The Planes of Fame museum at Chino is a fantastic place to visit for any aviation enthusiast. Many hangars are open and they are filled with all sorts of interesting aircraft, restored either to static or flying condition. However, they are not all that is there. There is a backlot in which other aircraft are stored awaiting either their own restoration or for them to provide parts for the restoration of something else. Some great looking vintage aircraft here including jets that it would be so good to see back in the air. I decided to dedicate this post to some shots of these less glamorous residents.
Winter weather in Washington can be a bit unpredictable. It can be cloudy and rainy in one spot while the sun is peaking out a short distance away. Shoreline provided just such variety. While it had been quite gloomy, as we walked around the headland near the lighthouse, the view to the south over Puget Sound suddenly cleared up nicely and there was a lovely sunny view. Time to grab some pictures before the sun disappears again (which it did before too long!).
If you drive passed Boeing Field at the moment, there are a few 737s parked across the street in the employee parking lot. One is a development Max 7 but the others a new jets awaiting delivery. They are marked up for Jet Airways. Apparently, the airline has cash issues and that might be the reason that delivery has not been taken on these jets.
I may well have seen one of them during its test flying activities. This jet was still unpainted when it made a stop at Everett. You often get jets passing through Everett en route back to BFI but this one was actually making a stop. I assume they completed the test flying and painting of the airframe in the hope that the financing would come to fruition. Apparently, that has not yet happened. Either Jet will come up with the money or these aircraft will be reconfigured for an alternate customer.
I was watching a YouTube video recently where they discussed photographing Mesa Arch in Canyonlands. This is one of my shots from my visit there and, while I had some similar experiences to the guys on YouTube, I also had a great overall experience.Mesa Arch is famous for the sun rising through the arch. I wanted to be there for that so an early start was required. Getting there requires a reasonable drive from Moab but we were staying a bit outside Moab anyway so we had a longer drive. I wanted to get there in plenty of time so we started out very early.
As we drove into Canyonlands, I could see some large taillights ahead of me. It looked like a coach and where else would it be going at this time of the morning. Sure enough, we followed it in to the parking lot near the arch. The coach disgorged a group of tourists from Japan and we followed them up the trail.
At the arch itself, a ton of people were lined up directly in front of the arch. We decided to hold back a short distance and see how things played out. Everyone was waiting for the sun to appear over the horizon. The good thing about shooting landscapes instead of aircraft is you know what time things will happen. Sunrise is never late and, while it might be overcast, the sun doesn’t go tech. Up it popped. What followed was quite funny. There was the sound of lots of shutters clicking as soon as the sun popped up. I’m sure it wasn’t immediate but it then felt like everyone turned and walked away. About fifteen minutes later there were probably half a dozen of us with cameras and tripods left alone. The group worked well together moving around and giving each other space and time.
Here is the best bit. The sunrise was okay but nothing special. However, after about fifteen to twenty minutes, the light started to really illuminate the rock surfaces around us. The walls and the underside of the arch were glowing. It was infinitely better than when the sun came up and hardly anybody that had trekked out early that morning saw it. They had all gone. Those of us that remained had a great time. If you ever go to Canyonlands, be patient!
A YouTube video showed up in my feed recently that involved the Northrop YF-23. I have only seen one of the prototypes. The one at Torrance has eluded me so far but I did get to see the one in the Experimental hangar at the Museum of the USAF at Wright Patterson. I think things have been rearranged a lot since I was last there with new hangars having been opened but, when I visited, the hangar was a pretty cramped experience. Getting a good view of the aircraft was tricky. The YF-23 is a fascinating looking airframe with some very unusual shaping so I tried to get shots that emphasized this instead. If I could have another crack at photographing it, that would be great.
We stopped off for a spot of lunch
during our trip to Fir Island. We had a
recommendation in Edison that we took.
As we headed back out after lunch, we were driving across some marshland
when we saw some bald eagles. Pulling
off the road, we watch them swooping across the marsh land. At one point they came right over where we
were standing. An immature eagle was the
one that came closest to us but we got a good look at several of them as they
went looking for their lunch. Obviously
they didn’t try the place we had been too!
I have been gathering various shots of Boeing Dreamlifters over recent months and so figured I would just combine a bunch of them into a single post. No overriding theme here and some conditions were way nice than others. It is just a selection of shots of one of the more unusual looking aircraft around. Hopefully, one day, I shall get to shoot the Airbus Belugas too.
I should probably have planned this post better and timed it to coincide with the actual event but that didn’t happen. The Marine Corps recently retired their last EA-6B Prowlers and the web was full of shots of Prowlers to celebrate the event. I like the Prowler a lot so I thought I would get in on the act. I have shot Prowlers a bunch of times over the years whether it was on flight lines, on exercise, during training or at an air show. Here is a selection of some of my favorite Prowler shots.
The hot shop at the Tacoma Glass Museum proved to be a lot of fun. We went in there as soon as we arrived because we had been watching them at work on a monitor while we were in line to buy our tickets. We also knew they would have a break later in our visit so wanted to make sure we saw the work underway. The shop is laid out to provide a lot of options for the visitors.
There is a seating gallery area built up at the back of the studio so people can sit and watch what is going on. A camera operator moves around the shop providing close up shots of the work which are shown on monitors to give a more detailed view of the work. Meanwhile, a guy was providing commentary on what was happening and answering questions from the crowd. There was also a walkway that went above and behind the work space so it was possible to look down on exactly what they were doing from quite close in.
The team were working on a candelabra in glass which appeared to be a new idea that they had. They got quite well through the work when it shattered. They went back to the beginning and edited the design the second time around. The simplified some elements and reinforced others and this time everything worked out well. We were fascinated by the whole thing and watched them all the way to completion of the work. Even if the rest of the museum hadn’t been there, this would have been worthwhile for a visit on its own.
This year has been a good year for 50th birthdays. I can think of three that immediately come to mind, two of which are the 747 and Concorde. The 747 is still in production and service so it shows up on here pretty frequently. Concorde, on the other hand, has been gone from service for over 15 years. I could have posted this on the 50th anniversary of the first flight but that would have required planning! Instead, today we have a selection of shots I have got over the years. Having had the chance to see Concorde in service a lot, I consider myself pretty lucky. As a student in London, I used to watch the arrivals out of my bedroom window each evening. You always knew it was Concorde. The noise level was unmistakable, even on the approach. Takeoff was something else!
The Planes of Fame museum at Chino is a fantastic place to visit for any aviation enthusiast. Many hangars are open and they are filled with all sorts of interesting aircraft, restored either to static or flying condition. However, they are not all that is there. There is a backlot in which other aircraft are stored awaiting either their own restoration or for them to provide parts for the restoration of something else. Some great looking vintage aircraft here including jets that it would be so good to see back in the air. I decided to dedicate this post to some shots of these less glamorous residents.
