Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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Happy New Year to everyone! Praying for a bright, joyful and healthy 2021 for you and yours! I have been watching an aviation series called Legends of Air Power and am reminded of how many of the classic movie stars served America in the military during World War II and Korea. You don't hear of that from the hot stars of today. There just seems to be a different feeling about patriotism. Tom Landry, famous coach of the Dallas Cowboys from 1960 to 1988, flew B-17s in World War II. Landry was in...
Aviation enthusiasts everywhere know there are many very important dates to remember in the month of December. At 10:35 a.m., on December 17, 1903, Orville Wright made history by flying a powered machine into full flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. This year marks the 117th anniversary of that famous flight. The first experience Orville and Wilbur Wright had with a flying machine was an object given to them by their father. It was made of paper, bamboo sticks and cork. He turned a stick that...
Beautiful November weather with light winds greeted Veterans and supporting citizens at the Veterans Day Ceremony in Legacy Park at Mojave Air & Spaceport. Thank you to everyone who prayed for good weather! The annual event is sponsored by Mojave Transportation Museum Foundation, Mojave Chamber of Commerce and Mojave Air & Spaceport. Al Hansen displayed veteran aircraft, including a North American T-28B and Canadair Mk VI (F-86) Sabre. The keynote speaker was U.S. Air Force Veteran and Tehachapi...
Tech Sergeant James Curtis Peck will be the Keynote Speaker at the Veterans Day Ceremony at the Mojave Air and Spaceport’s Legacy Park on Wednesday, November 11 at 11 a.m. Peck graduated Reseda High School in 1959 and became a traveling musician with a dance band playing one-nights all over the country. He entered college in 1960 as a music major and was offered a saxophone position with the 562nd U.S. Air Force Band, Van Nuys, California and served 9 years. He also played with many other b...
There have been many unusual airplanes at Mojave Airport. In 2001, when Bruce Lockwood had the maintenance facility for The Museum of Flying at Mojave, he worked on a rare flying Messerschmitt Bf 109E. The unique sound of the inverted 12-cylinder, liquid-cooled, 1,100 h.p. Daimler Benz engine was very loud and distinctive. This aircraft was the only remaining Bf 109 in flying condition with the original Daimler Benz engine and after restoration, it first flew right here at Mojave Airport! As it...
Isn't it amazing when you can experience a lifelong dream? When I was in my early 20s, I loved looking in "Trade-A-Plane" for airplanes I couldn't afford in a million years; aircraft like P-51 Mustangs, F4U Corsairs and LearJets. There is a certain romance in dreaming and I have learned that it is a significant part of a happy life. When Al planned a trip for us to Clarksville, Tennessee in 1987, to look at a Lear 23 that was listed in "Trade-A-Plane" I didn't have a clue that he would actually...
Dick Lawyer, one of our very good friends and a big part of Mojave Airport's flying history, passed away on November 12, 2005. It was just the month before that Dick flew Flight Systems F-100F at Mojave Airport for FTA and Jeremy Mosher of Jet Photos captured this photo. Dick's wife, Gayle, emailed to tell me that they wouldn't be able to make the Veterans Day Ceremony that year because he was going elk hunting. I received a call from their close friend and neighbor, GaIL Knight, that morning...
On October 4, 2004, Brian Binnie flew SpaceShipOne for the second Ansari X Prize flight. He soared to a record height of 367,442 feet (112 kilometers/69 miles), exceeding Mach 3 and broke the altitude record set in 1963 by the North American X-15. Binnie became the world's second Commercial Astronaut, as well as the first Scotsman, to reach space. Binnie flew two "firsts" in SpaceShipOne: the first supersonic flight, and the flight that won the 10 million dollar Ansari X Prize. These flights...
Participating in Historical V-J Day Aerial Parades in Hawaii, marking the end of WWII On July 26, Dustin Mosher and Diane Barney, co-owners of the PT-17 Stearman that carries the name "Felix," flew from Tehachapi Airport to North Island Naval Air Station, San Diego to begin an exciting adventure flying their aircraft in three aerial parades honoring the veterans of World War II and celebrating the 75th Anniversary of V-J Day (Victory over Japan), and the end of World War II. Dustin saw an ad in...
Our friends Dustin Mosher and Diane Barney own a 1942 Stearman "Felix," and it was chosen to be part of an historical commemoration – the Legacy of Peace Aerial Parade in Hawaii on Sept. 2 over the battleship Missouri in Honolulu! Victory over Japan Day is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on which the initial announcement of Japan's surrender was made – Aug. 15, 1945, in Japan, and...
My life is full of kitty cats and airplanes! Since my son Douglas passed away, I have been taking care of all of his kitties in the house, plus all of the feral cats that depended on him. I am overrun with kittens and they are all adorable. Of course they are! They're kittens! My husband Al and I have always had cats at the hangar too and they were always a big help when working on the airplanes. Ha! I couldn't resist taking a picture of this little Tabby Cat on the wing of Al's new CT-133...
As California hit its highest daily count of confirmed cases of coronavirus over the past week and numbers continue to rise in Kern, Mono, and Inyo counties, Cerro Coso Community College announced Thursday, July 16, it will move on-ground classes to remote delivery for the fall 2020 term. "Because the safety of every student, staff, and faculty member is Cerro Coso Community College's highest priority, the college has made the difficult decision to suspend in-person instruction at all campus...
