EAA 119 member Bill Randolph recounts his adventure flying his Van's RV-8 around the world.

Bill served in the U.S. Navy during WWII (at age 15-17) 1944 to 1946. He learned to fly in 1946 upon discharge from the Navy and has been an active pilot ever since. He graduated from Oregon State University with a BS Engineering Degree, worked 10 years for IBM , left to help start a new company Memorex Corp. His last job was Director General Memorex SA (Memorex Corp. principal operating subsidiary Europe, based in Liege, Belgium). He left the Corporate world in 1975 to pursue private interests, principally flying and real estate development. In 2004 at the age of 76, he started building an RV-8 and in 2005 flew it around-the-world solo, flew over 27,400+ nautical miles of which 16,000+ was over water, flying 163 hours covering 30 countries on six continents. He was arrested four times, detained and locked-up twice, had an aircraft fire and was intercepted by fighters over the Mediterranean.

Ben Scott and Addison Pemberton speak on the Reenactment of the 1920 Transcontinental Air Mail Flight from JFK to SFO

Addison Pemberton grew fond of old airplanes while growing up in San Diego California. His family aircraft was based at Gillespie field filled with antique airplanes owned mostly by PSA and American airline pilots. Addison started flight training in the family Cessna 170B with missionary pilot and family CFI friend at 15 years old in 1969 and soloed at 16 and worked up through private, INST, COM, SEL, MEL, SES, CFI and A&P ratings as fast as time and money would allow.

Bill Stein on Formation Flying - 2:00PM Friday May 22nd, 2009 at the 45th Annual Watsonville Airshow

This is an opportunity to hear learn about formation flying from one of the best.

Bill Stein has logged over 3,500 hours of aerobatic and formation flight. Bill began flying aerobatics when he was still a student pilot and has been dedicated to perfecting his skills ever since.  Since 1995 Bill has performed at air shows all across the United States and has entertained millions air show fans.

Gary Plomp,  Restored Propliners and Their Role in Early, Post WWII Corporate Aviation - Guest Speaker on Sunday May 24th, 2009 at the 45th Annual Watsonville Airshow

Garys' passion for aviation was forged as a young boy at Meadows Field in Bakersfield watching the great propeller driven airliners arrive and depart.

The Convairs, Martins & F-27s of United & Pacific Airlines provided an inspiration, and read the aviation books with great intensity, building the models of civilian and military aircraft that were a common sight in San Joaquin Valley skies in the early 1960s. His parents would take him to the Edwards AFB open house where he was treated to the sights & sounds of the military & research aircraft that today, only exist in history books and memories!

Guest Speaker: Alan Brown, Skunk Works & the F-117 - 12:00PM Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

Alan Brown, former Director of Engineering at Lockheed will be speaking on the history of the famous Lockheed Skunk Works and the development of the F-117 Stealth Fighter.

Alan Brown retired in February, 1992, as Director of Engineering at Lockheed Corporate Headquarters, His two principal concerns there were the promulgation of Concurrent Engineering and Stealth Technology throughout the Corporation, He has given invited papers on both these subjects at national and international levels.