AOPA Livermore Fly In
You know, in a world where inanimate objects have a soul, I think Annie would be beaming.
From all that I have heard, the LLCs display at AOPA's KLVK Fly In was a success. Although tucked away a bit off the main display area, word had spread around the grounds about the BT-13 at Five Rivers ramp and it's upcoming restoration, so more than just a few people came over to see what the fuss was all about.
Over the course of two days, people met most of the LLCs members, got to see Annie up close, and chit chat about the project's plan of action. Most importantly was that these people got to see our bird in the flesh - there's something about seeing a given item in person that makes it all the more real! Concept gives way to firm reality when you can actually put a hand to it, and in the pictures of a few guests that got to sit in our BT's cockpit, you can see the gears turning in their heads, imagining how much more cool it would be to do so with a healthy engine alive and kicking! :)
But when it comes to these kind of displays where warbirds are involved, it went a wee past just chit chat, because the awesome thing is that the warbird community has this innate bond where when something happens to one warbird, it gets the attention of the community as a whole. So many of the visitors were aficionados in their own right, dropping in to offer things that the layman doesn't.
For example, Taurus relayed to me about this one gentleman who had a possible contact with LOTS of stock BT-13 parts out at Whiteman; parts like tail wheel struts, canopy frames, and a whole engine mount. Note that Annie took a fair blow to her engine, so when we fully break her down, it's more than just nice to know that if her own mount is damaged, a potential replacement exists. THAT IS GOLD for projects like this, where parts for such WW2 aircrat can often be scarce; fabrication of non-existent components is a costly last resort.
Lastly, it was just plain FUN for the attending LLC members to get together. In between all the shop talk, they had fun just shooting the breeze, enjoying some BBQ (courtesy of Taurus and his ever present portable grill haha), and taking turns to take in some of the sights and lectures at the Fly In. This author wishes he could've been there, guys!
I guess when we move Annie to hangar, the burgers are on me. ;)