2006 News

The Redtails meet this weekend to further the plans for the Black Pilots of America National Meeting at Van Nuys, California next month. Assignments were volunteered for. Several of the members came up with additional activities and the committee discussed and implemented them into our master plan.

Otherwise the Redtails attended the BABPA meeting at Hayward, California in Northern California and those in Southern California attended the CBAA meeting in Compton, California.

The Redtails also published their flying calendar for 2007. The big question on all the Redtails mind is will the Bronze Eagles from Texas participate in Operation Slapdown this year? We understand Southwest Airlines (the official airline of the Bronze Eagles) has canceled some of it's flights to El Paso lately. Most of the Bronze Eagles have a 300 mile limit on their flying so things don't look to good for them unless Jet Blue or someone picks up the flights to El Paso.

This time the Redtails grew in family as opposed to members and airplanes. In a dramatic act of courage, Xavier (Redtail 99) while presiding over the CBAA Christmas brunch this morning went over to Pei-Yu knelt down in front of her and asked her to marry him, which she said “YES”. There were protests from several of the Redtails when they saw him kneel before her and figured what was coming next. There were shoots of “get and airplane first” before he asked her, and several were heard to say “don’t, until she agrees to an airplane first”! But, as we married men knew, love concurs all, and to have the most beautiful girl in the world in front of him, Xavier looked into her eyes with all seriousness and asked for her hand in marriage! Up until that time it was entertainment for us, but when she said YES there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.

The Redtails were privileged to witness this event and wish Xavier and Pei-Yu happiness and tail winds for the rest of their lives.

The rest of the morning was anticlimactic compared to what we had just witnessed. All the wives looked great! With the exception of the outburst when Xavier knelt down before Pei-Yu, the Redtails were perfect gentlemen. We kept them from talking within themselves so they couldn’t get together and talk about their uneasiness about flying with us! That would have been a disaster!

Every once in a while the need to fly overwhelms the Redtails, and to fill that need we have to fly! Recognizing the need to get out of the house and away from in-laws, family, and friends after the Thanksgiving celebrations President Ron called for an Emergency Flyout to Paso Robles airport on Saturday. The Redtails responded in force and meet at the Paso Robles Airport for lunch. It was just the break we needed. Paso Robles is about 135 miles from both the San Francisco bay area and the Los Angeles basin. As called for the Redtail airplanes entered the pattern about 1230hrs. As usual we took over the restaurant for a couple of hours and were seated looking out on the airport. The food was 5 Star, not what you would expect at an airport restaurant. Everyone left the restaurant saying this was a place to return in the future. As a side Ozell (Redtail 55) wore a Pink Shirt to the flyout! This is by no means is indicative of the Redtails and he was relegated to sit at a table away from the main area of the Redtails. Another great Emergency Flyout for the Redtails!

The Redtails meet to discuss and plan our hosting of the Black Pilots of America's Board of Directors (BOD) Meeting planned for January 11-14, 2007. The meeting was held at the Airtel Plaza Hotel on the grounds of Van Nuys airport, the location of the BOD meeting. Plans were made for each day and evening of the meeting. Everyone left the meeting excited about the interesting seminars and entertainment planned for our guests. Of course most of the Redtails flew their airplanes to the meeting, even though for some it was only a seven mile trip for some (any excuse to fly!)

The Redtails on Saturday attended the Bay Area Black Pilots meeting at Hayward Airport for those in Northern California, and for those in Southern California attended the California Black Aviation Association meeting at Compton Airport. Plans were made for the respective groups Christmas Parties and calendars planned for 2007. What on earth happened to 2006? How time flies when you are flying every weekend or so with your fellow Redtail brothers.

The Redtails picked up a few new members in October and a few at the AOPA Convention in Palm Springs, California last week. 2007 looks to be a fun year for the Redtails! These Redtails will be spotlighted in upcoming weeks in this section.

This weekend the Redtails ventured to Palm Springs, California to attend the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's (AOPA) yearly convention. The Redtail plan was to attend as many of the technical sessions as possible and work the convention floor then meet for dinner and discuss their day at the convention. This worked out to be a great plan. Most of us arrived on Thursday checked into our hotel and hit the convention running. We had reserved a block of rooms months ago and this paid off because rooms were scarce as hens teeth in the Palms Springs area for the weekend. Each night we assembled in the hospitality suite and everyone discussed what they had seen over dinner.

There was a lot to cover and most of us didn't have the time to see everything so sharing the information with each other worked out great!

We were able to build some strategic alliances with several of the vendors which will come into play in 2007.

This week the Redtails canceled our regular Skyhook Practice at our home airport, Delano and instead meet at Apple Valley restaurant for lunch. The food was good and the fellowship was great!

Plans were made for our field trip to the AOPA convention next week in Palm Springs, California. We have a block of rooms reserved and plan to meet every day for dinner to discuss the days seminars and activities. This should be a productive and rewarding field trip for all. It will be a short work week for us because we plan on arriving on Thursday and departing on Saturday evening. Several Redtails are staffing a BPA seminar on Friday and we hope to represent well!

The Redtails this week had good news for the membership renewals. 94% of our members renewed their membership for 2007 and we had six new members join in October! The Redtails must be doing something right!

The Redtail 2007 planner was written and will be published on this website next month. It’s an aggressive plan but very doable for us. The only question on the calendar was if the Bronze Eagles of Texas would show up if we held another Operation Slapdown in 2007 or have they been humiliated enough!, after all we have to come to Texas every year and they don’t have to leave their home state! We have to cross Arizona and New Mexico to get to Texas. We wonder if they ever fly out of the State of Texas!

It seems that this time of year a lot of the Redtails are in for annuals so there wasn’t much flying this week other than a few of us flying down to Hawthorne Airport and watching USC and UCLA loose their football games.

Note: Watch for Redtail 73 in the British Airways TV commercial going to sleep on one of their seats. Michael, a recent transplant from New York City (who has had trouble adjusting to the good weather and good life in California) flies his own Piper Warrior out of WHP. We Fly!

This weekend the Redtails meet at Harris Ranch for what turns out to be an annual fly-out. The ladies in attendance were all given a red Redtail silk scarf and a red Redtail throw blanket for their airplanes to use when flying with us! This year we had 26 airplanes on the tarmac and the overflow grass parking area. Some of the pilots that we haven't seen much through the year always seem to make it to this now annual event at Harris Ranch, a spot on Highway 5 in the middle of the San Joaquin Valley.

