Tag Archives: vintage

WHF Day Out

What seems like far too long a time had passed since I had last had a chance to head up to Waukegan to see the team at the Warbird Heritage Foundation. A nice day and a break in my schedule meant that I was finally able to resolve that shortfall. I headed up to Waukegan keen to see what sort of day was in store. As with any collection of older aircraft, the chances of much flying are relatively limited since the planes are usually in need of some sort of care. However, there were a few parked out on the apron when I got there.

Sean and Mike were busy taking care of them as I wandered up. The first thing Sean told me was that he had flown the Bird Dog that morning and that it was a shame I hadn’t been there. Indeed so! Telling me I have missed out on a great opportunity is just cruel! Never mind. I still haven’t seen the Bird Dog fly so it would have been good to see it let alone fly in it.

The project for the day was the T-28 Trojan. Not so long ago, this aircraft had an engine go bad. The chip warning light came on while Sean was flying it and, since he was close to the field, he made a speedy descent to land. The engine pretty much gasped its last as he taxied in. A rebuild later and now the plane is flying again. However, as with all engines after overhaul, it is going through a running in period. This also requires a different grade of oil and a change of oil was the task for the guys.

With the new oil in, the engine was run and the oil topped off. Then it was time for a flight. Jeff is a regular T-28 pilot and member of the Trojan Horseman and he came along to fly with Sean in the back seat. Putting hours on the airframe is the goal but not going too far from the field in case anything goes wrong. They did their duty flying patterns over the field and I grabbed some shots when I could. Most of the time they were quite far away but, with the moon traversing the sky, a couple of opportunities presented themselves for shots with the moon in the background.

I also grabbed some shots of the aircraft on the ground while they were off doing their thing. I haven’t got much before of the Bird Dog so spent a bit of time with it including getting some shots of the cockpit. Harsh exterior lighting meant a but of HDR was required for some of the shots but hopefully it isn’t too obvious! I have shot these planes a lot over time but there is always a chance for something new. Good to see you guys again and hopefully it won’t be so long next time!

Heritage Flight Foundation Visit

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The field trip during the ISAP Symposium was held at Paine Field in Everett. We were hosted by the Heritage Flight Foundation and its owner John Sessions and they were excellent hosts. (I visited once before and you can see that post here.) Aside from the selection of aircraft still in the hangar where we were set up, they had arranged some photo sorties with some of their aircraft. The B-25, Grumpy, was the camera ship for a few photographers and the P-51 Mustang was the target. A T-6 also went up as a second camera ship. Each photo position was a paying ride with the T-6 obviously being the premium slot.

I had decided not to take the ride. It was not cheap although certainly not bad value for money. As the weather was not looking great, I wondered whether I had chosen wisely. As it was, the people who did go up did get some great images. The area certainly can provide some nice backdrops and the light, while flat, did not hurt things. However, even as someone on the ground, the flights seemed over very fast so I imagine for those on board, it was gone all to quickly.

For those of us on the ground, we got treated to the departure and arrivals of the aircraft plus a few passes of the P-51 and T-6 which were a lot of fun. Gloomy skies made it all a little flat looking but still a great sight. Being able to be close to the aircraft during the start up, taxi out and return was certainly worthwhile. The following day they were having a public event and I hope the weather improved for the large numbers they were expecting.

Historic Flight Foundation

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Two down and one to go. A trip across to the other side of Paine Field and you arrive at the Historic Flight Foundation – John Sessions collection of vintage aircraft. Combined with my previous two visits, you really have to think of Everett as a goldmine for the aviation enthusiast. Much like the Flying Heritage Collection, the focus here is on airworthy vintage aircraft. However, they are all allied aircraft and are not all military planes.

The hangar is a lovely spot that is spotless. The aircraft are arrayed around the place and they all look spotless too. One was undergoing its annual so was pulled apart a bit more. There is also a B-25 that was outside when I was visiting. I was welcomed to take a look inside. Flights are available too if you want although my schedule and budget were not going to fit in with that and the weather was rather crappy to be honest.

One of the volunteers was an ex-pat Brit and he showed me around the whole collection. He knew a great deal about the planes having been involved with them for a long time and we had a great time. others were passing by and would join the discussion as well. It was a very friendly environment. John Sessions was also about and said hello but he had a group visiting so was making sure they were having a good time.

