Nestled away in the hills north of CFB Trenton and just south of the town of Stirling, Ontario is the Stirling Airport, Oak Hills Flying Club. This quiet airstrip in southeastern Ontario is a gem of an airstrip with a 2350' main runway, a combination of 1000' of asphalt with a transition to 1350' of grass, and a shorter grass 1700' cross strip, though privately owned & generally unused but available in high wind conditions.

The field boasts an assortment of old "t-hangars" at the east end and an assortment of newer hangars at the west end. There are 26 aircraft on the field from a few ultralight aircraft to a couple of twins. Though the flying club doesn't own & operate their own aircraft, there are many members who do own & operate their own aircraft. The flying club has 86 members, some of whom also have their own airstrips in the area but fly in to the airport for meetings and events or for fuel.

In 2016/17 OHFC built a new club building, built by club members, with a kitchen, washroom, a lounge area with comfortable seating and a conference table with chairs, ideal for meetings and flight planning. The building also offers free wifi, air conditioning and a self serve snack bar. Wifi is extended to both ends of the field for use at the airfield's hangars. Club members often volunteer to assist with upgrades and projects to the assorted buildings, hangars and airfield. The airport offers 100LL fuel that is reasonably priced (currently $2.72/L) and the main runway has lighting for night operations, initialized by means of ARCAL (radio operated).

All hangars on the field are now privately owned as the flying club sold off the club hangars in order to generate funds. There is room for more hangars to be built should a current or new member wish to put up a hangar and the club is always open to new membership and all are welcome.

Many club members volunteered for the fly-in and helped to make their 2023 fly-in a great success. One interesting change with their fly-in was switching up the food available for the event from the usual fair of burgers and dogs to bringing in a huge BBQ rib wagon, Buckeye BBQ, owned & operated by local resident, Terry Gaebel (thebuckeyebbq@gmail.com). During the summer months, Terry takes his big rig trailer out to Alberta for the big summer events out west and has won numerous awards for his ribs, chicken and BBQ sauce, and he didn't disappoint at the fly-in, serving over 400 meals to visitors who came by aeroplane, personal vehicle, UTVs, bicycles and on foot.

The first aircraft began arriving about 10:00am (the fly-in was scheduled to begin at 11:00am) and aircraft arrival was pretty steady through the next few hours. First to arrive was a lovely Piper Cub Special, (C-FIFC), a later variant of the J-3 Cub, arriving with little wind and a silky smooth landing. From then, throughout the rest of the morning into early afternoon, the club saw 25-30 visiting aircraft make the trip for a very tasty meal.

Visitors didn't just arrive by aircraft with many coming from Stirling and surrounding communities to check out the aircraft, talk with pilots and club members and for the delicious food. At times, the line up at the rib wagon was 40-50+ people deep but the wait was worth it. Some people were walking away with multiple take away containers and/or bags of food. Regardless of how they arrived, they left with full bellies, satisfied smiles and happy memories of the day.

One of the more unusual visiting aircraft was a former US Army Bell OH-58A Kiowa helicopter, privately owned & operated. The Kiowa was operated by numerous militaries around the world including the US and Canadian military. Developed from the civilian Bell 206 Jet Ranger, it was operated by numerous police forces and in civilian operations such as with electric and gas companies and organisations. The military version was originally developed in the 1960s as a LOH (Light Observation Helicopter) with further development culminating in the OH-58A and its later variants. Those variants operated with numerous militaries including the US, Australia, Canada, Croatia, Greece and others. This OH-58A operated with the US Army, struck off strength and ended up in civilian hands, eventually being purchased, shipped to Canada and lovingly restored by its current owner.

There were a few of the venerable Aeronca Champs visiting and on the field. A lovely example, painted in a very attractive cream and burgundy livery with a very nicely completed interior, is based at Oak Hills Flying Club. A couple of visiting Champs were also beautiful examples, highly maintained by their proud owners. Though Champs built by Aeronca are 70+ years old, many have been lovingly restored, probably more than once since they were first built, and they are often highly sought after by newer taildragger pilots and by those who just want to slow things down a bit and enjoy the scenery from a thousand feet (or lower) rather than 8,000' or 9000'.

Piper aircraft were well represented at the fly-in as well with a Cub, Cub Special, Super Cub and Cherokees on hand. Though Cub aircraft have similar characteristics, each Cub design has its own features, characteristics and quirks but they're also very different from the Cherokee designed Piper line. Obvious differences are that Cub aircraft are all high wing, taildragger aeroplanes whereas the Cherokee line are all low wing, tricycle gear aeroplanes. Regardless of a pilot's preference, they are all popular general aviation aircraft and are enjoyed by their owners.

This week we visiting the Oak Hills Flying Club and their 2023 spring "Ribfest" fly-in and had a look at some of the local and visiting aircraft as well as the local Buckeye BBQ rib wagon. Next week we'll return to Stirling Airport and the Oak Hills Flying Club to see what other aircraft visited and to learn more about what's available in the area.