At this meeting two new members join the Redtails; Shirley Rodriguez and Charles "Chuck" Reece who brought his wife in their beautiful Cessna 310. The Redtails grow again with two quality members! The Redtails had lunch and dinner together in our reserved dinning room. Between the lunch and dinner we conducted the meeting meet in the hospitality suite where we planned our calendar for 2007. 2007 looks to be another great year for the Redtails!

All the speed merchants were there; Darrell (Redtail 00) brought his Cessna 310 out of a long annual, Reggie (Redtail 19) brought his "I can do 350mph") Lancair 4P, Cash (Redtail 6) brought his RV6, Ed (Redtail 8) brought his RV4, Setrige brought the "Intimidator" Lancair Legacy, and of course Chuck's 310 was in the mix! There was a ton of Redtail speed on the tarmac.

We were the topic of discussion both days in the restaurant seeing us all together. You could hear a pin drop as we entered the area and you could here the spectators say "there's those pilots from that group" as we walked through the restaurant area going to our dining room!

Below are a sampling of the pictures taken over the weekend more to follow during the week, stay tuned!

The Redtail Fleet grew with the addition of Reggie's (Redtail 19) Lancair 4P, now fully operational and painted, ready for some serious cross country work! Reggie brought it from the paint shop on Friday and it's gorgeous! (pictures next week), The Redtails also have a new member Alonzo Mike (Redtail 94) who owns a plethora of flying machines including a Quicksilver Ultralight, a powered parachute, and a Cessna 150L. We look forward to Alonzo's experience with the alternative flying machines.

This week the Redtails ventured to our annual campout at the Oceano Airport (next to the Pismo Beach Dunes) to brave the fog and cool weather out in the open. Well, this weekend there was no fog and the weather was wonderful!

The food was great and the campfire was toasty! Hamburgers with all the trimmings and Steaks, Tri-tips, Salmon, with Baked Potatoes, and Baked Beans we the bill of fare for the evening meal. All cooked on our small bar-b-que we purchased in Pismo Beach after the campsite’s we not available as in past years.

Things started with arrivals around 1000hrs and continued throughout the day and some of leaving early to get back before nightfall stating that “night air has no lift”. The campfire was extinguished about 0030hrs. There was virtually no wind and we had a full moon to guide us around the normally pitch black campground. By the way we have a new Fire Master; Steve was able to create our campfire with no matches! Just controlled breathing in the right place. There’s some caveman in his genetics somewhere! With plenty of logs we were able to take any chill out of the air sitting around the campfire telling “snake” stories, reminiscing, and the usual flying tales.

Some of us brought sleeping bags to brave the grass at the campground, but after all the stories about those vicious “Pismo Snakes” that look for a warm spot on the ground and around the fire pit they decided the grass was not the place to put their sleeping bags. The campground in the past had tent rentals but this year there were none left.

Another benefit of Saturday was to watch Gene (Redtail 23)"Two Star" bring the Duke into and out of that 2100ft runway! Hey, he's a Redtail though!

Another successful Compton Air Fair this year! The attendance was down from last year 4835 children passed the gate. The Redtails of course, had more fun than the children by watching the them ogle at all the interesting airplanes, talking with the Redtails, and enjoy the many exhibits that held their interest. Everything from a climbing wall put up by the US Army to the bouncing tents for the different age groups put up by the A.C, Flying Club. Of course there was the dance contest, lots of food, and the armed forces recruiting tents. Tuskegee Airmen and the Buffalo Solders exhibits to ask questions and seek autographs from. What a day! The opening ceremonies were moving and the continuous over flights by the Redtails and friends keep us very busy. A big thank you goes out to all the guys that volunteered to make this years Compton Air Fair the biggest ever. We were glad when it was over but look forward to next years to be better.

The Square Dance group had everyone's feet tapping during their performance, and the Goodyear Blimp made three high speed passes advertising our Air Fair over Southern California. What a great day!

The Retails had another busy week last week started by attending an Engine Management Seminar presented by JPI the manufacture of engine analyzers for aircraft engines.

The seminar touched on rich of peak and lean of peak operations, which included graphs and charts on exhaust gas temperatures, climb mixture settings, the leaning process plus a host of other fuel management information. We came away vowing to put these practices to use on our flights and to pass the information on to the Redtails at our own Engine Management Seminar.

The Redtails held their regular meeting at the Van Nuys Airtel Hotel on Saturday to discuss the rest of the year and clean up some business items. As usual more talk than business and Alonzo (54) had us in stitches with his 'progressive' stop and go taxi prowess!

Jackie (40),Ron (88), Ozell (55), Jay (80), Darryl (42) Ozell (55), Jay (80), Darryl (42), Eric (66), Alonzo (54)

Flash! Cash (6) reports Ed Redtail (8) came in second at the National Air Race at Reno, Nevada! Ed is truly representing! Pictures coming.

Cash and Ed made the trek to the National Air Races in Reno, Nevada where Ed will compete again this year. Look for Redtail 8 to dominate the Formula One class this year. Cash the crew chief said he gave Ed more power and Ed said "if I have the power I will dominate". Spoken like a true Redtail! We'll follow Ed and Cash here in throughout the National Air Races.

The Redtails had a busy weekend of flying this weekend. The Compton Air Fair Status and Planning meeting on Thursday night saw several Redtail loaded airplanes flying to this meeting. The coastal fog came in just as the meeting adjourned and there was a scramble to get out before the dreaded IFR conditions came in from the Pacific Ocean swallowed the Compton Airport

The regular CBAAI and BABPA Meetings on Saturday at Compton and Hayward Airports plus Darryl Mack’s emergency fly-out from Hawthorne to Camarillo Airports and back for lunch on Sunday filled the weekend. The weather was severe clear all week and we just had a ball flying this last week!

The Redtails have started to gussy up their airplanes to be put on display on the front line of the Compton Air Fair in two weeks. Tires shined, underbellies cleaned, and bugs off the leading edges are the orders of the day. We don’t expect there will be much flying this week other than our regularly scheduled business meeting in Van Nuys Saturday because we will be detailing our airplanes for the Compton Air Fair but you never know, the call might go out for an emergency fly-out at any time and we will have to drop everything and go flying and clean later!

We were having such a good time this weekend know one thought to take a few pictures and send them in for this web site.

This labor day weekend found most of the Redtails doing family things, this being the last three day weekend of the summer. The weather was perfect for all the backyard Bar-B-Que's and the watermelons were sweet!

The Compton Air Fair is coming up in a few weeks and each week leading into the Air Fair find the Redtails meeting and planning for another successful Air Fair. Coordination with food vendors, military, FAA and many others are needed and everyone over the years has a specialty. September 23rd is the date an we need volunteers for a number of jobs.

