Tuesday July 27, 2010 - "It was a long shot but we did it anyway." - Dan Gryder
Twenty-six DC-3s were stacked tightly together for photo-journalist purposes on the historic Monday morning flight. More than 240
media representatives were present at Rock Falls with film, photo, video, audio, and documenatry crews.
We started 52 engines at
12:22 pm on Monday. What a sight! The flight crews had been prebriefed with a formation PDF. They received their formal formation flight briefing
from 8:30 to 10:30 am. Twenty-six DC-3s taxied out for takeoff at 12:30. Of the 26, one returned to the ramp for a maintenance problem. Another
DC-3 aborted his takeoff, and one DC-3 made it
in the air but had to return to Rock Falls with an oil temperature problem. This left 23 airplanes flying towards Airventure with all systems GO!
The flight maneuvered on to a 40 mile
final for a Show Pass down runway 09 at Airventure. With the Herpa DC-3 as lead and coming over top, the order was given: "This is it boys, tighten her up, lights on,
smoke on!"
After passing directly over Airventure, the flight broke for landing on 5 second breaks and formed a single ship line of 23 DC-3s perfectly spaced with gear down,
100 knots, and landing checks complete. The continuous perfect conga line was cleared to land on Runway 18 and all aircraft were down and clear in a record 16 minutes and
34 seconds. Congratulations and credit to the expert airmanship of these fabulous Douglas pilots and owners!
My old friend. This song's for
you. 'Cause a few simple verses - was the least that I could
do. To tell the world, that you were here. Because the love
and the laughter will live on long after. All of the sadness
and the tears. We'll meet again. My old friend.
The Last Time
is an organization created for
the sole purpose of reuniting flying
examples of the Douglas DC-3 and the
people associated with them, for one
last time. The goal of the organization
is to celebrate this aircraft and these
people.
Twenty-six DC-3/C-47 aircraft converged
at Rock Falls, Illinois for a weekend
long celebration. And over 15,000 guests
visited the airport to see these
historic airplanes and meet their crews.
It was a wonderful reunion where old
friends met and new friendships
developed. It is unlikely that such a
gathering will ever occur again.
Thank
you, friends, for getting together for
The Last Time.