As with the other places at Paine Field, I can certainly recommend a visit. It is an interesting collection and if you can time it to coincide with some flying activity, you will have done even better.

Museum of Flight Restoration Facility

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The Museum of Flight has its main building down at Boeing Field in Seattle. However, they have a separate restoration facility located up at Paine Field. I had visited this many years ago. At the time, it was a case of showing up and wandering around. They welcomed any visitors but it was all very informal. Since I was nearby, I thought I would pop by and see how their Cutlass restoration was going.

Things have changed a bit. They have an additional part of the building where they now have a proper entrance and a small store. They have also introduced a small entrance fee. This seems perfectly reasonable to me. Anything that helps with the preservation work the museum does is a good thing. I talked with one of the volunteers about the changes since I had last been there and asked about the Cutlass. Apparently it is a basket case and hasn’t moved on much since I was last there. At least it is being protected, even if it isn’t likely to be in much better shape for a long time.

The facility also has the Comet 4 that they have been making progress on along with the prototype Boeing 727. It also had the prototype JetStar which is configured with twin engines instead of the four of later models. Those who know my fascination with this plane as described here and here will know that was a good one for me to see.

This was a brief visit but a good one all the same. Check them out and help support the work they do. If you ask any questions, you will be warmly welcomed and given lots of freedom to see their work.

Flying Heritage Collection

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The Flying Heritage Collection has a museum facility at Paine Field that was the first thing to trigger in my mind when I was thinking about things to see up there. The collection is owned by Paul Allen and they have got a great collection of vintage warbirds. They also have some newer jets but they aren’t in the museum at the moment. I have been tracking the collection on Facebook so wanted to drop in and see what they had.

The museum was easy enough to find and if you can’t spot it, listen out for the noise of construction. They are building a new facility next door and the crews were hard at work making quite a racket as a result. The current building is an old hangar but it does the trick for the time-being. Since nearly all of the aircraft are flown periodically, the hangar is a working hangar. Work is done on the aircraft where they stand and the barriers are moveable so the planes can be taken outside when it is their turn to fly.

The place is not huge and you are close to the planes which is good from an interest point of view but makes photos a little more difficult. If going back, I would take a wider angle lens. However, it wasn’t too bad and the light was pretty reasonable too. The Axis and Allied aircraft were very interesting but I was particularly keen to see their recent addition, the Ilyushin IL-2 Shturmovik. It had not long been in the collection after delivery from restoration in Russia. I was a touch disappointed when one of the docents told me that, with the flying of the German aircraft they had planned for the coming weekend, Steve Hinton was coming in and was going to take the chance to get the IL-2 up in the air. Missing the flying at the weekend was one of those things but something even more rare in the air just after I left was rather unfortunate!

Putting that aside, it was good to take a look around the collection and I shall endeavor to get back there at some point soon – hopefully next time to see some of the collection up in the air!

Hello Fifi

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As part of her tour of the country, Fifi, the B-29 operated by the Commemorative Air Force was coming to the Chicago region. She was scheduled to appear at DuPage Airport, west of Chicago. I had been in contact with the team about covering the visit for GAR. This is something to be published soon so I won’t spoil everything just yet! However, it is safe to say that I did head along and meet up with the team and see Fifi flying.

She was scheduled to fly three times during the day with the first trip being in the morning. The layout of the main part of the airport meant that the light wold be bad in the morning but better later in the day. I found an alternative spot to catch her as she took off and got myself ready. Unfortunately, my brain was not totally in gear and I had one camera on the wrong settings. I did get lucky though and did not end up with frozen props in the shots, even if they are a little less blurry than I would like!

I then headed around to the approach lights to get her heading back in. It was very impressive to have a B-29 coming right over your head. I got the shots but did peak out the side to enjoy the experience – something that is a little lost some times when focusing too much on getting the shots. I was about to head back when I noticed a P-51 on approach too. A nice bonus. Then it was back to the airport to get the interview and some ground shots. A great bunch of people and a very interesting day.

Waukegan Part 2 – The Military Stuff

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As mentioned in the previous post, the Collings Foundation were at Waukegan with their B-17, B-24 and P-51. Pete and I had headed up there to take a look at what was going on. This was the last day of the tour at Waukegan before they moved on to Palwauckee. They were supposed to be flying during the day and then departing in the early afternoon. Things were looking promising with the B-24 taking off while we were over at the Warbird Heritage Foundation hangar.

