www.brantly.info

ANYBODY FLYING? I KNOW A FEW OF US ARE FLYING IN THE N. E. BUT I DON'T HEAR OF ANYONE WHERE THE WEATHER IS WARM. WE AT V&B AIRCRAFT ARE STARTING TO PUT THIS YEARS FLY-IN TOGETHER FOR JUNE . WITH THIS MUCH NOTICE I HOPE A FEW MORE BRANTLY'S COME THIS YEAR.

OK , WE SET A DATE FOR OUR FLY-IN. IT IS JUNE 25TH & 26TH 2011. TO THOSE OF YOU WHO ATTENDED LAST YEAR WE ARE OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS. WE ARE MAKING A FEW CHANGES TO TRY AND GET THE FOLKS FLYING A LITTLE MORE. WE WILL BE HAVING OUR CHICKEN BBQ ON SATURDAY EVENING ALONG WITH AWARDS GIVEN OUT. SAT MORNING THERE WILL BE A BRUNCH FLY OUT TO A COUNTRY RESTAURANT. THERE WILL BE A SUNDAY MID-MORNING FLY OUT FOR ICE CREAM. WE WILL PROVIDE TRANSPORTATION TO THE CHURCH OF YOUR CHOICE FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO ATTEND SUNDAY MORNING. WE ARE BASED IN N.E. PA AT CHERRY RIDGE AIRPORT (N30) CLOSE TO LAKE WALLENPAUPACK AND THE DELAWARE RIVER. ONLY 5 MINUETS FROM N.Y STATE AND 20 MINUETS FROM NORTHERN N.J. MARK THIS ON YOUR CALENDAR AND WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THEN. BILL

Wayne County PA (home of Cherry Ridge Airport) is beautiful, I am biased a bit, I grew up there.
Rolling hills, dairy farms, lakes and lakes.

2.5 hrs (auto) from NYC or Philia, invites some outsiders but they don't dominate.
( a good thing!)

Not a copter owner yet, I hope I can attend and will put on my driver's hat and offer to
taxi anyone around in our van.

I will make sure Doc Watson, famous as "the flying veterinarian"(60s, 70s Brantly), and discussed in a thread
or two here gets to attend.

Fixinfly, others, what would be the chance of getting a Brantly exec to attend?
The Marcellus natural gas play is speeding across NE PA, Williamsport PA to Susquehanna County.
I REALLY think there is Brantly demand potential in this area, I might be able to produce
4-5 interested parties.


Scrap

I would like to go if i get mine going. I could follow RON down im shure hes going .would fun with a lot of brantlys there....tom

Ha, in fun only partly I will posit that NE PA is the most beautiful of Pennsylvania. Once across the border into NJ or NY the pines are not as tall nor have the same wonderful smell. At least that is what I have told my children for 22 yrs.

Wayne County is full of industrial history, providing pine for US and English ship masts in the Tall Ships era, early 1800s – long, light, strong. Maple sugar was boiled down and made its way down the Delaware, preferred by Quakers in Philadelphia over slave grown cane sugar. The area’s bluestone is second to nonethe world over. Old high school friends cut and ship it all over the world, including to Japan- extra hard and consistent in color. Hardwood output is high and top quality. In the 50s 60s dairying dominated, thought active dairies now number under 100 vs. 1000+ 40 years ago. Now there are several farms producing home grown products, direct to the consumer.

I visited V&N Aircraft 2 weeks ago. The shop is very clean with, 2-3 projects going on. Calm atmosphere, deeply experienced mechanics - I would be glad to use their services without hesitation.

Late June is the best time of year in NE PA, warm but never too hot, I bet the turnout will be big.

Scrapper
cof

HI EVERY ONE i cant wait to go to the fly in i met bill in person a few weeks ago and what a very knowledgeable and nice person to to have as a friend i hope every on this forum can go to his fly in i would like to meet all of you and I'm sure bill would to.... and i think its going to be a very nice turn out with many brantlys there... cant wait but u guys better get going the time is getting very close.....hope to see you all there....happy flying and be safe...thanks tom..2191u

Sounds like a lot of fun, not sure about the dates yet, hope to be there. Would like to meet all of you and bring 2101U. You guys need to encourage Bryan Cobb to be there maybe even Harold. Between the two we could learn a lot.

Scrapper, does Doc Watson have email? Got a letter from him and will respond by snail mail or email if available. He sounds like an interesting gentleman.

Fly safe!
Dave

I just finished reading Doc Watson's book today. Quite interesting, especially his FLYING chapter, where he made vet calls in his Brantly.

Looking forward to the fly-in coming up. I have several in this area planning on making the trip.

Heliscan - Doc at 91 does not have email. You will have to print and stamp it! Repeating, but imagine any of us at 91, looking back at life highlights, he is so found of his Brantly memories, he almost implied he would like to buy 2101U back! Meantime I am not sure he is even driving his car, great spirit. I missed his book signing last fall, it is said he was sharp as a nail, very funny, 300+ people showed (a lot for rural NE PA) and by name he recognized all his old veterinarian friends.

He bought his B2 craft in 1962, over heated- had air fans added and then had it factory converted to B2B. He flew until 1982, never an incident, he only weighed 150#, usually flew alone. Very careful and excellent pilot. He had prior wing craft experience, hjad owned 2-3 different planes.

He and son Ron plan to visit the Fly-In, he is a legend in those parts.
COF
Scrapper

* Anyone here who would like a copy of the book, just message or email me your snail-mail address and I would be very glad to send you a copy.

Well the fly-in is only 4 weeks away, I sent out over 300 personal invitations by mail to owners of all types of helicopters, basically in the N.E. this week ,advertised on the Brantly,Hiller, and Experimental Helo magazine, so we'll see what kind of a response we get. Remember to please call or email me if you are coming as to what kind of bird and how many people. everone is invited weather you drive or fly in. I've had a good response from the western pa/ Ohio area plus the n.j. n.y. area, just praying for good weather. Hope to see you here, fly safe. Bill 570-729-7006( h) 570-253-5181( w) mottjb@ptd.net (h) vbaircraft@verizon.net (w)

IF ANYONE WANTS TO FLY TO THE FLY-IN FROM WESTERN PA, OHIO ETC AS A GROUPE CONTACT RON SPIKER AS HE & A FEW OTHERS ARE COMING IN SAT MORNING. HOPE TO SEE YOU HERE. BILL

HI EVERY ONE I believe Ron wants to leave on friday eve so if any one wants to fly with us over to fly in.. should contact RON for exact time. he is getting that set up for us.I hope to see you guys there its going to be a great time going and being there..so will see you all there.....i heard that this is HOMERS LAST YEAR FOR HIS FLY.IN...SO MABEY WE CAN GET THIS ONE TO START BEING A NEW MEETING PLACE. SO LETS GO........thanks ...tom

Ron can you please post some pics for those of us that could not make it.
Thanks Brad

Thanks to Bill and Vinny for hosting a great weekend. I have over 525 photos to go through, and there were other forum members there taking lots of pictures also, so there should be some good ones to post here.

Doc Watson did show up on Saturday. This was probably the highlight of my weekend, as I spent probably 2 1/2 - 3 hours talking with him, and he even went for a ride with me. He did fly for a few minutes, but admitted that he wasn't as smooth as he used to be. Here are just a few photos with him. What a pleasure to talk with him about his life experiences, especially having read his book beforehand.

Thanks for showing the Brantly in action as usual Ron. BTW what book did Doc. Watson author?