Zepplin Visits Medford Airport August 14 - 17, Rides!

PRESS RELEASE
For more information contact:
Bern Case, Airport Director
Kim Stearns, PIO
(541) 776-7222
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rogue Valley International-Medford First Oregon Airport to Host Zeppelin Visit
MEDFORD, OR – August 11, 2010 – The Rogue Valley International - Medford Airport
(MFR) will be the first touch-down spot in the State of Oregon for the Farmers Airship, Zeppelin which is on a five-city tour of the Pacific Northwest.

This will be the first visit from the Zepplin,Eureka, in the region. The Airship will be landing at the airport during the morning of August 14, 2010, and will remain for several days offering rides to passengers through August 17, 2010.
Owned and operated by Airship Ventures, individuals will have the extraordinary opportunity to book passage and sail over the Rogue River Valley, on the largest airship to touch down in Medford’s aviation history. “We believe this will be the largest aircraft per cubic foot to land at the airport,” stated Bern
Case, Airport Director. “We had to go out and mark off the perimeter just to make sure there would be enough room for the ship to fit!”

Tethered to a single mast, the Zeppelin will be a sight to behold. The aircraft will be moored at the end of runway nine (9) near Biddle Road. Medford Air Service will be the fixed base operator involved with the event. Would be passengers must book
tickets by calling 1-650-969-8100, ext. 111. Press rides will be available, but must be arranged in advance through that number.

The overall size of the aircraft is impressive at 246 feet in length. It bypasses a Boeing 747 by 50 feet. Not to be confused with a blimp, zeppelins (named after the inventor German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin), are rich in history, and were built using metal frames, enabling the airships to maneuver over longer distances. They were used strategically in the 1920’s as both transport craft and aerial scouts during World War 1.

This Zeppelin Airship serves a much friendlier purpose. Flown with the Farmers® Insurance logo, the Zeppelin, Eureka, will be providing rides to passengers throughout its Pacific Northwest tour. Additional information can be found at www.airshipventures.com/tracking.

Monopoly Maps

(This story was contributed by Jack Brooks of Lake Shastina)

INTERESTING STORY ABOUT WW II
Starting in 1941, an increasing number of British airmen found themselves as the involuntary guests of the Third Reich, and the authorities were casting-about for ways and means to facilitate their escape. Now obviously, one of the most helpful aids to that end is a useful and accurate map, one showing not only where-stuff-was, but also showing the locations of 'safe houses', where a POW on-the-loose could go for food and shelter. Paper maps had some real drawbacks: They make a lot of noise when you open and fold them, they wear-out rapidly and if they get wet, they turn into mush.

Someone in MI-5 got the idea of printing escape maps on silk. It's durable, can be scrunched-up into tiny wads, and unfolded as many times as needed, and makes no noise what-so-ever. At that time, there was only one manufacturer in Great Britain that had perfected the technology of printing on silk, and that was John Waddington, Ltd.
When approached by the government, the firm was only too happy to do its bit for the war effort. By pure coincidence, Waddington was also the U.K. Licensee for the popular American board game, Monopoly. As it happened, 'games and pastimes' was a category item qualified for insertion into 'CARE packages', dispatched by the International Red Cross, to prisoners of war.
Under the strictest of secrecy, in a securely guarded and inaccessible old workshop on the grounds of Waddington's, a group of sworn-to-secrecy employees began mass-producing escape maps, keyed to each region of Germany or Italy where Allied POW camps were located (Red Cross packages were delivered to prisoners in accordance with that same regional system). When processed, these maps could be folded into such tiny dots that they would actually fit inside a Monopoly playing piece.
As long as they were at it, the clever workmen at Waddington's also managed to add:
1. A playing token, containing a small magnetic compass,
2. A two-part metal file that could easily be screwed together.
3. Useful amounts of genuine high-denomination German, Italian, and French currency, hidden within the piles of Monopoly money!
British and American air-crews were advised, before taking off on their first mission, how to identify a 'rigged' Monopoly set by means of a tiny red dot, one cleverly rigged to look like an ordinary printing glitch, located in the corner of the Free Parking square! Of the estimated 35,000 Allied POWS who successfully escaped, an
estimated one-third were aided in their flight by the rigged Monopoly sets.
Everyone who did so was sworn to secrecy Indefinitely, since the British Government might want to use this highly successful use in still another, future war.
The story wasn't de-classified until 2007, when the surviving craftsmen from Waddington's, as well as the firm itself, were finally honoured in a public ceremony. Anyway, it's always nice when you can play that 'Get Out of Jail Free' card.
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/m/monopoly-game.htm




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Have You Heard of This Man?

