In the mail today, a real piece of aviation history. Click on the picture to go to Flickr where you can view the large image. Country names like Siam, Burma and Indo China tell you that this is old. Really hard to nail down an actual date but the TCA (Trans Canada Airways) dates it before 1964 at least. TCA became Air Canada that year.
Robert Bogash, dedicated volunteer of the Museum of Flight in Seattle has been a driving force in the transfer of the Super Constellation 1049G from Toronto to the West Coast. Bob and I have exchanged emails off and on for over a year and he’s been sending me updates on the progress of the Connie.
A detailed assessment of the condition of the airframe has taken place in Rome New York. Pictures of the process are available here. Also of interest are details of the move.
The battle for ownership got very heated in the final stages and, as a volunteer at the Toronto Aerospace Museum, I felt some personal involvement in the whole process. However, now that the Connie is on her way to restoration and display, I really wish Bob and the Museum Of Flight good luck and success.
Playing around with a WordPress plugin messed up the site again. Hopefully this works.
Ontario is blessed with one of the world’s great hiking trails. The Bruce Trail runs from near Niagara Falls all the way to Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula of Georgian Bay. Over the years I’ve hiked probably 1/20 of its 800km length but I haven’t been back to it for a few years. This morning, I decided to forego the normal early golf game and drove up to the little village of Limestone to visit one of my favorite areas.
This part of the trail contains the famous “Hole In The Wall” rock formation that is only accessible by ladders. It’s then a short walk to Black Creek where you can find the remains of old lime kilns that dot the area.
Lime kilns were used to process limestone shale to make cement. Details of the process are available here. This picture shows detail of the biggest kiln visible on the trail. Steps are being taken to preserve this piece of history from around 1865 and the entire area is fenced off to protect both the history and the public.
Black Creek runs across the path and it was a beautiful sight at 6:30 in the morning. The stone work and the shadows made a perfect photographic moment.
I’ll probably start doing this more and more and cut the golf down to Sunday morning only. My game isn’t getting any better and I do love how the morning light photographs. Either way, I get a little exercise but hiking is a whole lot less frustrating.
Clicking on any of these will take you to Flickr where you can see more. Enjoy! I know I did.
38 years ago today, man set foot on the moon. For the first time, this tribe of hairless apes got its act together enough to accomplish something that brought them all together for a brief shining moment. We all took a minute to stand in aw of the sheer magnitude of the event before we returned to killing each other, raping the Earth and chasing the almighty dollar.
“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” said Neil Armstrong as he floated off the last step of the lunar lander. Never have a few words said so much.
I watched Walter Cronkite introduce the grainy black and white image. I saw him wipe away a tear. The universe got just a little smaller. We had taken a small step towards a bright future. And then we stopped.
The shuttle is getting old. The International Space Station is a fraction of what it was supposed to be. We have a couple of tinker toy rovers still trundling on Mars long after they should have died. What’s the future? Bush wants to send a manned mission to Mars but NASA doesn’t even have a concrete idea of what will replace the shuttle.
So, Happy Moon Landing Day! A good day to reflect on what might have been.
Though I concentrate on airline ashtrays, I couldn’t pass this one up. Vernon Kilns made millions of pieces of dinnerware and commemorative plates in the 30′s, 40′s and 50′s. There’s nothing very special about most of them and lots be easily found on eBay or specialty china websites. Aircraft commemoratives are a different story.
This one, of course, is interesting to me because of what it depicts. Boeing was incorporated in 1916 as the “Pacific Aero Products Co.” The first aircraft was the “B&W” seaplane which can be seen at the 10 o’clock position on the plate.
In 1917, the company name changed to the “Boeing Airplane Company”. The history continues with depiction of the B-1 seaplane from 1919, the 1938 314 “Clipper” which opened up transoceanic travel for passengers, the 307 “Stratorliner” from 1939 which was the first pressurized-cabin transport aircraft and the B-15 bomber from 1957.
Front and center is the B-17-E “Flying Fortress” which was produced in great numbers and was one of the workhorses of the Second World War. The Memphis Belle is probably the most famous of all the 17s made.
The back of the plate contains some Boeing history along with “Designed Exclusively for Frederick & Nelson Seattle by Vernon Kilns U.S.A”. Frederick & Nelson was a department store chain that became part of Marshall Field. Vernon Kilns went out of business in 1958.
The plate is in beautiful shape and I’ve got my eye out for others. It appears that there are a total of 9 plates that were made commemorating aircraft manufacturers including Douglas and Curtis-Wright.
Adria Airways is an airline based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It is the national airline of Slovenia and a regional member of the Star Alliance. It operates international scheduled services throughout Europe and charter services to destinations in Europe and the Middle East. Its main base and hub is Ljubljana Jo?e Pu?nik Airport.
Currently, Adria has a fleet of 17 aircraft and doesn’t play favorites. Planes from Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and Saab all bear the distinctive blue tail.
This delicate box came from Europe and is a good example of the woodburning art. I don’t think it’s official as the seller offered the same box with different airline names but it’s quite well done.
In 1958, American Airlines revolutionized the air cargo business by developing a container that could be carried on aircraft minimizing the loading and unloading time. For some reason, they called it the Paul Bunyan Box.
Today, hundreds of thousands of these containers are used by every airline in the world. Specialized material handling equipment rolls them on and off and baggage or cargo can be handled quickly and efficiently. Barcoding allows them to be tracked anywhere in the world and some modern airports and cargo facilities have automatic routing equipment.
This plate probably dates back to 1958 and shows quite a bit of wear. An interesting find.
Arkia Israel Airlines is Israel’s 2nd largest carrier (after El Al) and began operations in 1950 as Israel Inland airlines. They currently have a fleet of 15 aircraft with 4 Boeing 787 on order for delivery in 2012.
In 2002 an Arkia Boeing 757 was narrowly missed by two missles shortly after takeoff from Kenya. The plane was able to land safely in Tel Aviv.
Impossible to tell exactly when this ashtray was made but it has been well used.
More years ago than I care to remember, Jeff Wayne published a rock operatic version of H. G. Wells’ “War Of The Worlds”. Most of the album is unforgettable except for the narration by Sir Richard Burton and the song “Forever Autumn” performed by Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues.
This version comes from 2005 and, while Hayward’s voice has lost some of its range, it still comes across as a powerful lament for a lost love.
Bad Behavior has blocked 293 access attempts in the last 7 days.
SEO Powered by Platinum SEO from Techblissonline