StrangeBirds.com
News & Views & Events
10/14/2008
Wow... what a year or so it's been, hasn't it? Sorry about not
keeping you up to date with the usual aviation gab and fodder like we
used to do, but it's seems with Google, Digg, and a myriad of RSS feeds
and news sites, by the time we've read and posted it, it's old news! ;-)
We're still doing all of our other Strange Birds activities, like
flying and filming and photographing
and our Flight Shop is offering a huge
sale right now, so grab the good deals while you can!
2/28/2007 We've added
some great new Nose Art Rubber Stamps...
Caution: They
were designed to get your blood pressure up! Grab some Nose
Art Mugs and T-Shirts, too!
12/29/2006
Happy
New Year 2007! To
all of our friends, family and fellow aviators of Strange Birds may
your
new year be filled with blue skies!
12/18/2006 HappyHolidays!We've
added some new
T-shirts and Coffee Mugs
to make your last minute shopping is a smooth flying! We've also marked
down so many T-Shirts, DVD's,
Books
and More, so be sure to take advantage of the sales!
11/22/2006 Wow...
it's been
such a hectic summer and fall, so far... but we had to slow down long
enough
to say Happy Thanksgiving
to
all our dear friends in the world of StrangeBirds!! Enjoy and be safe!
08/31/2006 Our COOL
SUMMER SALE is coming to an end on September 6th!
All good things must come to end... so hurry up and take advantage of
our
savings on many of our DVD's, Videos, Books
and more while you can! Have a very Happy and Safe Labor Day
weekend,
too!
07/14/2006
Check out
our COOL SUMMER SALE! We
are offering savings on many of our DVD's, Videos, Apparel, Books and
more!
It's a limited time offer as we prepare for the new, so once they are
sold
out, they are gone!! Grab 'em while we have them!
06/30/2006
Happy Fourth
of July: For all our dearest friends, family and customers in the
aviation
"strange birds" community, enjoy a very exciting, high-flying and safe
Happy July 4th!
06/01/2006
Summer vacation...
StrangeBirds style:The
National Museum of Naval Aviation If
you are looking for an interesting and educational experience that
offers
something for the entire family this summer, head to Pensacola,
Florida.
Located at the Pensacola's Naval Air Station, the National Museum of
Naval
Aviation's 291,000 square-foot facility traces the history of US Naval
Aviation, from its humble beginnings in 1911 to present in the form of
160 beautifully restored aircraft, memorabilia, displays and artwork.
Established
by the Secretary of the Navy in 1962, the Museum has been host to more
than 15 million visitors.
04/21/2006
Update: New Coffee
Mugs... and our ever popular T-Shirts get you ready for the Air
Shows!
03/15/2006 Ready
for Spring! Well
it looks like another great year for StrangeBirds
flying... the Air
Show
season is upon us and the frozen
north is slowly thawing out... getting ready to switch their
strange
birds from skis to floats and tundra tires!
01/09/2006 Happy
New Year! We
look forward to another adventurous year ahead and with so many events
in the planning, it definitely looks like another busy one for us!
First
of all, is the annual event that marks our 5th Wedding
Anniversary...Yes,
it's the 14th Boulder City/ Lake Mead Splash-In for the Albatross and
Grumman
Big Birds Community! The week starts on January 30th for the classes
and
the Big Splash-in and Picnic is February 4th. For all of the info and
details,
contact Dennis Buehn at 775-877-1231 or Bill DaSilva at 734-604-5715
email:
udasilva@charter.net
12/23/2005
Well, the holiday
hustle and bustle is behind us! Now it is time to enjoy a very
safe,
happy and healthy holiday season with our loved ones. We look forward
to
more for 2006 with all of our friends, old and new!
12/19/2005
Sad news... one
of the Chalks
Airline
Mallards went down today... in the advent of that tragedy Steve was
called to do a CNN appearance and he was on a few local television
channels.
As Steve said, this airline has had an impeccable reputation since it's
early beginnings in 1919... Our hearts go out to the families and loved
ones of the passengers and pilots.
