Through The Mist Darkly

Half way through this long trip to Lexington Kentucky.  It was a brutal week at work – I don’t perform well in a fishbowl.  Too many people, too many problems, too much stress.  We ended off further along the project than we started so I guess it should be considered a successful week.

Yesterday(Saturday) I needed to blow off some steam so it was off to “Thunder Over Louisville” the annual kick-off to the Derby Festival which culminates with the Kentucky Derby.  Thunder Over Louisville is 1/2 airshow and 1/2 fireworks display.  I only stayed for the airshow because I didn’t relish the thought of trying to get out of town at the same time that 1/2 million people have the same idea. 

I left the hotel in Lexington at about 8:30 and took the 1 1/2 hour drive to Louisville.  Beautiful country on the way and a very pleasant trip.  Downtown Louisville is very pretty and it was a short walk from the parking lot to the Ohio River where the event takes place.

I thought I had arrived too early (5 hours before the show started) but the locals know better.  Prime real estate on the riverfront along the flight line was already taken by tens of thousands of people and they kept coming all day.  Whole families had staked out their areas with chairs, tents, BBQs, coolers, toys, flags, etc., etc., etc.

These are dedicated folks who stay in the same place from, probably, 7 o’clock in the morning until 10 that night.  Everyone was in great spirits even though the temperature had fallen from the 80’s on Friday to the low to mid 60’s yesterday.

With plenty of time to kill, I wandered up and down the river checking things out and enjoying a lovely Saturday morning.  Hunger caught up with me so I stopped in to Joe’s Crab Shack which occupies a high vantage point to see the action.  Unfortunately, a ticket costs $200 in advance!  Was able to get in for lunch which was Bloody Marys’ and crab dip. I found out that they did have a slightly cheaper deal.  Underneath the restaurant, they had a fenced off area that you could access for $5 with bar and food service and dedicated Port-A-Potties which seemed like a great idea given the size of the crowd outside and the conspicuous lack of toilet facilities.  A wrist band insured that I would be able to come and go as I pleased.

Finally, the show started.  With all the good spots long gone, I had to make do with a spot right beside the massive speaker system that boomed out rock and roll all day.  It gave me a good view as the aircraft started their runs.  I’ve got about 200 pictures to go through but here’s a few of my favourites so far.

  My first B52!  This showed up late in the show but I was glad I had a chance to catch this cold-warrior that is still going strong.  Majestic and pretty dam quiet considering the size.  She made 2 quick passes and was off.

The KC-10 “Extender”.  Air-to-air refuelling.  Another old bird that first went into service in 1979.

I could post photos all day but it’s time to get ready to go to the Kentucky Aviation Museum near the Lexington airport.  Then it’s back to the hotel to do homework and get ready to have my spirit crushed for another week.  Oh, well at least I get to go home on Friday.

Friday evening at the Memphis airport I was in a great spot to watch the parade of FedEx jets taking off on their international shots.  One plane looked out of place so I grabbed the little Nikon I carry when I can’t be bothered to lug the D80 around.  It wasn’t until a few minutes ago that I realized what I’d got.

Airbus Industries F-WWYE.  The company’s first A330- 200F which first flew in November of last year.  I can only suspect that it was in Memphis to let FedEx kick the tires.

Two years ago I made a visit to the Swiss Transportation Museum in Lucerne Switzerland.  Observant me just figured out that I didn’t upload many of the pictures to Flickr.

Fokker F-Vlla passenger aircraft operated by Swissair. Built in 1927. The whole set is available here.

A long tiring day at Vintage Wings of Canada at Gatineau Airport.  Good crowd, great weather and no problems.

Nice to see lots of beautiful aircraft flying around, like their Hawker Hurricane shown above.

Most were old favorites that I’ve seen before but a few, like this Canadair water bomber, were new to me.  The organizers frowned on volunteers lugging cameras around so I was only able to get a few shots.

