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 Vimy
Appears at Crissy Field
by Peter McMillan
May 6, 2001
Gary Issacs and I were thrilled to once again take the
Vimy aloft, this time to show her off to a crowd of approximately
20,000 that had assembled for the festivities celebrating
the grand re-opening of Crissy Field in the Presidio of
San Francisco, literally in the shadow of the Golden Gate
Bridge. Crissy Field was used by the Army from 1919 (the
year of two of the great intercontinental Vimy flights)
until 1974. Now that the space that once encompassed an
aerodrome has been immaculately restored to its grass
configuration, we hope that it might once again be used
for bi-planes to alight, but for today, we would be allowed
only fly-bys at 500 feet.
 With
the nose-gunner’s seat occupied by our trusty scribe,
Alan Farnham — senior editor of Forbes Magazine,
Gary (PIC) and I broke ground at 12:14 PDT into a perfect
blue sky. We sped south over San Pablo Bay and San Quentin
Prison and were instructed by the airshow controller at
Crissy to make tight orbits over Alcatraz Island, waiting
our turn to come down the showline. As we did such, innumerable
planes and helicopters seemed to nudge in to get a glimpse
or a photo of this mammoth prehistoric flying machine.
Fortunately, John LaNoue flying a Stearman in formation
with us was able to keep the curious at a safe distance.
We were cleared in over the top of the field at 12:47
and performed a series of fairly unexciting orbits (particularly
when compared to the Gee Bee Racer that preceded us) but
we were able to respond to the crowd through the PA system
and answer questions from the announcer Gordon Bowman-Jones.
At the concluding pass I greeted Tessa, my wife and Georgina,
my little 15 month old daughter who were in the throngs
below. Am told that she pointed at the silver bird and
said “Papa” — not sure this is true but
it makes a good story.
 We
departed the showline, paralleled the Bridge and had an
uneventful flight home. Gary executed a perfect landing
and Alan showed us a broad smile of approval as we taxied
back. We had not broadly publicized our appearance to
the demands of the test-flying schedule over the prior
days, but even before the props had stopped, my cell phone
was buzzing as several locals called — “Was
that the Vimy…she looked fantastic!”. John,
Gary and the other crew members had a good look over her,
no major squawks came up in our post-flight briefing,
but we agreed that she handles more pleasantly with slightly
more weight in back. Simon Littler came up to host a gourmet
hangar BBQ and for the first time in several hectic weeks,
everyone felt like celebrating. Thanks to John, Mark,
and Gary as well as all of the volunteers for making yet
another photo finish.
Photos by Peter McBride
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