11/29/2005
Ready for
the Holidays? Well, we certainly can help! All of the adventurous
aviators
will be happy to have any of our new DVD's
or Books or T-Shirts under the
tree...
so order early, because we know how backed up Santa gets in his
deliveries
<grin>... he needs to dump the reindeer and get an Albatross!
09/29/2005
Wow!
So much has happened since the beginning of this month! First of all,
Steve
is off shooting a documentary in Australia about the Royal
Flying Doctors of Australia. Read all about the Great
Circle Air Safari, the annual fund raiser for their great
cause
which is an antique airplane "race" around the Australian Outback!
The Clearlake
Splash In was another exciting event, albeit that we missed it due
to Steve's Australian adventure, however, we have some great
photos sent by one of our gracious friends, Dennis H. Vied.
We just lowered the
price of our Flying
Boat series also, so if you don't have the DVD version , get it
now...
if you need the VHS version that's a real good deal now, also!
09/05/2005
There has
been so much happening for us here at StrangeBirds this summer, however
at this time we would just like to express our deepest gratitude to the
pilots
who are working night and day to help those stranded by the destructive
results of Hurricane Katrina. They are faced with an incomprehensible
task,
along with the health care providers and other support groups who are
desperately
trying to do their best to help in an extremely dire situation. We send
our heartfelt support for all of those effected.
06/07/2005
Just in time
for Father's Day!We've
added a few new items, like the StrangeBirds
Notecards series, a collection of incredible photographs by our new
found friend, adventurer and photographer, Myron Rosenberg of
Anchorage,
AK. And the catch of the day is our new shirt called Float
Plane Fly Fishing!
Some really good
news: The American Lake in Washington seaplane base will stay open after facing
closure earlier this year.
...and some
more
good news: we hooked up our Aero
Car friend, Ed Sweeney, with the gang at Monster
Garage so see the results this week!
...and even more
news:Aero-Marine Limited, the UK company that has developed and patented radical new
seaplane
technology using original slender hull forms, announces today that it
is
entering the UAV market.
05/23/2005
Alaska! Alaska!
Alaska! Wow!! ...what an incredibly beautiful
place! We
managed to visit, see and fly to quite a few places in the short week
and
half we were there: Anchorage & Lake Hood Talkeetna, Moose Pass,
Seward
and back up to Lake Hood and Anchorage. We'll be putting the pictures
and
stories up in a few days! Good Times!!!
We added those
t-shirts and mugs
we told you about and even more will be added this week, also!
05/10/2005
Alaska!
Here we come... it's that time of year again! The Alaska
Airmen's Conference is this coming weekend (May 13-15,
2005)
and we'll be there! We're looking forward to seeing all of our friends
new and old, at one of the most unique and beautiful gatherings of
StrangeBirds! See
you there...
Keep an eagle eye
out for our new
addition of T-Shirts, Coffee Mugs and Hats in the next few weeks, too!
And if you haven't been by the Flight Shop
lately... check it out!
04/06/2005
Sun-N-Fun
Florida It's
that time of year again! Heading to the warm climes of the Southeast
for
the second largest U.S. air show, fly-in and splash-in. It's in
Lakeland
and runs from April 12 - 18, 2005... Steve will be spending time on and
off at the Seaplane Pilots Association
& Waterflying Magazine booth, so be sure to stop and say hello...
join
up, if you're not already a member!
(Mary and the staff will be in the office and warehouse covering the
business
as usual!)
03/10/2005 NW
Aviation Conference and ... Lots
of great folks at the conference again this year! With much help from
the
dynamic duo (Janet & David Johnston [Knights
of Avalon]) as well as Terry Campbell and Mike, our booth was quite
a success! We had four monitors running our new DVD's Alaska
Float Flying, Bush
Pilots
of Alaska, Super
Cubs I and II, Red
Rock Backcountry Flying and Barnstormers,
along with our best selling Flying
Boat series and they were all a big hit! It was
great
to see many folks we'd met last year and the best was meeting so many
people!