An interesting program was on the History Channel back in 2004 and it involved Mojave Airport's CV-990 Gate Guard. The big jet parked at the Highway 58 entrance to Mojave Air & Spaceport has an impressive history related to the Space Shuttle. When first introduced in 1962, the CV-990 Coronado was billed as the world's fastest subsonic airliner. I remember being there to see the last flight of the Convair 990 (CV-990) aircraft from Edwards, formerly used by NASA as a medium-altitude research plat...
The Douglas Aircraft Company's DC-3 is probably the most famous aircraft ever built. A. E. Raymond and E. F. Burton designed this immortal plane in 1935 and over 13,000 were built. It was first developed and built as a commercial airliner, but soon went to war with the U.S. Army Air Corps as the C-47 transport. It has carried designations of DC-3, C-47 Skytrain & Dakota, AC-47 gunship version called Spooky or Puff the Magic Dragon, EC-47 called BS bomber dropping leaflets in Vietnam, C-53,...
During the past few days, I have been going through some of my old emails and aviation articles that I wrote almost 20 years ago. I ran across an interesting email exchange with a Marine veteran who was stationed here at Marine Corps Air Station Mojave during World War II. I'm so glad I printed them out. It was really fun to read them again and stir the memories. Some of you may have known Tehachapi resident Col. Bruce Porter, USMC (ret.), author of "Ace, A Marine Night-Fighter Pilot in World...
Weneth "Wen" Dwane Painter passed away in Pleasanton, California on April 21 at the age of 84. Wen was born May 8, 1935 in Ainsworth, Nebraska and grew up in Mills and Long Pine, Neb. He attended a one-room school house in Mills and never let anyone forget that America's first astronauts were mid-west, one-room school house educated, too! Everyone who knew Wen had heard his stories about growing up in the mid-west and how America went to the moon with incredible men who were grounded in common...
I highly recommend reading the book, "Misty: First Person Stories of the F-100 Fast FACs in the Vietnam War." This book is a collection of first person stories of 155 fighter pilots who flew in a special top secret mission during the Vietnam War. These are personal stories, full of emotion, drama, tragedy and sometimes, humor. I should warn you that the authors use fighter pilot language and their memories are vivid and unapologetically coarse. This was a long problematic war. The book was...
I want to give recognition and great appreciation to George Welch, a U.S. Army Air Corps Second Lieutenant. You may not recognize his name, so I'll let you know some of his history. Born George Louis Schwartz, Jr., Welch's name was changed due to anti-German sentiments from World War I. His parents gave George and his brother their mother's maiden name of Welch but retained Schwartz as George's middle name. Welch received his wings and commission in January 1941 and was posted to the 47th...
Isn't it interesting how enjoyable it is to hear or read historical stories about flying, especially if it occurred in our local skies? Nearly 22 years ago, my friend Bruce Porter was at MCAAS (Marine Corps Axially Air Station) Mojave. During World War II he was flying Corsairs and Hellcats. He wrote the book called "Ace! A Marine Night-Fighter Pilot in WWII." When he found out how much I liked aviation history, he contacted his fellow Marine Corps pilot friend, Charles (Pat) Weiland in...
Recently we have been going through some of our book and video collections. I ran across a book that was given to me back in 2004 by the author. "I'm No Hero" by Charlie Plumb. I want everyone to know that I believe Charlie Plumb IS a hero! Wow! You need to read this book. In the summer of 2004, we were witnessing the exciting and historical flights of Scaled Composites and Paul Allen's SpaceShipOne. During that time, we had the opportunity and pleasure of meeting some of the world's most...
Nearly twenty years ago, (2001) I was asked to help with a special Air & Space Exploratorium at the Antelope Valley Mall. 'Women in Aerospace – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.' I was delighted to ask my WASP (Women Air Service Pilots) friends, Ty Killen, Irma 'Babe' Story and Flora Belle Reece to represent our Women in Aerospace of Yesterday. All three women were wonderful role models with a high spirit of adventure, love of aviation and outstanding resolve to accomplish their goals. All three o...
I received an email from my son, Mark, recently: "Hey Mom, I had no idea that Jimmy Doolittle did so many things in regards to aviation. I knew that he was responsible for the development of aviation fuel, but he also created the most important instruments for IFR (instrument flight rules) flying." Mark said, "I found a comment on Reddit that goes like this: 'He's famous for leading the Doolittle Raid, but a lot of people aren't aware of his contributions to aviation. "'It's impossible to fly in...
The Lockheed Constellation will always be one of my favorite airplanes, for it was one of those beautifully polished silver birds, with TWA colors, that brought me to California from Columbus, Ohio back in 1951. This classic aircraft design originated in 1939 as an elegant passenger airliner. Pan American Airways and Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA) wanted an airplane that was faster, more powerful and had longer range. Los Angeles to New York, non-stop, was the goal. Kelly Johnson and...
I want to share a photo of Fitz Fulton and Bob Hoover that was taken by Mike Owen at the retirement party held for Dan Sabovich in 2002. These two men, Fitzhugh Fulton and Bob Hoover, are decorated veterans of World War II and Korea and were participants in legendary flight test work with the U.S. Air Force. I love the photos we have of the many illustrious test pilots that have flown in the skies over Edwards AFB, California City, Boron, North Edwards, Rosamond, Lancaster, Palmdale and Mojave....
Aviation enthusiasts everywhere know there are some very important dates to remember in the month of December. At 10:35 a.m., on December 17, 1903, Orville Wright made history by flying a powered machine into full flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C. This year marks the 106th anniversary of that famous flight. During the 1890s, sometimes known as the decade of the bicycle, the Wright brothers developed a successful business of bicycle repair. They happened onto an article in a magazine about Otto...
