| While we were viewing the exhibition Stan Vosburg shared with Estelle & me that this painting was a true labor of love for him as the models for the young ladies & childern in this scene were Stan & Cheryl's daughters & grandchildren! The love that he put into this work must have been evident to the judges too, as Stan received the Boeing Spirit of Flight Award for this work! | |
| A simple, exquisitely elegant presentation of the venerable F-100 Super Sabre by Doug Castleman. This work received Third Place in Aviation Week & Space Technology Magazine's Military Category. |  |
| Being a former Airborne / Air Assault soldier myself, this painting by Joe Kline really appealed to me! This scene evoked memories of the stories my senior NCO's would tell me as they mentored me back in the '70's of how it was in Vietnam for them. The way these guys are depicted on line, supressing the enemy as the chopper comes in with door gunners blazing is also the way we did it during occasional live fire training in the 82nd Airborne Division too! This work received 1st Place in Aviation Week's Military Category. |  |
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This excellent work by Steve Anderson depicts an incident that took place as crew number 12 of the famous Doolittle Raid was making its way to China. Steve received the A.S.A.A. Award of Merit for this work! |
| This painting by Ross Buckland almost
has it all - breath taking scenery, a classic train & airplane. Now if he had only depicted a roadway running alonside the rail line with
a classic automobile keeping pace with that train ..... But it was good enough to receive 1st Place in Aviation Week's General Aviation Category! |
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Brian Bateman received the Windsor & Newton Award for this work depicting the plight of a B-29 bomber crew that has been forced to ditch their plane somewhere in the Pacific. |
| Pati O'neal received 2nd Place in Aviation Week's General Aviation Category with this piece. Her capture of the warm light striking this classic beech Staggerwing was superb! |  |
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Tuesday, 8 June: the group photo of almost all
of our attendees, staged beneath the San Diego Air & Space Museum's Ford Trimotor airliner before we toured the museum. My Estelle & Bonnie Kalina were two of the wives
who declined to get into this line-up! I'm the one standing directly beneath the Trimotor's main landing gear tire! Photo courtesy of Stan Vosburg. |
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After our group photo shoot, the museum director gave a number of us a tour of their aircraft restoration & rebuild facility in the museum's basement. This hand-built Boeing P-26 fighter plane is one of the museum's on-going projects. |
| Another view of the P-26. The labor of love was clearly evident in every aspect of the workmanship going into this authentic replica of this classic aircraft. |  |
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A Ryan ST hanging from the ceiling above the main exhibit floor of the museum. It's just one example of the San Diego Air & Space Museum's extensive collection. The time constraints with the formal opening of the Exhibition, which was followed by a meeting in the afternoon with a veteran of the Battle of Midway, required a second trip to the museum for Estelle & I to get a look at everything! |
| Wednesday was a day of academic classes held in the hotel meeting room. But on Thursday we enjoyed a tour of the USS Midway, followed by a tour of North Island Naval Air Station! Pictured here is the Midway's massive island as seen from the parking lot. |  |
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The Chance-Vought F4U Corsair aboard the
Midway in the hanger deck. Photo courtesy of Stan Vosburg. |
| The Douglas SBD Dauntless that is located a little further aft in the hanger deck of the Midway. |  |
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The view over the SBD Dauntless looking aft to give you a better appreciation for the spaciousness of the ship's hanger deck. |
| This compartment is behind the forecastle, near the ship's bow & contains the anchor chains & capstans. The large dome-like structure in the forground decorated with "Navy Pride" is one of the anchor chain capstans. |  |
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Above on the flight deck we were able to view the large variety of carrier aircraft on display & avail ourselves of the many "chalk-talks" given by the Midway museum staff, such as this one here being given on how the aircraft were secured to & launched by the steam catapults. |
| After touring the exhibits on the flight deck we moved forward to the Midway's bow with Stan & Cheryl Vosburg & got the photos below. In the background are the carriers Nimitz & Reagan docked across the bay at North Island. |
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| As we moved aft to head down to the Fantail Grill for lunch, Stan suggested that we pause for this group shot, which was kindly taken for us by fellow artist Charles Thompson next to the Midway's F-8 Crusader. |
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| Later we motored over the bay bridge to North Island Naval Air Station where we toured Navy helo squadron HSM-41 & the F/A-18 overhaul center. Unfortunately, due to the sensitive nature of the work done at the F/A-18 facility, we weren't allowed to take pictures! But at the helo squadron that wasn't the case - here the commander of of HSM-41 briefs our group in his unit's maintenance hanger. |  |
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The men & women of HSM-41 were excellent hosts during our visit. To the left is a montage of images from our tour of their squadron: the unit emblem that is proudly displayed inside the hanger, maintenance & flightline activities, fellow A.S.A.A. members inspecting aircraft on the flightline, & the unit commander's Mini Cooper, appropriately decked out showing his Navy Pride! |
| That evening we were the guests of VADM Kilcline, Commander of Naval Air Forces, at a reception held at his Headquarters. Estelle & I managed to go out on the balcony of the headquarters tower & get a few pictures. Here is the view looking across the bay toward San Diego's waterfront. The USS Nimitz is berthed in the foreground. |  |
| Another view looking back at the San Diego waterfront. Harbor tugs serenely ply the waters of the bay as the evening breeze wraps the flag around its pole. In the top center of this image along the waterfront the gray shape of the USS Midway can be seen. Just hours earlier we had been standing with Stan & Cheryl Vosburg on the Midway's bow looking in this direction. |  |
| On Friday we were the guests of Bill Allen at his fabulous museum at Gillispie Airport. To the right are just a few examples of the immaculately maintained vintage aircraft that we were allowed to see. Some were even brought in by Bill's neighbors, such as the Piper Cub pictured here. In addition to the aircraft, Bill also has an extensive collection of aviation art, original vintage posters, badges, uniforms & flying gear, photograph & article archives - you name it! I was like a kid in a candy store!! And Bill & his wife were just wonderful to all of us during our stay! |  |
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And of course, get a bunch of aviation artists
together in this environment & they will take the opportunity to do plein air painting & drawing of the aircraft! It was a lovely day to sit outside
& render whatever struck your fancy! Our day at Gillispie Field pretty well wrapped up our aviation art-oriented activities for Estelle & me. |
| Saturday was a "free" day with no other required activities scheduled except
for the awards banquet in the evening, so Estelle & I went to the world renowned San Diego Zoo! We even squeezed in another visit to the Air & Space
Museum before returning to the hotel to dress for dinner! The following morning we rose early to catch our flight, thus concluding our little vacation! To wrap things up, below are selected images I shot during our visit at the zoo. |
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