After many (20+) years of threatening to buy a Comanche, Darryl (Redtail 40) Mack had his dream come true this weekend. Arriving at Watsonville for our Fly-in lunch DMack made a perfect landing, taxied to the ramp, got out and pranced to the restaurant in full view of all the Redtails whooping it up in the outdoor restaurant as he approached us. Darryl, of course was putting on his best "pimp stride" and trying to play it off like it wasn't a big thing, but we all knew it was one his proudest moments. Congratulations Darryl, you made us proud Saturday! May you have many years of happy flying with your new steed.

The Redtails this week flew to Watsonville, California the home base for Paul (Redtail 48) Webb, and Rayvon (Redtail 3) Williams who hosted the fly-in. The weather was the usual coastal fog that burned off about 1100hrs and the Redtails started arriving at our planned 1200hrs. Paul and Rayvon were on the ramp to marshal all the Redtail aircraft as we came in. Before we know it Redtail airplanes had overwhelmed the transient ramp in front of the restaurant where we assemble for lunch and the ground crew was stacking them in high wing, low wing.

The restaurant is famous for its Mexican food and it lived up to its reputation. Paul and Rayvon made the arrangements for the day which included the lunch and a tour of AirCrafters, LLC. a company that assists airplane builders building their airplanes.

The lunch was punctuated by auctioning off a couple of items from this years IBAC convention. A flyers briefcase with the logos of all the organizations in IBAC went for $35 and a black leather Tuskegee cap went for $85 to the highest bidders. The bidding was fast and furious and if President Ron had held out a little longer the cap would have gone for over $100 and the flight case would have gone for more than $50. Even some of the bystanders in the restaurant got into the action. "Crook" wasn't there to supervise the money drop so we hope the money went to the treasury of the Redtails.

While eating lunch much to the surprise of most Darryl (Redtail 40) Mack taxied up in his new Comanche 250! Darryl took the wrath of the Redtails harassment on entering the dining area along with the group giving him a well deserved cheer!

Ed (Redtail 8) Dutreaux announced he would again be entering the National Air Races at Reno next month with Cash (Redtail 6) Copeland as his crew chief, The Redtails will be representing!

Setrige (Redtail65) Crawford, Archie (Redtail 22) Amos, Ed (Redtail 8) Dutreaux, Alonzo (Redtail 54) Jones, and a "Small" Burrito

This week the Redtails made El Mirage Dry Lake, the hardpan lake close to Edwards Air Force Base their target for lunch and fellowship with some of the campers visiting the lake. The lake is as hard as concrete, long, and wide. The lake sits about twenty miles east of where the Space Shuttle was tested and made several landings there.

This weekend there were several clubs of land sailors there to run regattas in several classes of these incredible machines. These land yacht’s reach two to three times the speed of the wind! Some of them were very high tech with carbon fiber enclosures, titanium frames and Kevlar sails. Ron (Redtail 1) traded a ride in one of the two place rigs for a ride in Tumbleweed and both were thrilled! Landing on the hardpan desert was an experience in itself, with such a long and flat runway (10 miles by 5 miles) the usual references are not there. Landing procedure was; first a low pass to check the wind, a low pass to get the folks attention, pull up to a standard pattern, then landing gear and flaps down, lights on and land. Roll to the edge of the lake and kill the engine before you are surrounded by a lot of folks surprised to see us flying. As usual there were ultralights, gliders, motorcycles, and anything that had an engine on the lake Saturday.

We left before it got to hot (108f) and vowed to make it a regular stop on the Redtail calendar.

There are different classes of land yacht's, but like airplanes most of the guys just came out to have fun sailing. It reminded us of our group, guys sitting in the hangar talking flying. The only thing missing was someone talking s&#t about which on was faster!

The Redtails this weekend attended meetings of the Bay Area Black Pilots Association (BABPA) and the California Black Aviation Association, Inc. (CBAAI). In the bay area David (Redtail 43) Cunningham brought out the cooks tools and made breakfast for the members at Oscar's hangar. Members in the south made plans for the Compton Air Fair next month, then after the meeting and flew to Hemet Airport for lunch. Two Redtails who don't have airplanes yet got a chance to plan, navigate and fly with our flying members. James (Redtail 75) Wilson flew in Ron's Tumbleweed and did a great job from the right seat both flying and navigating. Timothy (Redtail 72) Toller flew in Rudy's (Redtail 26)

Ron (Redtail 1) gave a briefing on the IBAC conference in Phoenix and after the meeting auctioned off the Black Leather flight bag from IBAC to the members and after a round of furious bidding the bidding stopped at $55.00. The Redtails attending IBAC all had great stories about their experiences at IBAC.

The Redtails are looking forward to the Compton Air Fair on September 23rd. This will be the 13th anniversary of the Air Fare and it promises to be best yet. The Redtails invite all of BPA to attend.

Although the Bay Area Summer Flight Academy is financed and sponsored by the Local Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, I am writing this article for the Redtails because I (Redtail 55) was the director/coordinator for this years Academy. In the past I volunteered my services and helped out in any way I could. Sometimes I taught ground school, sometimes I recruited youngsters and passed out literature at high schools looking for prospective students. In the past three years, the three individuals most responsible for the Academy either moved out of town or passed away. This year I was asked to keep the program alive. So I went about recruiting students, instructors and class room space.

The program lasted 2 weeks. Ground instruction was given from 0900hrs - 1200hrs and each student was given 1hr of flight instruction on alternate days during the afternoon, totaling 5-6 flight hours each. Field trips to the Oakland Control Tower, Oakland Flight Service Station, Kaiser Air FBO (where students got close and personal with various business jets), and a cross country flight to the Castle Air Museum (volunteer pilots provided the planes) was also part of the curriculum. Two Airline pilots were guest speakers giving information about the airlines. One guest speaker was a former Summer Slight Academy student and is now a flight instructor. An orientation flight around the bay in a Roberson 44 helicopter rounded out their flight experiences.

One week into the session the local Tuskegee Airmen chapter had their annual picnic and all the students, with their parents, were in attendance. All the students were very enthusiast about the class. One of the students was the Grandson of an original Tuskegee Airmen, so there was some lineage there. At the end of the two weeks each student was given a certificate of completion. I am sure that was an experience they will all remember for lifetime.

