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37 ship at AirVenture 2009

Stu McCurdy

Well Known Member
In case anybody is interested, we are again planning a Large Formation for AirVenture this year. We set a Guinness World Record with the 35-ship close formation in 2007. This year we are planning a 36-ship, or maybe larger, close formation so we can improve on the record.

Our arrival at OSH will be on Sunday at 1305 in conjunction with the dedication of the new Main Gate. They want us to make a West to East pass across the gate and Aeroshell Square, then land. We will again fly overhead Tuesday and Wednesday 1130-1200, conducting a series of shape changing passes, culminating in a big 36-ship Diamond.

Just look for the Yellow shirts with the 36-ship Diamond on the back.
 
Hi there,

Just for future reference... just wondering how this formation is organized and how one gets involved? Just wondering for future (waaay out in the future) reference. :)
 
Other formation shapes

With 36 airplanes in the formation, why wouldn't you consider non-standard formation shapes--like spelling 'RV'?

Bill Swatling
RV-7 (forward fuselage)
 
Im afraid the spelling of letters or words only works in small numbers of planes. Larger numbers of planes like this and you must keep everyone tight for safety and stability of the formation.

You could seperate the formations and make letters, but we dont want to seperate and spell, we want to fly the planes together in symetrical formations. Its just what we do. Making letters is for small numbers.

If you have ever seen folks try spelling with more than ~12 planes, you will know what Im talking about. It looks terrible and folks on the ground look up and gag themselves.

Good question though.
 
spelling

at the gathering of the mustangs in Columbus--they had a huge gaggle (If I remember correctly they wanted to have 51) of mustangs spelling out 'P-51'. they really did a great job. 36 planes spelling our VANS RV would look great!!! larry
 
51's were Good

But this is not what we shoot for. We try to keep everyone of the planes within about a wingspan of the ship it's flying off of.

3744864102_245ecaae22.jpg


The 51's were great but not the kind of formations we do.

3744843842_112f818155.jpg
 
at the gathering of the mustangs in Columbus--they had a huge gaggle (If I remember correctly they wanted to have 51) of mustangs spelling out 'P-51'. they really did a great job. 36 planes spelling our VANS RV would look great!!! larry

I was there that week end.

It was a great show and the "51" formation was ok, but of course everyone knew it was supposed to be a "51". :)

Such performances are not easy.

I was at the event at the invitation of a friend who had flown combat in 51's during the big war. I think he wanted company, a driver, and someone who would appreciate what the gathering was all about.

One of the high lights was meeting Charlie Wilson, his roommate during those days at Madna, Italy who is the only pilot known to have been rescued from behind enemy lines by another P-51 pilot. Wilson took a shell hit that burst his coolant system and he had to put the airplane in a field. Major Wyatt Exum decided to land and pick him up. They almost did not make it but with bullets flying in their direction, it was 60" of MP and 3000 rpm and they were flying - with Wilson about 2/3's in the airplane behind Exum and the canopy open.

This is not a BS story. :) It is all recorded in the book "Spitfires and Yellow Tail Mustangs" pages 134-135.

My friend Tom Watkins is mentioned in the book regarding the unknown twin fighter he shot down as it dived toward a formation of bombers. Gun camera film revealed the airplane was actually Russian as it had an exposed tail wheel. No one knew why a Russian would be attacking our bombers so it remained an unknown rather than provoke an international uproar.

Enough war stories....back to the big formation on Sunday.,,,hope to see it from the ground at OSH and therefore will launch at oh dawn hundred from Missouri so as to arrive well ahead of the appointed out hour of 1305.

Here's to a good weather day (and safe flying).
 
Spitfires & Yellowtails

is a great book.
My uncle, Joe Randerson was in that squadron and also has his story told in the book. (page 135, upper right photo) His 51 was shot down in Yugoslovia while on a straffing mission and he was MIA for several weeks. The underground had him and nursed him back to health before returning him home.

He is currently living in Llano, TX. He's a spry 88 years old and still rides his motorcycle several hundred miles a week.

His older brother, my Uncle Luther Randerson is a spry 92, living in Midland and still plays 18 holes 3 or 4 times a week. He was a Colonel in the US Army Air Corp and flew every single engine fighter and most of the light bombers.

We just had a family reunion last weekend and listening to those two tell stories is really fun.
 
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NO

Nada passed away a couple years ago. She came to live with my grandparents after the war until she got settled here in this country.
Uncle Joe gave her a dollar bill with his name and Texas phone number and she got in touch that way.
Both of her kids are still alive and Unc. keeps in touch with them
 
RV Large Formation Practice

We now have 6 RV formation pilots at SQI. Waiting for the other 31 to arrive tomorrow to begin briefings and practice before we migrate north to OSH for our Sunday 1305 RV Arrival in conjunction with the Main Gate dedication.

See y'all there.
 
We now have 6 RV formation pilots at SQI. Waiting for the other 31 to arrive tomorrow to begin briefings and practice before we migrate north to OSH for our Sunday 1305 RV Arrival in conjunction with the Main Gate dedication.

See y'all there.

Ya'll be careful, and I will see you there!

I will never forget when you guys did the large formation over Aero Shell Square last year I think? It still gives me goose bumps to think about it. The formation was absolutly perfect! Very impressive. Second to none.

You did us all very proud.
 
formation.jpg


I can report the formation flew over the L Lot at 1:01 p.m. Unfortunately, I was messing with my memory card at the time to upload some pix to the blog. It was a great sound and a good show, the above picture notwithstanding.

