Day 1

With the early arrival of many excited supporters and press looking on, the Aeronca super chief and Ercoupe were prepared for take off. After a few finishing touches, the preflight, and the press interviews, the aircraft and pilots were ready to start their journey to Oshkosh. After turning the prop though a few times the Aeronca started up and began to taxi. It was followed by the Ercoupe. Everyone was so excited the only thing left was takeoff, a very anticipated and emotional moment for all those who were watching. Down the runway the Aeronca came and in formation with the Ercoupe, they took off. Jerry let them have the moment, then he too, took off. They did one pass and they were gone into the sunrise. The flights departure time was 7:10 a.m.

Received a call from Andrew Blaze. The had a good flight into Eloy, AZ. They did not encounter any weather problems. He learned a great deal about Dead Reckoning as a navigation technique. .

He indicated that they had arrived at Blyth at 9:30am and departed from Blyth at 10:05am. They arrived at Eloy at 12:50pm. where they will spend the night.

The Aeronca has not encountered any problems. However, the Ercoupe has developed electrical problems having lost the generator. The crew is working to fix the problem.

They are to leave in the AM for the next stop, Deming NM.

Day 2

They departed for Deming at 0530. No, the Ercoupe did not get fixed yet. The ground crew is to scrounge for the necessary items to fix it.

There appears to have been a little sight seeing after leaving Eloy, so an additional stop was made at Lordsburg, NM for fuel. Actually, they were skirting thunderstorms. Then they stopped at Deming, NM for fuel.

They pressed on to Artesia, NM and since there was still light and no storms, they continued on to Clovis, NM, where they will spend the night.

That is a long nine (9) hours of flying! Most of the time they have been able to maintain a 85 mph ground speed so the flight is still going quite well. The Ercoupe still has its electrical malady. Hopefully, they ground crew will be able to fix it this evening.

Day 3

I understand that they departed Colvis, NM at 7:55 MDT on what may be a fairly short day since there are many thunder storms in the area.

Looks like they were able to dodge the storms. They have arrived in Beatrice NE after another hard day of flying. And yes, the Ercoupe is still having its problems. Jim Pyle met them at the airport and took them to their motel. But the ground crew was still about 2 hours from Beatrice when I spoke to them. Flying is always better.

Day 4

They have left Beatrice this am at about 0900 cst for Ames Iowa. The Ercoupe continues to act up. It tried to loose (ie, bolts loose holding it on) the generator. I suppose it is trying to reject bad parts. At least, it was properly reattached before they took of this am.

The ground crew is struggling to keep up with the aircraft. It was about 1:00am cst when they finally got to Beatrice (this morning!) Steve Curry has come down with something, but is continuing with the crew. When I spoke to Roger and Robert, Steve was still in bed. He probably thinks they have left him since the took his glasses and phone down to breakfast.

They did a short flight today, only going to Ames IA, Decorah IA and stopping in Portage WI. From there, it is about an hour flight into Oskosh. I understand that they had a quite flight today, no storms to dodge and the air was calm. The time of arrival was about 3:00pm CDT.

For all of the readers here in Riverside where the temperature at this writing is 111F, the temperature in Portage is 69F. Hope they bring some of that here!

Spoke to the ground crew and they are about 5 hours behind the aircraft. Jim Pyle let them know that the tach in the Aeronca had quit so there is another easy item to fix in Oshkosh.

Hope they have a good time at the show.

Day 5

Well, They made it. All aircraft have arrived at Oshkosh. The arrived in time for the boys to attend the awards rehearsal this AM.

They left Portage at 8:30am CDT and arrived in Oshkosh about 9:45am CDT. The 20 minute flight took a little longer as they had to circle the lake after getting a reservation to land. They are indeed parked at the Red Barn. Quite a few visitors asking about the program and just asking questions in general.

I think the boys are a bit intimidated by the size of the doings there. For example, they expected the "Gathering of Eagles" meeting to be about 30-40, but it is about 3000-4000. Wow!

Only minor troubles with the Aeronca -- tach cable broken and the trim cable came adrift. These will be fixed at Oshkosh.

The Ercoupe continues to have problems. No only the electrical system, but now the exhaust system needs attention.

I understand that Jerry had a problem with a fairing and now has a memento to bring home.

Excellent work by all. All the challenges of flight have been met and overcome.