Flour Bombing Question

Ron Levy said:
OTOH, failing to impose and enforce a good set of rules is a good way for your group to get a bad repuation so it isn't welcome there or elsewhere (airport managers talk to each other) in the future. AYA has held its conventions all over the US and Canada, and one of the things that breaks down airport management opposition to our flying events is the stack of references we have from other airports. We just tell them to call the managers at the last three or four locations and ask about us, and that's the end of the opposition, even where other groups have fouled the waters before us.

Also, from a competitive standpoint, setting a fairly high minimum speed turns it into a contest of bombing skill, not who's got the lowest stall speed.
Click to expand...

In 1997 the 170 association held their annual fly in at Paine Field here in Wa.

We had the poker run to 5 airports in northern Puget Sound, we included the flour bomb drop into the run, we had no other rules other than who decided who won. you bought your flour bag before the start of the poker run, the money went to a good cause, and you made your drop at Barkers airfield on the way to pick up your first card at BVS. That's all there was to it, no rules we knew the pilots could fly their own aircraft, no body got killed, every one had a good time, we found out who won the poker hand at orcus eastbound airport had the fly out lunch there, and played the second hand on the way back to PAE.

I don't know what to think about a club that would require all these rules. is it the leadership or the pilots/members?
:dunno:

and I'm sure that PAE would love to see the 170 association again. they are a good bunch.
 
Tom-D said:
I don't know what to think about a club that would require all these rules. is it the leadership or the pilots/members?
:dunno:
Click to expand...
Well, I do know what to to think about a club that doesn't, and it ain't good, because we've had to fight the bad taste they left in several airport managements' mouths. OTOH, we get emails all the time from airports where we've been asking us to come back.
 
Ron Levy said:
Well, I do know what to to think about a club that doesn't, and it ain't good, because we've had to fight the bad taste they left in several airport managements' mouths. OTOH, we get emails all the time from airports where we've been asking us to come back.
Click to expand...

If you'd name them, I'll bet the 170 association and the Fairchild Flyers aren't aren't one of them.

and we don't regulate the fun out of the meet.
 
Last edited:
Threefingeredjack said:
Don't recall any major shrapnel events, and I have no idea where the balls came from, maybe old rentals?? But the car would certainly rock on impact.
Click to expand...

A friend of mine would buy used bowling balls at garage sales. Then once a year he would throw an old row boat out in a pond and attempt to sink it by throwing the balls out of his Pacer. He got pretty good at it. He said he liked the women's balls because they would float and he could use they more than once.
 
wanttaja said:
Oops. :)

http://www.bowersflybaby.com/stories/ELMA.HTM

Ron Wanttaja
Click to expand...


Time for the briefing. "Come over at 50 or 100 feet," the organizer said, "Though we ain't gonna check. Your target is the word "ELMA" painted lengthwise on the runway."
I mounted up. Plane upon plane passed by...all Ercoupes flown by older men, all with excited kids in the right seat.

Then I started getting nervous. I didn't really mind it if I missed the target. I just didn't want to get shown up too much by some kid in a 'coupe. I set my altimeter to zero and joined the parade.



----

Great story so far (still reading)
 
Anthony said:
LOL!

That's great.

I can only add.

"Fly the plane Kimberly, fly the plane."
Click to expand...

Thanks. I plan to practice (not sure when, I like going on days after work where I look up at the sky and think 'man it sure is a nice day'). Last time I planned to be solo in the 150 but it didn't happen since my friends were at the airport. To this day I've never been solo (except one night currency flight)! I'm actually looking forward to being alone.
 
Meeting was last night. No mention of the flour bombing (and more of a dinner than a meeting). I'm afraid this may be a no briefing flour bombing. Seems these guys have been doing it for so long they all know the rules. I will let you know if this is the case after I go to the event. I asked a couple of questions, directed to the guys with handheld radios (standing near the bombing area, collecting dropped chickens). Everyone was outside watching the planes fly by and practice. Literally one plane in the entire pattern (not crowded).
 
At the breakfast fly in out this way in pecos we use cantaloupes into a kiddy pool ... It's pretty hilarious.
 
Bombing is tomorrow! I might even get to go in the morning in others' planes to watch them practice. I think the earlier I show up the better. This will be my first "bumming rides at the airport" day. I will fly my very own plane, of course, but I only have it reserved from 2pm - 6pm.
 
So it was on Saturday. Winds gusting and fog rolling in to boot.

Also, the guy who leaves the village in his hangar was gone for the weekend so we had no target to bomb. At the last minute, a pilot found two pirate flags on sticks and placed them in the grass. It was awesome.

They filled all the chickens with millet, then stapled their beaks shut. Wish I had taken pictures. I dropped four chickens (four patterns). I came in third place with my best chicken being less than 20 feet from the target, thanks to my bomber (also a pilot). Before you get too excited, note that was third place out of 5 total planes.
 
Last edited:
It is unfair with a Grumman. The hard points under the wings, and the factory installed Norden Bomb Sight give us an unfair advantage. Yes, it was standard equip, but they are being replaced with the newer, radar ranging sights.
 
Next event I hope to have my BF as my "bomber". It is July 28 and I just reserved the little 150. Probably the most fun I've had in that plane. I can't wait, and this time we should have the village again.

We totally won today! They said never before has anyone hit a building in the village (cardboard) and my boyfriend did (well, okay we did and so did another plane so you could say it was a tie but overall we were better).