I was hoping they'd return but I see a series of four-ship overhead breaks for Runway 36 (pretty good crosswind) now so they're coming in. I'm sure Doug and other more accomplished photographers will have pictures.
 
I just got home from work in time to watch it on the live web cam - that was a long string of RV's filling the infield as they rolled off the runway - very impressive!

Paul
 
I missed it...

I'm here at work on Sunday :mad: listening to the audio of Runway 27 waiting for the mass arrival and they landed Runway 36 :eek: Cudos to the RV formation pilots :) Rosie (workbound instead of OSHbound)
 
I watched it from the Fly Market and the flyover was awesome! The sound, the smoke, the planes were all just beautiful!

Great job to everyone involved!
 
Yeh, I missed it. The paper said 1:30 and I got there to find a lot of new RVs in the parking area. Oh, well. Looking forward to meeting a lot of folk at the banquet.
 
37-ship Formation Team

Thanks for all the favorable comments about the 37-ship formation. 37 RVs arrive SQI, 37 Practice at SQI, 37 Depart SQI and do Flyover for Sunday Main Gate Dedication, 37 Perform Tuesday and Wednesday. Pretty impressive. We had two significant maintenance problems but the team jumped in and got them fixed.

In case anyone would like to know, here's the 37-ship Vans Air Force Formation Team who broke their own Guinness World Record for largest civil close formation. They represent formation teams from TX, GA, NC, SC, CA, OR, OH, and IL all flying to the same formation standards. This was the 10th anniversary of FFI which sets the standards.

A1- Stu McCurdy Falcon RV-8, Falcon Flight
A2- Bill Gunn, Gunnbody, RV-4, Falcon Flight
A3- Tom Jett, Woody, RV-7A, Falcon Flight
A4- Roy Geer, Jarhead, RV-6, Falcon Flight

B1- Lowell LeMay, Pfantom, RV-7, Falcon Flight
B2- Glen Miller, Dogg, RV-8, Cincy River Rats
B3- Deven Felix, Fish, RV-4, Falcon Flight
B4- Pat Tuckey, Glider, RV-8, Falcon Flight

C1- Greg Reese, Greese, RV-8, Cincy River Rats
C2- Bud Newhouse, Joker, RV-8, Cincy River Rats
C3- Jon Thocker, Mutha, RV-8, Cincy River Rats
C4- Ron Gieleghem, Giggles, RV-8, Cincy River Rats

D1- Scott Farner, Debris, RV-7A, West Coast Ravens
D2- Brad Peacock, Wingnut, RV-4, West Coast Ravens
D3- Tim Cone, Slick, RV-8, West Coast Ravens
D4- Jim Percy, JP, RV-7A, West Coast Ravens

E1- Mike Stewart, Kahuna, RV-8, Team RV
E2- Tom Dubrouillet, Dubes, RV-8, Team RV
E3- Tad Sargent, Stripes, RV-7A, Team RV
E4- Len Leggette, Leggs, RV-8A, Team RV

F1- Bob Goodman, Subob, RV-4, Team RV
F2- Bill Crothers, Red, RV-8, Team RV
F3- Danny Kight, Speedy, RV-6, Team RV
F4- Charlie Plunkett, Bones, RV-8, Team RV

G1- Ron Schreck, Smokey, RV-8, Team RV
G2- Jon Berndsen, Reno, RV-7, Team RV
G3- Ken Harrill, Lurch, RV-6, Team RV
G4- Jerry Morris, Widget, RV-8, Team RV

H1- Gary Sobek, Condor, RV-6, West Coast Ravens
H2- Trish Russell, Schoolmom, RV-6A, West Coast Ravens
H3- Joe Blank, Shade, RV-6, West Coast Ravens
H4- Dave Klages, Hog, RV-8, West Coast Ravens

I1- Dan Checkoway, Sharpie, RV-7, West Coast Ravens and Cincy River Rats
I2- Greg Vouga, ------, RV-7A, Team RV
I3- Gregg Wilson, Wizz, RV-4, Cincy River Rats
I4- James Clark, Chatterbox, RV-6, Team RV
I5- Mark Frederick, Rocket, F-1Rocket, Falcon Flight

Chase 1- Bill Turner, Pappy, RV-8, Hawks
Chase 2- Larry Dagley, Bones, RV-8, Hawks
Chase 3- Don Pfeiffer, Taco, RV-8, Hawks
 
Thank You

On Tuesday my gang of conspirators helped with getting us on the Ford Trimotor in a group where over Oshkosh I proposed to my RV lover and now fiancee. Unbeknown by all was that the 37 ship formation was performing at the same time as we got off and were being congratulated by many, all of whom know I built and fly my RV7A. The timing was perfect so thanks guys for the wonderful touch to the proposal.

Now I have a problem, she wants a -10 and I want a -4 when the -7 sells. Hmmmm......makes planning a wedding seem a rather trivial task.

A short video at the top and short story along with picture on "Day 4" of my buddies blog http://oshkosh.blog.com/
Longer video at http://vimeo.com/5969234

Working to get my FFI card so hopefully I can join you guys one day over OSH.
 
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And that's a problem?

Now I have a problem, she wants a -10 and I want a -4 when the -7 sells.

Seems like the only problem is which to build first! I'd start with the -10 for domestic harmony.

Congratulations on your engagement. I hope you find the same sort of joy in the partnership that Paul and I enjoy.
 
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