99s Fly!

Fly-in to Concrete, Washington, in July 2017

August 10, 2017

On the weekend of July 21-23, 2017, North Cascades Vintage Aircraft Museum hosted their annual fly-in to Mears Field (3W5) in Concrete, WA. It has become one of the favorite fly-ins west of the Cascades. Surrounded by the foothills of Mt. Baker and with the Skagit River snaking just south of the field, it's a beautiful setting for a fly-in. Mears Field (aka Concrete), a small but beautiful paved and grass strip, is about 27 nm northeast of Arlington Municipal Airport. The Vintage Aircraft Museum has six hangars displaying their unique collection, and several of the hangar owners have their own private collections of airplanes, cars, and other antique and interesting memorabilia that they display during the event. And, of course, several wonderful old and new airplanes flew in for the weekend!

For the past 3 years, June and Wiley Moore have welcomed 99s at their hangar for a meet-up on Saturday of the event. We haven't had a huge turnout, but it's always great to visit with whomever makes it up there. This year was dominated by Oregon 99s! At the picnic table are Debra Plymate of Oregon Pines, June Moore, Bev Clark and Patty Viall of Oregon Pines, and Theresa White of the Greater Seattle 99s. Theresa writes, "I also met a couple of former 99s, got caught up with them, and encouraged them to rejoin."

This picture adds Beverly Franklet of Greater Seattle in the Women Fly hat. The gentleman is Vince Nistico, an Oregon pilot who happens to have flown into all the state-run airports in Oregon. Theresa shares: "Vince had questions about why The 99s was an exclusively women's group in this day and age. We listened and heeded his concerns and shared our perspectives too."

Here is an overall view from the 2016 Concrete Fly-in:

Credits: Photos and much of the text by Theresa White.