I have no history with hot air balloons, but plenty with Wacos since my father was an avid restorer of the antique airplanes. And I even had hopes of learning to fly my dad’s mainstay, Big Red. That was before he and two others in the airplane went down into Lake Apopka (I have yet put the details to writing, and I’m not sure I’m ready to here in this blog, so bear with me).
So suffice it to say, when Peter Bowers of Michigan-based Waco Classic Aircraft Corporation (wacoclassic.com) contacted the magazine that its new YMF D model would be at Sun ‘n Fun, my interest was piqued — for very personal reasons. Like I’ve mentioned in past blogs, I never looked back after my dad’s death. Little did I know that a company had started a modern production of the Waco YMF in the early 80s with the first YMF receiving FAA certification under the original Waco type certificate a few years later. The new D Model settled into Sun n Fun for a week of demo rides and aerobatic performances with Bob Wagner at the stick — and I had a chance to hop in for a ride.
