And a good time was had by all - Lafayette Esquadrille Annual Picnic 4-19-09

[the original Steve Smith]

Several intrepid members of the Lafayette Esquadrille club in St. Louis Missouri braved the typical April weather in this part of the country for our annual picnic and fun fly.  And we had fun in spite of the rain!

Attached pic is Joe Thompson flying his Bi-Slob.  Flights in everything from sprinkles to moderate rain were also made by Bill Marvel, Nick Angeli, and Steve Smith.  This group is working on their All Weather flyer patch 

Club Secretary and CD Bob Arata is also rumored to have flown but did it earlier than most of us arrived so we have to take his word for it.   

Club Treasurer and BBQ master Randy Ross produced his usual great brats even in the rain!

Several other members were present but did not fly.

[Jack R. Dock]

Counting the days until next years Ice-O-Lated.

Ozark Fliers ..... Jack

[Dan McEntee]

   I hung around long enough to get two flights in on the Hanger 9 PT-19 when that little lull in the rain that you had on radar came through. Bob stuck around to help me. Got two full patterns in on it, had the best two engine runs I've had on it yet. Have to pull that other tank apart to see if there is something fishy going on. I think the engine isn't quite broken in yet, bet I had good control of it this time, at least it would follow the needle. and held a setting better. The first flight was with the tank vented to atmosphere and it did speed up just a bit, but settled back down fro the rest of the flight. The second flight was on muffler pressure, and was a bit more steady, but slowed down in the middle of the flight, then came back to the original setting, which I found interesting.  Then we packed it in before the rest of the rain came.
   Hanging around with good friends, eating good food and bench flying was well worth a few rain drops!
 
   Hey Jack! No need to wait until next February, come up and fly with us any time! Out next contest in the speed contest, but there is always the evenings after to sport fly and trim models if you need to. That way youknow there will be other guys at the field.
 
   Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee