Thorp Air Command - T18.net

Thorpies
I will probably get bombarded with contradicting remarks, but I

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In CowTown USA,
Don D-Day
NX18DD

Smokey: Just to echo Joes comment on your tailwind video, very cool, very fast.

Great idea to combine celibrations of 2 very significant aircraft to Sport aviation.

Any celibrations involving these two aircraft has to include history on the designers, their background, education.
Why they chose to design aircraft as a carreer? Why they looked to the sky? Their other aircraft design accomplishments etc.

For both of these gentlemen, affordable, buildable, sleek, safe, fast aircraft was at the for front of their minds.

With fewer people learning to fly, with the dream of aircraft ownership exceeding their grasp, where Sport aviation has moved to expensive kits, too me affordable and buildable have to be the key points made for these exceptional aircraft and legacy for these pioneers.

Just my 2 cents worth.

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Victor J Thompson
C-GIRQ
In memory of Dad

Thanks for the videos Smoky, the Tailwind is very cool. I echo the sentiments that COST must be a factor in the equation when making any comparison, and for my money the Thorp wins.

I am discussing accommodation plans with the Navigator now. Any one else bringing theirs?

Don, you do have a very good point. The T18 is under appreciated and deserves a stand-alone celebration. However, I have been part of volunteer organizations, and at the end of the day it boils down to how many people one can count on to be there early and stay late digging the trenches.


Brent "LOU"

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http://www.dixiefriedfabrication.com/

According to the EAA Private Site Accomodations site:

Thank you for your interest in EAA Private Rental Accommodations. A listing of Private Rental Accommodations for EAA AirVenture 2013 will be available November 2012. Please check back then.

http://www.visitoshkosh.com/eaa-lodging/eaa-private.html

Guess I'll be waiting to rent a room out of a private residence.

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http://www.dixiefriedfabrication.com/

Yep...it looks like a house rental may be the way to go. Checking Hotels/Motels in the immediate area for next year and you can not get a Motel 6 room for less than $200/nite ! I did brouse thru the 2011 house rental list and the options look good. 4-5 bedrooms and all the fixins (AC, kitchen, hot tub, etc) for about $400-500/nite for the entire house...usually a 3 nite minimum. I don't plan to stay more than 3 nites...probably only 2 ( I'll pay for 3 ) ? Some rentals had rooms for rent for about $75.00/nite. Some home owners had cars available to rent and some houses were close to the bus line taking you to the airport. Some rentals claim to be walking distance to the EAA ?

I will be on line 31 Oct. 2012 at 0001 hours looking for a house for me, Cubes, Fraser, Homey. If I find a larger house I'll put out that info. to the group. That is all....

RB

[quote="davem"]I have to take a bit of friendly issue with the statement "our airplanes fly a lot better". Having owned both a Tailwind and a Thorp (currently the Thorp), I will emphatically disagree that the Thorp flies better. It does have some other better qualities IMHO, and does fly quite well, but not "better".

Tailwinds are great airplanes. I had the privilege of flying one, and I also learned how fast they were while flying my T-18 at the Dayton airshow in 1993, in trail with Jim Clements in one of his beautiful Tailwinds. With all due respect, flying "faster" is not everything that makes an airplane fly "better". I think that if a T-18 was as light (less than 700 lbs empty) as a tailwind, the speeds would probably be similiar. Some people believe that an airplane built out of metal makes it better. From a visibility standpoint there is no comparison. The roll response is lethargic in a Tailwind compared to a Thorp. There are many other subtle things that contribute to the specialness of a Thorp, and help account for the fact that more of them have been built in less time. You've owned both, and you know all this. I love the Tailwind, and have a soft spot in my heart for it. You may not have a preference, but all things considered, the T-18 is a "better" flying airplane for some of us. It's all a very personal thing.

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John Evens
Arvada, Colorado
T-18 N71JE (sold)
Kitfox 7 SS N27JE

[quote="dondday"]Thorpies
I will probably get bombarded with contradicting remarks, but I

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John Evens
Arvada, Colorado
T-18 N71JE (sold)
Kitfox 7 SS N27JE

I think I may have an "in" with the Homebuilt Parkers at OSH. In my opinion, we should lobby with the Tailwind folks to have our Anniversary Planes parked just north of Homebuilt HQ in the area ususally used for the low counts and unique birds. It looked under utilized this year. If we worked with the Tailwinds and the HBP crew, we could get the area. We would not need to intermingle the planes, just get that area reserved for the both of us. The fact that we don't mind tailing the planes in is a plus for the parking crew as they can get twice as many planes to a row. Lee, I would like to work with you on this project, but keep you as the single point of contact with EAA.

