This past Saturday, April 7th, a several determined souls braved forecast winds of "gusting to 32" knots on top of a "cold snap" and made their way to Columbia-Owens Downtown Airport (KCUB) for the 4th Annual Palmetto RV Fly In. Some called and canceled and several dozen decided to come by land instead. But as usual, good food and good fellowship was the order of the day, along with a chance to take a look at some nice RVs. We thank everyone who came and made it another nice get-together. Pictures of the event should be forthcoming. More pictures from the FlyIn can be seen here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jclarkmail/2007PalmettoRVFlyIn02On a sad note, our first and most prolific Carolina RV builder, Ray Chaplain passed away earlier in the week. Ray had built an RV6, RV6A, RV7A and an RV8 and was visited by Van "hisself" in the early days. His deep red (burgundy) with gray stripes RV8 has been seen many times in various magazine articles about F-16 flyers who are also flying formation in RVs. Ray had recently finished a Zenith Light Sport Aircraft. I know he would have done an RV12 instead if they had been available at the time and his most memorable saying about his last project was "... it ain't no RV!...". We will miss Ray, his dry wit and his paving the way for us as builders here in the Carolinas.
We fortunate to have Mike Stewart and Danny Kight of TeamRV join us for a "Missing Man" flight for Ray and I am told that his family really appreciated it.
In the first picture, above, taken by EAA Chapter 242 newsletter editor, Mike Hoover, is a 5-ship fly-by after the flight for Ray. This was the team that did the "Missing Man" for Ray. Lead: Ken Harrill (RV6), 2: James Clark (RV6), 3: Tad Sargent (RV7A), 4: Danny Kight (RV6), 5: Mike Stewart (Super8).
In the shot to the left, "2" (James) has just pitched out and "3" (Tad) is about to ... at KCUB
made.
