Category Archives: vintage

Fifi Shows Up in Seattle

Since we have lived in the Northwest, we have had a visit from a B-29. That was Doc with Fifi’s previous visits having predated my arrival. I had seen Fifi elsewhere in the US but, when I heard that the CAF was bringing her up, I was looking forward to seeing her. She was due to arrive early in the week and then sit around until undertaking some rides at the end of the week. She was coming up from California and arriving at the end of the day, which meant I had a chance to be there.

A B-29 is not speedy so you can track her progress and know you have enough time. When they arrived, they did request an overhead break by ATC was unable to comply. When we saw her out on the approach, she seemed to be doing something odd. Apparently, they had got too close to the preceding aircraft (although it was a bizjet and she is a lot slower, so I am not sure how that happened). The result was that they broke off the approach and made an orbit before resuming the approach.

After that, things were pretty normal. She came down the approach with some nice evening light. The rumble of those engines as she came by was impressive and then she was flaring for landing. I was optimistic about trying a variety of angles the following weekend when she was due to undertake the rides. Directly under the approach path was one I had in mind. Sadly, one of the crew had to return home and they didn’t have enough for the rides to be carried out, so she sat on the ground for almost the entire visit.

Erickson Makes the Bremerton Show Interesting

The Bremerton Air Show had some interesting displays, but the biggest contribution came from the Erickson Air Collection.  Aside from the Grumman Duck about which I have already posted, they brought a P-47 Thunderbolt, a P-40 Kittyhawk, a Bf-109 and an F4U Corsair.  The Corsair was for the Legacy Flight at the end of the show, but the others went up together for a sequence of passes.  Great to see these different planes out and about and congratulations to Erickson for having added so much to the show.

Canso Details

For the benefit of my Canadian friends, I will get this out of the way first.  Despite what the operators say and what is written on their signage, this plane is a Canso, not a PBY Catalina.  Okay, with that out of the way, the plane came to the Olympic Air Show in Olympia.  It looked excellent in its dark grey painting and had plenty of people around it on the ramp before it flew its display.  As with many planes of its vintage, it has lots of lumps and bumps.  I decided to spend a little time looking at some of the details rather than the whole plane.

Of course, you have to get some larger shots of the plane.  You can’t just stare at the rivets.  Also, I knew it would be flying and I would aim to get some shots of it then but that can be another post at some point.  For this, the bulbous curves of the nose area and the details of the bits that make it a flying boat were the focus.

Status of the Stuka

When making my first visit to FHCAM after it re-opened, one of the things I was interested to know was whether the Stuka had made any further progress from when I last saw it or whether it was paused for restoration.  Things looked like they had moved on a bit since I was last there, but it didn’t look obvious that a huge amount had happened so that could have been after I was there and before they closed down.  It would be very cool to have a Stuka back in the air so we shall see if this one progresses.  If anyone knows, please comment below.  In the meantime, here are some shots of how it looks most recently.

The A-26 Makes a Long Trip in the Rain

During the holidays and just before New Year, my friend Paul was in town for a day, so we did some exploring.  The weather started out being less than ideal.  We had swung by Renton to see if there was anything of interest and the A-26, Sexy Sue, was out on the ramp looking ready to head off.  We debated which direction they would depart and which would be most suitable for shots.  In the end, we stayed where we were figuring it would be too high at the lake end of the field.  (That proved not to be the case with a very low departure!)

Our chosen location did give us a good view of start up and taxi out of the plane.  They were flight planned to Oakland CA which struck me as quite a long trip to take in an A-26.  Sure, in combat people would have done that and when they were corporate transports it would have been normal but there are more comfortable ways to travel these days.  Anyway, before long, they were lined up and powered off.  There was plenty of vortex action from the props in such a damp atmosphere but it probably looked better from other angles.  With them gone, we jumped back in the car and decided to continue our adventures elsewhere.

A Huey Trip at the Last Minute

During our Arizona trip, Mark and I stopped by at Falcon Field.  Our friend, Joe, is involved in a group, the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation, that maintains and operates historic army helicopters, and they were having a flying event that day.  We wanted to see the Huey that they operate as it was taking people out on rides.  We saw a couple of runs and then they stopped for a break, and we could wander around the helicopter.  When they were getting ready for the next flight, they had a spare slot and asked if I wanted to take a ride.  The funny thing is, while I was happy to make the contribution, I often am more interested in seeing the flying from the outside rather than being inside.  However, since it was a good cause, I said yes.  I am so glad I did so.  I had a good spot looking forward between the two crew up front and next to the open door giving me plenty to see.  I decided that video was more likely to be a good way of recording such a trip so that is the majority of what I took during the trip.  I did get some stills, of course, but the video then got edited down to the following piece.  I thoroughly enjoyed the flight and the brief time to see some of the surrounding landscape.  I will not be so reticent in future.

FHCAM’s 262

My most recent visit to FHCAM was also my first encounter with their Messerschmidt Me-262.  I knew they had one, but it was never on display when I went previously.  Fortunately, it is now part of the main museum exhibits.  I think the 262 is a very interesting looking design.  Early jets were not always the most elegant shapes but the 262 had a really interesting, blended look to the fuselage and wings.  I was hoping I could find a way to get something that reflected that in my shots.  What I really wanted to do was use the monopod to get some higher angle shots but the museum has strict rules about such stuff so I had to make do with whatever my arms could manage.

The jet is a pretty small airframe.  That generation of planes was not particularly large with a few more specialized exceptions so this shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.  Compared to modern jets, it is tiny.  First generation jet engines were not efficient beasts so it would have worked its way through its fuel load quite rapidly, I imagine.  That assumed that both motors kept running for the whole flight.  I still haven’t seen one of the restored/replica 262s fly, sadly.  I wonder if I shall do that at some point.

Lockheed 12 Heading East

Airport roads can sometimes throw up interesting surprises.  I was driving around Paine Field one weekend and came upon this fuselage sitting on a trailer.  I had a chat with the guys loading it up.  It is a Lockheed 12 and was heading to Minnesota for restoration to flight.  They suggested a lot of work was needed and it would be a while before it was flying again.  However, I was just taken to see it sitting beside the road as I happened to pass by.

Kemble Gate Guards

The trip to the UK early this year included a quick trip to Kemble or Cotswolds Airport as it is also known.  Near the tower, they have a couple of preserved airframes that harken back to the time that this was a Royal Air Force base (including it being home of the Red Arrows).  One of the gate guards (okay, they aren’t near the gate, but you get the idea) is a Folland Gnat.  I don’t know whether it is a genuine ex-Red Arrow or just painted to look like one, but it is cool either way.  It is the tiniest of jets.  I wonder what it was like ferrying one across the Atlantic as they did for a tour.

The other airframe is a Hawker Hunter.  This is a classic aircraft and one that continues in use to this day.  It is a trainer version with the side-by-side cockpit arrangement and in a grey paint job that I am not familiar with them having used in service.  Either way, another great looking jet and something cool for any visitors to check out.

My P-59 Encounters

The P-59 was the first jet fighter that the US had.  It was not a big success and was swiftly overtaken by more capable types.  However, such was the progress in those days, aircraft had a short operational life.  I have seen a couple of them that I am sure of.  One was at Planes of Fame at Chino and the other is on a pole at Edwards.  Here are the shots that I know I have of the type.  The question is, do I have more that I haven’t keyworded?