BL: "If God had wanted man to fly he would have given him wings." Anyone ambivalent about that statement needed only to attend this year's Sun Œn Fun in Lakeland, Florida. Wings there were...thousands of them! And they all belonged to someone.

Opening day was a slow one. I pulled in about 10:30 and got a spot in row 9. That was spectacular, considering the number of cars that normally flood the parking lots. It was only a ten minute walk to the main entrance and a wonderful sight that seems never to change. It's like coming back home...a feeling re-enforced by the efficiency and courtesy of every worker, volunteer and otherwise. So off I went to see how much of it I could take in.

There were three things that really caught my attention. Well, maybe four if you count Margaritaville, Jimmy Buffet's restaurant and lounge in one of the converted hangars. Jimmy had his seaplane there but it was gone the following Saturday. Someone said they thought he had sold it. Probably wants to buy a Shuttle.

Back to my attention-getters, one of which was Duggy, the smile in the sky. He, or it, is part of the Sky Reach educational program for young people. And Sky Reach is a part of the National Aviation Hall of Fame. What about Duggy? He, or she, is a beautiful yellow DC-3 named after the founder of Douglas Aircraft and is a flying ambassador and classroom aimed at inspiring and motivating young people toward "greater classroom achievement and, eventually, a greater contribution to society." Mitch Carley is Duggy's creator. You can read more at "http://WWW.nationalaviation.org". My thanks, also, to Harry Thompson who gave me the grand tour of Duggy.

Next is Glacier Girl, recovered from an icy grave in Greenland. This is her story: On July 15, 1942, a flight of six P-38s and two B-17 bombers, with a total of 25 crew members on board, took off from Presque Isle Air Base in Maine headed for the U.K.

What followed was a harrowing and life-threatening landing by the entire squadron on a remote ice cap in Greenland. (See "glacier-girl-lost-down.htm" from the "Lost Squadron.") Miraculously, none of the crew was lost and they were all rescued and returned safely home after spending several days on the desolate ice.

Fifty years later, a small group of aviation enthusiasts decided to locate the "Lost Squadron," and to recover one of the lost P-38s. It turned out to be no easy task, as the planes had been buried under 25 stories of ice and had drifted over a mile from their original location. The story of this mission and the recovery of the P-38 (which was christened "Glacier Girl") is a fascinating bit of history, and this section is dedicated to all the people involved in the discovery, recovery and restoration of P-38F-1, SN #41-7630.

Number three on my list is the light sport phenomenon. With new and relaxed rules from the FAA, the light sport aircraft manufacturers were putting on a big show at Lakeland. The new planes basically all have the same restrictions. They cannot be heavier than about 1300 pounds, they are limited in horsepower and are restricted to VFR flights during the daytime...no night flying. This is expected to open the door to a lot of people who want to fly only for recreation. And it's a great thing for older pilots who want to continue flying but might no longer be able to meet the more rigorous medical requirements of the higher and more complicated licenses.

I did spend some time with Craig Russell, a 767 Jockey who also has 13,000 hours in the F16. He and a partner will be importing a sport light from Spain but the first is on its way here by boat. It will be ready for Oshkosh. The neat part of their planes is that two of them are amphibs. Their web site: "http://www.LSA-aero.com".

There was only one disappointment. I left Cape Canaveral at 4:45 am Saturday so I could take pics of the big balloon launch at 7. Mother nature had other ideas and, literally blew the launch away.

For more of Bill's great pictures at Sun 'N' Fun, click here..