Flymall / Kraemer Aviation August 2026 Wheels & Wings Newsletter

Tuesday, September 1st, 2026

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

You can view past newsletters here.

On August 19, we celebrated Orville Wright’s birthday, born on August 19 1871 and we also celebrated National Aviation Day.

Coming in mid September, we will be in Hammondsport covering their annual Wings & Wheels of Hammondsport event.

And later in September, we will be in Delaware sailing on the Kalmar Nyckel tail ship. In early October, we’ll be in historic St. Michaels Maryland at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum for their annual Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival.

Three years ago this month, Pat and Harry were at Lake Phoenix Scuba Park. Click here for our August 2023 newsletter covering our visit to the scuba park.

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: August 4 1954, Roland “Bee” Beamont took the English Electric Lightning into the air for the first time. A creature of raw power and brute force, the Lightning was planned as an interim solution, however, it remained in production until 1972 and served the RAF well into the late 1980s.

August 5 1930, the first human to walk on the Moon, Neil Armstrong, was born. He was an Apollo 11 astronaut, NASA test pilot, the command pilot of Gemini 8, and more.

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.

August 25 1932, Amelia Earhart made the first nonstop flight across the U.S. by a woman when she flew from Los Angeles to New York. If you enjoy aviation history, I have a new fact each day at the bottom of my webpages at Flymall.org. Some days there may be more than one, just refresh the page.

Achievements & Special Recognition: On August 18 1984, Harry took his first official flight lesson from Martin State Airport in Middle River Maryland. It was in N2346V, a Piper Tomahawk. Click here for a story on how Harry became interested in flying.

This man already has medals, a Hollywood movie, and a permanent place in America’s memory.  In September 2026, Sully Sullenberger gets something bigger. On September 24, Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger will be enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Washington, D.C. He will join a roster that includes the Wright brothers, Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, Chuck Yeager and Neil Armstrong. In total, fewer than 200 Americans have ever made this list in 120 years of flight. Once a name goes in, it never comes out. Congratulations Sully.

Instructors, want 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.

August 16, 1960, Colonel Joseph William Kittinger II stepped away from his open gondola named “Excelsior” tethered to a massive helium balloon from an unbelievable altitude of 102,800 feet above the surface of our Earth. The atmospheric pressure so low, that during the accent, Joe’s pressurization in his right glove malfunctioned, and his right hand swelled to twice its normal size. Taking that one giant step, Joe free fell for 4 minutes and 36 seconds, slamming into the thicker atmosphere below at speeds up to 614 miles per hour before opening his parachute at 18,000 feet. Joseph William Kittinger II was decorated with a second Distinguished Flying Cross, and awarded the Harmon Trophy by President Dwight D. Eisenhower Kittinger later served three combat tours of duty during the Vietnam War, flying a total of 483 combat missions. May 11, 1972, just before the end of his third tour of duty, while flying an F-4D Phantom II, Kittinger and his wingman were chasing a MiG-21 when Kittinger’s Phantom II was hit by an air-to-air missile from another MiG-21 that damaged the Phantom’s starboard wing and set the aircraft on fire. Kittinger and 1st Lieutenant William J. Reich ejected a few miles from Thai Nguyen and were soon captured and taken to the city of Hanoi. Kittinger and Reich spent 11 months as prisoners of war (POWs) in the Hỏa Lò Prison, the so-called “Hanoi Hilton”.

On August 21 1961, a Douglas DC-8 did something no passenger airliner had ever done before: it went supersonic.
Douglas test pilot William Magruder took the four-engine jet to about 52,000 feet over California, then put it into a controlled dive. The speed kept climbing until the DC-8 reached Mach 1.012 (around 660 mph) and stayed supersonic for about 16 seconds. That made it the first airliner in history to break the sound barrier, eight years before Concorde even made its first flight. An F-104 Starfighter flew alongside as a chase plane, reportedly piloted by none other than Chuck Yeager, the man who had first broken the sound barrier himself in 1947. Three months later, this very same DC-8 was delivered to Canadian Pacific Air Lines as the Empress of Montreal and went into normal passenger service.

Aviation/Aviators in the news:  Beatrice Vialle made her final landing at Paris CDG at the controls of an Air France Boeing 777-300 after a 40 year career and more than 17,000 flight hours.  She was the only French woman and one of the only two women in the world to have piloted the legendary Concorde.

August 8 1946 was the first flight of the Convair B-36 “Peacemaker”.

The Cessna Model 620 was a prototype American pressurized eight to 10 seat business airplane powered by four piston engines and built by Cessna. The first flight was on August 11 1956. Only one example (c/n 620, N620E) was built.

The first “official airmail flight”. August 17, 1859: John Wise ascends from Lafayette, IN, with the first official air mail (intended for NY) but lands at Crawfordsville, IN, 28 miles away. And the rest is history.

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.

Earlier in August, we had a large military plane land at KGAI to off-load a medical patient that was going to Walter Reed Hospital. A little research online and via aviation friends, concluded that this was an Airbus C295M.

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.

On Friday, July 31, we had 3 different classic Cadillac convertibles at the Laytonsville Cruise In.  

