Flymall / Kraemer Aviation March 2024 Wheels & Wings Newsletter

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024

Welcome to the Kraemer Aviation/Flymall.org Wheels & Wings Newsletter

You can view past newsletters here. This month our theme is about women that have pushed the limits of their sport or profession.

Interested in living at an airport?  Visit our Aviation Real Estate page here. You can view price data for airport property in our Market Watch section of the Flymall. Here is the data for all airport property. You can refine the search by “state” simply by searching for the desired state under “Model”.

Want to have your business highlighted on the Flymall???  We offer inexpensive rates to have your business featured on our Wheels & Wings page.  Contact us for more info.

History Trivia: On March 10, 1930: Eighteen-year-old American Elinor Smith claims a world’s women’s altitude record of over 30,000 ft. She loses consciousness and does not regain control of her light aircraft until it falls to 24,000 ft. She makes a successful landing.

If you enjoy history we have a new aviation history fact each day at the bottom of our webpages.  Some days there may be more than one, just refresh the page.  And if you like Beatles history, checkout our Events Calendar and select the Beatles category.  This is a work in progress, we’re building the most comprehensive calendar of important dates in Beatle history.  For those that like to stick with current news, we have an aviation news ticker on our home page.  This is updated daily to show the current aviation news.

Achievements & Special Recognition: Meet, Georgia Ann Thompson. Georgia Ann Thompson, the first female parachutist and inventor of the rip cord, became famous under the name Tiny Broadwick. She weighed only three pounds at birth in 1893 in North Carolina, and never grew past 5 feet tall and 80 pounds. She married at 12, and bore a daughter, Verla, at 13. After her husband died in an accident, she had to work 14-hour days in a cotton mill. Tiny Broadwick began performing aerial skydives and stunts while wearing a “life preserver,” or parachute, designed by her adopted father, making her first jump out of a hot air balloon on December 28, 1908. Among her many other achievements, she was the first woman to parachute from an airplane, which she is sometimes credited with accomplishing over Los Angeles on June 21, 1913, with aviator Glenn L. Martin as the pilot. However, she previously made at least two jumps from Martin’s plane during an exhibition in Chicago’s Grant Park the week of September 16, 1912. In 1914, she demonstrated parachutes to the U.S. Army, which at the time had a small, hazardous fleet of aircraft. The Army, reluctant at first to adopt the parachute, watched as Tiny Broadwick dropped from the sky. On her fourth demonstration jump, the static line became entangled in the tail assembly of the aircraft, so for her next jump she cut the static line short and did not attach it to the plane. Instead, she deployed her chute manually by pulling the shortened, unattached line while in free-fall in what may have been the first planned free-fall jump from an airplane. This demonstrated that pilots could safely escape aircraft by using what was later called a ripcord.

Instructors, what to highlight your students first solo or other achievement here?  Just send us a short write-up and a picture or two and we’ll post it here for you.  Click here for our contact info.

Aviation/Aviators in the news: On March 17, 1883: John J Montgomery began the first of a series of glider flights at Otay Mesa (near El Cajon) CA. The Wright Brothers did not become interested in aviation until the 1890s.

The aviation section of the Flymall is full of aviation news, training info, and much more for the aviator.

Air show season is always just around the corner.  Want to travel to air shows in your own aircraft?  Visit our used aircraft page on the Flymall to view our inventory.

 Last year Harry interviewed Lexie Diedrich. She has just completed an awesome flight ferrying a Chinook helicopter from Istanbul Turkey to Burkina Faso Africa. Click here for her interview.

Car/Motorcycle Show News:   The Laytonsville Cruise In is the place to be on a Friday night in Montgomery County.  The Laytonsville Cruise In was started by Harry in 2010. It has become one of the most popular cruise ins in the area. You can follow Harry on Facebook for daily updates during the many shows and events he attends.

The Laytonsville Cruise In award night will be bigger than ever this year. Click here for a list of the awards and the award night schedule.

Our Events Calendar has the most current info regarding local and national car shows, air shows, and more.  With nearly 30 categories, there is something for everyone.  The Day Tripper section of the Flymall has dozens of day trip ideas and interesting places to visit.  Check it out here.

Barn Finds/Hangar Finds:  Need an appraisal on your barn find?  Visit our Appraisal Page for information on our appraisals. 

Visit our online store to search for hard to find car parts, aircraft parts, and much more.  You can pay online in our secure store, just click on the Store button on our home page.

Visit the Test Drive section of the Flymall for reviews on automobiles, aircraft, motorcycles, and more. Read about it before you buy it.  You can also research price info on a wide variety of vehicles, collectibles, and more in the Market Watch section of the Flymall. 

