Around the Hangar

This segment covers so much ground, and with limited space, in less pictures than I'd like. The summer has been crazy, and the craziness has rarely slowed. Although it jumps around a lot, this will hopefully cover many of the tales from this summer!
(Photos Thanks to Tom Langer and Brian Strom)

(MN Wing crew line up with NHL player Brent Burns. Brent went for a flight as part of a promotional deal set up with Defending the Blue Line.)


(Bill Atchison attends a car show with cadets Tyler Befort, Matt Stone and Andrew Sahli.)


(Engine failure on the right engine forced a replacement...)


(It also required cleanup of the prop, due to metal contamination. Dave Schouveller and Larry Utter load it up for the trek to Maxwell Prop)


(Oil coolers also must be flushed. Andy Piazza takes on this awful job)


(Matt Stone and Andrew Sahli remove rusted fasteners from the WC-21's seat)


(Tom Goodwill jacks the P-51 wheel to perform a brake inspection.)


(Bill, Matt and Andrew attend a parade and car show)


(Tom Bulger and Larry Utter inspect engine parts)


(Bill and George Colaizy straighten the front grill of the WC-21)


(Rob Hardkopf installs accessories on the B-25)


(George grinds parts in preparation for welding)


(Roger Van Ranst removes accessories for the right engine blower section failure)


(All the accessories came off, leaving the rear case bare)


(Until we removed that too!)


(The culprit of the problems was the planetary gear, seen here as the shiny silver gear in the middle)


(Nate Timm works on assembling all the correct parts for the nose gun)


(It's like a puzzle, just get all the pieces in the right way or it won't work!)


(Bill paints the WC-21 engine the correct silver color)


(Bob Wright, Tom Bulger, Ray Miller, Arnie Fick and Jim Nelson catalog parts.)


(Andrew Sahli touches up paint on the 1941 Willy's Jeep)


(Bill welds and grinds the body of the WC-21)


(One of many tours to visit the MN Wing this summer!)



(New nose art for the L-5!!!)


(At a celebration for the 40th anniversary of the Wing, many of the early members attended)


(Happy Anniversary to the MN Wing!)

Fall Bomber's Moon Ball

Our Fall Bomber's Moon Ball took place across the ramp, still hindered by our sprinkler system. Thankfully, this did not seem to deter people. There were a lot of attendees, more than any fall dance in recent memory. The membership help was WAY up as well. I couldn't believe how quickly the whole thing got torn down! It was truly amazing team work!
(Photos Thanks to Gary Chambers)


(Bob Wright directs in traffic, donning safety yellow)


(Margie and Doug Olson manned a CAF Membership table, and were apparently quite successful, signing up a few new members and taking down tons of names for the mailing list!)


(As it is the "Bomber's Moon" ball, Miss Mitchell was the star of the show. Her new nose gun drew quite a few compliments.)


(Mark Erickson, Ron Legg and Keith Struck run the bar and food like pros)


(Gary Stinar poured drinks, and considering the cup with his name on it, a few of those drinks went to him!)


(Nina Myklebust takes donations and sells baked goods to help get Liz Strohfus to Midland for Airsho)


(Of course, some dancing did occur)


(And the dance floor became very full!)


(The most anticipated part of the night is always the B-25 runup. Note the flames from the exhaust stacks)


(Wing Leader Amy Lauria gets into trouble, as per usual!)

Blog Update - 25June to 03October

Alright, clearly I am lagging behind with the Blog updates. I have had offers to help, which is great, and I will be taking people up on that! Thank you! This way we can keep people more up-to-date and keep the blog rolling. I apologize for the time in between posts, it's amazing how fast the weeks fly by.

The summer went by way too fast. We're into fall, flying season is winding down, and we're looking at another winter of work. The B-25 gave us a few problems this year... one engine failing, two other engines needing repair. It was a busy summer for the maintenance team, but they did a great job of keeping Miss Mitchell in the air! The airshows were plentiful, thanks to Jim Gilmore, and we were able to attend many shows and give many rides! Thanks to everyone who flew or crewed the trips!

The BT-13, L-5 and PT-22 began to give rides this summer. It was an excellent first year, and there will be increased focus on getting the small birds out there and making money! The rides are more affordable than the B-25 and it can bring an experience to a lot more people!

This years Open House was held on Labor Day. It was not attended as well as we had hoped, but people still enjoyed the event and vendors want to come back next year. We plan to coordinate with Kaposia Days (South St. Paul Days) to bring the entire airport in to the fold, and have our Open House as part of the festivities.

The Fall Bombers Moon Ball was a huge success. We had more attendance than the past few fall dances, and people had a blast! A few new ideas were presented this year, and we have more in store for next, so come check it out, either as a volunteer or a patron!

The sprinkler system is coming along nicely. We've established that the current system can be reactivated. This means a huge amount of savings! We are waiting for final approval from the fire marshal. The next step is to install the water main. This will take some digging between the motor pool and the hangar. Our goal is to have the system working before the spring dance... Your donations can help make that happen!

Again, I apologize for how long it's taken to get another post out. You can expect to hear from the blog more often in the near future!