A week late, here are some photos from this year's Fly Iowa event in Burlington.  The rain didn't stop folks from attending the grand event  Once the rain stopped, the air show started.  The event attracted a wide variety of airplanes in addition to people. Add Comment Wow, this past weekend literally flew by. With a rainy Saturday, we took advantage of being grounded by getting a couple projects done around the hangar. First, Brian and Dan cleaned up a portable bomb hoist and bomb and then hung both on the wall. Then we finished up the day by swapping our 50-star flag with a vintage 48-star flag. Then we decided that was enough work for one day. We woke up Sunday morning to sunshine and calm skies. We hopped in at the crack of dawn (okay, maybe it was more like brunch time), and flew all day long (whew!). To make the day even better, we had a chance to visit with a few of our flying friends. What more could a person ask for in a weekend? We hope your weekend was just as great!  Brian and Dan hanging the authentic 48-star flag  Our infantryman has a bomb with portable hoist now  Bomb Close-Up Last night Brian, Travis Aukes and Craig Sommerfeld flew back to Ames from Fly Iowa in Burlington. The ceilings were low, and the planes were well-rinsed by the time they touched down, but the weather didn't dampen their spirits. I couldn't make the event, but Brian said they had a great turnout for the air show despite foul weather. Let's keep our fingers crossed that next year the weather will be better for another great event. Here are some more great Galesburg photos snapped by friends.  Paul Fries snapped Brian winning the Short Field Take-Off contest. Awesome!!  Diane Sokolowski snapped a beautiful photo of Stearman tails  Dan Sokolowski snapped this 450 formation flight in the Red Baron with Claude Sonday (red) and Jim Martin (white) Brian and I are back from Galesburg and had a fantastic time. I'll fill you in on some more details later, but here are some photos from the week. Enjoy!  Flying to GBG at Soko's Six  The 2nd annual Galesburg 12 meeting of women Stearman pilots  A Sea of Stars from the Red Baron's point of view  Brian warming up the Red Baron a cool morning to win the Short Field Take-Off (yes, he won!)  As presenter of the awards, Brian called me his trophy wife (here with the Porters) I'll get our Galesburg photos posted tomorrow night. For today, I want to share a couple photos from the Antique Airfield in Blakesburg from Labor Day weekend. The weather was beautiful, there were plenty of planes, and the people were awesome. Another perfect fly-in!  A cabin Waco taxiing past the Blakesburg hangars  Old WWI birds watching a smoke show  I sat there daydreaming about how some day, just maybe, our Stinson 108 would look as nice as this one.  Bright and early Tuesday morning, Brian and I are heading over to Galesburg, Illinois, for the annual Stearman Fly-In. After a week of flying fun, we'll bring back plenty of pictures and stories to share with you next week. In the meantime, if you're in the Des Moines area on Saturday or Sunday, be sure to check out the first ever Great Iowa Book Event organized by my writing group. There will be over 40 Iowa authors signing books at Merle Hay Mall. There will also be plenty of books and gift baskets for sale. Brian and I donated a ride in the stock Stearman, which will be raffled off as a grand finale to the weekend. Tickets for the ride are only $2 each (or 3 for $5). For details, check out my alter ego's website. Have a great week! For those of you who are Antique Airfield members (or friends of members), don't forget that this weekend is the annual Antique Fly-In in Blakesburg, Iowa. If you can't make it, be sure to check out their website as they post lots of pictures every day. Many folks will touch down at the fly-in tomorrow (Thursday), and we're loading up the stock Stearman to get there on Friday. I won't be back to post on the site until Monday (Labor Day), so I wish you all a fantastic long weekend!  Bill Weyers has already registered his Cessna 170B for the event. Check www.antiqueairfield.com for other registrants. | 
Welcome to our virtual hangar Authors Brian and Rachel Aukes are aviation nuts based in Iowa. They love to fly, and when the weather keeps them on the ground, they love to talk about flying. When they aren't in the air, Brian keeps the airplanes running while Rachel cleans them and keeps this website running. ArchivesMay 2013 |
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