Two thoroughbreds:

I've always liked seeing photos of Ferraris posing with aircraft (there is a thread on the "Showroom" forum devoted to just that) and wished I had the opportunity to do the same. Well, this morning, it happened.

As I was driving into Greenville, SC on Friday for yesterday's Euro Auto Festival, I was surprised to see a B-17 circling over I-85 a little up the road. I subsequently found out that the Collings Foundation's "Wings of Freedom" tour was in town for the weekend.

As the only thing I had to do today was to drive home from Greenville (about 2-1/2 hours), I had the time to go over to Greenville Downtown Airport (GMU) to see the collection, which included their B-24 and P-51 along with the Fortress.

The B-17 was in the air when I arrived, and the P-51, which was their unique dual-control P-51C, was being prepped for flight. After the Mustang left, I asked the young fellow who was in charge of the aircraft operations, whose name was Mike, if there was any chance that I could pose my Ferrari with the Mustang at some point. It transpires that Mike was a car enthusiast as well - in fact, I was able to give him a short ride in the 328 - and a little while later it happened. After I took my photos, I gave Mike the camera and he took a couple of me posing with the two thoroughbreds! I thank him and the Collings Foundation.
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Here's the P-51 leaving on its first flight after my arrival at the airport. Mike is the fellow in the blue shirt. Sorry about the blurry takeoff photo, but I was using my "small" Canon, an SX-200 compact, which isn't particularly good on action photos.
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I had a chance to chat with the next paying passenger, a fellow named Dave, while waiting for the Mustang to return. He seemed quite excited and a little bit nervous. Incidentally, the charge for a 1/2 hour flight is $2200, so it's not for everybody!

Here's the plane returning from the first flight and about to leave for the second one. Dave can be seen in the back seat already snapping photos.

Interesting that everyone boarded the aircraft by climbing up the left-hand landing-gear leg but left the aircraft by sliding down the lowered wing flap.
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When Dave returned from his flight, I already had the Ferrari staged nearby for the photo shoot. Dave was grinning from ear to ear, but his legs looked a bit wobbly as he walked away! I guess a first flight in a P-51 will do that to you!

There were no other passengers waiting at that point, so Mike got the fuel truck over and put some in the airplane, and then he guided me around to the front of the Mustang and then backed me into position for the shoot. When it was over, he escorted me back off the ramp, I thanked him and then headed home.
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