Palmyra (WI) Father's Day Fly-in Has it All

By ANN Correspondent Rose Dorcey

Hot brown pancakes served right off the griddle, baked ham, eggs (scrambled or fried), orange juice and coffee. Oh, and don't forget the radishes.

It's one of the more unique items on you will find on a breakfast menu. But it's just part of the reason this Father's Day fly-in is growing in popularity. Throw in the fact that local EAA Chapter #1177 recently built "Wisconsin's fastest pancake grill" -- a true engineering wonder - it pumps out 1,200 cakes per hour -- and you can easily see why there are so many smiling faces in the swelling crowd at Palmyra (WI).

The Palmyra Flying Club (PFC) annually hosts the Father's Day fly-in, this year for a record assembly of over 2,000 hungry pancake eaters. An additional 1,000 "lookers" came to examine the aircraft that flew in, many of them rare or vintage aircraft.  Lookers paid particular attention to a Percival EP-9, a Dornier DO-27, a 1940 Spartan 7-W, a Globe Swift, two Stinson L-5's, and Bellanca Cruisemaster (Cardboard Connie) and couple of Stearmans, along with the more typical Commanches and Cessnas. Over 300 aircraft flew in, according to EAA Chapter member Rick Martin. Martin, the coffee and juice cup filler-upper guy, is also the CAD operator who helped design and build a pancake grill used to accommodate the growing appetites of Palmyra aficionados.

A super-charged, custom built rotating pancake grill is exactly what it takes to feed them. Martin said that as attendance grew, so did the lines, keeping growling bellies waiting for nearly an hour. Something had to be done. Through "napkin engineering" Martin and fellow EAA'er Rick Jelinek came up with a plan to increase the cooking surface from 48" to 54" - which meant another 23 pancakes per revolution, increasing output by 50%. The plans went to CAD, and soon a 54" Teflon-coated round piece of aluminum became the basis for a solution to the faster pancake production pickle.

Not without a few problems along the way… like, designing a safe pilot flame system and spreading the flame out evenly, but nothing that couldn't be overcome by a couple of guys who love to see things done professionally. "We pulled out all the stops to see that this grill was done correctly," said Martin. "It makes 70 pancakes in just over three minutes."

The machine works, and it works well. The 2005 event, the Palmyra Flying Club's 55th  annual, is in its second year of using the new grill. Jelinek spent the morning with a batter dispenser in one hand, and a pancake server in the other. The line moved quickly; filling plates with light, fluffy pancakes, ham and eggs, and oh yes, the radishes.

"They're a tradition," said Martin. "A local farmer donated radishes from his vegetable farm and they are still served with the breakfast to this day." Unfortunately, when the farmer went away, so did the donation. But the radishes are a tradition that lends uniqueness to the event, so the Palmyra Flying Club purchases red and white vegetables and loads them into dozens of baskets that are placed on the tables. People from throughout Wisconsin and Illinois point their airplanes (and cars) toward the Palmyra Airport (88C) to enjoy the uncommon breakfast combination, and for many, time with their fathers.

Though the airport, located about 90 miles south of Oshkosh, has an asphalt taxiway, the 2,800-foot runway is still turf, as it was when it began as a cow pasture in 1945. The pasture was rented from Ed Calkins, a local farmer who was an airplane mechanic in WWI. Calkins never became a pilot, but he loved being around airplanes. EAA Founder Paul Poberezny gave Ed's son, Stewart, flying lessons from the field. The Palmyra Flying Club was formed four years after the airport began, in 1949. Don Agen was appointed the Palmyra Airport Manager in 1972 and he has held the position ever since.

EAA Chapter 1177 was formed in 1997 and began using the PFC clubhouse for their activities soon after. In exchange, the chapter helps with clubhouse maintenance. Funds raised at the pancake breakfast help support the airport's maintenance projects. Certainly, when one reads the engraved plate on the grill, "Built for Palmyra Flying Club by EAA Chapter 1177" one can see the successful liaison. Those who come to eat can see it, too.

You might think that after spending $1,500 in materials and well over 120 man hours in  designing, building and testing of the grill, and achieving success, that there would be no room for improvement, but that is not the case. "Rick and I are planning some improvements to it," grinned Martin. The word around the Palmyra grounds is that by 2006 we will see an automatic batter dispenser and an automatic pancake flipper. Definitely have to see that, and eat pancakes at Palmyra, next year.

FMI:  www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/air/docs/airports/palmyra.pdf