Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotters (CARS): DC-3 At KCCO (Plus Dillan!)

Dillan Rayfield with a DC-3 at KCCO near Atlanta, Georgia

 
This DC-3 is being restored at KCCO

 Bill Rayfield sent in these recent pix for a CARS post.  Not only is it cool to have another DC-3 to look at, but this is a team of Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotters!  That’s Bill’s boy Dillan showing his great enthusiasm for flying machines!  The bonus pic below shows Dillan in front of a great looking Decathlon too (it’s never too early to cultivate a love for taildraggers!)

 The DC-3 is in the restoration process at KCCO (Newnan Coweta County Airport), a nice looking airport just a little southwest of Atlanta, Georgia.  Hopefully we’ll get a lot more DC-3 pix to post as we move closer to the big 75th anniversary celebration of DC-3’s at Oshkosh 2010.  It’ll be here before long, and I gotta say I’m getting pretty excited!

 It’s also great to see a little guy with so much enthusiasm for airplanes.  We need more of that.  Thanx Bill and Dillan for being Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotters : )

Wanna be a Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotter?  Check out this CARS post for details

Dillan with a great looking Decathlon

Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotters (CARS): Lonely S-2 At Lampson Field

 We’re out in northern California living on my mom’s dime this week, which I should add is a pretty good gig if you can get it, and we took a little car trip yesterday over to Lampson Field not far from Lakeport, near Clear Lake.  I flew some Citabrias out of Lampson a really long time ago but have only stopped by a few times over the last 25 years when I’ve been out here visiting just to see what’s happening.  It didn’t take long to spot this big blue Grumman S-2 Tracker sitting on the west side of the ramp in an open hangar.  I knew this looked like a good candidate for being a CARS post, and was glad this time I was the Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotter! 

 It actually looks to be in pretty good shape tho obviously it needs a few parts before being flyable.  I did a little checking at the airport and was told that there might be some damage to the wing folding mechanism on one of the wings.  I also found out that it was part of the estate auction about a year ago related to items from Air Power that used to rebuild radial engines on the airport.  I did a little googlin’ and found this S-2 pic that indicates it may be the same airplane back in 1987 while in storage at Davis-Monthan. 

 There was also a second S-2 sitting outside with no engines on it looking even more lonely.  Hopefully the current owner will have the resources to get at least one of these unique little old school anti-submarine aircraft back into the sky... kinda looks like it'd be fun to buzz the neighbors with!

 Wanna be a Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotter?  Check out this CARS post for details

Grumman's little anti-submarine S-2 Tracker operated from the 50's into the 70's

Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotters (CARS): Paintless DC-3 At KDKX

(click pic to enlarge)

 Matthew Everett, who runs LeavingTerraFirma.com, sent in this CARS pic of a pretty sweet  looking DC-3 even if it doesn’t have any paint.  It has the faded markings of Dodson International Air, but I don’t really know any additional specifics.  But I figure with the 75th anniversary of the DC-3 upon us, and the fact that a really big celebration of one of the most important aircraft ever made is scheduled to take place at Oshkosh this year, you just can’t look/think/live 'DC-3' too much these days : )

 As this EAA story about DC-3’s coming to Oshkosh tells, there might be 50 or more headed for OSH10, with as many as 40 arriving all at once!  That sight alone is gonna make this something extremely special to see.  I can hardly wait!

And as a reminder, here’s the info on CARS submissions:

 Fresh pix please, within the last month

 Gotta be Cool!  Rare aircraft, amazing paint, unique, odd or otherwise noteworthy

 Prefer jpg file, in sharp focus and at least 600 pixels wide

 Looking for everyday airport pix, NOT airshow/fly-in pix

 Send pix, questions or comments to mcc@airpigz.com

New CARS Entry: NSF C-130 Spotted At KARR

 I think this CARS (Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotters) feature has some real potential, but it ain’t going anywhere if you fine folks don’t send cool airplane pictures to me.  Please take a quick pic of the next really cool airplane you see sitting on the ramp (or hangar) and send it in… like William Hamrick did with this recent pic of a C-130 at KARR, the Aurora, Illinois airport.

  This Hercules with the snowflake painted on the tail is operated by the National Science Foundation and is used to do all sorts of atmospheric research.  William says it was there doing some demonstrations for students at Northern Illinois University.

 I found it extra interesting because I went to high school in Aurora, Illinois and even did a little flying out of this airport way back in the day, tho most of my flying in those days was out farther west at Hinckley where the skydiving and sailplanes were.

 Anyway, thanx William for sending the pic in.

 And as a reminder, here’s the info on CARS submissions:

 Fresh pix please, within the last month

 Gotta be Cool!  Rare aircraft, amazing paint, unique, odd or otherwise noteworthy

 Prefer jpg file, in sharp focus and at least 600 pixels wide

 Looking for everyday airport pix, NOT airshow/fly-in pix

 Send pix, questions or comments to mcc@airpigz.com

Taildragger Heaven In Houston Kicks Off AirPigz ‘CARS’

 The time has come to kick off the new AirPigz feature I call CARS.  You’ve probably figured out already that it’s not about ‘cars’, it’s about Cool Airplanes!  Big thanx to Ramp Spotter Curtis Lawson for sending in a great pic to get things started.

 This pic was taken recently with an iPhone as they were walking past the Texas Taildraggers hangar at KAXH (Houston Southwest Airport).  It was about 6pm and the low sun was shining in putting a beautiful glow and all those already golden taildraggers.  Stearman on the left, Cub in the middle and a Super Decathlon on the right… plus more goodies in the background : )

 Anyone can be a Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotter, and in fact your pix are needed to keep this ongoing feature moving forward.  Anytime I get pix that are good enuf, I’ll post ’em for everyone to enjoy. 

 You can get the scoop on what specifically I’m looking for in a pic by checking out the original CARS post.

AirPigz CARS: Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotters - This Post Needs A Pic!

Calling all CARS (Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotters) I need your pix!

 I’m always trying to find fun.cool ways to blog up aviation, and about a month ago I dreamed up another interesting idea.  It’s called ‘CARS’ and it stands for Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotters.  It’s all about YOU spotting a cool aircraft on a ramp (or in a hangar) and taking a good pic of it and sending it to me.  If I agree that it’s CARS worthy, I’ll post it for everyone to see.  It’s a way for us all to share the great and wide world of aviation with others.

There’s a good reason why there’s no pic in this post

 My local airport doesn’t have all that much cool going on... well, at least not when I happen to be there with a camera in my hands.  I didn't want to use an old pic I’d taken cuz it seems like CARS should be about fresh and now.  I did fetch up 2 different pix in the last month at KASW that I considered for the inauguration of CARS, but I decided that they weren’t quite up to the all important ‘C’ part of the acronym.  So, I’m turning to YOU to get this new, ongoing feature started!

 Please, please, please send me some COOL aircraft pix real soon for me to run thru the fine-mesh CARS filter : ) 

Here’s a basic outline for pic submission:

Fresh pix please, within the last month

Gotta be Cool!  Rare aircraft, amazing paint, unique, odd or otherwise noteworthy

Prefer jpg file, in sharp focus and at least 600 pixels wide

Looking for everyday airport pix, NOT airshow/fly-in pix

Send pix, questions or comments to mcc@airpigz.com