The date is 1946 and the man in the photo is Jens Hopen, father of Lt. Roy Hopen who was killed in the crash of his Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter near the Altoona Mine just across the county line in Trinity County. The date of the accident was Nov. 14, 1945 and our aircraft archaeology group has located and documented the site. The pilots remains were recovered the following year by the Navy and rest now in the Arlington National Cemetary.

But the father, Jens Hopen did not know this in June of 1946 and, overcome with grief, withdrew his entire life savings of $900 and drove across the country from New Jersey, leaving his wife at home, to try and find his son.

On June 12 he arrived in Weed and spent the next two days flying back and forth over the mountains looking for the wreck. On the 14th he hired two local guides and began a 30 day camp-out on Eddy Creek, searching China Mountain, Scott Mountain, Mount Eddy, Cory Peak, and others. He rented horses and at one point he made his own skiis to cross snow fields to range over the terrain eight hours every single day.

But in the end he failed. Money gone, he told his guides he simply could no longer pay to feed the horses or buy supplies for themselves and he returned home hollow-eyed with loss.

No local news stories have surfaced about this quiet desperate visit. No accounts have appeared anywhere that we can find so the question is did he leave a trail here? Has anyone heard about this man?

It is more relevant now because some Hopen relatives are planning to come to the Montague Airport on August 21 for the annual Aviation Day where our archaeology group will display artifacts from the Hellcat site. On hand will also be the brother of the B-24 co-pilot so this will be a family reunion of sorts.

Please call or write if you know of anyone who has information on this sad story that we can share with family members who are still looking for closure.

Bruce Batchelder 530-938-0385 bruce@realestatelakeshastina.com

PS: for a more readable copy of the clipping go to our website and click on Aviation, www.realestatelakeshastina.com.

The Champagne Connection

As you can see have never done this and would probably never have thought of it but our daughters did and they bought this treat for us as our anniversary gift. That's Ed Steele, owner of Shasta Valley Balloons (.com, to see his website) who has been doing this over 15 years and you will be amazed at his flying skill. We of course were at the whim of the wind at all times but the pilot controls altitude and if he's good enough like Ed there are times when the basket can be just inches above the pasture grasses.

This is what the balloon looks like inside as it's being inflated. More accurately a fan (in the distance to the right of the basket) is fluffing up the envelope so that when Ed fires up the propane heaters they won't be anywhere near the nylon fabric. Sally took this shot from the air vent that the pilot opens when he wants to let out the hot air and descend.

This is Rohr Field from about 1,000 feet I think, directly after liftoff. You can see the flight activity in progress. Today was Young Eagle Day where the local chapeter of the Experimental Aircraft Association takes kids on rides. There were an awful lot of happy children down there when we landed who had never before been in the air.
And this is the top of a willow tree about 40 feet off the ground. From about 4 feet away.... Ed is so good we never touched it. Just after this we coasted across a pasture with the basket brushing the grass tops and never the ground. He's that good.

Oh, and before I forget there is a champagne brunch following. Strawberries (that you dip in sour cream and then in brown sugar), crackers and brie cheese, quiche, and of course, the bubbly (with orange juice if you prefer mimosa). Coming full circle, Ed explained that ballooning began in France in 1783 when they simply started a fire in the basket and hoped the silk envelope didn't catch on fire.

The problems however got worse when peasants in the countryside where the balloonists tried to land became hostile, thinking they were English invaders. Being creative, the balloonists knew that there was nothing more French than champagne and so they began dangling a bottle beneath the basket to assure the natives that they too were French.

