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EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT LAND IN PB; THE CARS COME, TOO

By Bobbie Harville/SPECIAL TO THE COMMERCIAL
Saturday, October 31, 2009 8:08 PM CDT

Shiny cars, fast planes and breezy weather combined to create a crowd-pleasing event Saturday at the Pine Bluff Municipal Airport. The Razorback Chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association hosted a fly-in and car show that attracted the young and the old.

Dr. Herman Ginger (right) and Eric Stertmann examine the control panel of one of the experimental airplanes Saturday morning during the fly-in and car show at the Pine Bluff Municipal Airport. Pine Bluff Commercial/Ralph Fitzgerald

“Hey Mommy, look at the airplane!” shouted 4-year-old Oliver King, as a small aircraft took to the skies over the airport. Oliver attended the event with his parents, Joel and Patty King of Pine Bluff.

“It’s just exciting to have something like this here in town,” Joel King said. “(Oliver) loves the planes and I like the cars.”

“It’s a beautiful day, a great day to have this,” Patty King said.

The fly-in attracted more than 30 planes while the car show featured more than 60 cars.

Rickey Works, president of the Razorback Chapter of the EAA, explained that the experimental airplanes are “kit airplanes” usually built by the pilots.

“They buy the kits and assembly them,’ he said. “This is our second fly-in and our plans are to add more airplanes such as antiques and classics. It was successful last year and we decided to add cars this year.”

Works of Pine Bluff has been flying for 23 years. He said the club has been working on restoring a wrecked plane called a PT-19 or a Primary Trainer.

“During WWII, this (Pine Bluff airport) was a primary training base run by the Army Air Corps,” he said. “This is the type of airplane they flew and one of the things we do is restore aircraft.”

Pine Bluff is probably one of the few places in the United States with a set of trainer planes, including a BT and an AT - Basic Training plane and Advanced Training plane, Works said.

The two-seater training planes are bigger than the more modern planes at Saturday’s event. During the four-hour fly-in, many of the small experimental aircraft took turns taking off and landing on the tarmac - sometimes flying in formation.

Gerald Loyd, a member of the EAA, proudly showed off his red and white plane.

“We’re trying to promote aviation, the airport here and sport flying,” he said. “I built this back in the 80s.”

Loyd said it took him about four months to build the plane in his backyard and he’s been flying it ever since. The Dumas resident got his private pilot’s license at age 17 and went on to fly helicopters in the U.S. Army.

Pine Bluff resident Virgil Miller, a member of Black Pilots of America and a military veteran, said he enjoyed seeing all the different planes and vehicles.

“This is interesting,” he said. “I’m enjoying it. I’ve got an old antique truck - a 67 pickup -- and I’m thinking about getting into a group.”

Ken Johnson, president of Black Pilots of America and an EAA member, called the fly-in a “spectacular event for Pine Bluff.”

“It has attracted pilots from all across the county,” he said, noting that some come from Missouri, Tennessee, Louisiana and Texas. “Local pilots also enjoy the activity.”

The Central Arkansas Corvette Club of Little Rock, the Ozark Region Porsche Club of Little Rock and the British Motoring Club of Arkansas, also based in Little Rock, were out in full force Saturday. The Porsches ranged in age from 1965 to 2005. Corvettes in a rainbow of colors lined one area while British imports, including Austin Healeys and MGs, helped round out the show.

Some car owners weren’t members of a club. Roy and Aline Harrison of Sulphur Springs came out in their 1930 Studebaker.

“We didn’t come to show it,” Roy Harrison said. “We just came to enjoy (the fly-in and show) but they told us to come over and park.”

Bill Given of White Hall brought out his truck of many parts. It featured a 1940 Ford truck cab, a grill shell from a 1928 Model A and a truck bed he found in the woods. All the parts were strikingly rusty except for the exposed, shiny new Chevy 350 V-8 engine.

“I guarantee you won’t see another one like it,” Given said.

For 12-year-old Joshua Edwards of Pine Bluff Saturday’s gathering was the best of both worlds.

“I like it because it has all of my favorite cars plus airplanes,” he said.

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