Air Show

Early this evening we were given a short but wonderful air show. At approximately 1530 the house began to vibrate with the sounds of a low flying jet. Loud and close. Judy ran out of the kitchen with a wide-eyed look and said, " What is THAT?" I got outside to see the Dreamlifter in a left turn to final at about 500 feet. Then 15 minutes later a sound familiar to me was rising from the north and a flight of two P-51's roared over the house heading south to the Olympia Air Show. Ain't nothing better than that!

 

Bob- Nothing like the sound of 2 V12s flying over.

In Sweetwater, TX in the mid-50s, my father, an ex-P-51 pilot, heard one overhead while at the dinner table and went running outside, me following, to see a local rancher's P-51D go by. Beautiful sound and avgas was only about $0.30 a gallon back then. Warbirds traded hands pretty reasonably priced in 1955.

 

Then there is the Avro Lancaster 4 Merlin's flying in close formation.

 

It sounds amazing

 

Or on takeoff:

 

I live just about 20 minutes away from where our Lanc calls home. Every weekend in the summer she buzzes over the house, fairly low in fact. I hear her coming well before I see her. The sound is amazing.

 

Well, it keeps going. A B-17 keeps flying over every evening and I have to admit that it triggers something that I can't explain. The sound, the beauty of the airplane, or the memories of 74 years ago when I was associated with it really gets to me every time I hear it or see it. We have P-51's flying over and B-25's but it ain't the same. It's really funny when I hear it in the distance and run outside and my wife cannot believe that I know what it is. Some things never leave you, I guess.

 

Here are 12 of them although only 8 are in the air.



I am really sorry to have missed the Canadian Lancaster when it was in the UK and flying with the BBMF Lancaster. Hopefully we will have another airworthy one soon. Perhaps the Canadians will come back for a threesome!

 

There was another which was in process of being returned to flight here in Canada. Unfortunately the museum went bankrupt and the project is now moth balled. It was for years on a pedestal at Ontario place in Toronto. Was removed and restoration started. I do remember seeing that very plane in flight, before it was grounded, and turned into a gate guard.

 

Then there was the Canadair North Star... Canada built DC-4 using 4 Merlins for power. It was much faster, but not popular as it was very, very loud. Pax did not like it.

 

Mr. Parks, have you witnessed Paul Allens fleet fly yet? The FW and the Zero? Your life's work....so impressive. Thanks for contributing to this thread! I really hope to visit the Garber(?) facility one day (Smithsonian storage). Aviation history has been the reason that I have travelled/worked all over the world....museums. Italy is next.

 

Faster, but not that much so. When the first BOAC Comet out of Rome suffered its fatal metal-fatigue disintegration, the pilot was in the process of talking with another BOAC pilot in an Argonaut (their name for the North Star) which had departed about ten minutes ahead of the Comet but was scheduled to arrive two hours later! That's why the wealthy preferred the Comet - until they started falling out of the sky.

 

Yes, I have seen all of Paul Allen's fleet fly since I live ten miles south of PAE. I have seen the ME-109, Zero, Hurricane,etc. but I also saw them fly when I was stationed at Langley Field Virginia during the war. Our barrack was about two blocks from the NACA hangar and ramp and on days off I hung out there.Recent photos of Langley are a jolt to me with all those acres of empty ramp and no more dirigible hangar. When I was there all the concrete was covered by B-24's and B-17's with an occasional B-25 or A-20 or Martin B-26's or.....I envy your traveling the world to all the aviation museums, take pics. I don't know about the "Mr." prefix to my name. I appreciate it since I'm an old goat but really,I'm just Bob.

 

Bob, we ought to make you an honorary Doctor of Philosophy, since we certainly enjoy reading about your tales about the "philosophy" of your life and times. Then we could call you "Dr. Bob".

 

Jim, I have never been known for having many smarts. Perhaps all of the mistakes that I have made in my life may have registered in my ol' head. The plethora of accomplished and dedicated people on this forum puts me in my place and I honestly look up to them. I couldn't finish high school because I graduated at the wrong time and I had to go into the Air Force when I turned 18 . I didn't reach flight school because the war was ending too soon. I couldn't finish college because of family issues and my ineptness. I plodded along at Boeing for 20+ years and couldn't escape from being laid off in 1970. I went back and put in another 25+ years in spurts and stops. So, I haven't been the paragon of what I remember as , " Staff completion." I did have a modicum of success in my last 20 years in PD when I could gather up all my experience before that and apply it in an acceptable manner on the 747, 767,and 777. I wish that I could work again with my old group because they are the real cream of the crop!

 

Bob, Please have your life experiences transferred into a reasonably priced book...I would buy it. Your a humble man.

 

Thanks, I wrote a book a couple of years ago that covers just about all that I did. It is entitled, " From A Crystal Set To High Speed Jets". I have a few copies left , it wasn't a big seller and I think that it is in the best Cellar list. I would be pleased to send you one. They are very expensive, though, at 25.00.

 

You can actually still buy Bob's book through Amazon, but I recommend that you get it directly from him, so you can get his very valuable autograph!

https://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Set-High-Speed-Jets/dp/1503105679/

 

Will do. I will PM Bob this weekend. Thanks.

 

I bought my copy from Amazon... Maybe I could mail mine to him to get signed [emoji16]

 

Or do what I did - go to Seattle and have him do it in person! We met at Paul Allen's Skyfair event at Paine Field.

 

At this past weekend's hydroplane race in Guntersville, AL, some people were complaining (rightfully so) about the dead time between race heats. I'm suggesting to the organizers that they consider adding some airshow acts between boat heats. While a jet team like the Blue Angels (who always perform at the Seattle race) might be ideal, I know how hard they are to schedule. Even "routine" airshow acts would help fill the dead time; Seattle has so many airshow acts that it's become as much an airshow as a boat race!