Buzz Aldrin at Sun N Fun 2014
It’s just another day here at Sun N Fun, in the nicest weather we’ve had for years. Of course to offset it I’m the sickest I’ve been in my life, can’t breathe, no sleep, turns out I had Bronchitis, which...
Tagged: Mark Hrutkay
TF-51D Galveston Gal Lost
About noon on October 23, 2013, TF-51D N4151D Serial 44-73458 of the Lone Star Flight Museum crashed into a bay near Houston Texas. It had been on a pleasure flight taking a British tourist for a ride. Both the...
Neil Armstrong’s Champ
In 1946, a 16 year old Neil Armstrong was landing an Aeronca Champ in a field in Ohio. He probably looked out the side window and saw a bright red sun rapidly descending in the western sky, illuminating some...
Getting Ready to Race at Reno
The Sunday before the races is a quiet time. The pit areas are set up and in some cases airplanes have been on the field for over a week. No real restrictions yet, no need for tickets, pit passes...
Willow Run Bomber Plant Needs Your Help
There is an effort at the Yankee Air Museum to save part of the Willow Run Bomber Plant. Their currently trying to raise funds to save a portion of the old Ford plant that produced B-24 bombers during World...
The Jetman: From EAA Oshkosh to the Reno Air Races
Brave? The Right Stuff? That doesn’t even start to cover it somedays. Yves Rossy is an amazing pilot, if you want to call him that. He clearly breaks into my list of the greatest pilots in the world; ranking...
Dusty from “Planes” At EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2013
Coming to the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is a great experience. Sometimes you even get to sort out things you see on the internet that make you wonder if they exist or not. Take Dusty for instance.Dusty is the star...
Twas The Night Before Oshkosh…..
It’s Sunday evening, we just got to Oshkosh for the 2013 EAA Convention. AirVenture is ready to start in the morning. People have been here for months setting up the show. Campers have been coming in for weeks. Airplanes...
Half a Lifetime Ago at Oshkosh 1986….
How did I get to writing this? I was scanning all these P-51s. I started to write the history and “where they are now” on each of them. I saw the family pictures and figured and decided that maybe...
Reno Air Races 1964 to 50th Anniversary
There have been few events in sports that manage to last 50 years. Fortunately the National Championship Air Races at Reno are one of them. This year will mark the 50th running of this race during September 11th-15th...
Jane and Charlie
Another sad day in the 2013 airshow season happened on June 22nd in Dayton. Jane Wicker was sitting on the “top” of the left bottom wing of her Stearman while Charlie Schwenker made a low inverted pass. Instead of...
Golden Hill
Mark Hrutkay People love to look inside things, inside a locked closet. In the attic. Inside a locked safe. For fliers and aviation historians for some reason closed hangars are more interesting than open ones. I was fortunate growing...