While in Seattle
area, we spent quite
a bit of time working on a project with Kenmore Air. Beaver flying is
almost
indescribable... You've gotta read their new book, "Success
on the Step" it's one of the most amazing stories in aviation
history!
02/16/2005 Boulder
City and
new shopping cart! Well,
the annual Albatross Training and Splash-In in Boulder City Nevada went
off beautifully again this year! It seems more and more attend as the
years
go by... Steve did his training and is now G-111 (Grumman Albatross)
type
rated! Wow!! Congratulations, Steve!!!
We've just
completed updating our
site with a new easy-to-use shopping cart! And we now accept the
"Discover"
credit card... along with the Visa, Mastercard and American Express we
already accept.
The new 2005
Airshow Schedules are here too!
|
12/15/2004 Albatrosses
and Surfers...
One of our favorite StrangeBirds, the Albatross, has been appointed a
unique
task (hey, that's what they were designed for!) as the "ultimate surf
exploration"
aircraft for those huge surfing companies, Billabong and
Quik
Silver. It's an exciting op for the big birds
and
their owners... mixed with lots of fun as well as work. Quik Silvers's
albatross story is at The Crossing: Quiksilver's Albatross Adventure
and Billabong's is globalsurfnews.com/news.asp?ld_news=15184
And
don't forget
the upcoming Albatross
fly-in splash-in in Lake Mead, NV and Boulder City in February
2005... or contact Dennis Buehn at American
Warbirds directly at 775-887-1231 for details and arrangements.
He also has a Goose that he offers rides in!!!
|
10/24/2004 Keeping
Busy!...
Wow... we've been too busy, I guess! So sorry for not keeping you up o
date here!! Since our last Logger, we attended a few other air shows
and
had a wonderful event at this year's Clear Lake Splash In (in Lakeport,
California) in September. Dave
Johnston did signings of his book, "Knights
of Avalon" and "wowed" everyone with his presentation on Saturday
night
about the history of Catalina Airlines. Across the lake fireworks
finished
off the weekend's activities. It was a treat for all... the "heavy
metal"
of all of the Grumman group were there: Widgeon, Mallard, Goose and
Albatrosses...
what a spectacular sight (and sound!!)!!!
Since
then, we've
concentrated on a move to a larger facility... spreading our wings, as
it were! We've added a new DVD from Jim Clark on flying in the "backcountry"
of Utah's Red Rock Country. It's another of our additions, like the Floatplane
Flying in Alaska DVD, which carries the message of adventurous
aviation!
|
07/08/2004 Well
received...
We had a great, great time at the 2004 EAA
Golden West Fly-In in Marysville,CA! We had five aircraft in our
display
which was located at the front gate! What more could we ask for? Dave
Johnston did signings of his book, "Knights
of Avalon" and did two
forums for the show about his days in the old Goose and Sikorsky
flying
days of Catalina, CA. We had our dear friend, Oakley Giffin's polished
aluminum RV-6 (which he meticulously built and keeps polished to a
mirror
finish!!), along with Jenni
Martin's Daytona Super Cub on amphib floats... what a sight that
was!!
Then there was a Luscombe
being offered for raffle and a gorgeous Piper
Cub which had been won in a contest, along with a Sky Raider, built
by Tyler, the son of Terry Campbell (owner of Norcal Aviation Seaplane
Flight School, the best seaplane school in California), when he was 12,
finished at 16 and now at 18, he's selling it to get a Pitts S-1B. He
wants
to be the next Sean Tucker, he says. We are already working with John
Gibson,
president of the EAA Golden West, to help make next year's event more
of
a seaplane event!
We
spent the fourth
of July weekend in Calaveras County with Terry Campbell, going to the
Ironstone
Vineyards in Murphys, CA on Saturday night for some super fireworks! On
Sunday, did some great canyon flying in Terry's C150/150 on EDO floats.