Ozell Austin

Redtail 55

The Redtails this week attended the International Black Aerospace Council (IBAC) conference in Phoenix, Arizona at the JW Marriott Spa and Resort. Wow! !Maybe “Wow !” is not the word to describe the conference! There were 1300+ folks there and all seemed to be in a great mood! Everywhere you went people were smiling is one way to put it; another is that there was not a harsh word said all the time I was there. Words cannot describe the mood of all that attended the conference with the exception of “positive”, “upbeat”, and “optimism”

IBAC consists of The Black Pilots of America (BPA), The Bessie Coleman Foundation (BCF), Tuskegee Airmen, Inc (TAI), Organization of Black Airline Pilots (OBAP), United States Army Black Aviation Association (USABAA), National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees (NBCFAE), and Negro Airmen International, Inc. (NAI) who all meet and held their conventions together. This was a first in history and the plan is to have these meetings on a regular basis in the future.

The Redtails were well represented and as usual brought more airplanes to the conference than all the other chapters, but even this should not overshadow the significance of this historic conference.

The Redtails hosted the hospitality suite for The Black Pilots of America and were suppose to man The Black Pilots of America booth on the convention floor but there was no shortage of members from the other chapters to do both.

Kudos go out to Brother Fred Lewis of the Bronze Eagles for the producing a great production of the Summer Flight Academy and Skyhook 2006

The Redtails trying to brave the heat wave throughout the state and keeping up the tradition of doing something together every weekend, got together at Ron's (Redtail 1) hangar on Whiteman Airport Saturday evening and everyone brought out a favorite cigar to compare notes on each. Cuban's seemed to get the vote on which one smelled the best and smoked best. The Redtails were joined by several closet cigar smokers and when the smell of cigar smoke caught the wind several of the neighbors came over to enjoy the hangout. At 2300hrs. the temperature was a nice 81F when everyone left for the night. A flight was planned to Cuba when our government relaxes its restrictions on travel to Cuba. The IBAC conference was discussed and different routes reviewed. A great night for cigar smoking and Redtail socializing.

The Redtails meet this week at the Sprit of San Luis restaurant this week. The restaurant has a nice view of the ramp and runway and while waiting for the members to arrive all were judged on their landings. Needless to say, all of them were patented "Redtail kiss the runway softly" landings. It was good to see so many of us there getting away from the oppressive heat that has plagued California for the past two weeks. San Luis Obispo airport is only a stones throw from the coast so it was nice to get away from the heat. This was the first meeting since "Skyhook" and the members who went briefed the rest of us on it. Those who took extra trips after Skyhook told of their travel adventures. The calendar of events was discussed and changes recommended to our Calendar Committee. Everyone was briefed on the national meeting coming up the first week in August at Phoenix, Arizona and flight plans discussed. We also discussed a few whale watching trips since this is the season for the whales to be migrating along the coast of California. Most of the Redtails have never seen a whales from the air so we plan to communicate whale sightings and routes to each other. This is a great opportunity to get others involved in our flying.

We are all looking forward to a very aggressive second half of the years Redtail flying activities. Plans were started for our annual campout at the Oceano Airport (Pismo Beach) and the other events in September.

Some of the new pictures are being placed on our website under "test photos" until we can find an alternative place for them.

The Redtails this week got together with the Black Porsche organization at Reggie’s hangar at Cable Airport (CCB). The Redtails brought airplanes and the Black Porsche club brought Porsche’s. As usual Gene's Redtail 23) stopped the show when he landed an taxied in. Some of the Redtails made high speed passes to demonstrate the power of the same type of engines as the Porsche's (horizontally opposed) A live DJ was on hand to provide music and the hangar was jumpin’ all day. Members from both organizations showed off their pride and joys. The Redtails were impressed with the sophistication of the Porches and the same with the Porsche club to the Redtail airplanes. The Redtails gave rides most of the day to whoever wanted one and at the end of the day all the children were given rides.

The weather Saturday was hot and dry, about 110f and 7% humidity. Because of the heat most of the action was inside Reggie’s 250ft x 250ft hangar. Food, what can I say about the food; Ribs, Links, Greens, Catfish, Salmon, Hot Dogs, and of course Hamburgers. Our Chief Chef Alonso (Redtail 54) came through as usual with the catfish and salmon and Reggie and Renee’ did the rest. Needless to say there was a constant line for Alonzo’s catfish and salmon and as soon as he would take it out of the fryer they were swooped up and Reggie made sure there was plenty for everyone. What a feast!

As you can see there was dancing (Salsa, Hip Hop, and everyone favorite; Line Dancing) and much fun to be had. Thanks to the Black Porsche Organization for bringing their beautiful and sophisticated automobiles. What a group of great men and women! President Ron and the President of the Black Porsche organization pronounced the get together a smash hit and vowed to do it again annually. We look forward to this new found relationship and intend to build on it. More pictures coming Stay tuned.

For the last few years some of the Redtails have brought up the subject of beer on a hot day. Well this came to a head on Thursday afternoon. After a heated discussion about just that the President called an Emergency Beer Taste-off for the next evening (Friday)! (anything to get together on a warm summer night). Everyone brought their favorite beer to share and stuck in in the refrigerator. A the appointed hour (1800hrs) the Taste-Off was on. There was a mad scramble for the table where tasting cups were blindly filled with different beers. first we checked the aroma of the samples then we took a sip out of each to determine which one we liked best. After sipping from each cup we had to do it again just to make sure our pallets were telling us the right thing. Well, after about three iterations the test giver lost track of which one was which! The results were inconclusive so we decided to do it again in the future to see which beer would win out as the official beer of the California Redtails.

On Saturday we meet with the Bay Area Black Pilots Association (BABPA) and the California Black Aviation Association (CBAA). The CBAA guys moved to the clubhouse at Hawthorne Airport and pulled out the grill so James (Redtail 75), Xavier (Redtail99) and Alonso (Redtail 54) could again work his magic on the grill.

The Redtails this weekend traveled to the United States border and the Mexican border to visit and break bread at Brown field located within a stone's throw of the border. The Redtails had read about the new restaurant opening up and this being the weekend we had to check it out. The consensus was "been there, saw that". The airport sits almost directly on the southern border and the Tijuana Airport is due south. Check it out on http://local.live.com/ and see what we mean. Then there was the challenge of getting through the San Diego class "B" airspace and it's VFR corridor which like LAX's Special Flight Rules Area passes directly over Lindbergh Field. Quite a challenge!

The Redtails also welcome a new member this week in David (Redtail 79) Bell. David has a Cessna 182S and is eager to join the Redtails in their flying adventures.

