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**Mark Julicher** · 10-25-2009, 07:54

Reklaw Fly In 2

The second leg was from HYI to PSN flying at 2500 feet MSL. The wind was out of the north and our ground speed was about 70 knots. We skirted the class C airspace at Austin. With some recent rains, central Texas was very green.

First photo shows a more or less exhausted oil field. Very few pumps are remaining here. The area is also dotted with open pit lignite mines.

Second photo shows that the central Texas plains are giving way to East Texas oaks and pine trees. The ride was bumpy. Winds were from 360 at 3000 but 270 at the surface.

Third photo is on base leg into Palestine. The bump ride messed up my aim, but all that concrete pad is a NASA balloon launch facility according to the chart.

Attached Files

**Mark Julicher** · 10-25-2009, 08:06

Reklaw Fly In 3

We refueled in Palestine. Fuel was going to be limited in Reklaw. We were invited to explore this interesting Taylorcraft project registered to Ron Jarrett.

This Taylorcraft has a Swick control stick. It is not a clipped wing. The glove boxes open from the bottom. Many interesting details to observe. Photos show Mike and Doc examining everything up close.

Next stop is Reklaw (7TA7) only a 40 mile hop left. With about 200 Taylorcrafts registered in Texas not to mention Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas not too far away, there ought to be a few planes to see.

Attached Files

**Mark Julicher** · 10-25-2009, 12:32

Reklaw Fly In 4

The leg from Palestine to Reklaw took about half an hour. It started out as a relaxed cross country and ended like an Oshkosh arrival without the ground controllers. We arrived at a relatively slack period during which there were no less than 7 in the pattern. Later in the day there were up to 18 planes holding outside the pattern waiting for an opening.

The Runway is about 150 feet wide and 4000 feet long with undulating terrain. Parking was mostly on the west side and activities were mostly on the east side, so avoiding pedestrians on the runway was the order of the day.

Aircraft were constantly arriving and shooting low approaches. Yahoo! The usual passel of RVs, an Antonov AN2, Cessna Caravan, 1929 Travelair 6000, Legal Eagle ultralight, Aircam, Robinson 44, Waco UPF-7, a few Stearmans, Bonanzas, Comanches, Cessna 310s, Cubs - (real, WagAero, Cubcrafters, and Legend), some more rare stuff like a Rearwin, Aeronca CA, etc. The list goes on and there were approximately 500 aircraft on the ground by Saturday morning.

Doc managed to jump into the pattern with a very impatient Apache closing from behind him. Hey, going around is expected at a deal like this with hugely dissimilar aircraft sharing the one runway. Plan your pattern accordingly.

The only two really ugly incidents we saw were an RV that realized too late that there was an aircraft just behind the "hump" about 1500 feel down the runway. That led to a nasty pancake and slam on brakes. Should have been a wave off, but maybe the sink rate was already too much - I can't say. Second issue was an ultralight that discovered the vortex from the Caravan that landed in front of him. Wowser! 45 degrees of bank between the two rows of trees lining the runway followed by 30 degrees of bank the other way! The pilot did manage a go-around and lived to tell about it. And Oh Yeah, The guy who was walking his dog across the runway and stopped to let it poop with an aircraft on short final --- you sir are an idiot!

Here are two photos showing a bit of the East Texas piney woods. Flying M Ranch at Reklaw was carved out of the pines. Oh, and incase you wondered, Reklaw is Walker spelled backwards, but in 1890 or thereabouts when they incorporated the town there was already a Walker, Texas - you snooze you lose.

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**Pearson** · 10-25-2009, 12:47

Re: Reklaw Fly In

Mark,

Thanks for sharing. Very nice pictures. Looks like a good time.

**Mark Julicher** · 10-25-2009, 12:48

Reklaw Fly In 5

So what about our favorite airplanes? The next postings are just Taylorcrafts and maybe a bit of commentary...
Very nice DCO 65 registered to Ron Paduh of San Antonio. Flying Ferret nose art - classy. Sorry I did not see you in person.

N43107 - Beautiful BC registered to Ivan Wimp in Taylor, Texas. The Ultralight behind him is the fellow that got the wake vortex lesson. Beyond the RV in the photo there is another 3000 feet of runway but the hill is steep enough to obscure vision. Also sorry I did not get to see you personally.

Attached Files

**Mark Julicher** · 10-25-2009, 13:04

Reklaw Fly In 6

Registered to Jesse Gourlay of Leander, Texas. This plane flies nearly every day.

Attached Files

**Mark Julicher** · 10-25-2009, 13:13

Reklaw Fly In 7

The Texas Racing Team!
Registered to Bob McQuirk. It flies in races like Sun n Fun - why??? BECAUSE HE CAN!!

You have to love it

And finally, 43306 and 95312 parked together amid hundreds of other happy campers.

Attached Files

**Dick Huish** · 10-25-2009, 13:46

Re: Reklaw Fly In

I just had to add some info on the DCO-65. I restored that ship over 20 years ago. Glad to see it's still flying. you can see that it has been repainted (at least partly. My neice came here from Chicago just to do the nose art. Dick

**Doc** · 10-25-2009, 16:39

Re: Reklaw Fly In

Mark: Thanks for sharing the photos. Many thanks to the T-crafters who came by NC43306 late Saturday afternoon to talk shop. I was able to meet Murray Holcomb, Sonnie Fitch, and many others who were gracious enough to tell their stories, and to share their secrets of T-craftiness! The owner of the DCO-65 (Jesse) was also from the San Antonio area...I had coffee at 0700 this morning with him prior to my 0745 departure. The GPS logged 4.0 hours flight time to San Antonio (7AT7-1T8) at ~ 18 gallons (I carry 24)...ground speed was in the low 50's at 2,200 RPM due to a quartering southerly nosewind. The last 60 miles was scudrunnning at 2,300 MSL...touchdown on Runway 16 with wind from 180 at 14 gusting to 20. The T-crafters are a great group. We had 5 ships there out of 500+. The most interesting to me was a 1929 Travel Air 6000 carrying a Wright R-975 420 HP radial (the original engine under ATC 100 was a Wright J6 "9" rated at 300 HP)...the instrument panel was as austere as mine with only 5 instruments, although his magneto switch was huge! The control quadrant was above the panel on the glare shield! The owner (Scott Glover) was very gracious and allowed my wife and myself to sit in the command seats. It was a fabulous weekend...the Cubs were ubiquitous...we were unique. Best wishes to all. Doc

**Doc** · 10-25-2009, 16:42

Re: Reklaw Fly In

Dick: Regarding the DCO-65...It is about time to recover that machine...Jesse was not sure when he would get to it. Doc

**Buell Powell** · 10-25-2009, 18:05

Re: Reklaw Fly In

Mark,Doc, and Mike
Just want to say it was really great having you come by. It was already almost a picture perfect day for flying and then getting to fly in with your beautiful old T/crafts in the pattern and visiting made it even better. Here's another picture -George took of our planes.
Buell

Attached Files

**Dick Huish** · 10-25-2009, 19:21

Re: Reklaw Fly In

That DCO-65 is actually an L-2M with cowling from an L-2B as per the owners request. It doesn't have spoilers because at that time I wasn't equipped with the tooling and fixtures to make them. The ship is covered with Superflite fabric and was was inspected by the Faa to approve the fabric for the Model "D" Taylorcraft. Dick

**Ragwing nut** · 10-25-2009, 21:10

Re: Reklaw Fly In

sucks that I missed it. I heard there was around 600 airplanes there

**Pearson** · 10-25-2009, 22:35

Re: Reklaw Fly In

So is this an every year kind of thing. How do you find out when it will be next year?

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