I have been to the aquarium at Monterey a few times and those trips have made their way on to this blog before. The whale watching trip with Monterey Bay Whale Watch headed back to the marina in the early evening and provided a view of the aquarium that I haven’t seen before. The evening light looked very nice on the old structure.
The Society of Aviation History visit to Airmotive Specialties in Salinas gave us a great opportunity to look around the restoration facility. One of the Mustangs was not being worked on though. It was due to be picked up by its owner that afternoon. As a result, having had a break for lunch, we headed back to the ramp to await the departure.
The aircraft was run up on the ramp outside the hangar and then taxied to the opposite end of the runway for takeoff. We anticipated the takeoff and then a further pass before he left. I figured the first time I might go with a slow shutter speed for fun. The second one I would be a bit more conservative in order to make sure I actually got a sharp shot.
After the two passes the aircraft headed off en route. Getting a bit of airborne Mustang time was a cool addition to a great day.
Prior to visiting Truckee, I knew virtually nothing about it. I knew some people who had visited and liked it but I knew not much at all other than that it was a station on the railroad over the Sierras. It turns out to be a great little town. The main street provides a lot to see and do on a day out. The variety of buildings is interesting and there is a nice map you can pick up at the visitors’ center that explains the history of various places and the background to the town itself. It has gone through a number of phases as the economy of the area has developed.
The Truckee Hotel looks very cool. A colleague of mine stayed there a couple of years ago and had a great time. A gas station has been restored and used as office space but it looks just like an operational gas station still. The train depot includes the visitors’ center along with the Amtrak station. There are plenty of places to eat and a good selection of shops with arts, crafts and other items. We walked the length of the town and checked out the various buildings. The street runs alongside the river and there is some more on the other side although not as much to attract your attention. The town is not all though. There is more in the vicinity for another post. This would not be our only visit to the town on this trip either.
Tornado was a tri-national program. The UK, Germany and Italy were the partners that developed and produced the aircraft. There was only one export customer which was Saudi Arabia. All of the users continue to operate the aircraft although all of the ADVs have now been withdrawn. Germany took a substantial number of the jets but, while the Luftwaffe remains a major user, it is easy to forget that they were not alone.
The German Navy had a fast jet fleet. The Marineflieger operated the F-104 in large numbers and these were replaced by the Tornado. Originally, they were in the Blue/gray upper fuselage with white undersides colors which looked very neat. Later on (including the time this photo was taken), they had migrated to a camouflage scheme. Then, a consolidation exercise took place and the Navy jets were transferred to the Luftwaffe which took over their responsibilities.
Tail slapping wasn’t the only thing that the humpbacks were doing a lot of. Waving with a flipper was also going on a lot. I don’t know what this means but it is cool to see because it makes it seem like the whales are waving at you. Since they are underwater when they do it and can’t see you, they obviously aren’t bothered by our presence but who cares? It feels like you are being waved at!
The Boeing 747-8 has not been a terribly successful program. Boeing decided to update the 747 family with new engines and revisions to the wing along with a stretch to the fuselage. The resulting jet was delayed by its own and other program issues and it came around at a time when there were few passenger airlines interested and the freighter market was taking a kicking. The result has been anemic sales and a production rate that has steadily reduced as a result of the low demand. However, from a technical point of view, it is a nice upgrade.
The wing came in for a lot of attention and was significantly redesigned. The most conspicuous change is the introduction of the swept tips common to many Boeing designs these days. Less obvious is that the flap system was completely redesigned. The original 747 flaps, carried through on the 747-400 are very complex. Sections are triple slotted. The Boeing aerodynamicists came up with a single slot design to replace this which apparently has good performance but I imagine is a lot simpler to make and maintain. Only from the rear on approach can you see the difference. These shots compare a 747-400 from Air New Zealand with a Korean Air 747-8 and you can see for yourself how much simpler the new design is.