August 21 was an award/trophy night at the Laytonsville Cruise In. We had 2 very special awards/trophies to give out that evening. One trophy was for “Collector Car Outstanding Achievement”. This one was sponsored by Big Daddy Scott Spillers Sr. The other one was for “Outstanding Craftsmanship”, sponsored by Guardian Aero Services. In total, we had 42 awards/trophies to give out.

Click here for pictures of our award winners from August 21.

Our friend, Bill Gibson was the winner of the Collector Car Outstanding Achievement trophy. Congratulations Bill! Click here for Harry’s post covering his visit to Bill’s Bat Cave.

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.  Our Day Tripper section now has different categories to choose from to make it easier to find events that interest you. 

If you enjoy reading about historic vehicles, visit our Wheels & Wings section of the Flymall, we have numerous A to Z list there including; Automobiles, Aviation, Engines, Flying Cars, Motorcycles, and Nautical.

August 26 1967, at the age of 68 and on a 47-year-old bike, Burt Munro set a new World Record in the Flying One Mile Class S-A 1000cc!

August 27 1978, Don Vesco averaged 318.598 mph on the Lightning Bolt. The 21-foot streamliner motorcycle featured two 1016cc turbocharged Kawasaki KZ1000 engines.

August 27 2019, Jessica Combs crashed and died in an accident while driving a jet-powered car in the Alvord Desert in Oregon. Combs was 36. She was posthumously awarded the female land-speed world record by Guinness World Records in June 2020. She was an American professional racer, television personality, and metal fabricator. She set a women’s land speed class record (four wheels) in 2013 and broke her own record in 2016. She was known as “the fastest woman on four wheels”.

Speaking of speed, there is an old folklore that claims that Richard Petty’s engine builder and brother, Maurice Petty, used a “wax trick” where combustion chambers were packed with solid wax to pass pre-race cubic-inch inspections, only for the wax to melt away during the race. The legend says that Maurice Petty figured out how to make an engine grow bigger during the race. Back in the days of Richard Petty racing, NASCAR had strict rules about the engine displacement size. The maximum was 358 cubic inches for Winston Cup Cars. The teams had to get their engines inspected before qualifying. If the engine was over the 358 cubic inches, you could not race. These inspections happened BEFORE the race. NASCAR inspectors used a pump that measured the volume of each cylinder. They would turn the crankshaft to bottom dead center, pump in fluid, and measure how much each cylinder held. When they added them all up and this gave them the total displacement. These inspections were completed with a cold engine. This is where Maurice got his idea. His idea was to fill the combustion chamber with a carefully measured amount of wax. The wax was put in a cold engine, so when it was inspected/measured by NASCAR inspectors, they would get 358 cubic inches. As the engine heated up during the race, the wax would melt and turn to liquid and get blown out of the exhaust. The end result was that Richard Petty now had a 373 cubic inch engine giving him an advantage over all of the other racers. Here’s a link to the YouTube video that explains the folklore.

Here’s a little history on the Cannonball Run cross-country race. It was in 1971 when the executive editor at Car and Driver magazine (and writer), Brock Yates came up with the idea of a coast to coast race to protest America’s new restrictions, rules & regulations, and speed limits on our new super highways. The race was named after Erwin George “Cannonball”/”Cannon Ball” Baker. Erwin was an American motorcycle and automobile racer and organizer in the first half of the 20th century. And on November 15 1971, 23 people (including Yates) and 8 vehicles started the first Cannonball Run. Yates was the winner of the first Cannonball Run that started at the Red Ball Garage in Manhattan.

A few years ago, Harry’s friend Jason Cunningham had his 1925 Packard at the Laytonsville Cruise In for the first time. While we were all admiring it, someone mentioned an old Packard advertisement that said you can balance a nickel on the cylinder head while the engine is running. Then Jason replied that he did find a nickel in a small metal fuse box under the hood and he didn’t know why it was there. Now we know. So we had to test the theory.  This picture was taken with the engine running.

Barn Finds/Hangar Finds:  Need an appraisal on your barn find?  Visit our Appraisal Page for information on our appraisals.  If you need insurance for your barn find or collector car, visit our insurance section of the Flymall.

The Ural has been out of the barn a lot this month with trips to the Laytonsville Cruise In and the airport.

Here’s a cool video of the Ural, from engine start to parking at the Laytonsville Cruise In. 

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.

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 very nice 1975 Lomax 223 Roadster is for sale. Inspired by the legendary Morgan three-wheelers of the 1920s and 1930s, the Lomax 223 kit car combines vintage style with the mechanical components of the Citroën 2CV. Lomax kits were introduced in 1982 by the Lomax Motor Company of Lincolnshire, England. This vehicle has won over 50 awards and honors. It is located in Germantown Maryland 20876. For more details, see https://flymall.org/magento/index.php/car-shows/1975-lomax-223.html.

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

Nautical Notes: This month, our classic Walker Bay 8 has been out of Little Seneca Lake a lot this month.

Animals in the headlines: August 8 2013, Pat & Harry drove down to North Carolina to pick up Jett. Here’s Jett on Harry’s lap driving home from North Carolina on that day.

Ace continues to learn new things. Earlier this month, he learned how to just float around the pool. Click here for more pictures.

Ace has also mastered the Niphean paddle board on his first time on it. Click here for more pictures.

On August 26, we celebrated National Dog Day!