The Redtail picture site is being once again transformed for better viewing and lees overhead to access our pictures. We hope you enjoy them

This week Setrige (Redtail 65), the mild mannered unassuming Redtail went into his hangar and came out as Superman again! The Lancair Legacy is back after a few months of modifications. I'm told he has to throttle it back on downwind to keep under the Class 'D' speed limit of 200kts! I guess the next thing to complete the speed demon is to paint it. As you can see nothing has been spared in Setrige's airplane, it has everything! from the looks of the engine it produces about 1000hp and the panel makes it look equally fast. We look forward to giving you reports on his specifications in the future. Right now Setrige is in the monitoring mode, we can't wait until he puts the airplane into the speed mode!

The Redtails have a full schedule for this summer with something happening almost every week through the Summer, Here about it here first.

Congratulations go out to Rudy (Redtail 26) Melson on his daughters graduation from college! A proud Redtail dad he is!

On Sunday the Redtails manned a booth at the Annual Van Nuys Airport Airshow and were honored to be again placed next to the booth manned by the Tuskegee Airmen. What a thrill for us to sit and talk to our heroes, up close and personal. over 200,000 people attended the airshow that feathered a F22 Raptor fly-over. We can't wait to do it again next year!

On Saturday the Redtails attended the California Black Aviation Association's Annual Picnic at the organization's clubhouse on Hawthorne Airport (HHR). Fun, Food, and great weather were the ticket for the day.

The Redtails all reported in to our flight leader Rudy (Redtail 26) Melson. As per our custom everyone reports the status of their trip to the flight leader and on June 5th all of the Redtails were back in there hangars safely. Everyone was tired, dehydrated and ready to get back in the air again after a few days at home, after all "We Fly"

The Redtails came into Pine Bluff this weekend to shatter the record books of Operation Skyhook, led by our Flight Leader this year Rudy (Redtail 26) Melson and as promised intimidated the competition! However when the results were tallied we placed third in the overall competition. The Lewis Lynch (formally the St. Louis) chapter won the team competition, beating the Bronze Eagles and ourselves. "Wait until next year" The judging this year was as fair as you could get considering we had six or seven judges on the Redtail payroll!

We were treated to some down home southern hospitality and cooking at Charles (Redtail 17, "I'm coming down to join you") Kelley's estate in Tamo, Arkansas. What a meal!

Coming home several of the Redtails continued on to other places around the country to continue their vacations. South Dakota, Illinois, Kansas, Montana, North Carolina were some of the ultimate destinations for the Redtails.

The Redtails will this week will depart for our National Meeting and Competition in Pine Bluff, Arkansas for a Memorial Day Weekend full of camaraderie, fun, and competition with the other chapters around the country of the Black Pilots of America. This is what we look forward to from year to year, to go to Skyhook and brag about the Redtails being the best chapter in all of BPA. We will leave for Skyhook on Wednesday and arrive on Thursday afternoon in Pine Bluff, Arkansas with our now patented "Redtail Overcast" The weather looks good, the airplanes have been shined and detailed for the best looking trophy, and all the systems checked on the aircraft for the 25 hours plus to be put on them for this trip.

This week the Redtails attended and participated in the meetings of the Bay Area Black Pilots Association in the San Francisco Bay area and the California Black Aviation Association in Compton, California. Most of the Redtails are members of these organizations which were formed years before the California Redtails were formed. the California Redtails has its roots in these organizations and they are the essentially the roots of the Redtails. The Redtails continue to support the activities of these fine organizations,

The Redtails are fortunate to have several very bright instructors in our chapter. Darryl Mack (Redtail 40) teaches a class on Instrument Flight Rules twice a week at Hawthorne Airport. The class is open to all, rated instrument pilots and pilots new to instrument flying to prepare them for the written test. Darryl is passionate about teaching us the skills to keep us alive in an IFR environment, and it shows by the comments of his students. Give Darryl a call to see when the next class starts.

This week Ron (Redtail 1) and Jim (Redtail 57) ventured to El Mirage Dry Lake and landed on the hard packed clay surface. After circling the dry lakebed a landing spot was picked out. Since there were about 5,000 folks on the lake watching the speed trails we had to make sure we didn’t hit one of them. On the ground there were motorcycles, dune buggies, land yachts, and a host of other vehicles on the lake we were especially cautious of finding an area of low traffic. After making a long slow approach to our intended landing area folks saw us and started moving out of the way. The Robertson STOL kit on the P337 allowed us to touch down at about 50mph.

We found a space in the spectator area between a motorhome and a safety patrol station and taxied to it. Needles to say we were nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs with one engine in the rear and no view of the area behind the airplane. So we cut the engines and coasted into the empty spot of the course.

As soon as we stopped there were a 1000 people around asking questions about the airplane. The crowd was very respectful of our airplane being motorheads themselves. I moved away from the airplane and let Jim field all the questions.

Every weekend a few airplanes land there so the crowd was use to having airplanes on the lake. Jim’s P337 with the push/pull configuration brought out the techies.

The main attraction Saturday was the Time Trails for the Bonneville type vehicles. The course is 1.3 miles long. Both sides of the course were lined with motorhomes, campers, vehicles of all sorts and our position was about at the ¾ mile position on the track.

We really enjoyed watching the racers try to establish new records for their classes. It was quite impressive to watch a motorcycle break 200mph, you could hear him still changing gears just before he went through the timing traps. He must have had nine gears on that thing. There were several other vehicles that broke the 200mph barrier and one came very close to 300mph. As they would go through the traps they would shut down there engines and coast to a stop, and get pulled back to the starting area right by our airplane.

After a very enjoyable time talking and visiting with our new friends and the very friendly crowd, we pushed the airplane back, cleared the area and started the engines. The challenge would be to see if we could get a clear path to takeoff. The wind was about 10kts on our nose and we would only need about 1200ft to get into the air so we taxied back about a half mile and turned around to take off. We turned our taxi, landing, and strobe lights on and everyone cleared out of the way ahead. As we revved up the engine for a short take-off all eyes were on us, all we could see was a clear path for about a mile ahead. We leaped into the air, cleaned up the airplane and made a crosswind, downwind and final to wave goodbye to our new friends. We could see the entire crowd waving at us as we dipped a wing and roared off into the west.

On Saturday the Redtails participated in the fly-in / bar-b-que at the Oceanside airport in support of their fight to keep the airport open. The weather was a little iffy but of course we are Redtails, and "We Fly"! On Sunday the Redtail "A" team met at our home practice field of Delano Airport and went through some of the maneuvers we plan to showcase at "Operation Skyhook" The weather was great and the camaraderie was tops.

