Colusa Fly-in Sparks Interest in Aviation
COLUSA, CA (MPG) – Despite high heat and fuel costs, a wide array of aircraft dropped wheels at the Colusa County Airport on Saturday for a tradition that has gone on for nearly three decades.
Vintage planes, including World War II trainers, experimental craft, and gyrocopters covered the tarmac for the annual Colusa Old Tyme Fly-in.
The Colusa County Aviation Association hosts the event as a fundraiser each July, which includes a pancake breakfast served to the pilots and the public.
CCAA member Doug Kinkle said among the favorites at the show are the gyroplanes, which often garner the most attention the minute they land and turn off their propellers.
“They come every year,” Kinkle said.
The main characteristics of the gyroplane are reliability and maneuverability, but show goers said they are just plain “cool.”
“I’ve never been in one, but they look like they are fun to fly,” said Dana Scheiter. “They look like a helicopter but take off and land like a small airplane.”
Two Magni Gyros, which, in each plane, seats two in tandem, tied in the CCAA’s competition for Best Looking Aircraft: a 2010 M16, piloted by Randy Owengby, of Cannon Park, and a 2014 M-16 out of Lincoln.
While the Italian-made sports autogyros garnered a lot of attention on Saturday, it was the appearance of a North American T-6 that turned heads at the show to land Pilot David Holloway, of Auburn, the People’s Choice Award at his first attendance.
Owner Ken Dwelle restored the North American T-6, which was among the advanced single-engine planes made in the U.S. during the 1940s and used to train pilots in the US Army Air Forces and US Navy, as well as the British Royal Air Force, during World War II.
“It flies great,” said Holloway. “It is by far my favorite airplane to fly.”
Holloway owns a Cessna 185 and a Citabria, which he uses for pleasure and business, but said nothing flies quite like a T-6, which remains popular in air show demonstrations and displays, and has been used to simulate various historical aircraft in motion pictures.
The Colusa Old Time Fly-in is held to raise awareness and support for keeping the local airport viable for future generations, organizers said. Airplane enthusiasts bring their children to the show each year to spur their interests in aviation.
Holloway got his pilot’s license his senior year in high school after a flying instructor took him up for the first time at 17.
“You know what they say, ‘the first one is free,’” Holloway said. “That is how it was for me. After that, I was hooked.”
Today, Holloway is a licensed instructor who taught his own son to fly at 16.
“Being a part of aviation and sharing that with my son has been the highlight of my life,” he said.
Passing the love of flying on to children is one of the primary purposes of the Colusa Air Show, said organizers, who helped light that spark by giving each child in attendance a paper airplane.
Each year, Gene Muir, of Colusa, adds to their interest in aviation by allowing kids to climb up and sit at the controls of his 1969 Nanchang CJ 6, a Chinese basic trainer aircraft used by the Chinese Army Air Force.
While the North American T-6 won People’s Choice Award, a 2023 lime green, silver, and black Just Aircraft SuperStol, a kit plane out of Marysville, was a favorite among children, who, as young as age 4, could point to the plane that “looked the prettiest” to them.
Other award winners were Pilot Nathan Griffin, of Red Bluff, who was recognized for coming the farthest distance in an Aeronca 7 Champion, a single engine plane developed in the 1940s as a post-World War II response to the Popular Piper J-3.
D’Arcy McLeod was awarded the honor of having the oldest plane after piloting a 1945 Piper to the Colusa Fly-in from Yuba City.
In addition to the aircraft, several vintage and classic cars were on display at the event.