DATE:  1 April 2007

TO:  AAHF MEMBERS , PROSPECTIVE MEMBERS , DONORS ETC.

SUBJECT:  SKY SOLDIERS/ARMY AVIATION HERITAGE FOUNDATION (AAHF) NEWS BRIEF Vol 07-07

PURPOSE:  To Periodically Inform the Membership of the Activities of the Organization
 

I.   MAINTENANCE:

We are still working on Huey 426 - help is needed for those who have time.  Inspections are always due on any of the aircraft, come watch, lend a hand, maybe even learn something new.

II NEAR TERM EVENT SCHEDULE ( APRIL):

DATE                     LOCATION               PURPOSE 

22 – 21 Apr 07                Louisville, KY                   Air show

21 Apr 07                       Tara Field                        Monthly Meeting

III.    AAHF COORDINATING EVENTS (Not Listed Above):

DATE              TIME              PURPOSE 

2 Jun 07               0930                     Monthly Meeting

21 Jul 07               0930                     Monthly Meeting

18 Aug 07              0930                     Monthly Meeting

15 Sep 07              0930                     Monthly Meeting

20 Oct 07             0930                     Monthly Meeting

8 Dec 07               TBA                       Christmas Party

IV.   ADDITIONS/DELETIONS:

N/A

V. RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

A winter's worth of work and the Punta Gorda, Florida Air show.

VI. ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGES:

(2) PUNTA GORDA AIR SHOW by Shanda Elkin

Opening air show in beautiful Punta Gorda Florida , folks between the work and the winds it is amazing that everything went as planned.  We started setting up the new Army chalet on Wednesday, continued Thursday, and were ready to go with all the new stuff by Friday for the night show.  The Cobra pilots in their black and gold, the Huey pilots in their green, all working hard all weekend to make our first show a success.

Friday started with three black cobras landing at three different high school, pilots jumping out, talking to the students, letting the students take a look at the cobra, then jumping back into the seat and off they go.  Next was the hour-long rehearsal, a quick bite to eat then back for the evening event, manning the chalet with soon to be soldiers and recruiters.  On the other side of the flight line the Hueys were set-up ready to go for their media rides and set-up for Saturdays Huey rides.  It was a long day starting at 0700 and ending at 2200....... yet we were ready for more.

Saturday started with a make a wish young man 14 years old who truly wanted to see what it was like to fly in a Huey.  The Pilots were great, made front page of the Sunday paper.  The Huey rides were moving along while the chalet was welcoming VIPs and guest.  We also had the Huey Raffle Tents going, for those of you that do not know, we have folks fill out liability forms to have a chance to win one of ten free Huey rides at the end of the day, the Huey is brought to show center loaded and away they go.  On Saturday ten tickets were drawn, eight folks show-up, boy were they excited; they thought the whole deal was great.  Now to the show, we told them to burn the field but the county said no; well our PYRO crew did a fine job setting the field on fire, sending the smoke and ash in one direction, the Cobras in another direction.  Ken Suffridge had to talk for 10 minutes without the Cobras; good job Ken.  Then we went on with the show.

Sunday the winds were kicking really hard, by the time we went into the air, the winds were over 37 miles per hour, big pats on the back for the Cobra pilots being able to do the show in high winds and making it look easy.  One more Huey raffle ride at show center and we were done.

Overall we did very well for recruiting, great show, good on rides (location was not great) and everyone came home safe.  Every member worked really work to make the first event a success, thank you to everyone.  Special thanks go out to Jess & Ronny (our truck drivers, unloading & loading the big truck), Ken Gilliam (getting the Archway together & up & down & apart) then taking care of the LZ and having some energy left to fly home, cannot forget all the pilots for their great flying in the high winds. 

Ok guys, we only have 10 or 11 more events to go, I got some rest I'm ready to hit the road again......

(2) Membership Dues by Shanda Elkin

To all members I'm way behind in sending out renewal invoices, you know when you joined feel free to send in your $36 membership renewal to 506 Speedway Blvd , Hampton , GA 30228 - Attn:  Shanda - I will take care of it from there.  Thank you for your help.

(3) News Letter Input by Shanda Elkin

I'm looking for folks who would like to write stories, articles, or take pictures to get the quarterly newsletter back up and running.  Just send your ideas, stories, etc to me and I will get things rolling again.

(4)  Check out this web page for news of the Punta Gorda Air Show.   http://www.floridaairshow.com/ 

Another site is:

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070325/NEWS/703250321/-1/Help0530

(5)  Membership News:  If you have made changes to your contact information, email address, or simply have news or questions, send to our new email address:  membership@armyav.org.  Don't forget that membership applications, as well as a link to our new email address, are available online at www.armyav.org. 

(6)  If you have constructive criticism or suggestions for improvement to the news brief, you can also contact membership@armyav.org.

(7)  Photo Locations: 

a.  For the Foundation's Photobucket site, go to this link:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v202/armyav/ .  If this direct link will not work, you can access the site at www.photobucket.com and the Foundation album is " armyav".  Some folks have had trouble in getting into the album.  The block to enter the Album name of "armyav" is in the upper RIGHT corner that is the search block.  DO NOT use the area that requests a password.  No password is needed to view our photos.  

b.  There is another Photobucket site with pictures of the Foundation.   Go to:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v700/elp999/SkySoldiers/?start=all

Thanks to Jack McCormick and Ed Bearden, we now know this was our Macon show. 

c.  In addition, there is another very interesting photo site to visit.

http://sunbirdphotos.com/  Once there, navigate to the following area:

all galleries >> Air Show Stock Photo Galleries (13 Air Shows plus ALA Miami 2003 Aircraft Static Display) >> 2006 Blue Angels Homecoming 60th Anniversary Air Show at NAS Pensacola Stock Photos Gallery. 

Some great shots of our Cobras at the Pensacola NAS Airshow.  > Army Aviation                          

CURRENT AIR SHOW SCHEDULE

DATE                 LOCATION                 EVENT

May 4-6                  Ft. Lauderdale , FL             air show**

Jun 15-17                Pittsburgh, PA                  air show

Jul 13-15                Milwaukee, WI                  air show**

Jul 20-22                Selfridge ARB, MI             air show

Aug 24-26               Indianapolis, IN                 air show

Aug 31-Sep 3            Cleveland, OH                   air show

** Over Water