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San Antonio
25 March 2005
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Building one’s own airplane is the heart of
Experimental Aircraft Association
At the
beginning, a century ago, things with wings
were not manufactured or mass produced.
Airplanes were hand-made, in someone’s
workshop or stable. ‘Contraptions’ of
wood, wire, and fabric, they flew in spite
of their builders’ only rudimentary
knowledge of aerodynamics.
A mere
decade later The Great War broke out in
Europe and airplanes became weapons.
Enormous resources poured into their
development, and aeronautical progress
accelerated. It remained possible,
however, to construct an airplane from
scratch in someone’s workshop or garage.
After the
War To End War airplanes began delivering
mail, carrying adventurous passengers,
spanning oceans, penetrating the polar
regions, competing in races and undergoing
rapid technical improvement. Metal
started replacing wood and fabric, engines
became more reliable, and production-line
methods were applied. Yet skilled
craftsmen could still build an airplane by
hand in a shop, much the way Ryan Aircraft
of San Diego built an all-metal monoplane to
the specifications of a pilot named
Lindbergh, in about six weeks in the year
1927.
In
another human generation came a Second World
War, in which airplanes played a decisive
role. Production lines turned
out thousands of war planes.
Visionaries said that the end of World War
Two would see aviation transformed into a
mass market, with personal airplanes as
cheap and universal as Henry Ford’s
automobiles, and air travel affordable by
everyone. Only the second part of this
vision came true with the growth of airlines
into another form of mass transportation.
Private airplanes, however, never sold in
mass quantities, and many small airplane
manufacturers failed or were bought out by
companies with deeper pockets who simply
shelved the private plane designs.
Still,
the steady growth and spread of aerodynamic
knowledge, better tools and cheaper
materials meant it was not only possible but
actually easier than ever for a man with a
dream of flying to assemble an airplane in
his garage or a friend’s hangar.
As do-able as building a boat, or turning a
‘36 coupe into a street rod.
In the
early ‘fifties, groups of enthusiastic
do-it-yourself airplane builders were
getting together at rallies dubbed ‘fly-ins’
to swap information, share expertise and
admire each other’s airplanes. They
formed a national organization called the
Experimental Aircraft Association after the
title of particular chapters in the Federal
Aviation Regulations — which the leaders of
their movement helped officials draft — that
sanctioned and specified the building and
flying of home-built aircraft.
In 1953 a
group of builders of custom-built
private airplanes in the
Middle West
began holding annual fly-ins at
Milwaukee. A similar
group of
Experimental builders in Texas started
getting together in
1963 at the
airfield in Georgetown.
The
Wisconsin fly-in ultimately developed
into AirVenture Oshkosh. The
Georgetown, Texas fly-in became known as
the Southwest Regional Fly-In.
The
Southwest Regional Fly-In grew over the next
forty years from a handful of home-builders
to an event hosting hundreds of aircraft and
thousands of aviation enthusiasts. The
SWRFI outgrew Georgetown municipal airfield
and moved to Kerrville.
Eventually too big for Schreiner Field, it
moved again to Abilene Regional, and in 2003
from Abilene to New Braunfels with renewed
success in spite of aircraft parking and
taxiing problems. But 2004 at New
Braunfels was hampered by heavy rain which
produced acres of mud and made safe
operation difficult.
This
year, the Southwest Regional Fly-In comes to
Hondo, Texas, an ideal site for it to grow.
Hondo
Airfield was constructed in 1942 in less
than three months, but they built it big,
built it right, and built it to last.
Three generations later, the runways from
which just about every apprentice Army Air
Corps navigator lifted off to learn his
trade by sighting the big, bright stars at
night are still broad, long, well maintained
and welcoming. The parking ramps can
still accommodate thousands of airplanes,
and if it rains the water runs off promptly.
The
Experimental Aircraft Association of which
SWRFI — now called just The Texas Fly-In —
is a regional associate, will be on hand to
present an EAA Member village, like the one
they operate at Oshkosh, to provide
information on all the different programs
and services the EAA provides its members.
Hondo’s a
great location for a gathering of people who
love building their own airplanes, and for
those who want to learn how to build them,
as well as the general public which just
likes to inspect human-scale machines that
fly.
There’s
space enough at Hondo for manufacturers and
sellers of aviation products to exhibit
their wares. Space enough for all
kinds of food and a variety of technical
displays and discussions, as well as
feasting and partying at the end of each
day.
Finally,
there’s enough space at Hondo for The Texas
Fly-In to have an Air Show. On
Saturday afternoon, May 14th, and Sunday
afternoon, May 15th aerobatic performers
will astonish us with their amazing aerial
maneuvers.
For more
information, visit The Texas Fly-In web site
at www.swrfi.org.
Contact:
E. D. Yoes, Jr.
Secretary, SWRFI |
