Jan - Warbird Squadron 4

www.warbirdsquadron4.org
December 2015 Vol. 10 No. 5
In this issue:
Upcoming Events
From the C.O.’s Desk
Buzzing the Airfield
Young Eagle Report
My Experience Getting
Acquainted with a PT-17
July B-17 Bomber Weekend
at Aurora
Squadron Officers
New Squadron 4 Members
Warbird Squadrons
Squadron 4 Warbirds
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Page 2
Page 3
Page 6
Page 14
Page 19
Page 19
Page 19
Page 20
February 6, 2016 Saturday 4:00PM
Squadron 4 Annual Banquet at the William
Tell Restaurant 6201 Joliet Road
Countryside, IL 60525
Guest speaker Brad Deckert – TBM Avenger
owner.
As always please check our web site for the
most up to date information:
www.warbirdsquadron4.org
From the C.O.’s Desk
By Tom Buck
This past October our good friend and Squadron member Frank
McCarter passed away. He was a WW 2 Warbird pilot with P 40
and P 51 time in the China – Burma Theater. He came after the
Flying Tigers and learned their techniques.—what history!
We enjoyed his talks and presentations and his faithful presence at
our meetings. The TBM and crew had the privilege of flying over
the Cemetery for his service. I flew in a form of the cross over
Frank’s resting place and I sensed he was with us one more time as
we made our passes. It was an honor to be present at the funeral,
and I know Frank was smiling at us. A sad mission but one of
peaceful gratitude, honoring Frank.
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Buzzing the Airfield
By Jerry Czupryn
Happy New Year!!! 2015 was a good year for me. I hope it was for all my fellow squadron
members. It’s 2016 and I wish all the best to everyone especially those with health issues.
I’m looking forward to the start of the airshow season. I’ve started my list of airshows and
events that I want to attend with my family and squadron buddies.
I want to say thanks to Butch, Brad, and Dave for their contributions to this newsletter.
I hope to see a lot of you at the Annual Squadron 4 banquet on Saturday February 6 at the
William Tell Restaurant. Our guest speaker will be Brad Deckert talking about his adventure
getting his TBM from LaSalle/Peru IL to Hawaii. This is a must attend event.
Thanks again for everyone’s support and contributions to the newsletter.
If you have any questions, suggestions, articles, pictures, or stories please send them to me at
nyrs9229@comcast.net. They don’t have to be essays or novels. Short stories will do.
Safe Travels.
Jerry
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Young Eagle Report
By Butch Bejna
Photo courtesy of jetAVIVA - Oshkosh AirVenture 2015.
I had the chance to speak to the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Club
grades 5-8 at St. Mary Catholic School in Mokena, IL recently. They asked some good
questions about flying. Some may go for Young Eagle Flights when the weather cooperates.
Since Air Venture seventy one Young Eagles have been flown by Warbird Squadron 4. It has
been quite busy and should be a very successful upcoming year for the squadron.
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Warbird Squadron 4 had a very busy Young Eagle year in 2015. The last flights were on
December 6th at Joliet Airport. Nine flights were given to students from St. Mary Catholic
School in Mokena. Special thanks go out to Bruce Hawkins for being in charge of all the ground
activity. Jenny McFarland, the Airport Manager, let us use the terminal building for the event. It
was a lot closer at Joliet than to have the parents and students drive to Schaumburg Airport,
where I am based at. Joseph Ermel attended the Air Academy Camp on behalf of Warbird
Squadron 4. A total of 116 Young Eagles were flown by Warbird Squadron 4 during 2015. A
big milestone was reached this year. I went over the 2,000th Young Eagle flown in my Cessna
150 and finished with 2,046. 2016 will be my 20th year of flying Young Eagles. It all began
with the first flight at Meigs Field.
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My Experience Getting Acquainted With a PT-17
By Bradley Ferris
Earlier this year, I was pleasantly surprised by a call from Jerry Czupryn, informing me one of
my Squadron 4 raffle tickets had been drawn. I set up a ride with Keith Birsa in his PT-17.
