Ifn innybuddy thot dat our U.S. economics wuz gonna put the KayBosh on
SnF... they were mistaken. Yes, the event took a little hit, but there wuz
still plenny to see/do. I heard that about 10% of the vendors pulled out late
but you would be hard pressed to name those missing. There were SEVERAL
hunnert to get your attention. Oh yeah, the guy with the eyeglass clearner and
2 T-shirt vendors were absent in the exhibit barns. (the barns were still
full tho). The barns were comfortable in traffic until it started getting
elbow to elbow on Thurs. Lots of electronic gizmos for you deep-pocket Qboys.
The outside exhibits filled the grass/tarmac too. Cessna was there in
force with a full compliment of bizjets and one dinky lil purple nosed LSA. I
saw a nice 2+3 single engine VLJ and it's fuselage wit a turbine on it too.
I think we'll all be upgrading once all the gov't dumptrucks start
depositing loads of $ in our driveways. The Grumman Tiger is back in production.
There were a dozen clustered hotrods with alternative engines at one end of
the flightline... several subi's a wankel and etc. Homebuilts thickened up
towards Thur tho the RV's were well representd all week (lotsa -10's leaving
the garages. Remember when the EZ's proliferated? I saw mebbe a halfa
dozen.
Roy Shannon brought his nice Q-1 and the local guy with the 2tone D-fly was
there for a day or two.

Over in Warburdz, ecomomics hit big time. Very few P-51's, but I saw my
favorite Yak 9 and a P-40 with no mouth. There was a very rare A model B-24
(no front turret) that you could buy a ride in as well as a red-nosed P-51
offering a 30 min ride for $1195... a bit steep but where you gonna get such
a ride? Lotsa nicely restored 1930's to "60's antiques/classics filled up
their pen. Over in UL/LSA they seemed to be hit hardest. The individual
entrepreneur seems to be hard pressed to compete with some of the pug nosed
composites coming out of Bulgaria, Latvia Transylvania or god knows where etc.
etc. But I enjoy watching progress with Titan's all metal T(P)-51. This
year they added 4 blade props which REALLY sets that clone off. I didn't get
to CHOPPERTOWN. I needed to duck outta da heat.sun and there were a coupla
large bars set up in the central off-flightline area.
After tanking up I hadda hit the excellent corn roast not too far from my
tent. Then I hadda hit the tent for a snooze prior to evening theatre
events which included movies "The High and the Mighty" and "633 Squadron" with
some long shots of Mosquitos in action. There was also a talk by a Vietnam
Mig pilot who was reunited with the Airforce F-4 driver who shot his wing
off. VERY interesting. I hadda leave Satiddy and dint see the forum.

j.
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