Ron (Redtail 1), Mark (Redtail 9), Bob Maxwell (Original Redtail), Ron (Redtail 31), Alonzo (Redtail 54) Jim (Redtail 57)

This week the Redtails meet at the AirTel Hotel at the Van Nuys Airport. Election of Officers were held, a decision for the location for the 2007 January Board of Directors meeting was made, and our Flight Leader for Skyhook Rudy Melson (Redtail 26) briefed everyone on the Redtail Overcast. The weather kept the guys from the north from coming but a speaker phone was in play for them. The Redtails also discussed the aggressive calendar planned for the rest of the year. Of course Skyhook was the distracter at the meeting and the meeting took a couple of hours to finish. Congratulations go out to our new officers.

Weekends in March and April have been bummers in California. We have only been able to get in a couple of practices for Skyhook. The usual Chamber of Commerce weather that California is famous for has curtailed most of the organized flying the Redtails usually do this time of the year. The guys in the north have had about two months of constant rain and the weather gods in the south have given us great weather during the week but have frowned on us on the weekends. Never the less we have been practicing in small groups in things such as formation flying and the like. This weather however will not hamper Redtail Domination at Skyhook though!

Five months to the day Tumbleweed is off the jacks and into the air. After looking for a downlock stop for what seemed like forever and Cessna promising to make the part for several months Ron found the part for Tumbleweed in a salvage Cardinal RG. The part was installed, gear cycled many times (25) and Tumbleweed was back in the air. Maybe my attitude will change now that I havea flying airplane. With Tumbleweed back in the air Redtail Domination has a new high!

This week's Redtail highlight saw Reggie (Redtail 19) bring his Lancair 4P home to his hangar at Cable airport in Upland, California. Reggie plans to do the final assembly and pressure check it there. could this be the start of Redtail Domination of the skies over the United States. Reggie also invites all who are in the neighborhood to stop by and see his masterpiece.

The Redtails meet for this months meeting the Hayward Airport in Hayward, Ca. The host location, Trajen FBO, as always was very glad to see us and do whatever it took make our meeting very productive and productive it was. What a site it was for the linemen at Trajen to see the Redtails fly into HWD, land, and taxi to them all within a 5 mins span! From a C182 to a Beech Duke planes in between, the Redtails were in...DA HOUSE!

First, we started the meeting with the details for our domination of Skyhook '06. From dress codes for each day for any/all every occasions right down to the "Redtail Overcast" and the patented Redtail Salute, it was covered. Next, the Redtail 2006 elections were covered followed by details of various trip for this year, requested flyovers and appearances at airshows throughout California! Yes, the Redtails are in demand!

Next event on the calendar is a practice session @ DLO (Delano airport). The Domination of Skyhook '06 HAS STARTED!

Congratulations go out to out to our newest Private Pilot Archie Amos. Archie is a charter member of the Redtails and one of its most dedicated workers, we are sure this work ethic was the cause of his license upgrade. We are looking for Archie to now raise some eyebrows at Skyhook!

This week the some of the Redtails participated in a sit down round table talk about route planning and the issues involved. After several hours arguments and FAR's, chart ledgends, and AIM quoting everyone came out of it a with a better understanding of flying. A great session!

The following was submitted by Xavier (Redtail 99), one of our members who will be hanging around Skyhook for the next 40 years or so and getting better every year. I can only imagine how the Redtails will be dominating in 2050 something!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning .. uphill BOTH ways .. yadda, yadda, yadda. And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that...

I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter ... with a pen!
Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

And talk of about hardship? You couldn't just download porn! You had to steal it from your brother or bribe some homeless dude to buy you a copy of "Hustler" at the 7-11! Those were your options!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! ! ;We had the Atari 2600! With games like "Space Invaders" and "asteroids" and the graphics sucked ass! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! ...
Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed! Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on!

You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up. We had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire ... imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use
that stupid JiffyPop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy.
You're spoiled.

You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Regards,

-The 30 Something Redtail Crowd

The Redtails this week flew to Delano, California to practice balloon bursting, and to learn about Pylon Racing. The balloon bursting was a hit because you got to try as many balloons as you wanted. Charles (“I’m coming down to join you”) Redtail 17 lead the group with 15 balloon passes and missing just one. Several other Redtails who had not participated in balloon bursting got a chance to go up and enjoy bursting as many balloons as they wanted. We still have three more practices scheduled so all who want can practice until we ran out of balloons as we did Saturday. We expect to finish one, two, and three at “Skyhook” this year.

Some of the Redtails who had never participated a Pylon Race got a great introductory into it. I asked Cash to go first and show them how it was done and Cash in his “White Woman” ripped off the fastest time of the day beating out Ed by one second in three laps.

A surprise for all of us is when Darrell’s Cessna 310 took as he was leaving decided to take a few laps around the course. Wow! It was breath taking to see and hear what he could do with that 310! (are you reading this Anthony?)

The surprise of the meet was Gene (Two Stars, Redtail 23) blistering a lap of 1:03 equating to a speed around the 3.3 mile course in over 200mph in his Duke (with winglets!). The sound alone of all those horses being unleashed was something to behold. Beware of this machine when he gets more laps practice (Anthony are you still reading this?).

Another highlight was Henry’s (Redtail 59) after burning up the course with his Cessna 175 stepping out of his stead and declaring “I’m going to kick so 182 Ass!” If we had a climbing contest I would stay away if Henry’s airplane was entered! When Henry gets some more laps in I believe he will dominate his class.

Rayvon’s (Redtail 3) started out saying he was just going to do a few slow laps to get the feel of going around the course but made the mistake of taking Ed (Redtail 8, our Reno Air Race, Cassette racer) with him, that was the end of his ambitious “just to get a feel for the course”. Rayvon, under Ed’s tutelage had that “S” model Bonanza doing laps in the high 180mph and low 190mph range. These guys are good!

On the other side of the spectrum Ron (Redtail 88) put his Cardinal though the course at speeds he didn’t know his airplane had, and Steve did the same with a Cherokee 180. Both averaging about 128mph around the closed pylon course, now that’s hauling butt!

Of course in true Redtail style Merritt the provider of the food (bar-b-que) got into the air and went crazy! For a first time pylon racer really he got into it!

Tyrone (Redtail 25) was another on who said he just wanted to take it easy around the course, by the second lap of his “practice” he was yankin’ and bankin’ like he had done this many times before. Of course Henry said he wanted some of Tyrone’s 182 when Tyrone landed. This is supposed to be a friendly practice?