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Bob Highley
N711SH
SN 835
KLAL

In response to those who are not so happy with the possibility of joining forces with the Tailwind group here goes.

- The Whitman tailwind is celebrating it's 60th anniversary at an airport named after it's designer.
- Chad Jensen, the Homebuilt Community Manager at EAA that will eventually be going to bat for us is a Tailwind guy.
- Tailwinds usually outnumber us at Oshkosh anyhow.

If we don't play ball with these folks I doubt were going to get much done. At this point there have been very few suggestions as to events next year. I'm not proposing we integrate the two planes activities but more or less piggy back off each other. for example ... we get all 4 rows reserved, the W-8/10 guys get two, we get the other two.

The way i see it the two designs perfectly complement each other, for all practical purposes the two last remaining relevant classic homebuilt designs still being built in any numbers.

Put short, this is happening ... I'm looking for suggestions with that in mind.

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Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

Re: Bob ... thanks for stepping up ... you're now the official HBP representative.

As soon as we get a list of possible activities we'd like to happen next year I'll mention the parking situation to Chad as well. I do know that the Tailwind guys are already talking about reserved parking with him ... they're a bit concerned about damage to their airplanes so hopefully the northern parking area would be agreeable to them as well.

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Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

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John Evens
Arvada, Colorado
T-18 N71JE (sold)
Kitfox 7 SS N27JE

RE: John,

Thanks for the input ... I think were both on the same page but you're right, some of my statements need clarification.

For the record, nothing has been actually accomplished as far as next year goes other than a few initial conversations with EAA, other than Chad Jensen I have not made direct contact with my counterpart in the Tailwind world. Were in the "come up with some ideas" phase right now. Hence the call for ideas ... and thanks to those that have already submitted them, I will be posting a list shortly.

I think perhaps I've either presented this in the wrong light or we're being a bit sensitive. My comments regarding playing ball and the like are only to say that we need to coordinate with the other group as we will will be sharing the limelight (if you can call it that) with them whether we like it or not. The fact that both types have significant anniversary's this year. My feeling is that were lucky that the two designs are both true homebuilts and from a similar era, this would allow a press line such as "This year at Airventure 2013 we will be celebrating the longevity of two significant homebuilt designs, The 50th Anniversary of the Thorp T-18, and the 60th Anniversary of the Whitman Tailwind."

I don't see us "merging" much other than there has been a suggestion to share a group lunch, perhaps a dinner during the week and a shared (and segregated if you'd like to call it that) parking "block" and tent. My big point with bringing the whole join forces subject up is that logistically I feel it would be best to work together and coordinate the combined (if that occurs) and separate activities. When it comes to "showcases" and the like, I personally will not mind at all if we put 5 Thorps along with 5 Tailwinds in the air for a fly by. But then again that's me, the Tailwind group may not want to have anything to do with us (doubtful) in which case were on our own and we'll have to work things like separate showcases out. Also keep in mind EAA may say "hey if you guys want a showcase it's going to have to be a combined event. Once again, both designs have anniversarys this year ... we cannot stop that.

John you are right ... to the "outnumber" comment, I was speaking of the past few years. Historically we've outnumbered them the majority of the time. The Tailwind has however, enjoyed a resurgence in builders (or builder) lately and the past couple of years have shown that.

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Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

Thank you Lee, and I want to apologize to you, and the group, for being too sensitive and stupid about this. I think that when I started building my T-18, when I was still a young man close to 40 years ago, like a young duck I imprinted on John Thorp & the T-18. I guess I tend to go overboard with my enthusiasm.

You're thinking outside the box, and I admire that very much. Whatever we can do together with that great group of Tailwind guys would be an honor, and I believe good for all of us.

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John Evens
Arvada, Colorado
T-18 N71JE (sold)
Kitfox 7 SS N27JE

Don't be silly John you brought up valid points ... please continue to do so!

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Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

How about this for an idea.
It would take a lot of work but i think they did something like this, this year for a different aircraft and it was also done for the T18 a some point a while back.

Why not try and get the EAA or Classic Sport Aircraft to sponsor the cost of materials to part build a T18 at OSH? It would give some of you experienced guys a chance to show off that quick build , matched hole tooling process that the T18 is known for!
You could try and arrange for a time lapse video capture of the process which would then be a nice builders reference. You could get interested members of the public involved and then sell or auction whatever you build at the end of the week. It may attract some interest depending on how it was done some new builders who are looking to get a head start on the build process.

Or you could challenge those Tailwind guys to a fuesalage build off and have some spirited competition, the T18 should win that one!

Or if that was too much work
you could put on a Thorp aerobatic display!

cheers from Oz
Stuart