Tag Archives: california

A-26 Invader

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The A-26 is a plane that had a longer life in service than many of its stablemates.  It found use as a ground attack aircraft in Vietnam despite having its origins in WWII.  It cropped up along the way between these extremes.  Some of them found use as corporate transports too including the one I saw at Lyon Air Museum.  It had been used by Howard Hughes at some point.  Now it is restored to something closer to its operational configuration.

It was tight in amongst the other exhibits which made getting good shots tricky.  It is also finished in black which can make the photography a touch more challenging.  However, having not shot a lot of them, I was keen to make the best of it.  These shots are a summary of what I got as I checked out this speedy beast.  How I would like to get some airborne shots of one.  I believe one lives close to me but I have yet to see it out in the wild.

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.

Steve McQueen’s Bike

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This bike was apparently owned by Steve McQueen.  I seem to have seen a bunch of cars and bikes that he apparently owned so I guess he was a keen collector of motorized transport.  The style of the bike is definitely old but that wasn’t what caught my eye.  Instead, the sidecar was what I liked.  It appeared to have been styled and constructed like a boat.  It seemed rather out of place compared to the bike but it was definitely interesting.  It was tucked under something else which made getting a shot of it a bit tricky but worth it all the same.

Storms Over LAX

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When you first think of Los Angeles, you think of sun and warm weather.  It is true that a lot of the time, this will be what you get in Southern California, but it is not always the case.  On the first day of my trip down to LA, I had intended to get some flying in.  The weather had other ideas.  The cloud base was low and waves of rain were coming through the area.  Just when the sun came out and you thought it was okay, another bunch of clouds would roll in and, if you didn’t get under cover quickly, you would get drenched by some torrential rain. This does, of course, provide for a shot of LAX that you don’t normally get!

Lyon Air Museum

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A weekend in Southern California for work was not my idea of fun but I did have a few hours free on the Sunday morning so I headed down to Santa Anna to the Lyon Air Museum.  It is located on the opposite side of John Wayne Airport from the main terminal building and is not terribly obvious unless you look hard.  Even the entrance road is a bit obscure and could be easily missed.  However, once there, it was definitely worth the time.

The museum is in a modern structure and has an impressive collection.  Supposedly the planes are all airworthy and they have some interesting ones there.  Some of the collection will get their own posts.  For now, here is an overlook of the museum and a few of the side exhibits that don’t get their own story.

Etihad 777-200LR in its Last Days

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When Boeing developed its updates to the base versions of the 777, it came up with the higher capacity long range 300ER and a lower capacity but ultra long range version, the 200LR.  The 300ER sold very well but the 200LR was more of a niche product and, while it sold, it never went in the same numbers as its larger sibling.  Etihad was one of the customers but they have now decided they have no further use for the type and it is being retired.  I was glad to catch one at LAX in the days running up to their retirement.

Ice Emphasis to Structure of the A330

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An Aeroflot Airbus A330 landed at LAX while I was shooting there.  On plenty of occasions, I have seen ice on the underside of the wings of landing aircraft where the cold fuel remaining in the tanks has caused condensation and freezing in the warmer damp air lower down.  However, I haven’t ever noticed it on the fuselage structure.  On this jet, though, I could see ice on the surface and the patterns of ice reflected the underlying fuselage structure.  Maybe this is there more often and it was just the paint finish that made it show up this time.

Gull Wing Mercedes

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Here is one for those of you that know your vintage cars.  How much is a Gull Wing Mercedes worth?  This one is kept in the Lyon Air Museum in California.  It seems to be in great condition and I assume it is worth quite a bit but I have no idea how much.  It was tucked in amongst lots of valuable aircraft so is not the most expensive thing on display.  Since the planes are generally airworthy, I would guess this is a runner too.

Smoking the Nosewheel of the A380

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Touchdown of an airliner almost always results in a big cloud of smoke as the rubber burns off the tires when they spin up to speed after first contacting the runway.  Lots of tires can mean even more smoke and the 20 main tires on an A380 should mean a lot of smoke.  Less often noticed is that the same thing happens when the nose gear touches down.  As I shot this A380 landing at LAX, I happened to catch the smoke from the nose gear as it hit the ground.