Each and every pass of the four passes, with the exception of the last one, was great. One was 6 feet from the chair in the center, one hit the barn, and one was dead center but a bit further off. These 'chicken bombings' use millet filled rubber chickens, so I decided to take a photo to show scale (this is in the parking area on the grass):

7666434594_25b2f63241_c.jpg
 
Last edited:
kimberlyanne546 said:
Next event I hope to have my BF as my "bomber". It is July 28 and I just reserved the little 150. Probably the most fun I've had in that plane. I can't wait, and this time we should have the village again.
Click to expand...
A 150/152 is one of the best flour bombing platforms commonly found for rental. Nice and slow, very forgiving of any mishandling, and convenient "weapons offloading ports" (aka openable windows) on both sides.
 
gismo said:
A 150/152 is one of the best flour bombing platforms commonly found for rental. Nice and slow, very forgiving of any mishandling, and convenient "weapons offloading ports" (aka openable windows) on both sides.
Click to expand...

Yes. The guy who won owns a C152 and was his own bomber. It was funny to see him slip the plane and stick his entire head and arm out the pilot side window. His chicken fell within 6 feet of my chicken, but six feet closer to the target, so he still won. Then again, he's been doing this for years with them.
 
We totally won on Saturday! They said never before has anyone hit a building in the village (cardboard) and my boyfriend did (well, okay we did and so did another plane so you could say it was a tie but overall we were better).

Each and every pass of the four passes, with the exception of the last one, was great. One was 6 feet from the chair in the center, one hit the barn, and one was dead center but a bit further off. These 'chicken bombings' use millet filled rubber chickens, so I decided to take a photo to show scale (this is in the parking area on the grass):

7666434594_25b2f63241_c.jpg



7678974124_df86bd72f2_c.jpg
 
Kimberly,

How high are you when you're on the bombing run? And what IAS are you at?
 
Congrats! Sounds like it was a blast. :D
 
Nice work! Congrats to your bombardier. Who knew you could mount a Norden on a 152?
 
ScottK said:
Kimberly,

How high are you when you're on the bombing run? And what IAS are you at?
Click to expand...

They changed it to 150 this time (indicated; everyone sets their altimeter to zero upon start).

IAS varied but I think this time I had 20 degrees flaps and last time I had no flaps but I forget. I was probably close to the target when I got stable on my alt and airspeed, I'd say around 60 - 90 IAS (mph on that plane).

There was less wind this time so I could hold the plane in place better and the people on the ground are radio'ing me saying "right" or "left" and then after the drop they read back the above numbers (if you were short or long, left or right or center).

Also, my bomber this time stuck his whole upper body out of the window or so it seemed since I'd hear a whoosh over the intercom when his head went out the window with all the air rushing by.

He told me later he had a blast. We found a hangar open with a kitfox that was hand built by the guy in the hangar and painted with a jungle theme (ants, monkeys, trees). He showed us the plane and his six race cars that he raced professionally.... just another great day at the airport.

The bombing was followed by movie night, popcorn and an aviation movie from the 50's or 60's. I forget the title. Last month it was twelve o'clock high they showed.
 
OK, I found the email. This is what movie it was:

The BLUE MAX
Staring George Peppard, James Mason and Ursula Andress, and features Karl Michael Vogler and Jeremy Kemp.

The funny thing is the volume was too low, so he went to the laptop which was hooked up to the projector, to turn the volume up. Instead of doing that, he dragged the "fast forward" on YouTube or Windows Media Player or whatever and only my boyfriend noticed. So a 2.5 hour movie was over in half an hour. I wondered why there was so much drama and action - it was the climax!

Probably a good thing since I didn't want to sit there for 2.5 hours (it was getting late) and another pilot had two screaming grandchildren who would have never made it through the whole thing.
 
Threefingeredjack said:
Yeah, that extra 75lbs. can be an issue in a 150. :yesnod:
Click to expand...

My useful load is only 430 lbs or so! I did just recently put a 190lb CFI in there but the takeoff roll on that hot day was super long. I still don't understand why they fill up all the planes each day, especially the little 150. For the short flights most people do (according to the Hobbs log).... it would be far better to leave them half empty.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
I still don't understand why they fill up all the planes each day, especially the little 150.
Click to expand...

I asked at my club.

All the high wings are filled to the top, even the 182s. The low wings are filled to "tabs" if they have them (and I think they all do). Why? Apparently the fuel guy has trouble seeing into the tanks, even though us pilots seem to do fine.
 
A calibrated stick, and telling the fuel guy how much to put in each tank, takes care of that problem.
 
denverpilot said:
A calibrated stick, and telling the fuel guy how much to put in each tank, takes care of that problem.
Click to expand...
It's "auto fueled." Nobody is telling the fuel guy how much to put in. He has standing orders.

By special arrangement, you can do that.
 
They sent out the monthly newsletter today (I belong to their airport club).

Our "Rubber Chicken" dropping has assembled quite a
"Cult following", this month we had two winners and it was
the first time "Mayor Mike's village" took a direct hit, first
by Art, as you know Art flew B24's in WWII, he
made it look easy. Kimberly Anne had the other
hit, the rest of us all got "showed up" by a 90 year old
Gentleman and young girl! we will keep practicing!
Please check the web site, besides our August dinner
meeting, we will have an "Excellent Breakfast" and a
service for Bob.​
Thank you for all that you do, see you soon!
 
Just read the whole newsletter and we were in there again on another page (so was the Young Eagles thing):

If you were not at the Chicken bombing then you missed
a great time. Kimberly Anne and her boy friend, bounced
a chicken right up against one of the buildings in the
bombing area. Then the pilot/bombardier pair of Jerry
and Art , put another chicken almost in the
same spot. The Bombers are becoming more accurate
each time we do this. The crowd who was there got
to roar their approval of the fine marksmanship, or is that
bombermanship.
After the yelling and screaming died down and Ron
had completed another of his carpet bombing
techniques, with a simultaneous drop of four chickens,
none of which came close to the buildings, we all retired​
to cooking up or favorites on the grill for dinner...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top