In mid-April, Peter and Ellen Wenk hosted another fantastic Southeast section meeting at their home in Leeward Air Ranch, Florida, coinciding with the EAA’s Sun N Fun meeting at Lakeland.
It was a great international weekend: members came from across the USA, the UK, Denmark, Belgium, Germany and Norway. Sam and Elena Bishop flew all the way over from California in Sam’s trusty PA28 235, with a stop en route in Arkansas to watch the total eclipse earlier in the week. Tony and Jane Watson flew over from Texas in their Beech Bonanza. Others came by car or commercial flights. Most gathered at Peter and Ellen’s home for an informal hanger party on the Thursday evening.
Friday was spent at Sun N Fun at Lakeland, near Orlando, visiting the exhibits, trade fair and flight lines – its about an hour’s ride from Leeward. In the afternoon we watched another first class air show.
We arrived back at Leeward late afternoon to enjoy another evening of fellowship in the hanger.
On Saturday we flew to Titusville to join the breakfast fly in hosted by Valiant Air Command at their museum. Caroline and I rode with Tony Watson in his Beech Bonanza. We had an excellent guided tour – and the chance to sit in the pilot’s seat of a B52 bomber.
On departure from Titusville we were able to enjoy a low pass down RWY33 Space Shuttle landing strip at Cape Canaveral before returning to Leeward. Super cool – but landing not permitted!
Saturday night saw us dining at a local restaurant before returning for a final get together – and interesting presentations from Ellen Wenk about their summer lifestyle at their cottage in Norway, and Professional Submarine Driver Captain Jim Harvey on the STEM Flights programme for young adults rounded off another very enjoyable weekend.
After a leisurely Sunday morning breakfast it was time for farewells – and in our case a drive back down to the Gulf of Mexico beaches.
NB: Thanks to Tony de Bruyn (IFFR Benelux) for contributing to the pictures in this post