Yankee Air Museum's B17 "Yankee Lady" starts up an engine.
(Special thanks to poster "Oracle427" from the A2A Simulations forum for making us aware of the "Wings and Wheels" show at KTEB)
In a last minute rush, we made it to Teterboro Airport (KTEB) for 3 hours of prop wash, classic cars, and more corporate jets then you can shake a stick at! A common sight in Central New Jersey is the large passenger jets on approach to Newark Airport (KEWR). But for those paying attention, there is also a second stream of business jets large and small, on approach to KTEB just north of KEWR. A common sight while travelling up the NJ parkway near Bloomfield are the corporate jets coming in for a landing at KTEB.
A large corporate jet on final at KTEB.
Another corporate jet on final at KTEB
More Corporate Jets then you can shake a stick at!
The “Wings and Wheels” event on June 14-15th did not include an airshow per se. KTEB is located in one of the business airways in the United States. In close proximity to NYC, you have three other major airports, KEWR, KJFK, and KLGA.
A Pilatus PC-12 taxing to the runway.
Even without the traffic from the other airports, KTEB is busy, very busy. The stream of business jets coming and going at KTEB on Sunday (June 15th) was unbelievable. From very large business jets, to small King Airs. There was a lot going on at KTEB.
B17 "Yankee Lady" on final.
While there was no official airshow, there was still plenty of activity to watch. B17 “Yankee Lady” made regular trips on the hour. This created a flurry of activity for WWII enthusiast to watch. On an hourly basis, enthusiast could watch “Yankee Lady” load passengers, start up her engines, and taxi out to the runway. Attendees could then watch as “Yankee Lady” took to the skies with the buildings of NYC in the background. After a 30 minute wait she was on final and taxing back to the show area.
"Yankee Lady" returns.
What a contrast this pretty lady made. She really showed those sleek little jets that she had presence and style! A time lapse video of the aircraft landing on KTEB’s runway would have gone something like this “Citation, Lear, Gulfstream, King Air, B17, Citation, Gulfstream, Lear, Pilatus, B17”. There was a memorable moment when “Yankee Lady” came back to the loading area to find a large business jet in her spot. The business jet could be heard throttling up to move out of Yankee Lady’s way. As they passed the FO of the business jet could be seen taking a quick picture of “Yankee Lady”.
Moving out of the way of "Yankee Lady"
Besides “Yankee Lady”, there were other characters from the show taking off. A grand display was given when the small but noisy Aero L-29 Jet, started up and taxied to runway 18. Between 1961 and 1974, 3600 of these jets were built for use by Eastern Block nations. The L-29 functioned as a jet trainer.
Aero L-29 starts up.
The Aero L-29 jet trainer.
Before leaving the show, I got to look over Cub Crafter's Carbon Cub EX. This little Cub clearly drew my attention with it’s large tundra tires.
Cub Crafter's Carbon Cub EX.
The Carbon Cub's cockpit.
The cockpit included a nice holder for an IPAD. When she took off, it was quite obvious that she needed very little runway to become aloft.
Twin Piper Comanche.
The Piper's office
There was a plethora of other things to do at the show. I got to look over the beautiful blue Piper Twin Comanche. This aircraft was quite a beauty and I relished the idea of taking a flight in her. The owner told me he and a partner had purchased the aircraft for about $88K. The seats in the plane looked quite comfortable coupled with the typical Piper cockpit. When I asked him if having two engines made him feel safer he replied, “Oh yeah”.
The American Airpower Museum's AT-6D "Texan".
The AT6 "Texan" from the museum located in Long Island was also present and on display. The pilot had recently flown their C47 to the Reading WWII airshow the week before. The museum’s P47 was also featured at the Reading WWII weekend show. Unfortunately their Avenger was not able to make the Wheels and Wings event due to a hydraulic pump problem. The pilot was quite friendly and answered many of my questions. The American Airpower Museum owns and impressive array of WWII aircraft from the C47, P47, AT6, and Avenger. But that is just a sample of the aircraft they own! When I asked the pilot which one he liked to fly the most, he responded, “The one I am flying at the moment!”.
NJChopper's Bell Helicopter.
The Bell's cockpit.
Trying to work different switches and knobs in the heli must be difficult. Not to mention, how does the pilot look at his chart? Even the typical C172 pilot can hit the autopilot giving him time to recheck his charts, checklist, and radio settings. But not the typical helicopter pilot! Speaking of helicopters, a large helicopter passed overhead. My guess is that the helicopter took off from the northern section of KTEB.
One large heli!
Classic Cars galore!
Other events included, a WWII singing show, a large vending section in the hanger, coupled with numerous other aircraft. There was an older C172 that had been completely restored. The aircraft was currently used by Brigade Air to introduce kids to aviation through summer camps.
Berlin Airlift Museum's C54.
(image from WWII Reading, PA show)
(image from WWII Reading, PA show)
Notable was the very large C54 from the Berlin Airlift Museum.
This aircraft was used in the Berlin Airlift. The Berlin Airlift Museum also owns a C97 currently housed in Brooklyn NY.
(More on this particular C54 in a later blog post).
FG-1D "Skyboss Corsair"
The “Wings and Wheels” event had a nice relaxing feel to it. There were no long wait times for the buses, bathrooms, or food vendors. This was in contrast to the Reading PA WWII airshow the week before. At that show, 40,000 people attended on Saturday with 60,000 people showing up on Sunday. The wait time on Sunday for the transport buses was reportedly 3 hours long! But one thing you did not see at the Reading show was... MORE Corporate Jets then You can SHAKE at STICK at!
I highly suggest donating to the organizations that keep these flying treasures such as "Yankee Lady" aloft!
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