Monday, we went to Carson City to visit our buddy, Dennis
Buehn who is the adoring new "father" of a gorgeous Grumman
Goose... While we were over in Nevada, we stopped by the
hangar
of John Fuller as we caught him flying back from one of the many lakes
near Tahoe in his Mallard. We also saw the Mallard which we designed
our
new shirt from, owned by Steve Hamilton. What a beauty! The hangar was
filled with incredible aircraft... John showed us his completely
refurbished
turbine Beaver, which was so fresh the interior smelled like a brand
new
car's interior.
|
06/15/2004 Air
Shows Book Signings and more...
Well, we've been very busy at airshows lately! And we will be at the EAA
Golden West Air Show this coming weekend June 18-20! We'll be
located
in Display area T-2 next to Bruce Bohannon's Exxon display. We'll have
a Super Cub on Amphibian floats as well as a beautifully polished RV-6
built and operated by Oakley Giffin. David Johnston will be
autographing
his book, "Knights of Avalon"
and Terry of Norcal Aviation
will be signing up students for seaplane instructions and add-on
ratings.
Come on out and meet our ever growing flock of StrangeBirds friends and
flying family!
05/07/2004 Super
Cubs and Beavers and Forum
Our Super Cub and "Beaver
Fever" designs have taken on their own pages, since we continue to
add more and more items with them... so check out the new additions of
polo shirts, caps and more... Just added a new StrangeBirds BBS type message
board forum! The first of many, this one focuses on the seaplanes,
flying boats and floats... a bush, an aerobatics, a classic aircraft
and
a warbirds & nose-art forums will follow soon! By the way,
the
Alaska Airmen's conference starts next weekend... |
04/14/2004 Steve's
at Sun-n-Fun The
call of duty for these two StrangeBirds (Steve and Mary) sometimes
calls
for us to do it apart! Not at all what we like, but we must do what we
must do... so I (Mary) am here managing the website (obviously), the
orders,
shipping, emails, phone calls and all that office stuff, while Steve is
covering the turf (and surf!) at Sun-n-Fun in Lakeland, Florida! With
Mustangs,
Stearmans and T-6's flying overhead, he explained the events at the
show
to me via the trusty cell phone... what did we do before they were
invented?
Anyway,
as you
see we have some new books, such as "Knights
of Avalon" by Dave Johnston, all about the glory days of seaplane
flying
in and out of that gorgeous little island, Santa Catalina... by the
way,
on May 15, 2004 there's going to be a Catalina Seaplane Reunion. For
all
the information contact David Johnston at dj@knights-of-avalon.net
|
03/29/2004 Getting
ready for Sun-n-Fun
It's the kick off of the "official StrangeBirds season"... it's the
30th
Annual EAA Sun-n-Fun Fly-In in
Lakeland,
Florida... starts April 13th and runs through April 19th. |
03/17/2004 More
new items and...
Erin go B'ragh! We've just added another new book! This one is a very
well
done children's book, called "Bobby
the Bush Pilot" by Kane Baker and watercolorist, Alison Campbell
Swain.
It is so artistically beautiful with a real-life story of a
Northeastern
Bush Pilot, that it appeals to any age group! We will have a
limited
supply of autographed and numbered copies, also, so be sure on the
"reserved
list".
Wow!
the weather
has just been great!! We've been flying our C120 quite a bit for the
last
week or so, getting a birds-eye-view of Spring in all of Mother Natures
glory! Even if you can't jump in an airplane to view the sights, be
sure
to take some quality time to watch those birds... be they airplanes or
mother nature's! Any StrangeBirds will do!!
02/27/2004 Air
Show Schedules and more...Well,
we finally have the full Air
Show listings for 2004 including a separate page for the Blue
Angles and Thunderbirds, as we did last year. We will update the
listings
throughout the season, so be sure to mark your calendars for shows and
events in your area!
We
just returned
from the annual Northwest Aviation Conference and Trade Show in
Puyallup,
Washington. Great turn out! It was quite a beautiful setting against
the
backdrop of Mt. Rainier. We met so many wonderful people, made some new
friends and of course, stopped by Kenmore
Air Harbor and flew their new Super Cub on floats... what a
dream!
By
the way, if
you haven't noticed yet, we've been very busy adding books
to
our line up of offerings... go check them out!
