Palm Springs Gathering of Mentors, Day 3

Sunday morning brought fair winds and partly cloudy skies. We weren't sure what to expect for the morning flights, but were optimistic. As I walked through the hangar seeing all the T-34s in there, I thought it was quite a site. As the T-34s came out of the hangars and onto the ramp, the ramp got pretty crowded.

A ramp full of T-34s

I had spoken the night before with Fred "Mad Dog" Zoltz and Tyler about going up in the morning with the guys from the March flying club. They had three planes at the event. I have seen these guys many times over the years at airshows, and they were most likely my first T-34s I saw fly.

The March flying club T-34s

I got on the back of George Watson's Mentor. George was flying lead for this flight to practice formation breaks and re-joins and of course, get some photos. The air was much smoother this morning, making things easier for everyone flying, and easier to hold the camera steady!

Jerry Rohles on the wing in a Vic formation


Tyler on the left wing of the Vic formation with Fred in the back seat


Tyler and Jerry in the echelon formation

While we were out, other two and three ship formations were up as well, and we saw at least 2 of these pass below us.

After lunch, the group gathered for a group photo. The air crews were assembled for the first shot.

The air crews for the gathering


Air crews and some of the ground crew that helped us out

We briefed for a big formation flight to close the event. I was in the back of Brett Austin's plane as "Photo One" while the rest of the aircraft formed up in three diamonds with a stinger and a T-28 in the tail of the formation as the last stinger, flown by Mark Bauer. Our timing was a little off getting out to shoot the formation. We were taxiing out as the first pass came.

Formation pass over Palm Springs from the cockpit of Photo One

As we got up into position to shoot the second pass, things started to happen. I heard someone call in to leave the formation because of an overheat issue that was causing some prop control issues. Obviously, safety is paramount over everything else. He climbed out of the formation and up to cooler air to try and cool things off. We did hear him later on the radio say that he got things under control.

The winds and the heat had returned and keeping that many airplanes in position, especially with 30 knot gusts was challenging. Someone else called in with an unspecified problem and landed safely at Palm Springs. Brett and I followed in the last of the T-34s coming in to Palm Springs.

On final approach to Palm Springs

We said our final goodbyes to the folks at the Palm Springs Air Museum and each other before heading for home. We flew for a bit next to Ron Alldedge as an element of 2 ships before splitting into 2 single ship flights for home.

Ron and Paula on the wing, homeward bound


Marc set the auto-pilot and took a little break to enjoy some smooth air on the way home


Home at last. On final approach to Camarillo Airport

It was a great weekend of fun and flying. I want to thank all of the pilots for some great formation work and for the great opportunities to get some photos. I also want to thank the army of volunteers at the Palm Springs Air Museum for the hard work, support and hospitality. Thanks to Cannon Aviation Insurance for the sponsorship. I will be editing my photos from the event this week and should have them posted soon. I will add the link here when the photos get posted to my website. Shooter out...