Category Archives: Travel

Phantastic Phun

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I was able to have a day out while in Japan after the work was done and the meetings were complete.  I have seen plenty of pictures from Hyakuri and I was keen to get there.  Mark had kindly brought me up to date with the latest arrangements for visiting, a rental car was booked and I was all set.  Starting out from the center of Tokyo on a Monday morning was surprisingly straightforward and I was soon cruising through the countryside heading to Ibaraki Prefecture.

The weather was a bit overcast.  After days of heat and sun, this was a bit of a surprise but it actually worked a bit in my favor.  I didn’t have a ladder so switching sides in the afternoon was not going to be too simple.  With the clouds, there was far less need to move.  However, that was an issue for later.  I drove up and, as I got close, I had a Phantom pass over me as it was on final approach.  A promising sign.

I got to the towers and got myself settled in.  There was plenty of action on the ramp of the recce unit.  Soon a couple of jets spooled up and taxied.  The came right by me.  I was shooting away but there seemed to be a bit of a focus issue.  Repressing the AF button brought things back into focus so I kept shooting.  Only after they took off did I realize that I had somehow switched to One Shot focus mode.  Crap.  No doubt most of the take off shots would be out of focus – they were.  However, problem fixed and then things were performing as intended.

What followed was a day of Phantom fun.  Recce and fighter jets went up in regular waves.  They taxied right by and then took off in front of us.  What a great way to spend a day.  The recce jets would do a straight in approach and landing.  Some of the fighter guys were more happy to bash the pattern for a while when returning which added to the fun.

As the afternoon wore on, there was a hint of sun showing through the clouds.  Backlight was becoming a bit of an issue but at this point I was staying put until I called it a day.  I had the drive back to the city to deal with, rush hour was beckoning and I needed to get the rental car back.  I made the most of what was on offer before packing up for the day.  The whole trip was so worthwhile.  Plenty have been so it was nothing original but it was pure fun.  There were also other types flying and they will get their own posts.

Combat Air Takes Up Some Customers

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I got a little distracted while I was at Lyons Air Museum.  Out on the ramp were some SF-260s belonging to a company called Combat Air.  The company shared space with the museum and, while I was walking around, a couple of customers rolled up for their flights.  They were going off in a two ship sortie.  I don’t know what they had planned.  They may have been heading out to do some aeros or maybe they were going to try and see which one was the dogfighting star.

The 260 is a cracking little plane.  From a young age, this was a plane I wanted – something that has some serious performance that is enough for some militaries but is also available for anyone to buy (provided you have a fair bit of spare cash).  In piston form it is pretty good stuff but I also believe that you can get them with a turboprop which I imagine goes like stink.  Anyhow, the two customers were suited up, strapped in and they taxied out together.  We were advised that they would probably come our way on departure so I hung around for a while.  They had a fair taxi to the departure end and then needed to hold for a while but eventually they came into view and turned in formation over the top of the hangar.  I went back to looking around the museum so I hope they had a fun flight.

Cavanaugh Air Museum

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I have been to Addison in Texas a few times recently for work.  The trips have been pretty much in and out with little spare time so I have not been able to check out the Cavanaugh Air Museum before.  On a recent visit, though, my flight got in at a time that meant I could get there for the final 45 minutes that they were open.  Not a lot of time but better than nothing and the temperature was over 100 degrees so being out for too long was not going to be fun!

It was a quick trip around but still fun.  Some nice examples of aircraft in the hangars and a few interesting bits outside.  The intense sun meant they were hard to photograph and I wasn’t going to hang around out there too long.  The ramp was reflecting the heat even more so it was roasting out there.  Lots of nice stuff but the F-104 and the pair of A-1 Skyraiders were probably the high points for me.  The painting gallery was also well worth a look and it was in the air conditioning so definitely a welcome spot.

A Pair of Douglas’s Finest

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The Lyons Museum included a few larger types in the hangar.  At one end they had both a DC-3 and a C-47.  While notionally different types, they are in principle the same aircraft and one that Douglas churned out in huge numbers.  The DC-3 was configured in a slightly more comfortable way than the C-47 though.  Troop transport was not a luxury business.  Get as many people and bits to where you are going as you can.  The paying passengers were a more demanding crowd and the interior is designed to make them feel like they were being treated accordingly.  Either way, they are both great looking aircraft.

RedJet

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The fastest way to cross the Solent between Cowes and Southampton is the Red Jet.  These catamarans have replaced the hydrofoil service that was the quickest way over when I lived in Cowes.  The hydrofoils were interesting to ride on, particularly when the weather got a bit rough, and they had a single prop that, if they threw it off, left them bobbing out in the water awaiting a tow.  The RedJets are clearly bigger and probably a lot more reliable while still being fast.  I have never ridden on them but my family do frequently.

An Old Friend on the Shore

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When I was a teenager, we lived on the seafront in Cowes.  The road was a short distance in from the waterfront but a side street led down to the sea itself and you could walk along from there in either direction, either along to Egypt Point or in to the town center.  The railings that stopped you falling in to the sea (if standing up was not something you could manage on your own) were mounted between a series of posts and, on one of these posts, there was a sculpture of a lion.  Clearly weathering had taken a toll on this lion but repairs had been carried out over the years.  When I was there last year, we took a walk along this same stretch and it was great to see this familiar old fella still guarding the shoreline.

Above Half Dome

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I was staring idly out of the window as I was flying across California when a shape on the ground below caught my eye.  I grabbed the camera as I realized we were coming across Yosemite.  From above, the most conspicuous shape is that of Half Dome.  However, it looks very different when looking down on it than it does when you are on a level with it.  It almost seems distorted.  I grabbed a few shots as we zipped overhead and then it disappeared behind the wing.

Building a Big Box

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I have stayed in the same hotel in Addison TX a couple of times recently for work trips.  The view from my window has been of a building site that has been progressively developing on each visit.  On one morning, I was just getting ready to check out when I could see the crew getting ready to lift a concrete panel into place.  The crane they were using was a substantial beast.  The crew were scattering to different locations to carry out their roles and then they started lifting the panel.  They had several lift lines which could be controlled individually to allow the, to rotate the panel as required.  Sadly I had to go before they finished.  I should be back before too long, though, so I shall see how progress is going.

 

Stadium Construction Update

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A previous post showed the start of construction of the new stadium in LA.  When I was on that trip, my arriving flight had passed right by the construction site but I didn’t have a camera to hand at the time.  I made another LA trip more recently and, this time, I had a camera at hand as we made our final approach.  Obviously the construction process has moved on a bit but there is still plenty to be done.  Maybe I will make some more trips and get further updates in the future.

One of the Early F-16s

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The early versions of jets are often repurposed throughout their life.  They serve a role for testing but they are not configured like production jets and to make them so is too expensive to be worthwhile.  Besides, they are instrumented to some extent so they can be useful for carrying out alternate tests.  As a result, they often get used for trials, research tasks or development of alternate concepts.  The early F-16s did a lot of this sort of work and ended up in some odd programs like the AFTI effort.  Sitting outside at the Frontiers of Flight museum is one of these test aircraft.  It spent its life with General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) at Fort Worth and, once it was done with, it found a new home at the museum.  Compared to the average F-16, this jet will have had a lot of interesting experiences!