The Dunkirk-Fredonia Rotary Club will be welcoming a classic World War II era training aircraft at its 54th Annual Fly-In Breakfast this Sunday, July 8, at the Chautauqua County Airport / Dunkirk at 3389 Middle Road.
The Buffalo Heritage Squadron, a non-profit organization based at the airport in Akron will be sending its WWII era SNJ-4 aircraft to participate in the event. The SNJ-4 was manufactured between 1935 and the early 1950s and was the plane most used during World War II to train American pilots.
The plane is cared for and flown by a team of dedicated volunteers. The Buffalo Heritage Squadron was founded in 2014 to provide residents of western New York with a chance to enjoy and take part in the preservation of some of the greatest pieces of aviation equipment America has ever created. 30-minute rides in the historic plane will be available for $349.
Breakfast will be served by Rotary volunteers in one of the hangars from 8 a.m. to noon or until supplies run out. The menu includes all-you-can eat pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, coffee, juice and milk. Tickets will be available at the door.
Pilots of private aircraft from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and beyond come to the event each year to have their planes seen up close and personal by some 1,200 guests. Experimental and antique planes are usually among those displayed. Organizers for the event explained that visiting pilots get to eat for fee, but the cost for local residents is only $7 for adults and $4 for children 12 and under.
An arts and crafts fair will be held in an adjacent hangar. Airplane and Helicopter rides will be available from Majestic Aviation from Jamestown and Western New York Helicopters from Buffalo.
The annual Fly-In Breakfast is the local Rotary’s club most complex and involved project of the year. Co-Chairs for the event are David Tiffany, immediate past president of the club, and Michele Starwalt. Net earnings from the project are used to support a variety of local charities.