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    Chris Yanesh (aka "Smokey") is an A&P mechanic who works on jets for the US Air Force for a living ... but on weekends, he flies and tinkers with this Spitfire aircraft. As of early November, 2004, Chris is serving his country for a year in Korea.

    He almost completely rebuilt this plane from the ground up.  That's a brand new set of sails and new fairing, wheels, prop, strobe, redrive pulley and battery box ... as well as many other improvements. 

    The above photo shows his Spitfire with the original Kawasaki 440 engine and 3-blade Ultraprop, but Chris has recently overhauled a Rotax 503 engine and installed it with a wooden prop.  The performance is much improved! 

Above, Chris waits his turn for the "active" runway.

    Chris taxied his Spitfire by the wind sock for the first time on 3/10/2002.  He reported that it felt responsive and was looking good!

    The first "test hop" of Chris' Spitfire occurred several passes later. Here is a photo to prove it ... showing Chris about 2 feet above terra firma.  Chris reports it's a bit under powered, but flies beautifully once airborne. As mentioned earlier though, Chris has since upgraded to a Rotax 503, so it flies great now!

    Chris later flew around "the patch" several times on 3/24/2002 and has been flying quite actively since then.

    In fact, here is a photo of Chris at Lexington County Airport (Gaston) after a recent cross country. He made the trip fine. Check out that grin of satisfaction on his face   His flying instructor (and father-in-law), Jim Summers is shown just off to the right.

    An aerial photo of Chris on his way back from Lexington County Airport (Gaston) on the way to Corporate Airport (Pelion) ... and then back to Whisper Field.  It was a great day for Chris and all involved.

    Here's the whole Yanesh family ... wife Jaime (left), daughter Clarissa (the one in the Elmo cap ) and, of course, Chris (right).  Chris believes in starting them off early!  Incidentally, Jaime is also the daughter of member Jim Summers.