Looking for reenactor group, KS

[priestyboy]

I find I'm moving out to the Ft. Riley/Kansas City, KS area and am wanting to get hooked up with a "flyboy" reenacting group.

I'm hardcore Navy/Marine pilot reenactor but really want to get hooked up with a group of likeminded WWII/1940s aviation enthusiasts/reenactors.

I realize most, if not all, of the groups are USAAF but that's great. I can fill the billet of a USN Liason or something!

Any vectors on where to fly will be deeply appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Marc Chevalier]

"Vectors"?

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[Andykev]

It's being given a heading.

"Vectors"?

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A vector is a "heading", or a course taken in piloting a plane. Air traffic control will give a pilot vectors to intercept an ILS (Instrument Landing System) approach, or a vector to avoid oncoming or conflicting air traffic. You can ask the controller for "vectors" out of bad weather, or if you fly into an unfamiliar area. Also, "vector" diagrams are the dimensional math plots displaying information.


An instrument approach or instrument approach procedure (IAP) is a type of air navigation that allows pilots to land an aircraft in weather restricting visibility (known as instrument meteorological conditions or IMC), or to reach visual conditions permitting a normal landing.

Approaches are classified as either precision or nonprecision, depending on the accuracy and capabilities of the navigational aids (navaids) used. Precision approaches utilize both lateral (course) and vertical (glideslope) information. Nonprecision approaches provide course information only.

Pilots refer to charts known as terminal procedures or approach plates during an approach, both precision and nonprecision. These depict the navaid's approach path and radio frequencies used in addition to landmarks, airspace, and other relevant data.
Basic principles

Instrument approaches are generally designed such that a pilot of an aircraft in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), by the means of radio, GPS or INS navigation with no assistance from air traffic control, can navigate to the airport, hold in the vicinity of the airport if required, then fly to a position from where he or she can obtain sufficient visual reference of the runway for a safe landing to be made. The whole of the approach is defined and published in this way so that aircraft can land if they suffer from radio failure; it also allows instrument approaches to be made procedurally at airports where air traffic control does not use radar or in the case of radar failure.

Instrument approaches generally involve five phases of flight:

* Arrival: where the pilot navigates to the Initial Approach Fix (IAF: a navaid or reporting point), and where holding can take place.
* Initial Approach: the phase of flight after the IAF, where the pilot commences the navigation of the aircraft to the Final Approach Fix (FAF), a position aligned with the runway, from where a safe controlled descent back towards the airport can be initiated.
* Intermediate Approach: an additional phase in more complex approaches that may be required to navigate to the FAF.
* Final Approach: between 4 and 12 nms of straight flight descending at a set rate (usually an angle of between 2.5 and 6 degrees).
* Missed Approach: an optional phase; should the required visual reference for landing not have been obtained at the end of the final approach, this allows the pilot to climb the aircraft to a safe level and navigate to a position to hold for weather improvement or from where another approach can be commenced.

When aircraft are under radar control, air traffic controllers may replace some or all of these phases of the approach with radar vectors (the provision of headings on which the controller expects the pilot to navigate his aircraft) to the final approach, to allow traffic levels to be increased over those of which a fully procedural approach is capable. It is very common for air traffic controllers to vector aircraft to the final approach aid, e.g. the ILS, which is then used for the final approach."

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Thank you Andykev! I had no idea. Interesting stuff -- I'd like learn piloting someday.

.

 

[jamespowers]

Thank you Andykev! I had no idea. Interesting stuff -- I'd like learn piloting someday.

.

You could always be a reenactor pilot.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

No reenacting of any doomed flights, thank you very much.

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[jamespowers]

No reenacting of any doomed flights, thank you very much.

.

How about reenacting Titanic sinkings?

 

[D-Day-Doll]

Our group is in the Chicago area, but maybe we'll see you if you go to any of the airshows in the Midwest. Our group does all aviation related impressions- Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, AAF, RAF, and RCAF. Recently the guys did a film shoot for the History Channel about the battle of Midway.

 

[jamespowers]

Our group is in the Chicago area, but maybe we'll see you if you go to any of the airshows in the Midwest. Our group does all aviation related impressions- Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, AAF, RAF, and RCAF. Recently the guys did a film shoot for the History Channel about the battle of Midway.

Very cool. I think I saw that episode. Well done. :cheers1:

Regards,

J

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I could go as "What if they actually let W.C. Fields join the USAAF?" lol

"Roger, Wilco, my little chickadee..."

 

[priestyboy]

Our group is in the Chicago area, but maybe we'll see you if you go to any of the airshows in the Midwest. Our group does all aviation related impressions- Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, AAF, RAF, and RCAF. Recently the guys did a film shoot for the History Channel about the battle of Midway.

The guys in the photos are wearing the MK1 Mae West. They look like repros. Any way to find out where those two got their MK1s?

 

[D-Day-Doll]

The slightly darker one in both pictures is an original. The brighter yellow one (worn by our friend who is leaning against the wing) is a repro made by a guy in our unit who is a whiz at sewing. He made about half a dozen of them to outfit the unit for the filming. I think they were actually made out of raincoats. The hard part was finding an adhesive that worked on the fabric since the originals are not stitched along the edges.

Here's the original next to 2 repros...

 

[priestyboy]

MK1 Mae West

WPG has some in production but Jerry says it'll be the end of the year before he get them to sell.

I saw an original on Ebay go for $600.00+. You don't see them too oftem but when you do they cost apretty penny.

Hope WPG will hurry and get theirs. With folks willing to pay 600+, that makes me think there's a market for a repro.

 

[sbd234]

Hello Priestboy!

Jeff,
I knew you were moving, but I guess not this quick. Sorry we did not get together before you left. How's the new duty station and Kansas? How is the pilot impression coming along? Reading was good this year. Maybe you can get up there next year. I have been hanging around the VF-11 group up there. They do a South Pacific area. Keep in touch.

Charles