George Rebane

This Fourth was a special treat for me.  After launching our celebrations last night at the outdoor Music in the Mountains July 4th concert with friends Ellen and Russ Steele, I was invited to fly second seat today in friend and neighbor Jim Booth’s bright yellow ‘MYT-6’.  We were scheduled to do to flyovers today – the first at Lake of the Pines and then over the Grass Valley parade route to start the festivities.

Jim picked me up at 9am sharp and in no time we were at the Nevada County airport (KGOO) opening up Jim’s huge hangar.  There sat the retired warbird, all shined up and ready for showtime.  I say retired because the AT-6 had its first life serving as an advanced trainer of WW2 fame, the job it was designed and built for.  The T-6s then passed into civilian hands as one of the most popular single engine airplanes ever and saw a second career in the air racing circuits around the country.  Jim is also an ex-air racer, and now serves to train T-6 pilots in air racing and formation flying.  In recent years he has served as the official starter for the T-6 races in Reno.

On our way south we were soon joined by Tom Dwelle Sr. and son Ken Dwelle, each in his own T-6.  After a pass in opposite directions, Jim made a snap 60 degree turn that felt like he pulled about 10Gs to catch up with the Dwelles, he claimed it was only slightly more than two.  This maneuver would be repeated before the morning was over.

It was interesting watching how smoothly Jim caught up with the father-son duo and pulled us tight under the left wing of our leader Ken Dwelle flying ‘TinkerToy’ with USAF markings.  Ken led us in the LoP flyovers and then announced that while down there, he had promised the folks in Auburn to do a flyover or two for them.  So that was our Lucky Strike extra for the morning.

On our way back north to Grass Valley there was some time to kill, so Jim took the lead and put the team through some formation maneuvers that called for the airplanes to shift position from a V to a right echelon formation, then to part and reunite again.  All maneuvers were pulled off very professionally in the bumpy low altitude air that was heating up for the day.  I guess everyone had done that once or twice before.

Flying in formation, it’s only the leader who determines where the flight is going and what kind of turns and altitude changes are made.  All the other pilots keep their eyes glued on the leader, and maintain their assigned relative positions.  To a novice like me this looked a little exciting when in the bumpy air we got real tight for the actual flyoever passes.  Tight looks good when you go screaming over the crowd with wing tips a few feet apart.  But I must confess, that on the first pass this second seater’s little torus shaped muscle was even tighter than our formation.

Now we were back over the Grass Valley/Nevada City area, and Jim was maneuvering us over the South Yuba so that we would make our first pass at 11AM, exactly when the parade was starting.  As these things go, we nailed the time, missing it by only 17 seconds.  After the first pass we wheeled around to the left, went back north, lined up and repeated the flyover.  This time Jim pulled the knob that let a little oil into the hot exhaust manifold to create the stream of white smoke from MYT-6.  Jim explained that you do the smoke on the second pass since that’s when everyone has their eyeballs peeled and their cameras ready.  As I looked back, there was still a hint of our patriotic pollution hanging over town before the light airs of the morning dispersed it.

Having completed the promised flyovers of three communities, we said our good-byes to the Dwelles who headed back south to their home base at the Auburn airport.  We made a lazy left turn toward Nevada County airport and told everyone that we would be landing on Runway 7.  Our airport’s east-west runway is not level but climbs toward the east, so when landing on 7 (wind permitting), you save the brakes on your landing gear a bit.  We were already at the airport’s traffic pattern altitude of 4,100 feet, so with another tight left turn while descending, Jim put us gently on the runway.   As a novice pilot, I am always impressed by how a pro (career jumbo jet pilot) can abbreviate the downwind, base, and final legs, and put the airplane down quickly and safely.

Jim put old MYT-6 back in its house and we rubbed it down before heading back into town.  Since all the flying was within about a thousand feet or two above ground level, the bright yellow bird had collected a lot of slower flying bugs on all its leading edges.  They really show up on the bright yellow background.  We were back home on Cement Hill about noon.

And that’s how community flyovers get done by general aviation pilots who give freely of their own time, talent, and treasure.  Have a very Happy Fourth and celebrate with gusto the freedoms which are still ours. 

(Memo to File – never attempt to take air-to-air pictures with a camera that has no view finder.  The LCD screen display is washed out and invisible in the bright ‘greenhouse’ cockpit forcing you to guess where the camera is pointing.  And you wind up with poorly framed pictures like in Exhibit A above.  For better pictures and a report on the Grass Valley parade, visit Russ Steele’s NC MediaWatch )

[update 1] Jo Ann was at the GV parade and did get the above photo of the second flyover at the start of the parade with her iPhone.  She and a friend were on Church St, so, of course, the parade had not reached them yet. 

[update 2] And here’s a better one that Fred Buhler took from a closer vantage point.

[6jul2009 update] Finally, Brian O’Brien flying second seat in the T-6 with Tom Dwelle piloting is the real aerial photography pro.  He took the three pictures below.  Now I know why his canopy was open during the entire flight, and he was leaning down when he wasn’t looking through the camera.  Taking some serious moving air in the cockpit is the price you pay for excellent photography.  Thanks Brian.