The P-51 was apparently being a little troublesome but was also scheduled to take someone on a ride while we were there. A friend of mine, Chris, volunteers for Collings and he was working with them that day so i took the chance to catch up with him. I give him regular abuse as he got a ride in P-51 Baby Duck once before when I was shooting it. I must be a lucky omen for him!

We needed to head back to Chicago for Pete to be ready for the return flight but the warbirds hadn’t yet departed. We decided to give them a few extra minutes. The B-17 had headed out first but the B-24 was obviously waiting to make sure the P-51 was away. Unfortunately, the engine was not looking too willing when it came to starting. Fortunately, a bit of ground power did the trick and they were away. As it turned out, Chris had made it in to the back of the P-51 so I got him in another one. I hope he recognizes my role in all of this!

WACO Reunion

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I have previously mentioned that I am more interested in getting to events that are slightly more individual than the bigger airshows these days. That also includes when I am trying to get material for the magazine together. One such event was the WACO Reunion in Mount Vernon OH. This was being covered for a piece that I was writing for Global Aviation Resource and will appear in an upcoming edition of the magazine. Consequently, I am not going to preempt the magazine piece here.

Instead, this is more about the time I had while I was there rather than a description of the event and the organization. I had been in contact with Andy Heins, president of the national WACO Club earlier in the year to make sure I could cover the event. Andy told me what I needed to do to be there and then made himself available to tell me all about what was going on. The event is a gathering of club members and their aircraft and is a very social event. There is no flying display. However, the members like to fly their aircraft and that is what they do. The middle of the day is quite quiet but early in the morning and later in the day when the weather is a lot more calm is the time when people get in their planes and fly.

Fortunately, that also included me getting to fly too. My first trip of the day was in a Citabria with Tim Ponds. This was to get some aerial shots of the aircraft parked to illustrate the article. Time was very accommodating and we got some video footage as well as stills of the site. While we were up, Steve Thomas was flying his WACO and we arranged an impromptu shoot. Normally I am not inclined to shoot air to air without a prior brief. However, we kept it simple and straight and level and I was able to grab some good shots. We also flew past the airfield and got a couple of shots with the aircraft parked in the background.

Then I got my first flight in a WACO when Susan Theodorelos took me up in her beautiful model RNF. This is an open cockpit model with the pilot in the rear seat and a two seat space up front for the passengers. I was on my own in this case so had some space to move. A couple of other aircraft joined up for some formations and I was able to grab some shots of them at the same time. Vibration was not too bad but keeping myself isolated from the airframe was tricky so getting good shots was a bit tricky. However, I got some I was pleased with.

One technique thing I learned from these flights was focus activation. I normally focus with the rear button on the camera rather than the shutter button. This is fine in almost all circumstances. However, when you are trying to shoot backwards at an odd angle, this is a lot harder to do and the shutter button becomes the best solution. Swapping the configuration in flight (I hadn’t expected to shoot another aircraft when we first took off) wasn’t practical so some odd contortions were necessary. Now I have added this config setting to my quick menu so I can make the change quickly if the situation should arise again.

Everyone at the flyin was very friendly. Aviation never fails to amaze me with the way in which you can show up somewhere for the first time with nothing but a shared interest and be welcomed so quickly by people you have never met before. The WACO people were a perfect example of this and I can’t thank them enough for their hospitality. I hope to be back again for future reunions. In the mean time, here is a little video that I got while there. Enjoy and don’t forget to buy the magazine when it comes out at www.globalaviationresource.com!

Pungo

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Continuing my theme of items related to the ISAP symposium, we took a trip to the Museum of Military Aviation at Pungo south of Virginia Beach. Actually, we took two trips to be accurate. The first was part of the symposium field trip and the second was after the symposium had concluded and was for the air show at the museum. Since they were preparing for the air show on the Friday of the field trip, I think it is fair to combine the two events into one posting.

Friday was a great day from a weather perspective except that it was quite windy and, more importantly from an aviating perspective, the wind was directly across the runway. This meant that not too much flying was going on. With a great collection of vintage military aircraft available, this was a shame. However, they were all laid out along the field to take a look at so we were able to get up close and personal with a bunch of cool aircraft.