Voila.

Don't wait 50 years to do this folks, it's something you'll never forget.

B17 & B24 Flights Coming Soon

This group came to Redding and Medford a couple years back with the B-24 and the B-17 so a friend and I bought a ride which was one of those once in a lifetime things that you never will forget. This season they apparently are also bringing along their two-seat Mustang and the Me-262, the first jet fighter ever built.

As you can see the schedule this time seems to be central and southern Cal but with a chance for a P-51 ride or a bombing run in the Liberator it might be worth the drive to Stocton on June 2nd. Of course the $2,200 cost of a half hour in the Mustang and the $3,900 for the simulated bombing mission in the Liberator is not for everyone. But $425 for a short ride in the 24 or 17 I can tell you from experience is well worth it.




PS: If you can't make out some of the info in the picture give me a call and I'll read it off to you from the original postcard.

The F6F Hellcat Wreck

This is Jim Gubetta (left) and Jim Nile, the first a retired timber faller and Mr. Nile a retired timber cruiser. In 1954 Mr. Nile saw the fuselage of a crashed airplane just west of his north-south cruise line in Section 11 of the Trinity Mountains. Three years later Mr. Gubetta spotted shards of metal in the same area.

Saturday June 27th, fifty plus years later they found it again. Without the incredible memories of these two men our warbird recovery group would have spent years searching for the wreckage but they led us right to it.

Jim Gubetta and I had made two previous scouting trips and on the second one we found a significant piece that established the sites authenticity . . . this section of what may be an area near one of the landing gear bays. Having spent the better part of the day on the hillside before locating this we went home, planning to bring more guys and equipment now that we had it pinned down.


So on the third visit we had the men and the tools to really do some good . . . . Terry Weathers, Jim Gubetta, Jim Nile, Ted Pfeiffer, Jason Coats, and myself. Once we reached the spot where I had found the housing we fanned out and began finding things almost immediately. We spent perhaps two hours at the site and recovered several artifacts. Some, like this assembly that Jason Coats is holding even had legible part numbers and semi-recognizable locations on the airplane. Steven Star another team member with several hundred hours of experience restoring TBM Avendgers thinks for example that this part might be the tailwheel pivot.


Other parts such as the tappet and valve spring that I'm holding here clearly came from the engine (a Pratt & Whitney R2800 radial we think). Significantly, the parts were all found in a relatively small area that surrounded a small pit. It is on a gentle north-south slope and the parts were in a broad fan-shaped pattern to the side and downhill from the depression.

At first we thought the pit which is only about four feet deep and maybe 15 feet wide was an impact crater. There was a fire scar on a nearby tree too, leading us to suspect it had been scorched in the likely fire / explosion of the crash. But this first theory didn't last long. The pit was too regular, too circular. And it looked as if some dirt had been pulled out downslope by hand. Maybe a miner was trying to find out if the area was worth digging (there were several pits like this one and a rock-mining operation lower on the slope for chrome).

We have heard a rumor that the Navy had destroyed the craft with explosives after salvaging what they could and this scenario is our best guess at this point. (I have ordered the official recovery and will report when it arrives.) The downhill fan shape of the debris field does indeed look like the signature of an explosion although, as Jim Gubetta pointed out primer cord was used a lot in those days and he would have expected a much larger scattering of debris ___ perhaps a 1,000 foot radius or even more for smaller parts.

And speaking of small parts the smallest artifact was the most touching . . . a gold cufflink. Bent, rusting around the steel pin, and missing two of its three stones it is a very moving item that will be returned to the family if we can ever find them. The pilot, Lt. jg R. A. Hopen was probably in his early 20's and not likely to have been married much less a father so we'll be lucky if we can trace his parents or siblings.

Ferry pilots (this was November of '45, after the war and the airplanes in this flight were on their way to storage in Oaklahoma) were said to sometimes wear dress clothing under their flight suits if they had a girlfriend where they were headed. A romance that never had a chance to happen . . .



