UNUSUAL ATTITUDES FLYING Opinion
58 | AUGUST 2019 FLYINGMAG.COMMORAINE’S 60TH
SUNDAY FUNDAY
REMEMBERING SPLENDID PEOPLE AND GREAT
AIRPLANES IN SPITE OF MY WICKED WAYSBy Martha LunkenT
he first Sunday of this past May, Moraine Airpark celebrated the
60th anniversary of its annual “Sunday Funday”—the unofficial start of the
f lying season. Our Midwest spring has been monotonously wet, gray and cool,
so Sunday morning’s less than-ideal-ceilings and visibilities were no surprise...
or deterrent. It was VFR “enough” with better weather in Dayton, Ohio, and
my friend Joe and I were hungry. So we launched in the Cessna 180 before EA A
Chapter 48 shut down the pancakes-and-sausage line.
Sure enough, the sun broke through about 10 miles south of Dayton, and
we were keeping a sharp lookout. I hadn’t been here since my FA A days, but
“Sunday Funday” was a sort of prelude to Oshkosh, Wisconsin—lots of traffic
converging on a not-overly-long runway, and pilots of all skill levels f lying
extremely different kinds of airplanes.
But way back in the mid-1960s, it was my introduction to f ly-ins. Navigation
wasn’t my strong point—especially in that Pietenpol Air Camper with nothing but
a wildly inaccurate magnetic compass. But with a just-completed Interstate 75pointing the way to Dayton, finding
Moraine 50 miles up the road was
a no-brainer. I was goggle-eyed at
the swarm of Wacos, Luscombes,
Stearmans, Cessna 195s, Stinsons,
Cubs and you-name-its buzzing
around the field and being marshalled
onto the grass after landing. And, of
course, there were the f ly-bys—the
inevitable low passes down the runway.
A reminder, friends: Low-level
passes down a runway at a nontowered
airport “not for the purpose of takeoff
or landing” are f lat-out illegal...
especially if the FA A’s around. More
important, with lots of traffic it’s
dangerous and stupid. I know because
I’m guilty too.
In those days, the then “South
Dayton Airport” came to be when
a man named Harold Johnson won
the property at auction. The single-
runway airport sat on the banks of
the Great Miami River at what was the
world’s first seaplane base, very near
the original Wright factory. Harold
bulldozed and leveled it, got some guys
together to move hangars from the
old South Dayton Airport at a differ-
ent location, built a clubhouse/office,
and formed a corporation. Harold f lew
banners, did aerobatics shows and
maintenance while his wife and high
school sweetheart, Thelma, managed
the f light school, gas sales, tiedowns
and office. Daughters Annette and
Patty would pitch in—Annette
mowing and Patty helping Thelma.
I’ll never forget the sights, sounds,
smells and cast of characters of
my first visit. Most of all, I remem-
ber the airshow f lown by Beverly
(Bevo) Howard with a 360-degree
turn maneuver—a simultaneously
constant roll and turn rate with the
wings of the Jungmeister leveling at
each 90 degrees of turn. It was pure
artistry and, to me, far more skillful
and impressive than the “bumps and
grinds” in little airplanes with huge
engines and f lat wings.
At a later Moraine show, I told
Bill Bruns, a protégé of Harold’s
who grew up around Moraine, aboutPHOTO^ COURTESY^ MARTHA^ LUNKENA crowd at an early “Sunday Funday” in
the 1970s at Moraine Airpark.