in for this event and of course we plan other flying activities, formation flights and training and sightseeing events in the local area. We will have all the meals in the new facility and most will be catered. Hotels are reserved and we have secured discounts for you. The most important factor is to get pre- registered. This has worked well at St. Louis, Dayton and Bowling Green and we are urging you to get your reservations in early and certainly not later than May 13. This will greatly aid us with food, transportation and hotel accommodations. Please fill out the form from the SMF newsletter and send it in as soon as possible. If you are not sure….register anyway. We can handle cancellations more easily than late shows. Having said that, if you cannot commit early please come anyway…we will adjust as necessary. This is a special event… our 70th Anniversary….and it will be a great time to meet old friends and greet our new members. This is all for you and we want you to have a great time! Please call or email Paul Mercandetti or myself at HQ with questions or suggestions. 508-564-2871 or mercandettipaul@gmail.com or swiftlypam@aol.com.
Northwest Swift Fly-in Cottage Grove, OR July 15-17
Kent Koester is again hosting this most fun fly-in. The Village Green Resort is the fly-in hotel. The remodeling has been accomplished. Contact them at (541) 942-2491 and say you are with the Swift group. $99 standard; $119 deluxe. They will hold a block of rooms until 15 June.
Update from Kent:
We have early bird reservations from Washington to Arizona and California.
Mahoney has volunteered to come down early to help out plus looks like 1 maybe 2 more Diamond Pointers will join him.
Schedule outline:
Friday July 15: Early bird arrivals, dinner at Village Green, late night movie at the museum.
Saturday July 16: Joint exhibition of Swifts with the local aviation museum; Traci will bring out her hot dog/ice cream/etc concession truck; request each Swift to bring a photo/write-up of a most memorable flight for their prop card; dinner BBQ at the museum; entertainment; retire to Village Green lounge.
Sunday July 17: 10 am – a repeat of the local “fly-around”
Departures/good-byes
Dinner for the late birds
Note: Village Green will reserve our block of rooms and special rate through June 15.
Kent is working on some special entertainment performed by local teenage musicians, but too early to promise anything, young Dalton and a friend have offered to lead a kayak excursion, and the Village Green has offered to customize their Saturday night music for the Swifters, so we have several options depending on what Swifters prefer (I welcome feed-back).
Red River Swift Wing Gathering Sep 29-Oct 2
The RRSW fall fly-in is at Pecan Plantation, 0TX1, early bird arrivals on Thursday, 29 Sep, and fly-in 30 Sep to 2 Oct. Contact Steve/Barb Wilson at 817-578-9878. For rooms at the clubhouse, call 817-573-2641.
Here is the list of fly-ins for RRSW this year.
| Apr 5-10 | Sun and Fun, Lakeland FL (KLAL) |
| May 7 | Huntsville, TX (KUTS) |
| Jun 8-12 | Swift Nationals, Athens TN (KMMI) |
| Jul 25-31 | EAA Airventure, Oshkosh, WI (KOSH) |
| Aug 20 | Brenham TX (11R) |
| Sep 23-25 | West Coast Swift Nationals, Westover, CA (KJAQ) |
| Sep 29-Oct 2 | RRSW Fall Gathering, Pecan Plantation, TX (0TX1) |
| Oct 29 | Chigger Field TX |
| Nov 12 | Hilltop Lakes TX |
Perry Sisson is organizing another World Domination event. The name will be “World Domination II; a Swift Takeover”. The date of this new event will be June 12, 2016. The object will again be to see how many Swift’s we can get airborne in a single 24 hour period…… regardless of location or duration of flight. It doesn’t matter where you are located or what time you fly. Just go fly your Swift on that day and report it to Perry. More information will be forthcoming via the newsletter, website, your regional Swift Wing and Facebook.
In 2012 during “World Domination; the Day of the Swift, we had 101 Swift’s fly in 4 different countries, 32 were in the air at the exact same time and 136.2 hours of flying time were logged on that single day.
The 2016 World Domination event could very well include twice as many countries and upwards of 150 airplanes. June 12th was selected because that is the scheduled departure day of the National Swift Fly-In in Athens, TN.
We will be celebrating the 70th anniversary of The Swift and are expecting at least 70 Swifts. The potential of 70 plus Swift’s departing gives us a huge jump on Swifter’s participating in the event.
Legend of Flight Nut Tree Airport (VCB)
There will be a pancake breakfast with donation going to the Legend of
Flight Museum on the fourth Saturday of the month from April thru October. This would be a great place for a monthly gathering of Swifts. Mark your calendars.
2016 WCSW SWIFT FLY INS
Jun 8-12 Athens, TN Swift National
Jul 15-17 Cottage Grove, OR Northwest Swift Fly-in
Sep 23-25 Westover Field, CA West Coast Swift National
Sep 29-Oct 2 Pecan Plantation, TX RRSW Gathering
2016 OTHER FLY INS/AIR SHOWS
May 14 Redlands Airport Hangar 24 Air Fest
May 21-22 Madera Airport Madera Air Show
Jun 11-12 Gillespie Field, CA Air Show San Diego
Jun 18-19 Hollister Airport Hollister Air Show
Jun 18-19 Columbia Airport Father’s Day Fly-in
Jul 7-9 Arlington Airport Arlington EAA, WA
Jul 9 Truckee Tahoe Air Fair & Family Fest
Jul 25-31 Oshkosh, WI EAA Air Venture
Aug 20-21 Camarillo Camarillo Air Show
Sept 2-3 Watsonville Wings over Watsonville
Sept 14-18 Stead Field Reno Air Races
Oct 1-2 Mather Airport Capital City Airshow
Oct 1 Livermore Airport Open House and Air Show
Oct 8 Auburn Airport Auburn Air Fair
Oct 14-16 Minter Airport Madness over Minter
Oct 15 Marysville Golden West EAA fly-in
Oct 15 Nut Tree Airport Nut Tree Air Fair
The above information is accurate as far as we know it, if we receive
notification of changes to date, time, locations, etc. we will update you.
The ANNUAL DUES for 2016 for a newsletter sent by e-mail is $5.00 and you must provide us an email address.
****IF your annual dues are up for renewal, please send your check to Gerry Hampton, 3195 Bonanza Dr, Cameron Park, Ca 95682. Make the check out to Gerry or Carol Hampton, WCSW. If you have already renewed, please disregard this notice. HOWEVER, all correspondence should be sent to Gerry Hampton either at the home address or to the e mail shown on page 1 of this newsletter.****
Happy Skies
Carol & Gerry Hampton