Side Story

Last summer on the Western Swing we spent a few days in Aurora, OR at the shop of Paul Bazely of Aerometal having a little maintenance done. One would think that Paul is too young to know as much as he does about DC-3s. See the blog entitled "Breathtaking Flight" from Sept. 18, 2012 for the rest of that story.
On Friday of the weekend of the New Smyrna Beach Air Show, Paul contacted David Gorrell who was the point person on that trip and requested assistance. He was in Orlando with the DC-3 Esther Mae and needed a co-pilot to test an engine overhaul. He wondered if one of our pilots would be willing to ride a pass in to help him out. David replied that he had a whole gaggle of pilots sitting just an hour and a half away from him.
The insurance required someone with 50 hours experience in type and Gene Christian, who happened to have been on the Aurora trip,  was elected to go. Gene borrowed Rick's rental car, and after set up on Saturday, headed to Orlando.

N3006 "Esther Mae"

Late in the afternoon, Paul and Gene brought Esther Mae over to the Air Show for a fly by. David Buffington got on Judy's microphone and told the crowd what they were seeing. Paul had insisted that Gene sit in the left seat, so this was really a thrill for him to be able to fly this beautiful younger sister of the Flagship.
This story is just an illustration of the close network that exists in the aviation community. A guy from Oregon calls a guy in Utah to find a pilot in Florida and gets one from Georgia who he has met before.

Paul Bazely and Crew

Paul is a Brit and Gene told him that his discipline and dedication reminded him of another Brit, Clive Edwards, who restored a derelict "3" in his home of Covington, GA three years ago and flew it to Oshkosh in time for the 75th anniversary of the DC-3. Paul laughed and said indeed he had apprenticed under Clive and when they were doing a restoration in the US some years back, he just stayed. Small, SMALL world.