Airplanes Galore : Part 2

A little while ago, I wrote about the aircraft that we were currently working on. Part 2 is about the aircraft that have a more permanent residence here at MMS Aviation:

Taylorcraft

The Taylorcraft is one of two aircraft that actually belong to MMS Aviation. It was built way back in the mid 40's and the fuselage, wings vertical stabilisers etc are fabric covered.

Bakeng Duce

The Duce is the other aircraft. This is a homebuilt aircraft that was donated to MMS. It's another fabric covered aircraft, but as you can see in this photo, it's an open top. The pilot sits in the back whilst the passenger gets some great views up front.

Cessna 172

In the first Airplanes Galore, I talked about this aircraft being resprayed and having an annual done on it for Bob, one of our supervisors . As you can see, Ian did an amazing job of spraying and adding all the details. It has already been used at two Aviation Camps this summer that have helped young people with an interest in flying and missions. (I got to fly in this one earlier today!!)

Rockwell Commander 114

The Commander belongs to another supervisor, Dale. Dale brought it all the way from Africa with him. It's a very nice aircraft that is used by some of the pilots at MMS to help out with errands that would take all day if they had to drive to the various locations.

Cessna 172

This little Cessna is stored here at MMS by Williams Chang of Gospel Carriers International (GCI). That's because he also owns a Super King Air 200 (see below), a Cessna 310 and another Cessna 172. So each time he brings in one of his other aircraft for work or and inspection, he can fly home again in this 172.

Beechcraft Super King Air 200

A 60th Birthday Surprise!

One of our friends here, Terry McClary, celebrated his 60th birthday last week and we decided it wasn't a milestone that could just pass without being recognised in one way or another! So Jenny and Abigail set to work baking him a cake!

As you can see from the photo below ... it was a chocolate cake (Terry's favourite!) ... and quite a lot of cocoa powder didn't make it into the cake mix itself ... but we certainly had a lot fun in the process!!

Once Abigail was asleep, Jenny decorated the cake ... aeroplanes and all ... with aircraft being the love of most of the guys in the hangar it definitely had to have that theme to it! ;o)

The cake was ready and waiting at the hangar, along with some ice cream, for the lunch break with a few MMS families coming up to wish him well too ... he was the last into the lunchroom and had no idea a few of us had been scheming behind his back!! ;o)

"Happy Birthday" ... a big smile from the birthday boy when he realised what was going on!! Below, Terry blows out the big '6-0' candles before everyone got a chance to tuck in!!

Family Fun-Time!

While we've really loved having all our friends and family visiting us over the last 6 months ... we've been enjoying some fun times in the sunshine as a family of three over these last couple of weeks! With Independence Day weekend giving us an extra bank holiday and Mark taking a couple of days off from the hangar two weeks ago we've certainly had lots of chances to have fun!

Many afternoon's you can find us out in the back yard having a water fight ... Abigail loves it and all three of us can be found running around squealing!

And then we fill up the paddling pool and have lots of fun in there as well!!

We've also spent some time at the pool in Lake Park (http://www.coshoctonlakepark.com/aquatic-center.htm) ... sorry no photos ... too busy having fun!!

More excitement in the back yard ... is our 'blooming' veggie patch ... we reported that we'd planted a couple of months ago ... and now we can let you know that it's been a successful venture ...

... and we're enjoying the fruits of our labours!! Here's Abigail showing off some peas and then attempting to get them out of the pods!!

On one of Mark's days off we went to Hershberger's Farm Shop ... where they have some animals to look at and touch. While Abigail was reluctant to get too close she certainly had fun looking at them all ...

... this horse was called Big Ben and even made Mark look small ... Abigail was a bit freaked out when he stuck his head over the bars ... definitely feeling safer in Daddy's arms! The smaller animals were more her style.

In town there is a little shop called 'Josie's Things' ... it's a second hand store for kids clothes and toys which unfortunately is closing at the end of this month. We've got some great clothes there for Abigail ...

... and last week picked up a big wooden train set for just $6 ... as you can see she loved it!!!

These are just a few little snapshots of our family time these last few weeks ... we thought we'd share some of them with you!!