Town of Hudson, Board of Trustee's, Christmas Bash!

Charlie and Mark Beam graciously donated their time arranging aircraft for the gathering!

Charlie giving a tour of the collection.

Hudon Town Hall enjoying their party!

Jack Nichols giving a tour of the WWII collection.

Nice shot of the group and the DrI, Ryan!

Short VAFM Promo Video

The Operation Freebird PSA that is airing currently.

More photos from the PSA for Operation Freebird!

Look for this ad featuring the DVIII, DVII, and Dr1 airing up until November 21, 2009! Click on the video to the right called: PSA Operation Freebird.

A PSA featuring Andy speaking and aircraft from the museum will air starting the week of November 16, 2009. Here are more photos from the shooting of the commercial!

Ron (aka Shaggy) having a grand old time in the Dr1!

Officer AnnaMarie and Officer Larry enjoying a seat in the BT-13!

Operation Freebird PSA Filming Today

The day was spent shooting a Public Service Announcement on behalf of Rocky's Auto's, the Adams County Sheriffis Department and the Vintage Aero Flying Museum to benefit Operation Freebird. As a show of appreciation to the veterans, VAFM will be flying aircraft over the venue on November 21, 2009.

An interior shot for the PSA
Officer Larry, whose responsible for the concept and fruition of O;perationFreebird, with Andy.



Andy, Sergio and Officer Larry setting up for another shot.

Andy and Sergio setting up the outside shot for the PSA.

Museum Documentary Filming

Though the weather here today is cold with snow and rain, fun is being had inside! Filming on the museum contents documentary is concluding today with interesting interior footage.

Andy and Art getting a call from "Ethel" on the vintage phone!
Andy, Art and Russ readying for the archive shots.

Filming in the archives.

In the archives with a signicant piece from Eddie Rickenbacker

Andy decked out in a WWI French uniform.

Andy being filmed by Russ in a German WWI uniform next to the Dr1

The Spad Project

The Spad Project has come home to be finished up! Stewart and Andy will be getting her air worthy.

Andy and Corkey unloading ......Gerry and Andy manuevering...
...and pushing... ...and finally in place! But wait a second-it's missing something...

...ah yes, the wings! Here VAFM webmaster and Moose owner Ted Waltman assists Andy.

Gerry giving a hand while Ted gives his back!

And the wings...

...slowly, but surely...

...make their way to their new perch.

The Spad project has been moved to VAFM's maintenance hangar. Sponsored by Nick and Nancy Rutgers, the Spad 13 is in the markings of James Norman Hall of the 103rd Aero Squadron. James Norman Hall was one of the "Valliant 38"- the first to fly with the French before the Americans entered WWI. After the war, Hall wanted to escape to a tranquil, serene place and write for travel magazines. He landed in Tahiti. He fell in love with Tahiti and a Tahitian woman. Hall made his home there, raised his family and wrote his novels. Of all of his novels, most notable is "Mutiny on the Bounty".

There are currently 3 projects in the works at the VAFM maintenance hangar:

Left to right: the Sopwith Project to be done in Bob Todd's markings, the Spad Project, James Norman Hall and the full scale Se5a to be done in Bill Lambert's markings.

Post-Production Filming Today!

Dr1 Pilot Mark Holliday, Stinson L-5 Pilot today Mark Beam, Art and Russ discussing the manueversfor the air-to-air shots.
Camera ship TaylorCraft with Mark Beam and Russ Wiltse

Gerry Coe attaching a camera to the Dr1

Stinson L-5 pilot, Mark Beam, Art and Mark Holliday discussing a flight plan.

Russ Wiltse adjusting his camera

Art making sure the camera is just right on the Dr1!

Art once again, getting the angle just right!

Art says: "Today was a great, beautiful, sunny day and I was able to get a lot of pick-ups that we missed the last 3 weeks."

Filming Back at the Front!

Filming of the museum collection documentary began yesterday.

Art and Andy going over last minute details.

Russ getting the camera angle just right while Gerry Coe checks lighting.

Andy on camera!

The museum documentary is about the collection's contents. Andy will be shown highlighting the cases with the respective Ace featured and will be discussing that pilot's contibution in WWI, his memorabilia, medals awarded and significant documents. The purpose of this documentary is for educational purposes.

BT-13 Getting Some Tinkering Done

Ryan Lunde and Mark Beam have been working hard on the BT-13.

Beamer

Lunde

...and the BT-13.

Ryan had this to say:

"Did some wrenching on a Pratt and Whiney radial today and have a new appreciation for the men who had to maintain these engines under fire 65 years ago. We, (Mark Beam and I), inspected the BT-13's fuel system and then moved to the ignition. Even getting the special tool on the rear spark plug leads was a chore. Then we cleaned and tested all 18 plugs. It has a periodic miss in flight."

The boys are excited to take the Bt-13 up in the air....now if only the weather would cooperate!!

A Couple of Exciting Events Coming Up for VAFM

A couple of exciting upcoming events for the museum are on Saturday, October 17 2009 and Saturday November 21, 2009.

On Saturday October 17, our 7/8 scale British SE5a will be flying over the park in Hudson and make a candy drop for the kids! This will happen around 4pm (weather permitting). On a special note, our SE5a was the only non-CGI (computer generated image) to actually fly in the movie, "The Aviator"!

A beautiful shot of our SE5a by Dan Simonsen

On November 21, we are joining forces with the Adams County Sheriff's Department and Rocky's Autos for OPERATION FREE BIRD! Many of the museum's aircraft will be performing fly-overs and the event itself will have several special features including:

* $10 gift cards towards the purchase of a Thanksgiving turkey
* Free presentations and sample products
* Career and life skills information
* Free food and entertainment

Andy speaking with Adams County Deputy Officer Medina, Rocky's Auto's marketing director Sergio and Ron Vigil. (AKA-Shaggy!)

The SE5a and the Triplane doing a little flying demonstration for the gang at Rocky's Autos!

Art flew the 2500 mile round trip to Ohio and back in his gorgeous Waco.
Here's the Waco back home in its Longmont hangar.

Beautiful wife, Betty, in front of the Waco.

Back at the Home Front

Though the journey is complete, the story has just begun. In the posts to come, look for snippits from the documentary and post-production filming excerpts! Exciting, upcoming information on other museum and aircraft happenings will be highlighted soon, too.

The DVII getting ready for its comfortable ride home in the trailer!

The DVIII, next to the museum's SE5a, and the Dr1 out for a bit of welcomed sun!

Mark Beam and Brian Waltman spiffying up the DVIII after the journey.