A sunny Sunday morning was perfect weather for the Westlock Flying Club’s 39th annual fly-in breakfast on Aug. 10.
More than 40 aircraft of various types and sizes flew into the Westlock Municipal Airport, and along with those attendees who drove to the site, the club sold more than 250 plates, which club president Georg Hertz-Kleptow said was on par with previous years.
“I’m really happy that everything turned out well, and we didn’t run out of food,” he said with a laugh.
The breakfast kicked off at 7 a.m., and things were slow in the early going because of clouds in the area.
Hertz-Kleptow has been with the club since 1995, and in that time has become familiar with most of the people who come out to the breakfast, to the point where he’s not usually surprised by what flies in each year.
But while he isn’t surprised, there are still some uncommon aircraft that make appearances.
One such example was a replica First World War French biplane, based on a plane that flew from 1915-1918, flown in from Morinville by Dan Blackburn.
Blackburn bought the plane, a 7/8th-scale replica designed by Graham Lee, because it’s not available as a kit for enthusiasts to build themselves. He’s had it for nine years.
“It’s like any other plane,” he said. “It’s nice to fly and handles nicely. It’s very pleasant.”
Seeing as it’s based on a First World War plane, it has an open cockpit.
“Surprisingly, it’s a little windy,” Blackburn laughed.
Blackburn’s plane wasn’t the only biplane to fly into the airport on Sunday, as Linden Bland piloted his Kestral Hawk in from Morinville.
The Hawk features a rear-facing engine mounted at the top of the cabin, with the tail extending below and behind the engine.
It’s one of only 28 produced before the manufacturer went bankrupt, Bland said.
“It’s easy to fly,” he said, but it’s not the most powerful aircraft out there. It tops out at around 145 km/h, and when fully fueled and seating two big guys in its two seats, “it can hardly fly.”
Bland said he got the Hawk because he likes biplanes and tail draggers – planes with their third wheel in the tail – and because it offers better visibility than other models.
He added he has put a lot of work into it since he bought it second-hand from a farmer 10 years ago.
“It was junk,” he said, adding he rebuilt the whole thing since buying it, including new paint, a new skin and new internal controls and electronics.
Another plane that flew in from the south for the breakfast was Mike DeVouge’s Beechcraft Bonanza. Unlike every other airplane at the breakfast, the Bonanza was unique for featuring a V-tail, unlike a conventional plane that has a rudder and elevators at 90 degrees to each other.
DeVouge said the design dates back to the 1940s, although is no longer in production. At the time, he said designers thought it was more aerodynamic than conventional designs.
He described flying the Bonanza like “a big, comfortable truck,” although he only has about seven hours of flying experience in it since acquiring it a few months ago.