If you’re restoring a fabric aircraft, Ira Walker of Walker Aviation is your resource.  Visit his page on the Flymall by clicking here. 

CFI / DPE Notes:  Visit Harry’s Practical Test page for information on his checkrides.  You will also find useful information there to help you prepare for your checkride.  You can also visit Harry’s Lesson Plan section of the Flymall for other flight training information.  Visit our Flight Training page for information on our aviation training classes.

In March of 2019, Harry was at the FAA headquarters in Oklahoma for his initial DPE training.

Earlier this month, Yaffa passed her initial flight instructor checkride and instrument instructor with Harry. She scored 100 percent on both the flight instructor knowledge test and the instrument instructor knowledge test. Yaffa will make an excellent instructor. She plans to be an airline pilot here in the states. Earlier in March, Yaffa also earned her instrument ground instructor certificate.

Harry’s long time friend Bob Gawler recently earned his Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award. And at our annual FAASTeam meeting earlier this March, he was presented with a special plaque. Bob started flying in 1972, he has over 11,000 hours. He was a DPE for 26 years and gave over 2200 checkrides. Click here for more pictures of Bob’s award presentation.

At the same meeting, Harry gave a presentation on the history of the Wings program. Click here for more pictures from the FAASTeam meeting and Harry’s presentation. Click here to learn more about the Wings program and it’s history.

Weather in the news: On March 9 & 10, the Northeast region had a strong storm system blow through the area. The system produced thunderstorms, snow, and very strong winds.

Here’s a radar image from March 9.

On March 10, the same system brought snow showers and strong winds to the area.

March 23, a winter storm in the spring.

Three Wheel Association (TWA) & 3-Wheelers.com:  Harry started the Three Wheel Association in 2013 to promote/support the industry of three wheel vehicles of all types. Visit the Three Wheel Association page on the Flymall for more info on the association.

Our sister site, 3-Wheelers.com has had a lot of growth recently. Check it out here.

Since this month is about women who have pushed the limits, we have to include Maria Leijerstam.

In 2013 Maria Leijerstam became the first person to cycle to the South Pole from the edge of the continent. In December 2023, Maria Leijerstam repeated her trip to the South Pole. And she did the trip on a 3 wheel bicycle.

Here’s Maria Leijerstam’s words on her 2013 Ploar Cycle: “The polar cycle was conceptualised by me and I drew up a user spec after lots of trails with normal 2 wheeled bikes on snow and ice.. It was then handed to Inspired Cycle Engineering who made it all in Falmouth in the UK. We went through a year of trail and testing and made multiple changes until we developed what is now the Polar Cycle. This was a name I created. ICE now have their version of it called the Full Fat, which is in full production selling 10-20 of them a month, mainly in the US and Canada. We have a special edition version of the FullFat coming out this year to celebrate my 10yrs of reaching the South Pole on it. It comes with my signature on it as well as a signed copy of my book and a few other things. It comes either as an electric or manual version. I still have the polar cycle but don’t ride it anymore as it’s too precious. I take it to talks and allow children to sit on it in schools. One day I will place it in a polar museum or a museum of British History.” Click here for Harry’s interview with her.

Want a reproduction vintage 3 wheeler.  Walker Aviation can scratch built from pictures or drawings.  Visit his page on the Flymall.  

Prototypes: Here’s our prototype dog pulling cart. This is a competition dog pulling cart for our Belgian Malinois, Ace. It’s a prototype in the sence that we will see how Ace does with it and maybe move into a larger one.

Nautical Notes: Last year, Harry met Delaney we she came to him for her initial flight instructor practical test. Harry soon learned that Delaney is also an accomplished motorcycle racer and sailboat racer winning awards for both sports. Click here for our newsletter featuring Delaney.

Riding The Rails: Here’s a cool monorail.

The gyro monorail, gyroscopic monorail, gyro-stabilized monorail, or gyrocar are terms for a single rail land vehicle that uses the gyroscopic action of a spinning wheel to overcome the inherent instability of balancing on top of a single rail. The monorail is associated with the names Louis Brennan, August Scherl and Pyotr Shilovsky, who each built full-scale working prototypes during the early part of the twentieth century. A version was developed by Ernest F. Swinney, Harry Ferreira and Louis E. Swinney in the US in 1962. The gyro monorail was never developed beyond the prototype stage.

Native American Indian Transportation: Native American Indians also used carts pulled by dogs, they were known as travois.

Animals in the headlines: On March 23 2024, we celebrated International Puppy Day. Here’s Ace (the puppy) and Jett together.

We close this newsletter with these words: Don’t miss the magic of the moment by focusing on what’s to come.