Ron (Redtail 31) went up with Ozell (Redtail 55) in the co-pilots seat urging him on with the and still breaking in the new engine. Everyone knew Ron was going to be one of the top times of the day, but they are still trying to find the second pylon! Captain Rudy (Redtail 26) occupying the same airspace as Ron and Ozell trying to find them as they were trying to find Pylon Number 2. Consequently, Rudy didn’t get to do much in the Pylon practice but figured out the balloon burst tactics and didn’t want to come down.

As usual “E” (Redtail 66 and “BPA Top Gun” got strapped with the job of being air Boss until he and Ed (Redtail 8) were dispatched on the pylon circuit together. What a humbling experience to be passed on turn #3 by a little airplane (Ed was about 50mph faster than “E” and everyone on the ground could see Ed had a Reno Races flashback!) Now Ed has made a believer out of most of us and all the Redtails want him in the cockpit with them giving them pointers on how to squeeze a few more miles per hour out of their airplane before “Skyhook”

Several Redtails just spectated this time around taking in all the action and wondering how they would do. We expect the next time we are in Delano they will get off the fence and see how much fun it is to try for a balloon or run the pylon course.

When Setrige, Maurice, Reggie, and Steve get their plastic airplanes together, and they will be ready for “Skyhook” the Redtails will be truly the team to beat!

I won’t mention the five plastic airplanes who were guests this weekend at Delano who didn’t get a chance to get on the pylon course or break some balloons this time.

We as usual got off to a fairly late start because we tend to operate on “CP” time at these events and had bar-b-que provided by Captain Rudy and Merritt.

The weather cooperated and all in all everyone had a great time. Pictures coming!

The Redtails this week started attending ground schools around California to upgrade their licenses. The Redtails will not only dominate the physical elements of Skyhook but will have a distinct advantage with their intellect. We ~~plan~~ will have more advanced pilot ratings than any other chapter. The Redtails are not only superior good looking pilots, we have larger brains!

So let’s make a bold statement this week “The Redtails will have three times as many airplanes at Skyhook than any other chapter” Yes I said THREE TIMES as many! In fact we will be Skyhook!

As I said last year get your reservations early on Southwest Airlines to make sure you are there when the Redtails make their now patented arrival, “The Redtail Overcast”. We will be arriving about 1300hrs again this year. Our usual disclaimer applies for our arrival “Keep young girls behind the fence upon our arrival”. Ken, you did a fine job last year with this with the exception of the three girls who swamped Charles “I’m commin’ down to join you” (Redtail 17) Kelley when he got out of his airplane.

We will be spotlighting on our website in the next few months members of the mighty Redtails and their specialties in the different Skyhook events.

The Redtails will travel to Delano, California to brush up on some of the Skyhook events Saturday. We will be video-taping the practice for any of the chapters who would like to see what’s in store for them in May. Don’t let those good looking Redtail airplanes intimidate you so much that you don’t fly your airplane to Skyhook. Remember “We Fly”, others take Southwest Airlines, are you listening chapters?

The Redtails this week traveled to El Paso for their annual face off with the Bronze Eagles of Texas. The Redtails look forward to this as a warm up to Skyhook and a chance break bread with our brothers from Texas in their home state. We did fly to their state to meet with them! Some of the new Redtails who had not yet been to a “Slapdown” in the past wanted to get in on the fun of jostling verbally with the “We Fly” Bronze Eagles.

The Redtails looked forward to meeting the second largest chapter under us in the entire The Black Pilots of America organization. We had planned to jump on them about the crooked judges they had at the last Skyhook and intimidate them by our sheer numbers this year.

When the Redtails arrived at El Paso we were pumped up to do battle with the Bronze Eagles.

There was a great time had by all. The Hospitality Room was stocked and well used as the headquarters for the weekend’s activities. Saturday night’s dinner was a blast and a carnivore’s delight. Sunday’s dinner was at a Mexican Restaurant and everyone enjoyed the authentic Mexican food served.

There was only one thing missing the whole weekend. . . The Bronze Eagles of Texas!

We gave a party and only one Bronze Eagle flew in and one took the official mode of transportation of the Bronze Eagles, Southwest Airlines! Anthony couldn’t even get a passenger to come with him and co-pilot and Wejay took Southwest! It was said that riding on Southwest is addicting. Soon the Bronze Eagles will sell their fleet of (Mooney’s) airplanes and just catch Southwest Airlines wherever they go. Was it airmanship, superior flying skills, or just intimidation that scared them away?

This writer thinks it was that the Bronze Eagles are just getting old and are intimidated in the presence of the superior Redtails.

One of the highlights of our dinners together was when Anthony had ordered an appetizer of ribs which was brought to the other end of the table and before they got to him there was nothing left but a plate full of bones, proving you cannot put a slab of ribs in front of a Redtail without him at least tasting one of them. If the ribs had gone directly to Anthony he would have had them. The lesson learned; don’t expect a Redtail to not take a rib bone if passed under his nose.

The weather we not Chamber of Commerce type in Texas or California but certainly doable for good pilots.

The Bronze Eagles can now say “We Used to Fly” instead of “We Fly”! Gone are the Bronze Eagles, long live the California Redtails!

California Redtails hear the original Tuskegee Airmen at San Carlos’s Hiller Aviation Museum

“Honoring the Legacy of excellence” is more than a catchy slogan for the California Redtails. As a group of pilots we are extremely fortunate to have met many of the individuals who hold a special place in our nation’s history, the original Redtails, the Tuskegee Airmen. Maybe more than most in our country these men and their accomplishments hold a special place in hour hearts. Not only do we share the joy of flying with these pilots, but we also share a sense of brotherhood and camaraderie.

It was with great honor and pleasure that David Cunningham (Redtail 49), Ozell Austin (Redtail 55) and Rayvon Williams (Redtail 3) joined approximately 150 people on February 11th at Hiller Aviation Museum to meet and listen to three of the remaining great American heroes

Mr. Leslie “Les” Williams, Mr. Leon “Woodie” Spears and Mr. LeRoy Gillead were in attendance and held the crowd’s attention for over two hours. Many of the Northern California Redtails see these gentlemen on an on-going basis and we are fortunate that, although well into their senior years, they continue to be active in their professional and personal lives. Sharing their experiences is a pleasure for them and a joyful educational history lesson for the rest of us.

Les Williams shared how his early years in San Mateo (yes, a home-grown Redtail) were not as focused on becoming a pilot as his soon-to-be-peers. The young Williams saw the hand-writing on the wall and determined flying was a better course of action, but his route to Tuskegee was round-about and as indirect as could be. Nevertheless he ended up completing fighter training, only to be reassigned to B-24 bombers right as the war was ending.