I was quite excited to fly in an aircraft of a vintage that I had only seen in museums or at air
shows. Aviation history has been a passionate interest of mine for a long time. When I saw
Keith’s PT-17 at the Joliet Regional Airport, I noticed the airplane was marked “Manufactured
by Boeing Airplane Co. Wichita Division” and date of manufacture “9-11-43.” I thought of all
the airplanes manufactured in the historic aviation city of Wichita, especially during World War
II. This aircraft was part of that history. Also, as a current Boeing employee, this was a great
opportunity to connect to my company’s heritage. The wheels were marked “Made in USA,
Bendix Aviation Corp, South Bend, Indiana.” I grew up in Indiana and used to work at Bendix
(or Honeywell, as is it called now). It was nice to see a piece of this airplane was “close to
home.”
I enjoyed the way by which I entered the PT-17: stepping on the wing, lowering myself into the
seat, fastening a harness. This contrasted with the Cessna 152 I had flown before, which felt
more like getting into a car compared to the PT-17.
I have about 30 hours of flight training based out of the Long Beach Airport. Some of the things
I noticed most during my flight with Keith were the differences between flying in the PT-17 and
the last time I flew an aircraft. At Long Beach Airport, I had to talk with Clearance Delivery,
Ground, and Tower. I had to ask the controllers for permission before I did anything at the
airport or in the surrounding airspace. At Joliet Regional Airport there were a lot less people to
talk with and no controllers from whom to ask permission. Flying in an open cockpit was a
different and invigorating experience. When Keith offered to let me take the controls, I enjoyed
the chance to fly an aircraft with a stick. Before that I had only flown an aircraft with a yoke.
The most trouble I had flying was picking out landmarks in the distance to help me fly straight.
Flying out of Long Beach, there are mountains, islands, and coast line to fly towards. I
eventually adjusted my landmark search for the flat terrain over Joliet.
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I had an immensely enjoyable time flying with Keith in his PT-17. I am glad people like Keith
and Squadron 4 keep aviation history like this flying.
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Gordon Millerin served aboard her in 1958 when she was brand new, his squadron
VF-144 F9F-8 Cougars boarded her at Norfolk Virginia and went around Cape Horn to
Alameda California.
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An early picture I found on the internet of Tom, George, Bruce, and Steve.
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EAA SQUADRON 4 ANNUAL BANQUET
When: Saturday, February 6th, 2016 at 4:00 P.M.
Where: AT THE WILLIAM TELL RESTAURANT 6201 Joliet Rd., Countryside, IL 605253958.
Guest Speaker: Brad Deckert - We are fortunate to have Brad Deckert, a TBM
owner/pilot, for our banquet speaker this year. He is going to talk about his TBM and
their complex logistics and planning to get to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. How do you take
a 12000 pound TBM from California to Hawaii? Be sure to attend and hear first hand
the story of a historical TBM returnuing and flying over Pearl Harbor.
RESERVATIONS ARE TO BE MADE BY February 1st, 2016. Visit our web site
www.warbirdsquadron4.org to make your reservations. Cost $40 a plate with a
reservation. At the door it will be $50 a plate.
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A few pictures I found on the internet. I hope you enjoy them.
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July B-17 Bomber Weekend at Aurora
By Dave Stevens
The details leading up to our July weekend with EAAs Aluminum Overcast B-17 were coming
together well. The gang from Oshkosh was more involved than ever and they gave us the July 912 dates, which really pushed us to get moving on arrangements early.
Rod Baker Ford generously donated the crew car again and the Millerins (yes, the whole family)
took care of getting that vehicle to and from the airport, which is no small task.
I got pretty excited when I learned we had WGN TV and WLUP radio interested in covering our
media day activities… and then they both canceled. Maybe next year.