A great day at the CNE Air Show.  Lots of things going fast.  Above, 2 members of the US Navy Blue Angels team in a high speed manoeuvre. (click to enlarge)

That one little thing?  I lost a memory card that had all my shots of the F-22 Raptor and F-16 Viper.  Still lots of pictures to go through but I’m afraid the light was strong and there was a distinct haze that spoiled a lot of close up shots.

Another shot of the Angels in tight formation.  Beautiful aircraft flown really, really well.

  The Brazilian arm of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has got the parent organization into plenty of hot water.  The ad (Courtesy of Adweek.com) shows multiple planes all flying towards Manhattan with the tag line "The 2004 Tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11." Insensitive as hell, especially as the graphic shows the Twin Towers still standing.

To their credit, WWF issued a very strong condemnation:

(click the picture to see it in all its “glory”)

WWF strongly condemns this offensive and tasteless ad and did not authorize its production or publication. It is our understanding that it was a concept offered by an outside advertising agency in Brazil. The concept was summarily rejected by WWF and should never have seen the light of day. It is an unauthorized use of our logo and we are aggressively pursuing action to have it removed from websites where it is being currently featured. We strongly condemn the messages and the images portrayed in this ad. On behalf of WWF, here in the US and around the world, we can promise you this ad does not in any way reflect the thoughts and feelings of the people of our organization.

Unfortunately, you can’t get the Genie back in the bottle and all of WWF’s good works will be forever tainted by this one stupid move by an ad agency striving for that “edgy” look.

The World Wildlife Fund does a lot to protect nature and they could certainly use our help as they go into full damage control.  Click the Wiki link above to learn more about them.

The Memphis Belle is, arguably, one of the most famous aircraft in the world.  A B17 bomber, she was the first American bomber of WWII to complete 25 missions. 

The original aircraft is still undergoing restoration but the movie stand in still flies and made an appearance today at the Waterloo-Wellington air show outside Toronto.

I’m working here all weekend helping to man the museum’s booth but I, of course, had to duck out to get a chance to see this famous plane.

Seeing her up close was great but watching her glide through the air was amazing.  This is one graceful airplane and the crew put on a great show with plenty of low speed passes and tight turns.

The air show organizers have put on a terrific event and I’ve been taking some notes now that we’ve starting preparing for next year’s Wings & Wheels festival.

(click on a picture to enlarge)

There are tougher jobs around than being a firefighter, but not many that come to mind.  All weekend, there’s been a competition at the park near our house so I took a wander over to check it out.

Teams of men (and women) take part in relays that involve running up 5 flights of stairs, hauling up a coiled hose, running back down, moving a heavy weight with a sledgehammer, running a slalom course, precision hose work and finally dragging a life size dummy across the finish line.  All in about twice the time that it took me to type that out.

These people are in shape!  And they’re not all the young bucks that you would imagine.  A couple of guys in their 50’s were hauling ass through the course wearing 100 pounds of gear.

We see them hanging around the fire halls and shining the rigs but it’s important to remember what they do for a living.  They work hard and we should all be proud of their service.

Went up to Wasaga Beach again today.  Main reason was to head over to the Edanvale Aerodrome for the annual “Gathering of the Classics”.  A Culps Special from Brampton was one of the many fine aircraft on display.

There were also lots of classic cars including this one I’d not seen before.

Yes, it’s a BMW. An Isetta.

A rare opportunity.  Big preparations today at the Canadian Air and Space Museum for tomorrow’s press conference and announcement timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing.

Our special guest, of the aircraft variety, is the Silver Dart replica.  Built to honor the 100th anniversary of powered in flight in Canada, she flew on February 20th on the same frozen lake on Cape Breton Island.  Dedicated volunteers spent thousands of hours building the replica and we’re so very happy to have her on hand for our celebration.  Watch for some big news!

I was really lucky to spend some time up close before we moved her to the big hanger.  Very surprised to see this modification.  Pretty sure it wasn’t on the original but I’m sure it comes in handy when you’re sitting in a completely open cockpit on a windswept lake in February.