01/28/2004 The
Flying
Boats DVD's are here! We did it! Our extremely
popular Flying
Boats Video Series is now available for you on DVD! Now you can
enjoy
this great 5 1/2 hour documentary series on a 3 DVD set or if you
prefer
the original video set, we still have them, of course!
If
you haven't
seen this series yet, you are missing the most definitive collection of
flying boats, seaplane and float plane footage and historic
documentation
ever assembled. It is historic in of itself!
Hey...
friendly
reminder: Don't forget Valentine's
Day!!
|
01/20/2004 New
Items and more...Well, well... we made it through the hectic
holidays, brought in a new year and we are coming up on that great
event
again, where Steve and I were wedded
3 years ago! Yes! The great Albatross gathering in Boulder City and
Lake
Mead, Nevada... It's going to be during Valentine's week this year!
Check
out more info at AmericanWarbirds.com...
We
added an entire
new section in our Flight
Shop: Books!
We'll be adding more and more, being the bookworms that we are, it
won't
be long before we have quite a library
here!
And
of course,
we have a special
for one of our favorite holidays: Valentine's Day! So be sure to get
you
and your beloved something
for those high flying frisky nights!
|
12/10/2003Holiday
Cheer...We wanted to
do so many special offerings for this holiday season but truly ran out
of time! This year has been a wonderful whirlwind for us and we're
heading
straight into 2004 with even more great new ideas, products, stories,
photos
and so much more for you!
We
want to thank
all of our customers and new-found friends, who have made this an
especially
warm and heartfelt experience for us. We will continue to share our
adventures,
dreams and passion for flying with all who wish to share it all with
us.
Thank you!
Happy,
happy holidays, one and all! -Steve &
Mary
|
11/10/2003 New
products...We've just added yet
another one of our great new T-Shirts, the "Super
Cub" to the T-Shirt
collections... be sure to check it and the Beaver
Fever, in case you didn't see that last month... And don't forget
to
look for us in the latest issues of WaterFlying Magazine (Seaplane
Pilots
Association), Pacific Flyer, In-Flight and Pilot Getaways... |
10/24/2003
We were there... and then some!
Wow! The time
has flown!
The Clear Lake Splash-In was fantastic... there were Lakes, Super Cubs,
185's, 206's Seabees, Albatrosses, just to name a few... The visitors
were
awed by the continuous array of strange birds flying all around the
lake.
There were contests and plenty of opportunities for rides for those who
wanted to experience the thrill of a seaplane flight! We do look
forward
to next year! Thanks to all our friends, including Terry at Norcal
Aviation,
who did a spectacular job organizing it all. A very special thank you
to
our biggest fan and the weekend's event photographer, Patrick Dulanty.
Our new T-Shirts were a hit! And keep an eye out for more to come soon! |
9/22/2003
We'll be there! ... the Clear Lake Splash-In
September
26th through the 28th StrangeBirds
will be at the annual Clear Lake Seaplane Splash-In in Lakeport,
California!
We'll be bringing our T-Shirts, Videos
and more for one of the most beautiful fly-in events in the Northwest!
Clear Lake has more than 43,000 surface acres with the surrounding
mountains
and hills making it one of the most scenic spots for this seaplane and
floatplane event. If you need more info, go to
www.westernseaplanepilots.com
or contact Terry Campbell at 209-736- 4554 or www.norcalaviation.com
...Hope
we see you there! |
9/12/2003 Beaver
Fever...
Our latest
development in our StrangeBirds T-Shirts and Coffee
Mug line... Beaver Fever! For anyone who has ever
fallen
in love with one of these strange birds of the bush and float plane
world,
show it off by wearing a Beaver Fever T-Shirt (with the picture close
to
your heart!) or toast their rugged elegance with a Beaver Fever Mug!
Have
you got the Beaver Fever? |
8/19/2003
6:39:40 PMBusy Summer ...
It certainly
has been busy around here at StrangeBirds.com!