Greg Vana from Yorkville organized the VFW color guard as he did last year, and he went the
extra mile with a Flag ceremony, raising and lowering to half-staff while Taps was played on a
bugle. The veterans again appreciated the honor and recognition. We had some new veterans fly
this year. Dan Ursitti, Battle of the Bulge veteran, Gus Strelow who was a bomber mechanic in
England and Harry Micci, a P-51 Mechanic, Korea, all had their first ever B-17 rides! We had
our familiar B-17 vets too, including, Radio Operator, Ted Micci, Flight Engineer, Bill Thorns
and the unstoppable navigator, Charlie Mueller.
It was a great day for the media flight and Chuck Derer went along to cover it. We fed everyone
as we do every year and I think it was a successful start to a productive weekend. I missed
Friday because of work (I was flying! - for a while) but I know we had two flights and the day
worked out well for everyone.
Saturday and Sunday were great with lots of local people coming out for ground tours. Tom
Buck flew in with his TBM Avenger and Scott Delawder had his PT-19 out there all weekend.
Walt Reddel and Doug Partl brought out their T-6 for some added color and “round motor”
action. Having these warbirds show up is very much appreciated by all. Thanks guys!
Randy Fank and the whole J. A. Air Center gang really rolled out the red carpet for us again. We
are fortunate to have their flexible and helpful crew host us at Aurora.
We had 68 paid B-17 passengers and hosted well over 2000 ground tours. Considering the
weather, I think we had a great tour stop. I had the great pleasure of getting my 2 grandsons
close to the airplanes that I always talk about… If I could just make one out of Legos!
A Flying Fortress-Sized Thank You to the Squadron 4 members who came out and organized,
helped with ground tours, crowd control, merchandise sales, greeting, answering questions and
generally promoting EAA, Warbirds and Squadron 4! You are absolutely necessary for these
tour stops to be successful. If you couldn’t make time to come out and help, even for an hour or
two, you missed something special… and we REALLY need you. If you didn’t know when the
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B-17 tour stop was, Let us know! Send us an email and put in the subject CONTACT UPDATE.
See you out there next year!
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Squadron Officers
(Partial listing – see website for full board)
C.O. Tom Buck
(815) 744-1263
E.O. David Stevens
(630) 323-6619
SEC. Ted Kowalik
(630) 289-2785
TRE. Brian Churchill
(847) 356-9056
5bucks@sbcglobal.net
stevens15@mindspring.com
thaddeusk@ameritech.net
brian.churchill@warbirdsquadron4.org
New Squadron 4 Members
We are always looking for new members to join the Squadron. For more information please
contact Bruce Hawkins at (815) 274-1752 or bruce.hawkins@warbirdsquadron4.org
A “BIG” Squadron 4 welcome to our new member Andre Ramos of Aurora, IL.
Warbird Squadrons
You can find all of these links on our site under the "WOA Squadron" button.
Listed below is the text for the links.
Warbirds of America Link:
http://www.warbirds-eaa.org/
Seattle, WA Cascade Warbird Squadron 2 Link: http://www.cascadewarbirds.org/
Eugene, OR Warbird Squadron 13 Link: http://www.squadron13.org/warbirds/
Chino, CA Warbird Squadron 16 Link: http://www.warbirdsusa.org/
Cincinnati, OH Warbird Squadron 18 Link: http://www.cincinnatiwarbirds.org/
Florida Warbird Squadron 24: http://www.floridawarbirds.org/
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Squadron 4 Warbirds
Spitfire
F8F Bearcat
Corsair
TBM Avenger
T6
SNJ
T6
T6
SNJ
Yak
OW Meyers
PT-19
T34
Wildcat
Rudy Frasca
John O’Connor
John O’Connor
Tom Buck
Rick Siegfried
Vic Krause
Rudy Frasca
John O’Connor
Tom Buck
Bob Fitzpatrick
Chuck Downey
Scott Delawder
Rudy Frasca
Rudy Frasca
Merchandise
Visit the website for more information.
www.warbirdsquadron4.org
Keep’em Flyin
EAA Warbirds of America Squadron 4 is dedicated to the appreciation of military aviation, its
people and its history. EAA Warbirds of America fosters an environment that celebrates all past
and present members of the U.S Armed Services.
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