[rvmills]

I just wanted to publicly thank Bill Dicus...RV-8 builder, Pitts pilot, semi-retired Orthopedic Surgeon, true gentleman, and host extraordinaire!

Pre-OSH, I posted a request for possible hangar space near Milwaukee, and Bill was among the gents that replied. His hangar remained available through and after OSH, and he hosted me for the period between OSH and the Great Canadian Air Rally...saving me about 3,500 miles of X-C and a load of gas cash!

I left OSH on Saturday 7/31, once the clouds lifted enough to get to Bill's hangar at Timmerman Field (KMWC), and caught up with my family and grabbed the jumseat home...3 minutes prior to push...whew!

My son Matt and I returned on 8/18 via non-rev passes on SWA, and met Bill at Timmerman the next morning. Bill's "excuse" for not charging me a dime in rent was that he wanted to see how well his RV-8 will fit in the hangar with his Pitts. As you can see, an RV makes quite a nice stable-mate with a Pitts:

You can see Bill's -8 wings behind my plane. His fuselage is in his garage, just about ready to come to the airport, with engine hung and an absolutely gorgeous GRT/Garmin IFR panel...wish I'd taken some pics of it!!

Bill and I went for a thank-you ride in my RV, which included my RV's first landing at a grass strip (good practice for the upcoming GCAR at Tom Martin's farm, and a non-event of course...quite fun, as I hadn't been on grass for some time). I just wish I'd given Bill more landings, because after the flight and lunch, Bill took my son and then me on a Pitts flight each, and he let me land the Pitts on asphalt and grass several times. Bill, I owe you many more landings in the RV on the next trip!!

Here's a couple pics of Matty's Pitts ride. The look of anticipation speaks for itself:

Here's Bill and Matty upon return...maybe those aren't RV grins...but they are close, given then they are both RVers!

Afterwards, we enjoyed cheese (hey, we were in Wisconsin, eh!) and crackers at Bill's beautiful home after I got to see his RV up close and enjoy some pics of his recent bicycling trip to France! Then Bill gave us a ride to the hotel, and shuttled us to the airport in the morning, and launced us towards Canada for the GCAR race...way above and beyond the call of duty!

Bill, I can't say thanks enough for the hospitality, the flying, and the fun. You've got a host out West for your next Tahoe or Reno Air Race adventure...any time...and I can't wait to see your RV-8 flying! Thanks again very much!

Cheers,
Bob

 

[Mike S]

Bob, great writeup, thanks.

 

[Bill Dicus]

Hanger @ KMWC

Bob Mills is a great guy and his RV "Super 6" is an amazing airplane. My hanger mate and co-owner of the Pitts is Joe Kinzer. Joe was only too glad to have Bob use the hanger even though there was some inconvenience for him as he had to temporarily move out a trailer used in his business. Joe is a former engineer who moved on to fly for the airlines and finally settled in commercial real estate. Joe loved Bob's red RV with the flame painted cowl! We were both happy to see how well it fit in our hanger. We're reassured that the RV-8 and the Pitts can both fit there together.

Bob and I (and Matt) had a great play day before they left for the Canadian air race he wrote up so well. I was lucky to get some good time in the super 6, which is a strong performer to say the least. Acceleration on TO is phenomenal and the climb and level flight speeds are beyond the experience of most light plane fliers. And....the viz is superb. Just a wonderful airplane. Matt did great in the Pitts and his dad mastered landing from the front seat (no easy task initially) faster than anybody I've ever seen. Unfortunately the wx limited what we were able to do acrobatics-wise. I'd love to do more acro with Bob in good conditions and also land his RV some more (by the way, it was still in one piece when he and Matt left!).

In short, it was a great time and Bob, you're welcome back anytime. Thanks for your visit and a nice write-up.