Happy New Year from Texas

[Sean McEntee]

      ...that's right!

      I was sent home early to attend the Army Senior Leaders' Course at Ft Rucker, which is a promotion requirement.  Got home on the 21st and immediately jumped into "holiday mode" and put up the Christmas tree, hung outdoor lights, and got the house ready for Santa Clause.  Christmas came and went and good times were had by all.

      Had a ...memorable birthday as well.  A three hour power outage followed by a panicked phone call from my wife.  She was coming home from Dallas when she got hit by a tractor-trailer who drifted out of his lane (she was just north of Italy, Tx for those from around here).  Took awhile with Geico on the phone but we got everyone and everything home and fortunately no one was hurt.  Still waiting for the claims adjuster to come out and look at it but I'm supremely confident that its a total loss.  I already have a couple potential replacements picked out once the old one gets written off.  Long story short:  I'm getting a new car for my birthday.

     Didn't get to go fly on new years day, as most of my flying gear is still on its way back from Kuwait.  It was warm enough that Clara and I played around with some rubber powered stuff in the front lawn, which she was pretty excited about    She turns 3 in February, at which time shes getting a Carl Goldberg Lil' Wizard...just need to figure out how to mix some pink dope.

     Today I'm going to finish clearing off the building table.  Many moons ago, I made a drawing of a 35-40 sized version of the Sig Magnum based on a Twister wing (that was all I knew at the time).  I always really liked the Magnum's lines, and going back to an early age, it was the first "serious" stunter that I was aware of.  Last Christmas, Dad fished them out of his plan files and gave them back to me some 12 years after I drew them.  I tried building the fuselage as drawn but there were...design flaws.  Still wanting to do a "mini-magnum", I ordered a Vector 40 kit from Randy Smith.  All it should need is a bit taller turtle deck, new canopy, wing-mounted gear, and simple cosmetic changes to the wingtips, stab, rudder and cowling area, and we'll be in business. In keeping with my traditional lack of creativity, it will get Mike's prototype/box art paint job.

     Happy New Year to all and thanks for all of your thoughts, prayers and well-wishes over the past 7 months.  This trip was a good one:  selected for promotion,  passed Aircraft Commander quailifications, reached the 3,000 flight hour mark (all accident free, I might add ), and shot a total of 42 hellfires resulting in 58 EKIA and a bunch of ISIS toys destroyed.  Now I wait to see where Uncle Sam sends me to next.

[James Mills]

Sean,

Happy to hear you're home Little Brother.  Very happy to hear that the only damage was the car, the important parts of life came home to you (cars are easy to replace).  Enjoy that little one (mine turns 15, God help us, in February and is around 6"2"-it goes to fast).   Are you going to make it up this way this spring or summer?

James

[Tom Niebuhr]

Dallas , the morning was very foggy, about 45 degrees, with a cold mist that changed to light rain. Most everyone in the picture flew, and John Bender left before the picture was taken.

I took the picture so I am not in it. My flying was killed when my Windy line real split in half leaving a rats nest for the lines. Since it was raining lightly when the picture was taken, most of the airplanes were back in the cars.

We all adjoined to Chubbys for breakfast and/or lunch and then Dale Gleason joined us. Driving was difficult with 1/8 to 1/4 visability.

But as always we had a good time.

When we left Chubbys the sun had come out, the temps went up, and it was perfect weather for those who returned to the field.

[john e. holliday]

Great to hear you had a good Christmas and also that the wife was not hurt.  You say that baby will 3 years old already,  seems like she was just born yesterday.  Maybe you will get a permanent assignment in the states to teach the newbies on how to eliminate the bad guys.  

[Bootlegger]

 Happy New Year to you also Sean, sure do hope that you gat a State Side assignment for a few years, and the little ones do grow up toooo fast..!!

  Thanks for ll you do and the folks that serve with you..  God Bless all our Military Personnel...

[Tim Wescott]

...just need to figure out how to mix some pink dope.

Oh, c'mon.  Some white, some red, a touch of blue, warn the kid that it'll look different when it dries, and you're home free.  Home Depot around here sells empty paint cans; I assume they do there, too, so you can mix up enough for a couple of planes.

Or if it's (gasp) electric, just see if there's a suitable rattle-can lacquer at the auto parts store, or even the local craft store.

If you want to go the Really Expensive route then do what Randy Powell does and go shopping in the color chips at your local auto paint store, then have them mix up the dry tint into a quart can.  Then go home and mix with non-shrink clear dope.  Might be better to start the kid's college fund with the money, though.

[Noel Corney]

When you mix the pink start with white and add the red ONE DROP at a time, It doesn't take much!!!!!  Good luck.

[Steve Helmick]

Dallas , the morning was very foggy, about 45 degrees, with a cold mist that changed to light rain. Most everyone in the picture flew, and John Bender left before the picture was taken.

I took the picture so I am not in it. My flying was killed when my Windy line real split in half leaving a rats nest for the lines. Since it was raining lightly when the picture was taken, most of the airplanes were back in the cars.

We all adjoined to Chubbys for breakfast and/or lunch and then Dale Gleason joined us. Driving was difficult with 1/8 to 1/4 visability.

But as always we had a good time.

When we left Chubbys the sun had come out, the temps went up, and it was perfect weather for those who returned to the field.

Firstly, WELCOME HOME, Sean! I met Sean at VSC in either '07 or '09. I also met Bill Lee, and picked him out of Tom's picture. I met Milton by phone. Would appreciate it if Tom would post names of the conspirators. I'm not likely to get to Texas in this lifetime, but I had a distant Uncle who owned a ranch "between Dallas and Fort Worth". He was murdered in 1836..probably a used car lot there now.  Steve

[Randy Cuberly]

Dallas , the morning was very foggy, about 45 degrees, with a cold mist that changed to light rain. Most everyone in the picture flew, and John Bender left before the picture was taken.

I took the picture so I am not in it. My flying was killed when my Windy line real split in half leaving a rats nest for the lines. Since it was raining lightly when the picture was taken, most of the airplanes were back in the cars.

We all adjoined to Chubbys for breakfast and/or lunch and then Dale Gleason joined us. Driving was difficult with 1/8 to 1/4 visability.

But as always we had a good time.

When we left Chubbys the sun had come out, the temps went up, and it was perfect weather for those who returned to the field.

You can bet that the only thing that could make a group of "Old Guys" like that smile when they're obviously cold with "Wet" feet, is a kid with a Control Line airplane!   

Randy Cuberly!