WEST COAST SWIFT WING
October 2016
EDITOR: CAROL & GERRY HAMPTON AV8RGNH@SBCGLOBAL.NET 530-676-7755
All of the major Swift Fly-ins—Swift National, Cottage Grove, OR, West Coast Swift National at Westover Field, Jackson CA and the RRSW fly-in at Pecan Plantation TX are all in the books.
Looking forward to the 2017 fly-ins with Swift National in Cleburne, TX, KCPT in early Oct and the West Coast Swift National at Westover Field will be 9-11 June 2017.
Westover 2016 Sept 23-25
Thursday night early birds showed 12 Swifts on the field with 23 folks joining us for dinner at Mels.
Friday dawned clear with the wind picking up throughout the day—putting a crimp in the formation flying for the evening BBQ hosted in the hangar and catered by Back 40 BBQ was a great success. The theme was “Repeal of Prohibition”, the bar did a brisk business, and the judging of “best prohibition era (1920s & 30s) outfit was a hoot. Colleen McKeage won the best costume with her rendition of a flapper girl and received an appropriate prize, “Flaskzilla”, a 64 oz giant flask.
By the end of the day, we had 22 Swifts and approximately 75 folks in attendance which included new local Swifters Al McDonald based at Westover, and Jon Ortet based at Calaveras County.
We also discussed and received input from the West Coast Swift folks about Swift National being held in Oct next year and taking the year off for the West Coast National—consensus was to keep the West Coast Swift National and move it to early June.
The Saturday wine tasting activity was led by Karl Johanson and here is his report.
This Saturday activity has become something of a tradition now, involving convoys in search of vino. All told there were 14 of us on the wine trail. We started the wine tour at the Amador Brewery which might sound like we were a bit off course but without a GPS, my inertial reference system mistakenly led me to hops instead of vines. It turned out to be a great primer for a few of us, others preferring to save their taste buds for the grape based nectar. We proceeded to hit 3 wineries which in some cases our crew size qualified us for invasion stripes on the cars.
In spite of our large entourage, the tasting rooms were accommodating and in one winery (Wilderotter), the owner was a pilot and he stepped in to make sure we were treated as the special guests Swift owners know they are. My personal favorite was Runquist, where our purchases reflected the great full bodied reds of Amador County!
Karl
Enjoying the wine tasting
Saturday night was a Prime Rib dinner with all the fixings again in the hangar—breaking tradition with having a formal banquet. Saturday evening was also the time to remember and celebrate Jeanie Collins. It started off with a “missing woman” formation flight composed of Ernie Hansen, Johnny Johnson, Kyle Hook, and Gerry Hampton. That night we had pictures of Jeanie on the tables and a collage picture of her thru the years and several folks spoke about their experiences with her.
Viewers Choice Custom went to Hal Cope in N3303K
Viewers Choice Original went to Jared Smith in N3378K
Tired Butt (Longest Distance traveled by Swift) award went to Mark Holliday
We thank the local EAA chapter for providing lunches “on the lawn” for Friday and Saturday. The hamburgers and “giant” hot dogs were great.
Red River Swift Wing Gathering Sep 29-Oct 2
I heard there were 13 Swifts at their gathering and they made a trek down to Cleburne, site of the 2017 National.
From David Murray/Brant Seghetti:
The Nut Tree Air Fair is October 15th from 10AM to 4PM, and we are working hard to gather an impressive collection of Classic, Vintage, and Warbird aircraft to KVCB. Please see the attached poster for the variety of events that will occur throughout the event.
We would love it if you and your Swift flying friends would be willing to come down for the event. No fly in is complete without these gorgeous airplanes, I hope everyone can make the event as it should be a great way to wind down the summer.
2016 OTHER FLY INS/AIR SHOWS
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 ☺