Airport hosting fly-in, open house

The Russellville Municipal Airport will host “Barnstormers Day” on Saturday, Oct. 12, which will be a fly-in open house for pilots and other members of the community.

The event will start at 10 a.m. and end by 5 p.m., but guests are welcome to come earlier.

Russellville Airport manager Harry Mattox said the purpose of the event was to showcase the airport’s new ramp, which was completed in June.

“The last event we had here was the Armed Forces Day celebration back in May, so we haven’t had an official event since the completion of our new ramp, and we want everyone in the community and those who are interested to be able to see it,” Mattox said.

“We thought the best way to do that would be with a fly-in because we weren’t able to have a fly-in here before the ramp was completed.”

Mattox said there would be several vintage airplanes available at the fly-in open house and vintage biplane rides would be available, weather permitting, for $70 per person for a four-person, open cockpit, 15-minute ride.

“We want to acquaint the general public with some of these airplanes and with the Golden Age of Aviation,” Mattox said.

“It will be a great experience the whole family can enjoy.”

Mattox said two of the planes scheduled for the event are the 1929 Travel Air 4000-NC379M plane owned by David “Candy Man” Mars and the 1941 White New Standard D-25 owned by Ted “Scooter” Davis.

He said pilots from all across the area are invited to fly-in, especially pilots owning vintage planes.

In addition to the vintage plane rides and display, Mattox said they would be selling smoked Boston butt plates with all the fixings and T-shirts.

“We’re also planning to have an aviation swap meet,” Mattox said. “Just bring anything you want to sell or swap, from headsets to GPS to airplane parts. Anything related to aviation is welcome.”

For questions about the event, contact Mattox at 256-331-9000.