By STAN KASPRZYK

FlightLog Archive

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Aircraft Flown

Nanchangs, T-28s and T-34s, Oh My! - Jul 2022

As planning started for the annual NW Formation Flying clinic at Bremerton, WA, the list of attending warbirds slowly grew. Smokey Johnson kept me in the loop as five T-28s registered to join the flying and training. We also had advanced registration for a number of Canadian Nanchangs, plus a couple of Beech T-34s.

Our wet spring and early summer weather finally cleared for our early July formation clinic, providing partly cloudy skies and perfect mid-70s temperatures. On the evening of our Thursday arrival day, I was able to snag a backseat flight in Dave Gagliardi’s Nanchang CJ-6 as Dave led an early evening flight with two other Canadian Nanchangs and Tom ‘Chox’ Spreen in his beautiful Yak-18T.

Friday was T-28 day. I received cockpit orientations in Roger Collins T-28D ‘Lumpy’ by Smokey Johnson, then another detailed orientation in Scott Urban’s impressive T-28B. We were able to put together two awesome T-28 four-ship formation training flights, giving both Scott Urban and Charlie Goldbach their first introduction to T-28 four-ships, while giving me some enjoyable T-28 stick time and formation instructional practice. Photographer Brodie Winkler took an amazing series of in-flight T-28 formation photos and videos.

Saturday was another busy day with a photo session for a T-34 flown by Alyssa ‘Smiley’ McColly and Jim Ostrich, while riding in air conditioned comfort in Arreed Barabasz’ Bonanza, followed by more T-28 stick time with Smokey Johnson leading a T-28 two-ship with Scott Urban. I topped off the day with a T-34 orientation with Josh Weinstein in his immaculate T-34, leading ‘Smiley’ McColly and Jim Ostrich for a late afternoon two-ship.

I was honored to lead an Epic callsign naming event with Dean ‘Frito’ Friedt, bestowing the name ‘Prancer’ to Dave Desmon, and ‘FAGIB’ to Dan Shoemaker after a riotous naming session, with great audience participation.

Sunday morning dawned a bit cloudy, and I departed for a flight home in the late morning after an awesome formation clinic weekend. Nanchangs, T-28s and T-34s - Oh My!