B-25 / B-29 Tour Stop Tallahassee

[Richard Travis]

EAA 445 Members and Friends,

We have exciting news about a joint Tallahassee visit by two restored
WWII bombers, the B-25 and B-29, the first weekend of April. To say
this is a rare opportunity to experience both aircraft together in
Tallahassee is a great understatement! The two historic bombers (see
attached press release) are visiting southern states as the first part
of a summer-long tour. The B-25 "Berlin Express" is an EAA aircraft,
and local Tallahassee Chapter 445 will be hosting the visit. The B-29
"Doc" has joined the spring tour with the B-25.

REQUEST FOR VOLUNTEERS
The vintage warbirds will have arrived in Tallahassee by Thursday,
March 31, to give complimentary press flights from the north ramp area
of KTLH, while the open-to-the-public event is Friday-Sunday, April
1-3. As EAA Chapter 445 is hosting the event, we will need to staff a
good number of volunteers. The bomber aircraft's daily schedule for
the 3-day event will be in two shifts: hourly flights from 10AM to
1PM, and on-the-ground tours of the aircraft from 2 to 5PM. Shifts
will be about 4 hours long, the first starting no later than 8AM.

Volunteers will be asked to assist the aircrew and ground crew as
needed. Duties will involve ground operations, crowd flow and control,
and running afternoon ground tours. We will need 4 to 6 volunteers per
shift, at least 5 preferably. Security will be a factor. We will need
at least 2 security-badged volunteer personnel at all times; 3 would
be preferable. Volunteers are not required to be EAA members, but, if
anyone would like to join Chapter 445 ($20 annual), that would be
appreciated.

If you already have a KTLH security badge and can volunteer, that will
be great. If you want to apply for a security badge, an application
form has to be picked up at the Flightline offices down by the
maintenance hangars (across from Million Air). The application must be
submitted at the Airport's administrative offices (2nd floor Main
Terminal), and a background check will be conducted for each
application. Once approved, the applicant then must partake in a
2-hour training/testing session given by computer at the
administrative offices.

There will be an evening meeting next week (TBA) at Compass Point
(north ramp/old terminal building between TLH Helicopters and
Flightline offices) to discuss Chapter 445's participation in the
event and start working out the details. The meeting likely will start
at 7PM. If you want to attend the meeting, please reply and state your
availability; I will select the evening when the most people can
attend.

The background check and training involves an expense, and how that
expense will be addressed by Chapter 445 will be a major topic for
next week's meeting. Organizational and operational matters for the
volunteer crew will also be a main topic.

It will be helpful for volunteers to have some basic knowledge of the
B-25 and B-29 in order to be able to answer visitor questions.
Reviewing the Wikipedia articles on both aircraft would be sufficient.
No need to memorize details, but a general knowledge of some technical
specs and historical incidents and significance would be suitable. The
Wikipedia links are:

B-25:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_B-25_Mitchell

B-29:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-29_Superfortress

This could be a great event for everyone participating. There is a
good possibility that we may be asked to help turn the props of the
six big radial engines to get the oil flowing as a pre-flight
procedure on both aircraft. I personally would not want to miss out on
that.

Please reply if you want to volunteer.

Richard Travis, Pres.
EAA Chapter 445
Tallahassee, FL
(ph) 850-567-8849
rtra...@gmail.com

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