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| "Roy" the Rooster |
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| By Carmelo Turdo |
This weekend The Aero Experience took a mini-tour of central and southern Missouri to scout opportunities for future projects. Our first stop was the Missouri Air National Guard facility in Jefferson City, where a former Missouri ANG F-15A Eagle is on display near the Ike Skelton National Guard Training Site. Our next stop was a rural airstrip near Osage Beach where a World War I 7/8 scale fighter replica is under construction. On to Camdenton Memorial Airport, where several aircraft were working the pattern. A visit with friends at the lake before heading back to the St. Louis area capped off a great spring Saturday road trip. Here are some "Show Me" views of our day trip through Missouri.
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| By Leo Cachet |
The 2007 Cape Girardeau Air Festival featured two acts, sadly, we will never see again. One was the Red Baron Stearman Squadron and their slow, beautiful aerobatics in four noisy Stearman biplanes. The other was the airplane to helicopter human transfer of stuntman Todd Green, who tragically lost his life performing this exiting maneuver in 2011. This show was yet again a great show to witness a variety of warbirds along with other top-tier acts. These included: Skip Stewart, the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team, the U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet, John Mohr and his unbelievable Stearman act and even a man demonstrating a jet pack. Again, this show was very well organized, and no one left disappointed - which always makes for a great Aero Experience. Here is what I saw at the 2007 Cape Girardeau Air Festival:
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| By Carmelo Turdo |
A recent visit to the Springfield, MO area brought The Aero Experience crew to historic Downtown Airport. We were at the airport to photograph the F-84F on display in MO ANG colors when we were privileged to visit with Mr. Bill Johnmeyer, the VP and General Manager of Springfield Flying Service. He also happens to be the owner of a beautiful Beech A45 (T-34A) Mentor, restored down to the red landing light - extremely rare in current examples. He graciously took time to meet with contributor Mark Nankivil, our friend Rich Dann, Captain USNR, and me to explain the details of the aircraft and the airport operations. Along with a Citation, Stearman and numerous conventional light planes, Mr. Johnmeyer keeps his Mentor is pristine condition.
