VG-21 Squadron

Newsletters

VG-21 Newsletter #3

Varga /Shinn Fly-in

Carmel Valley November 3rd. 1990 (Carl Sigg) Evelyn and I hosted the third Bay Area Varga Shinn fly-in at the Carmel Valley airport on Nov 3rd. I was a little concerned that Carmel Valley may be farther than some of the North Bay members would like to come for a fly-in, therefore, I had also invited two local Carmel Valley non-Varga! Shinn flyers just in case very few of our group showed up. I was also concerned that with November being at the start of the rainy season, we might actually stand a chances of being rained out. But all concerns were soon put to rest. The morning was typical of Carmel Valley, beautiful and warm. I left Evelyn at home to answer any calls that might come in about the Carmel Valley weather, then I went out to the airport early to fuss with my plane and wipe off all signs of grease from the gear and to shine up the windows. The host couldn't have his plane looking grungy. Evelyn later joined us about eleven. Then slightly past eleven, one Varga after another started entering the pattern for landing. I watched as this initial flurry of the five Vargas all landed kissing the runway ever so softly in the normal Varga style (don't Varga / Shinn landings all make us look like the world's best pilots). Between about 11:15 and 11:30 five Vargas had landed. I directed the group to park in the small tie down area behind my Varga. Soon we were chatting with each other about our planes using a lot of hand gestures and pointing at this and that on our planes while we waited for our other fly-in friends. We were also joined by the two local Carmel Valley pilots whom I had invited, Roy Singleton a long time Navion owner, and his flying trapeze "girlfriend" (a colorful couple you might say) and Al Jones a Maul owner. After about thirty minutes we decided to head over to the Running Iron Restaurant about a block away for lunch. I guess we were a little Impatient because shortly after being seated, we looked up at the sound of another arriving plane from our outside seating area and saw Len Peters on downwind. I hopped u p and went back to the airport to greet Len and bring him down to join the rest of the group.

It was a fun day. I'm looking forward to our next fly-in

In all eight Varga and Shinn owners attended our third fly-in in seven planes. Joe Conner arrived for his first fly-in in his sharp 1978 Varga with several mods including the cleartop canopy mod, the rear seat storage area and his battery box attached chart pouch. Hart Jewell flew his Varga in with his clear top canopy mod. Joe Conner had made Hart's clear canopy to match his. Rolf Lehman and Janis Wild arrived together in Rolfs plane, Janis hitched a ride with Rolf this time since on Saturday morning she was in the North Bay but her Varga was in Livermore.

Gene Parker was back with us this time in his Varga. Gene had to have some sort of mod done on his body, sort of a pilot AD, and missed the previous meeting. Len Peters arrived in his Shinn. Carl and Evelyn Sigg home based at Carmel Valley on weekends. Jack Skarratt flew in with his instructor / mechanic Bob in Jack's new blue and yellow Navy paint schemed Varga. Bob's girl friend flew in with Gene Parker in Gene's plane.

Lee and Pat Berry were not able to join us this time because of prior family commitments and Alexander Vucetich was out of the country on Vacation. Lee and Pat will be trying to organize the next fly-in up at Lampson field. More about that later.

Soon we may be joined by another Shinn from Paso Robles owned by Bob Foote. Bob got mixed up on the date of this fly-in but he intends to join us in future fly-ins. Also several other Varga owners from Southern Calif. and Arizona have indicated to Pat Berry that they are interested in joining our group. I've added their names to our membership list. Please look over this list and let me know if you see any errors. Also, I've added a few columns of data about the length of time owned, hours flown in Varga or Shinn and the home base. Please fill in your details and get this info back to me and I'II continue to keep the membership list updated.

Carl Sigg