I am always amazed by the places that sea lions can get to. They can be found on man made structures or rocky outcrops all the time. They will sleep in any space. How they find their way there without harming themselves is a mystery. They do though. Any surface will probably have a sea lion on it taking a nap.
The Society of Aviation History organized a visit to Salinas to the facility of Airmotive Specialties. Owned and run by Dave Teeters, Aviation Specialties provides a number of services but the thing that brings them most attention is the restoration of warbirds with a strong focus on P-51 Mustangs. During our visit, there were seven Mustangs in the hangar in various states of restoration. There were some other types too as well as some more commonplace types undergoing maintenance.
Dave has spent his life in this business having started working for his Dad before setting up on his own. He supplies parts to his Dad’s business and vice versa as they both operate in the same field. Dave has really committed to the processes and capabilities needed to restore these vintage aircraft. His team is one that he has trained and many of his staff have been with him for years. He has also invested in technology. So many parts for these aircraft are hand crafted but Dave has acquired numerically controlled machines to assist in producing a large number of components. These machines are also capable of digitizing the outline of existing components to allow him to reproduce them as needed.
The investment in these machines is substantial but the pay off comes in how quickly he can produce replacement parts once the process is done. Hand crafting these parts is an intensive business and, when sufficient are needed, the business case is straightforward. Even so, there are still many pieces that require the hand skills that are in short supply and are becoming rarer. Dave maintains capabilities with many old tools and techniques in order to make sure that they can always provide what the customers need.
The hangar was full of interesting projects in various states. Some were disassembled completely with rework on fuselages and wings plus various subassemblies. Others were fully complete and were just in for ongoing maintenance. A great looking Beech 18 was at the front of the hangar along with a P-51 due to be picked up by its owner. A couple of Robinson R44s were also parked in with a JetRanger – one of the R44s flew off later in the day.
Dave provided great access to our visit and was exceedingly generous with his time. He explained exactly how they work and answered any questions the group had for him. The hangar has some nice facilities for customers but, while they were very comfortable, the contents of the working area were of most interest to us and Dave gave us freedom to wander as we wished. It was a great time. Many thanks Dave.
Once a year, a rodeo is held a short distance from our house. I have never been to a rodeo before. Anyone who knows me would not think of me as a western kind of guy. Despite all of that, I was quite interested to see what it was like. I had missed the previous two events so thought I should make the effort this time. It was on over a Friday evening and all day Saturday and Sunday. I went on the Friday because it was less disruptive to the weekend and it included bull riding which I thought would be dramatic to see.
I got there a little early to have a look around. It turns out that I left more time than needed to check everything out so I found a seat in the bleachers to wait for things to start. I got a visit from the management since I obviously looked a little out of place. They guy asked me a few questions but I think he was struggling with my accent and gradually got bored. I thought it was rather empty but, just as the riding started, tons of people showed up and it was pretty full.
More posts will follow with some of the action shots.
The Dassault Rafale is a fantastic looking aircraft. Gradually being built in reasonable numbers, it has broken into the export market and has customers in Egypt and Qatar and probably India although exports to India are always hard to pin down! The French air force and navy will no longer be the sole operators. The Rafale B is a two seat version and the C is the Air Force’s single seat version. However, there was the Rafale A. One of them was built in the mid 1980s as a demonstrator. It looks almost identical to the production version but was actually slightly larger. Painted in Dassault’s house colors, it made a number of air show appearances. At the time, it was competing for attention with BAe’s EAP demonstrator. I didn’t get to see EAP until I got to Warton where I wasn’t able to photograph it!
Here are some shots of the Rafale A. It was originally powered by GE F404 engines although later one was swapped for the M88 that would power the production Rafale. The first Rafale C was rolled out in an all black paint scheme which made it look very cool. The size difference is not immediately obvious but a number of detail design changes were incorporated too including lots of sensors required for an operational type rather than the demonstrator. The wing planform was also altered slightly based on the experience gained with the demonstrator. I understand that, when the aircraft was retired, it went to the Museum at le Bourget in Paris.
