by Greg Kochersperger
(Photos by Greg Kochersperger and Christopher Jolly)
I first attended Ranger in 2019 as a pretty fresh private pilot. It was my first fly-in and my first real grass strip to land at. With COVID and other scheduling conflicts, it took me five years to get back. I’m so glad I finally made it this year.
The Ranger Airport is the one of the oldest continuously operated airports in Texas, dating back to 1911, and it is definitely the oldest airport that still operates much as it did in its early years. An original large hangar from 1928 has just recently been joined by a new hangar to help house and maintain the Ranger Airport Foundation’s growing fleet of vintage aircraft. The rest of the property is a large open grass field with a marked primary runway and ample parking and camping areas. The RAF is a volunteer organization that operates and maintains the airport for the City of Ranger with a mission of preserving this beautiful time capsule of an airfield. The Annual Old School Fly-in is their big event of year to bring pilots, locals, and attention to the airport, the foundation and their mission.
My nephew and I loaded up the flying club’s Cherokee 180 and headed out for the short one hour flight from Addison. The forecast showed gusty crosswinds in the afternoon, so I skipped work and got an early start on Friday morning. We arrived by 10:30 and were immediately greeted by a tall, slender guy on a four wheeler wearing an unmistakable cowboy hat. He marshalled us to a parking/camping spot right on the flight line and we got settled in with our gear. It was still pretty hot on this early October day and without a cloud in the sky, we were baking next to our unfortunate low wing aircraft as we watched arrivals. Our neighbor with a Husky took pity on us and invited us to sit under the shade of his wing. We enjoyed his shade while he shared stories of flying his Husky to Oregon and Idaho this summer, and he spoke highly of his time with EAA 168’s own Bruce and Mary Ann Fuller when he visited Smiley Creek this past summer. Small world in aviation. By the end of the weekend, he had become a new friend.
As we settled in, it became clear the gentleman on the four wheeler was Jared Calvert, the airport manager and the man who spearheads the RAF and the fly-in. He was everywhere – marshaling aircraft, standing on top of the four wheeler with radio in hand talking to arriving aircraft to help maintain separation, and even helping cook meals for all the pilots. At one point Friday afternoon Jared took a break from marshalling and jumped in the RAF’s rare Mooney Mite and took it around the pattern. The cowboy hat he was still wearing filled the tight cockpit and made quite the sight as he did low level passes and entertained the crowd. Five minutes later he was back at work doing whatever needed to be done to ensure a smooth-running event. He did an awesome job all weekend.
There were a lot more aircraft than I remember from 2019. By the end of the day Friday, the parking and camping area was already half full. I guessed about 100 planes on Friday. But it wasn’t just the numbers, it was the type of aircraft represented. There were of course some true antique aircraft from the 1920s and 1930s, but the vast majority of planes were representative of the golden age of general aviation from the 1940s through the 1970s. Most of the “newer” aircraft were the Super Cubs, Huskies and other fat tire, backcountry rigs. There was a handful of RVs, RANS, and Zeniths representing the experimental crowd, but not as many as I expected. All in all though, it was a great mix of my kind of airplanes.
The majority of arrivals on Friday were done by the time the airport closed briefly for the Friday night airshow. Just a few routines from local volunteer pilots in a Stearman, an RV4, and a Pitts. After the show, we enjoyed some pizzas that were ordered for the pilots while a few late arrivals trickled in. Some of the other antique biplane pilots took to the sky for a twilight flight that I really enjoyed. The Ranger Foundation has a 1920’s Waco 10 biplane with a Curtis V8 engine, not the big radial you think of when you think of Wacos. This antique bipe spun the prop at only 1300 rpm, and as I saw him casually cruising down the runway I honestly couldn’t tell if he was landing or taking off. He finally limped into the air and flew the pattern at treetop level. I learned later that night it was Jared again flying the Waco. That guy was unstoppable. The sun finally set, and temperatures dropped enough to offer an enjoyable time around a campfire.
Breakfast was served for pilots and volunteers at the new hangar in preparation for another busy day of aircraft arrivals and opening up to the public. Arrival continued steadily all morning. At one point I felt the frequency of landing rivaled that of AirVenture, but everyone got on the grass in a very orderly manner and I didn’t witness anyone doing anything that was unsafe or risky. A local Civil Air Patrol squadron was on hand to help marshal aircraft to parking on Saturday and that let Jared focus on Air Traffic Control. By midday on Saturday, they had counted over 300 aircraft arrivals; a record turnout. Between the numerous Stearmans, Staggerwing Beechcraft, Stinsons, Cessna 195s and at least one Travel Air, there were over a dozen vintage radial engine aircraft. I even saw an EAA 168 member there, Christopher Jolly, who found me sitting on the flightline and said hello.
Lunch was served in the hangar and then the airspace was closed for the afternoon airshow. I’ll be honest, I didn’t really watch much of the airshow, it was a good time to get out of the sun. From what I heard it was similar to the night before with maybe a couple more acts. Following the airshow, the vast majority of aircraft departed for home – folks that had just come in for the day or those that only camped for one night. Again, it was an orderly operation with efficient ground marshalling and well sequenced departures. It was fun to watch. For those of us that stayed, a catered BBQ was brought in that really put a nice cap to the whole event. After dinner, most of us retired to another campfire session chatting with new friends and re-telling stories with old ones. I think I saw Jared finally relaxing a little bit knowing that he had pulled off a great event. We hung out by the fire for a while but the long day eventually caught up with us and we turned in.
Next morning we were up early and helped one of our neighbors depart at the first crack of sunrise. A steady stream of early morning departures followed. We took in one more breakfast served at the hangar. I brought money for the donation box as I had done for every meal, but this time they wouldn’t take it. Just a lot of hospitality and appreciation for the pilots that stayed the entire weekend. We said goodbye to a few new friends and loaded up the Cherokee to head back to Dallas. A smooth take off roll and easy lift off with considerably less weight than we arrived with. Turned crosswind and make the final radio call, “Orange and White Cherokee departing to the east – see you next year Ranger!”
This was a really great event and one that I have already marked on my calendar for next year – I don’t have the official date, but it seems to consistently be the first weekend of October. I hope you’ll mark your calendar too; Ranger Airfield needs our support. Unfortunately, the RAF is tied up in some litigation with the City of Ranger that is preventing them from further developing the property and realizing their goals of preserving this amazing little airport. Hopefully they can find some resolution to that soon so we can continue to enjoy Ranger in the future.
