Sunday... Day of Rest? And Warbird Weekend!

I like the idea of Sunday being a Sabbath - a day of rest - but it doesn't always work out that way, and that's not a bad thing.  Some Sundays are more about fun and family and friends... and flying.

* I don't have very many male readers, but this one is more for you guys!  Lots of pictures!  Airplanes!  Engines!  Even a motorcycle!*

Last Sunday looked like this:

Drive to church                                           14 miles
Drive to the flight museum, drop Wyatt      10 miles
Drive to our friends' house for BBQ            16 miles
Back to the flight museum                          16 miles
Drive to Dairy Queen :D                              3 miles
Back home again                                         6 miles

Yes, that's 65 miles.  No big deal for lots of you, but a lot of running around for us!

The CAP group volunteers at the local Heritage Flight Museum.

The cadets help with crowd control and keep people safe around a lot of equipment, and it's not all static displays - there's a whole lot of flying going on.  Especially on Warbird Weekend.

As we drove back to the airport from the BBQ we could see a couple of the planes circling.  Tate (who usually volunteers, but mean-old-mom wouldn't let him, today) correctly identified them as two of the museum's "stars".

This P-51 Mustang (just like the planes in Redtails - have you seen it?  It's good!) was donated by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders.  (His family runs the museum and - I think - his sons fly some of the planes.)

He circled the moon, Christmas Eve 1968, and was one of the astronauts that read from Genesis 1, in a memorable Christmas greeting.

And then there's The Proud American, a Skyraider with folding wings. 

I think Tate loves this one because it has so many "hard points" for carrying weapons - which he described to me in great detail ;D

I noticed the pilot has a folded American flag in the cockpit but forgot to ask about it - any of you know why?  (I'm asking, not hinting.)

We walked around for an hour or so, looking at all the airplanes on display.  Tate says this is a Cessna (not part of the museum's collection).  I thought it was cool - reminded me of a diner, with the paint job and shiny chrome look.

Also visiting for the day... a crane-helicopter (the orange one) and a funny amphibious plane.  Notice the propeller behind the cockpit, so it can land on water.

Having Tate off-duty and by my side was great, because he has learned so much about the planes.  I had a personal tour guide!  This is a T-6 "Texan", and this particular one Hog Wild Gunner was used for gunnery training.  This was flying today, too.  See the "hog" in the cockpit?

We had the rare privilege of seeing two of the very few remaining flying Spitfires.  (I'm told there are only about ten that still fly - true?)  These are privately owned (Paul Allen of Microsoft and John Sessions) and on loan for the day.  Wyatt saw them fly in, but we were glad to get to see them on the ground.  Talk about pristine - you could eat off the wings ;D

Wasn't until I looked at the pics that I realized something - one has a three-blade propeller and the other has four.  ???

I had to show at least ONE pic of Gunnar, who spent most of our time there at the flight simulator.

Wyatt, who is working, has his game face on.  He's Mr. Serious, while Tate is all smiley...  but look behind the boys.

Four T-6's were firing up their engines and getting ready to fly.

Wow are they LOUD!

Tate was glad to see some of his CAP buddies, and for them to see him with his head bandaged.  Though they knew he was having surgery, he didn't want anyone to think he was shirking, and just hadn't shown up to work.  I was quick to let them know I wouldn't LET him work today!

But he did get to have some fun - riding in around in the jeep, pretending to shoot the machine gun.  Ahhhh, testosterone ;D

And lastly, I promised you a motorcycle, though what this has to do with the flight museum, I'm not sure.  It's an Indian - reminded me of The Fastest Indian in the World.

As my boys used to say...   WA-WAH!