Last
weekend,
I flew with my friend, Oakley in his RV-6 (which took second best
aircraft
in show) down to the Willits Airport for the annual EAA Chapter #1027
sponsored
Airport Day... they call themselves the "stinkiest little chapter in
EAA"
mainly due to their diminutive size and proximity to the local tourist
attraction there in Willits called the "Skunk Train"... anyway, it was
great! They had a Waco which gave rides all day, several Vans RV's,
Lancairs
and classics such as Cessna 140s and J-3 Cubs. Several of the aircraft
had just returned from Oshkosh, and stories of the flights and times at
the big event filled the air. |
7/24/2003
10:53:30 PMMore new items...
Well,
it's been a very hectic month here at the StrangeBirds
hangar... but that's the nature of aviation in the summer... bright,
clear,
long-lasting sunny days puts the flying fever in us all!
We've
also been
busy adding new items in the way of T-Shirts, videos,
so be sure to check the flight
shop for the new additions! We just finished the Flying
the B-17 Video Review, which adds to our ever increasing list of
video
reviews, highlights and photos. Be sure to check in soon when we add
even
more Warbird info and products.
|
7/1/2003
9:34:06 AMHappy 4th of
July, one and all!
We have
some celebrations of our own here at StrangeBirds.com! The fireworks
are
going off for the first of our very own signature artwork for T-Shirts,
Coffee
Mugs and more... it's Sukhoi
Suzie! Get one of her T-Shirts or Coffee Mugs, now! Be sure to stay
tuned ... we have so many more in the works! Be sure to have a safe and
very happy 4th of July... remember the freedom that it represents!!
-Mary
McCaughey |
6/15/2003
2:01:45 PMYesterday, June
14th, we spent the day at
an aviation conference here in Fortuna at the River Lodge. This is an
annual
event organized by Avi-8-cando,
which supports the education and preservation of aviation. We had a
great
little booth and always give our support to Avi-8-cando. This
organization
rewards young adults for their good grades by giving them financial
rewards
that are applied to flight training.
This
year the
conference focused on John
Joseph Montgomery who flew his glider a distance of over 600 feet
on
August 28, 1883, twenty years before and six times the distance of the
Wright Brothers first powered flight. Tony Howard and his crew built
two
beautiful and accurate full scale replicas of two of John Montgomery's
gliders, and proudly hung them on display from the ceiling over the
conference
room. The conference also focused on the pioneering efforts of the many
other brave men and women who have done so much for aviation, all to
often
we tend to take these accomplishments for granted. We need to nurture
and
encourage pioneering spirits both within adults and with our youth as
future
aviators.
Dick
Rutan, the incredible pilot of the Voyager (the first aircraft to
fly
around the world without refueling, which was designed by his brother,
Burt Rutan), flew in, in the same Long EZ that he also flew around the
world in 1997 for the afternoon to speak about his latest project the
rocket
powered EZ Rocket, and I sat with him for lunch and wonderful long
chat.
Dick flew home to Mojave, CA with Strangebirds t-shirts, and our own
Strangebirds
Brew Coffee in hand.
6/07/2003
4:00:25 PMThe
Collings Foundation's B-17 and B-24 came to visit our
Rhonerville/Fortuna
airport this week, and I spent most of their three days here with the
aircraft
and their crews. The weather was great and the local came out in
numbers
to support and experience these wonderful aircraft. We'll have to post
the wonderful photos of our Cessna 120 under the wing of the B-17,
courtesy
of Jim Minor the pilot. We sent the crews on their way with a hand full
of StrangeBirds t-shirts and
will
be looking forward their visit next year.
6/02/2003
10:05:15 AM We are going
to start updating and
keeping current events, happenings and other news here on our new
StrangeBirds
web logger! We just returned from Southern California where we had a
wonderful
visit and photo shoot at the March
Air Force Base Museum. Then we made a our way over to the near by
the Hemet
Air Show which we have been trying to make for years. Next time you
are looking to rent a C-141 for a birthday party or gathering, give the
wonderful staff at the March Air Force Base Museum a call at
909-697-6604.
They have the only C-141 we know of that can be rented for private
events!?!?
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