Some of us will be back at the site for more poking around and GPS work and we hope to get some more data. In the meantime all the artifacts are here at my house until we can find a place in the museum. Mr. Gubetta is working on that. If anybody would like to view them and the maps and photos just give me a call.

Finally, Danielle will be posting this article along with photos as they come in to our new website www.localhistoryprojects.com. I am also writing a longer article for the Siskiyou Daily News and the editor Mike Slizewski has even hinted we might get front page. Wouldn't THAT be something?

Recovery Team "To Do" List

This Grumman F6F Hellcat went down near Mumbo Lake in November of 1945 and is shaping up to be our next "job". After our B-24 project which opens at the Sisson Museum this Friday night April 3 it seems we have a series of warbird accidents in or near Siskiyou County to survey in addition to the Navy plane above: A PV-1 / RB-34Commando on Herz Mountain and a Curtis C-46 near McCloud. Both were in 1943, the same year as our B-24.

We will have a Power Point presentation for our bomber and several people on our recovery team will be on hand to answer questions. We hope to have a guest of honor as well, Verne Kendall who was 8 years old when it passed right over his house. One of the survivors came to his front door asking for a ride to town just after the crash.

History Night is the museum's annual fundraiser so we hope you all can make it. Tickets are $15 and are available at the MS Chamber, Village Books, and at the door.

Bruce

Attention Gearheads

You have to Google this . . . the Schneider Cup was a fab thing in the 1930's, THE place to be when it came to speed. And since airports were scarce most thinkers thought seaplanes were the wave to come. WW II changed that of course but during the 30's there was a lot of interest in seaplanes (see other stories under the Aviation label).
So here comes Italy with the awesome TWIN IN LINE 12 cylinder (presumably liquid-cooled) engines powering two counter-rotating props through, get this, a hollow drive shaft.


I know. This is why I said Gearheads in the title. The first two models crashed or blew up midair so the third volunteer must have had quite a dose of confidence. He set a world record of 448 mph in this rocket. That record was not broken until a Russian did better in a jet powered seaplane in 1961.
Note; thank you Jack Brooks for sending the photos and firing my curiosity. One last question I have is where is this plane displayed?

Martin Mars Aircraft Fights Local Fires

This monster tanker is one of only two in the world and until a few minutes ago was moored at Bridge Bay on Shasta Lake, fighting the numerous wildfires around Redding. It is the Hawaii Mars built by the Glenn Martin Company in the late 1930's for long-range Navy maritime patrol duty. Six were built originally but over the course of the war and later cargo duties two were lost to accidents. The remaining four, all named after South Pacific Island groups, were auctioned for scrap in 1956 from the Alameda Naval Air Station where they had been flying cargo since the war. Affectionately known as the Big Four, they had accumulated 87,000+ accident free hours of service and their impending doom was mourned by their loyal navy crews.

Dan McIvor, a fire tanker pilot in Canada got wind of the sale and picked up all four along with 30-some spare engines (enormous 2,500 hp Wright Cyclones), 47 tons of spare parts, and cabinets full of design plans. He ferried all the goods in the aircraft up to Sproat Lake on Vancouver Island and outfitted each with a unique retractable scoop that could be lowered behind the step on the seaplane's hull. This allowed the plane to scoop up water while skimming the surface of a lake, saving vast amounts of time and money. The craft can carry up to 60,000 lbs. of water and it takes a mere 30 to 40 seconds to load, mixing a fire retardant called Thermo-Gel as it comes into the onboard tanks.

As the years went by one craft was lost in an accident and another in a windstorm. The two remaining, Hawaii Mars and Philippine Mars, now travel all over the world with a complete ground support 18 wheeler (that carries spare parts and an extra engine) as well as a tanker truck for aviation fuel. The visit to Shasta Lake was only for a few days and I did not get to see the aircraft in action much to my regret. I was planning on going down Tuesday the 8th and just watching until it took off but when I called they said it was being dispatched today the 5th for some fires west of Palo Cedro.

A gallery of photos and more info can be found at www.martinmars.com.