One of the planned attendees for the show did appear but that is something I am going to save for another post. The show also included a lot of reenactors who had set up encampments around the site. For a lot of the group, this proved to be a good alternative to go and photograph. Normally, I am more than willing to photograph anything interesting or unusual but, for some reason, I didn’t get into this topic at all.

It is not that they weren’t worthy of photographing. If you look at the images that people got you can see some good work. My friend Jo recently blogged about this very topic here so you can see some of what was there. However, in this case it just did not seem to work for me so I spent my time wandering around other parts of the museum.

The Sunday of the show arrived with very unfavorable weather. Apparently the Saturday had been pretty good but Sunday had low clouds and rain when we got there. It appeared highly unlikely that it was going to improve but we waited it out for a while. The reenactors were out again so there was much for people to see but, since I was more bothered about the aircraft, I focused on them. A few extra aircraft had arrived since we had been there on Friday, my favorite being a Fairey Firefly that had come in from Canada. They were supposed to depart late morning for their trip home but sadly the weather got too bad to allow even that departure.

I certainly enjoyed seeing the various aircraft at the museum and there for the show. It was a shame they weren’t granted better weather as I’m sure their ticket sales will have suffered (although a surprising number of people continued to arrive while we were there) but hopefully they will have achieved enough to support the ongoing work of the museum. They certainly need to be commended for their efforts putting together the event.

Poplar Grove – A Friendly Place!

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There are occasions when you have an idea for something that you want to do, get a bit of a start on it and then it falls by the wayside for a long time. Such was the case with heading to Poplar Grove. I had read something about this airfield not far from Rockford IL and thought I should check it out. I made contact with the owner of the field and he said I was welcome to visit any time. After that, somehow I got distracted from this and didn’t follow up. Not only a failing on my part but also rather rude! Not the impression I would normally expect to give someone I hope – other than my friends and family who know my true nature of course!

Despite all of this, Poplar Grove came back into my mind recently. I am looking at the Oshkosh Ski plane fly in later this month and a group from Poplar Grove are regular attendees when the conditions allow. I made contact with them about possibly working together if the weather allows the fly in to go ahead. This reminded me of my previous failings to do anything after my previous contact.

This time, I decided to be a bit more cautious. Rather than contact some people and then fail to follow through, I decided to take advantage of the continuing pleasant weather and make a trip up. The Sunday weather forecast looked very promising and a weekend is more likely to have activity for light aircraft. I got on the road early and headed up to the field.

Surprisingly, it doesn’t appear on my GPS. However, a little check on Google Maps was enough to point me to where I needed to set the destination and I got there without any trouble. A couple of aircraft departed as I pulled into the lot which always inspires a bit of confidence. Initially I decided to just hang out in the lot and see what was going on. Standing around with a 500mm lens tends to start a few conversations and this was no exception.

One guy stopped by to ask if I had got any pictures of his son who was learning to fly and had been up while I was stood there. Another couple of people said Hi! as they passed by and another guy stopped for a longer chat. He pointed out that the field was a friendly place and, if I knew how to stay out of trouble on an airfield, it would be fine to take a walk to some other spots.

I followed his advice and headed off. The layout of the field is very cool. There is one hard runway and two grass strips. One of the grass strips and the hard runway were both in operation. There were many hangars (apparently about 450 aircraft are based on the field) and there are also some houses with taxiway access. I want to move!

Standing near one taxiway I got a good view of the aircraft movements. As people taxied by I would get friendly waves which I reciprocated. What a nice place. The chap I had talked to previously drove up and we ended up talking for a while. His name is Steve Langdon and he is involved with the EAA chapter that I had been talking to as mentioned earlier on! He told me about the many different and interesting aircraft that people operate or are working on at the field. This was reinforced by the arrival of one T-34 and the departure of another – one that obviously knew where I was!

By lunchtime, I really needed to be heading back to Chicago so started to walk back to the car. I passed an open hangar with a beautiful Beech 18 sitting in it. This belongs to the owners of the field and, having now been back in touch with them, I hope to get a chance to photograph this aircraft at some point. I suspect there are plenty of other aircraft on the field that I will want to shoot as well. This place is a treasure trove.

Thank you to everyone I met at poplar Grove. it is a lovely field with a great attitude. I hope to spend more time there soon!