WTI and Grandparents in Yuma!

WTI

So twice a year MCAS Yuma hosts a training program called WTI, Weapons and Tactics Instructors Course. It's mainly to train up Pilots and Crew Chiefs for their highest qualification, but maintainers, like myself, still need to go out there and work on the aircraft so there is actually something to fly for the training missions.

I've been out here before and not much has changed; the living conditions still suck, 12 hour shifts everyday, and there's not a whole lot to do out here in the middle of nowhere. One of the few perks, however, is working with people from other squadrants from around the united states. You get to meet new people and it's just kind of a nice change of pace. Last year, I met a few friends that went to bootcamp with some of the people I work with.

The airwing is a small world.

Burgers at Lute's Casino

  The other cool thing about being down in Yuma this time of year is that my Grandparents come down here regularly! I haven't seen them in a while it was cool to catch up with them and check out some of the cooler places around Yuma. (Which I didn't even know existed.)

A lot of random trinkets and photos here!

Lute's Casino, our first stop, was a really cool burger joint fairly close to where I'm stationed. The atmosphere was really cool as the walls were lined with photos of stars, military, and Yuma history. One of the coolest things was a photo of an endurance flight that for a long time was a world record.

Inspired by the flight at Fullerton, later in 1949, Yuma, Arizona, decided to sponsor its own time aloft record attempt. The city needed publicity as it was experiencing economic hard times due to the 1946 closure of Yuma Army Air Field. Pilots Woody Jongeward and Bob Woodhouse piloted the City of Yuma, a Sedan borrowed from local owners, modified for the flight and painted with the slogan, “The City with a Future.” The flight began on August 24, with the aircraft remaining in the Yuma area throughout, and ended after more than 1,124 hours, or nearly 47 days in the air, on October 10. In 1997, the record-setting airplane was located and returned to Yuma; made airworthy again, it flew on October 10, 1999, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the record flight. The "City of Yuma" airplane is now on display at a museum in Yuma. (Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeronca_Sedan#Record_flights)

Being a man who is obsessed with flight, this was pretty darn cool.

One of the prison cells at Yuma Territorial Prison.

 We also stopped at the Yuma Territorial Prison, which is now a state park. I loved reading the stories of the past inmates and the history of the prison itself was rather entertaining. At one point the Prison was used as a school... That cracked me up.

Root Beer floats! First time I've had one in ages.

It was really cool to get a chance to see them and I hope I'll get a chance to see more family soon!