Happy Friday the 13th to you all.  Be sure to feed your black cat well today… which brings up the question: Why Friday the 13th rather than any other day?  Here’s Wikipedia’s effort to explain why today is supposed to be so much more unlucky than, say April 17th – the day your income taxes are due.

No flying again this week. I guess I jinxed the Spring thing with my comment last week…it’s snowing as I am writing this. The nice pink blossoms on the nectarine tree in our back yard do not look happy at all.  Reno-Stead (KRTS)  is currently VFR  with 10kts of wind and a temp of 37 deg. The commercial airport (KRNO) has a 5500′ ceiling and just over Donner Pass toward Sacramento, Blue Canyon (KBLU) is 1/4 mi vis in snow and freezing fog, as is Lake Tahoe Airport (KTVL) on the south end of the lake.

I think I’ll play inside today…

Here are some articles that you may have missed this week:

From hatching chickens to flying a B-24

This is from Greencastle, PA. When Pearl Harbor was attacked John Kinney was two years out of Penn State and working in a chicken hatchery. He enlisted in the military to do his part – and having taken part in the infantry ROTC program in college, he knew he wanted to go into aviation.  Soon he found himself starting aviation training in the Stearman biplane. He remembers some of his first lessons: “He took me out to the airplane and said, ‘you get in on the right side and you puke out the left side,’” Kinney said. “‘And you clean it up,’ is what he told me.”

Another Chapter from Richard Taylor’s memoirs

This is from the AvWeb site. I have had links to Richard Taylor articles in the past. They are always a good read for aviation buffs. This chapter includes C-119 and HU-16 flying. enjoy

Remembering the Doolittle Raiders

This is a link to a video hosted by EAA. April 18th will be the 70th anniversary of Doolittle’s B-25 raid on Tokyo during WWII. The video, a little over 5 minutes long, is a re-broadcast of the newsreel footage reporting the event.  EAA will have activities commemorating the event this year at AirVenture. Additionally, the annual, Doolittle Raiders reunion will be on April 18 and 19 at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The schedule of events is reported here on the museum’s website.