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!?!? 
 



Blue Angels and Thunderbirds and All Other Air Show Schedules 2008-2009



Looking for Aviation and Pilot Gifts, Gadgets and Information?
Choose your destination:


StrangeBirds.com About Strange Birds Pilots Needs and Wants... Ordering and Shipping Information Flight Connections and Info Links Strange Birds Cafe... share your info, questions,stories... read others...  Contact Info: Phone, Fax, eMail, Address Happenings, events, shows, and more...
StrangeBirds.com All rights reserved. copyrighted 1998-2008