Greetings Loyal Airmen and a truly Happy 4th of July to all of you.  A few days ago it was Canada Day in the wonderful republic to our north.  Now it's our turn to celebrate the birthday of the United States of America. We live in a truly great county, second to none for it's devotion to justice and liberty for all mankind.  So let's wave the red, white and blue of Old Glory and feel rightly proud to be Americans.  And let's take a second to say a prayer for all the brave men and women in uniform who serve her around the world, protecting those very liberties we hold dear.

Several days ago my granddaughters, Kristi and Chelsea, took me to see Pixar's newest computer animated feature, UP.   Now Ye Old Air Chief is a huge fan of this company's work and I have loved all their previous releases.  What we were not prepared for was the aviation themes that permeate a great deal of this terrific movie.  Carl Henderickson, perfectly voiced by actor Ed Asner, is a widower seeking to live out one last adventure in his lonely life.  He does so by floating his house to South America in search of a magic waterfall.  Along the way he encounters a long lost adventurer and a magnificent dirigible named The Spirit of America.  Well, Loyal Airmen, you have to know Ye Old Air Chief was really in his glory by then.

There is a lot more to this movie than just that tale of fantastic high flying adventure.  It is also a story about love and fidelity and Carl learns that no matter how strong any of us think we are, we still need people in our lives; friend, family and loved ones to make this is adventure called life worthwhile.  If you haven't seen UP as yet, do so now.  It's a true gem.

And speaking of high flying fun, we at Airship 27 Prod. are putting together a very special new book.  Way back when we first kicked off our pulp producing venture, the very first anthology we put out was LANCE STAR -SKY RANGER.  That first volume contained four fast paced stories based on the long forgotten Canadian pulp hero, as written by Frank Dirscherl, Bobby Nash, Win Scott Eckert and Bill Spangler.  It remains one of our best sellers to this date.  (You can find it at our on-line store by clicking the dirigible logo to the left of this column.)  Over the two years since the book's debut, we've been asked time and time again when would a we be doing Volume Two.  Well, the answer at question is now!  But there is going to be a slight shift in format with this new collection of aviation tales.  Rather than giving you only Lance Star, we've decided to make the book a true treasure package of several classic pulp flying heroes.  Thus LANCE STAR – SKY RANGER Vol Two. is going to have a brand new Lance Star tale by Bobby Nash. After all the book is named after him.  Followed by a Griffon story by Van Allen Plexico, then a Captain Midnight yarn by David Walker and two (not one) short stories featuring the World War One flying squad, the Three Mosquitoes, by Aaron Smith.

           
Even as we write this Log Entry, our partner Rob Davis is busy drawing the interior illustrations that will grace this new volume such as the one above, which is for the new Lance Star entry.  To say we are excited about doing this book would be a mild understatement.  Ye Old Air Chief has a soft spot in his heart for aviation stories and we believe so do many of you Loyal Airmen, so make sure to keep visiting the Airship 27 Hangar for further updates.

Speaking of warm spots in our heart, Valerie and the Air Chief are truly psyched about our grand kids from Colorado flying here to spend three weeks with us.  It will be the first time Cora (14) and Alex (11) have ever been to New Hampshire and we're all revved up to show them both our state and neighboring Maine.  We're keeping our fingers crossed they will also bring with them some of that sunny weather they've been having out west, and once and for all lift this curtain of wet that's been smothering New England for over a month now.
Enough is enough, we need the sun.  Badly.

And that's a wrap for this time around.  Again, a joyous 4th of July to all you Loyal Airmen and as always,
God Bless America!!

Ron – Over & out!