SBD Makes Deadstick Landing

I'll tell you what guy's...you "Foot" the fuel bill for a P&W radial for a
while and I guarantee, you'll want to fly as high as you can too !!!

Glad to hear he got her down safe and sound. The ole' Douglas "Dauntless" is
one of the "Grand ole' Dames" of WW II. Easy to fly...very forgiving for a
plane her size...but could have used a little more power. More power might
have brought a few more of them back from the war.
Actually, I didnt know there WAS an SBD ("Slow But Deadly") flying anywhere
today. Sure glad to hear it and hope I get a chance to give the ole' gal a
loving "pat" on the nose at Lakeland SnF one year.


"Orval Fairbairn" wrote in message
news
This past Saturday, I had the privilege of flying in a massed Veterans'
Day formation at DeLand, FL. I was leading White Flight, consisting of
my Johnson Rocket, a Comanche and a Bonanza.

We had arranged to form up over Bob Lee Airport with Red Flight,
consisting of an SX-300, a T-34 and and SBD Dauntless from Atlanta. The
formation assembly and flyby went well, with about 18 total planes, in
five flights. Apparently both people on the ground liked the flyby.

The Dauntless went to New Smyrna Beach for the night and made a flyby at
Spruce Creek Sunday, on his way back to Atlanta. After the flyby, he
climbed through broken clouds ot 12,500 and blew a jug about 20 miles
out and turned around toward DeLand. After breaking out the bottom, he
was lined up about 5 miles out and 1200 feet, when the engine siezed,
right over Bob Lee.

The pilot, due to our having used Bob Lee as a waypoint, knew right
where he was and deadsticked the SBD in there. Bob Lee is about 2500
feet of rough grass, with poor approaches, so that was a nice job of
piloting! The plane (and pilot) were undamaged, but the R-1820 is trash!

In article ,
"D. Reid" wrote:

I'll tell you what guy's...you "Foot" the fuel bill for a P&W radial for a
while and I guarantee, you'll want to fly as high as you can too !!!

Glad to hear he got her down safe and sound. The ole' Douglas "Dauntless" is
one of the "Grand ole' Dames" of WW II. Easy to fly...very forgiving for a
plane her size...but could have used a little more power. More power might
have brought a few more of them back from the war.
Actually, I didnt know there WAS an SBD ("Slow But Deadly") flying anywhere
today. Sure glad to hear it and hope I get a chance to give the ole' gal a
loving "pat" on the nose at Lakeland SnF one year.


The Dauntless had a Wright R-1820. Some friends and I went over and
looked at her today. Oil from nose to tail! You could certainly find the
bad jug -- All of the cooling fins were askew -- no longer parallel to
each other! We saw no other signs of obvious distress -- no holes in the
case -- just oil EVERYWHERE!

I understand that the CAF is going to truck her back to Atlanta for the
engine change. I figured about 55 gallons of Varsol and an 1820 in a
can, but conditions are primitive, at best, at Bob Lee.

I did feel some of the wake turbulence behind the SBD Saturday, although
I tried to keep my flight away from the lead formations' wakes.

BTW, I stand corrected: #3 in the lead formation was a Glasair III,
piloted by a lady here at Spruce Creek, not a T-34. The SBD was in #2
position.

"Orval Fairbairn" wrote in message
news
This past Saturday, I had the privilege of flying in a massed Veterans'
Day formation at DeLand, FL. I was leading White Flight, consisting of
my Johnson Rocket, a Comanche and a Bonanza.

We had arranged to form up over Bob Lee Airport with Red Flight,
consisting of an SX-300, a T-34 and and SBD Dauntless from Atlanta. The
formation assembly and flyby went well, with about 18 total planes, in
five flights. Apparently both people on the ground liked the flyby.

The Dauntless went to New Smyrna Beach for the night and made a flyby at
Spruce Creek Sunday, on his way back to Atlanta. After the flyby, he
climbed through broken clouds ot 12,500 and blew a jug about 20 miles
out and turned around toward DeLand. After breaking out the bottom, he
was lined up about 5 miles out and 1200 feet, when the engine siezed,
right over Bob Lee.

The pilot, due to our having used Bob Lee as a waypoint, knew right
where he was and deadsticked the SBD in there. Bob Lee is about 2500
feet of rough grass, with poor approaches, so that was a nice job of
piloting! The plane (and pilot) were undamaged, but the R-1820 is trash!