Woody Spears kept the audience expecting “…just one more story….” as he shared how his love for flying began as a young lad, with constant trips to the local airport. After his parents realized he could not be persuaded to consider other employment, his father acquiesced and Tuskegee was his next stop. Spear’s recollection of his March 1945 P-51D “Mustang” flight over Berlin and the subsequent encounter with German flak is the stuff that makes movies.

LeRoy Gillead, a bomber navigator, shared with the attendees his 1994 book “The Tuskegee Aviation Experiment and Tuskegee Airmen 1939-1949”. Gillead’s noted that it is still not too late to ensure the Tuskegee story is told and told accurately.

Although the Redtails in attendance had meet these “original Redtails” previously, seeing them in this setting, sharing history, our history, and seeing the sea of wide eyed attendees of all races was inspiring. One of the highlights was during Les Williams’ question and answer session.

A hand slowly rose in the middle of the group. As the microphone was passed down the row it became clear the speaker was a veteran. His face was worn and as he reached for the microphone you could see his movement suggested an individual of advanced age. Slowly he began to rise and you could catch a glimpse of his wife supporting his side. Once he stood, his bomber jacket was clearly a relic, his VFW cap was crowed with pins and emblems but it was clear he stood with a purpose. With hesitation he said. “My name is Wes and I was a world war two bomber pilot. I am here today because of the men on the stage before us.” Looking at the stage he said, “I want to thank you. I would not be here today with you.” Then he sat down.

“Honoring the Legacy of excellence”, there is not a better testimony that that. We are fortunate to claim the name Redtail and will do everything we can to continue to honor these great machines and even greater men.

The Redtails also got together to plan their routes to El Paso ('Slapdown') to meet and slapdown the Bronze Eagles and others this weekend.

Per our calendar the Redtails this week flew to San Louis Obispo to break bread together at the Spirit of St Louis restaurant over looking the field. A great time was had by all and it was fun judging all the landings from the lunch table. As usual Jim (Redtail 57) ordered the best Onion Rings on the planet and the rest enjoyed the bill of fare.

It was decided to meet the Bronze ~~Eaglets~~ Eagles on February 18th and 19th, Presidents weekend in Texas. It seems like the Bronze ~~Eaglets~~ Eagles of Texas can't get off work in March to attend "Slapdown" and can only go in February! Well the Redtails are known for flying and the small group from Texas is known for talking so, The California Redtails will move "Slapdown" to accommodate the small group from Texas. For the third year in a row the Redtails will travel to Texas to try and get our brethren to fly. If the weather holds we expect about five airplanes from the Bronze ~~Eaglets~~ Eagles. I think Southwest serves El Paso so they can catch a flight with them to pad their numbers. Of course some of them will probably drive to El Paso for "Slapdown"

This year the invitation for "Slapdown" goes out to all the chapters to join in the fun of humiliating the Bronze Eagles. The Hilton Hotel will be the gathering place for the group. The Redtails plan to leave on Friday the 17th of February.

This week the Redtails held their Monthly meeting at the Airtel Plaza Hotel on the grounds of the Van Nuys Airport. the schedule for the year was discussed and we found out from 'Crook' we had a little money in the till. The weather up north prevented most of the members in the north from attending but a good time was had by those from the south that had

On January 15, 2006 Capt. Rudy Melson successfully achieved Mission Pilot status for the Civil Air Patrol by completing the required Form 91 Mission Pilot proficiency and Mountain Fury check rides along with 8 days of specialized mission air crew training in July of 2005 at Camp Atterbury in Indiana. By completing these checkrides, specialized training in July of 2005 and pending final Wing approval (Unit and Group approval has already been received in the system) Rudy is qualified to command a CAP Air Crew in the following Air Force missions:

Rudy joins an elite group of Pilots in CAP who have achieved Mission Pilot status. Moreover he joins an even smaller elite group of Black Pilots who have achieved Mission Pilot status in CAP.

The Redtails this weekend attended and participated in the Annual Career Day at Compton Airport in the City of Compton. Several aircraft were put on static display and we had a table in the main hangar. Of course it was a ton of fun getting a physical from a bevy of beauties. (I guess is was the Redtail charm)

The Redtails gained another member (at transplant from Houston, TX and a pilot and aircraft owner that the Bronze Eagles let slip away!). Other Redtail activities for the weekend included several of the Comanche owners attending a Comanche fly-in at the below sea level airport, Furnace Creek in Death Valley.

A few members of the Redtails and CBAA joined in support of the annual Compton Aviation Career Day hosted by Tomorrow's Aviation Museum.James Martin, (Redtail 37) flew over his beautiful Cardinal to put on display. Many women said it was one of the sexiest aircraft on display. Redtail 37, in typical Redtail fashion had to fight off several women as he posed in front of his aircraft in his flight suit. Paramedics needed to give several onlookers medical attention after they gazed at James and his steed.

CBAA member Will Hardy was the MC for the event. His mike presence and professionalism really added class to the event as the days activities progressed.

Xavier Marshall, (Redtail 99) assisted the notorious "General" Martell Bush with ground and crowd control as the tight four ship RV formation led by Dan Checkoway performed for the crowd then disappeared into the sky after individual low 50' passes over the runway.

Redtail 57, Jim Reynolds arrived in his P337 accompanied by his entourage, Ron Lisberg (Redtail 1) and Alonzo Jones, (Redtail 54). Again, the women flocked over this fine Redtail aircraft. The prowess, strong stance, and the bold look of the mixmaster were like a siren, seducing those who heard its song. These Redtails mounted up and roared down the runway. As they took off into the sunset some women fainted and many men cursed with envy as they ascended toward the heavens.

This weekend members of the Redtails attended the Board of Directors Meeting on the campus of Tuskegee Institute. While we were there we got to tour the historic Moton Field the home of the Tuskegee Airmen. My tour was given by me following Mr. Roscoe 'Coach' Draper one of the instructors of the Tuskegee Airmen around while he was doing his preflight on a Cherokee Six he was going to fly back to Philadelphia. I was not only in the company of a man who made history but on a place that made history! Words do not justify what a privilege it was to here him talk about this hallowed ground.

The Redtails gathered this weekend at Reggie’s (Redtail 19) hangar. There was the usual fun and food, with the addition of an Air Show at Cable Airport to enjoy. As you can see by the pictures one of Reggie’s loves is entertaining and cooking hamburgers.

Saturday was a day planned for our first formation practice at Delano but the field was 200 and ½ so the guys that were on time had to divert and return to base and those who ether believed the forecast or were late were able to land and do a little practice after lunch at ‘Ptomaine’ Maria’s on the field. Another great flying weekend for the Redtails.