Verna and Bob's Weblog

Aerospace

Military Helicopter Flyovers

Twice today, these two large military helicopters – Blackhawks, I believe – flew over our house. One flight of two helicopters passed overhead (see inset) flying toward LAX. Later in the afternoon, they both flew over again going in the opposite direction. It’s unknown if they were transporting VIPs or it was a flight for some other purpose. As a former helicopter pilot and US Naval aircrew member, it always gives me a thrill to see these guys go overhead

Both and I salute our military and we support them via the USO and Wounded Warrior Project.

Click on the image to enlarge.

flight-of-2.jpg

July 23, 2010 by Aerospace Military

Barking at Banners

I like to bark at airplanes towing banners – not other airplanes, just the ones with banners. The daddy made another movie of me looking up at the banner, barking at it, and then a picture of the airplane. Click the > to see me.

May 30, 2010 by Aerospace Critters Holidays

Aeronca Champ

aeronca.jpgIt’s been a lot of years since I piloted one of these. It’s an Aeronca Champion or ‘Champ’ for short. These were built after the second world war and were in direct competition with the Piper J-3 Cub. I have flown and instructed in both types and, believe me, they are a lot of fun to fly.

Image: Aeronca Champion

We were shopping in a strip mall near Torrance Zamperini Field when this nicely painted Champ flew over us on a short approach to runway two-niner left. A wave of nostalgia went through me as it sent me back in time to the days of dead reckoning, seat-of-the-pants, needle, ball and airspeed flying.

April 17, 2010 by Aerospace

Spirit of America

blimp.jpgVerna and I were out and about today. We happened to pass the Carson Goodyear Airship Operations Facility and saw the airship “Spirit of America” moored on the landing pad. Sensing a photo opportunity, we stopped in the parking lot and went to the observation deck on the west side of the base. Verna took this photo of the “blimp” from the deck. Click the image to enlarge.

The Goodyear Blimp Website describes the operations at this site:

Four pilots direct operations of the California-based Goodyear airship — the Spirit of America — Jon Conrad -Pilot-in-Charge, Matthew St. John – Assistant Pilot-in-charge, Kristen Davis – Senior Pilot and Nathan Brooks – Senior Pilot.

In addition to the four pilots, the Spirit of America operation has a crew of 16 including aircraft mechanics, radio and television technicians, riggers, heavy-duty maintenance mechanics, ground handlers, and a public relations manager. Three support vehicles complement the Spirit of America’s operations, including an 18-wheel tractor-trailer mobile maintenance vehicle, a 22- person MCI bus, and a nine-passenger van.

March 11, 2010 by Aerospace Photography

Boeing-Stearman Model 75 in 3D

stearman.pngWe stopped at Torrance Zamperini Field today to visit the Western Museum of Flight. While we were there, a neighbor to the museum had his hangar door open and inside was this beautiful Boeing-Stearman vintage biplane. I paused to take a couple of images to merge into this 3D shot of the aircraft.

Click on the image to enlarge.

If you don’t have a pair of 3D glasses, you can see the 2D version here.

This is Wikipedia’s summary of the Boeing Stearman Model 75:

The Stearman (Boeing) Model 75 is a biplane, of which at least 9,783 were built in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s as a military trainer aircraft. Stearman became a subsidiary of Boeing in 1934. Widely known as the Stearman, Boeing Stearman or Kaydet, it served as a Primary trainer for the USAAF, as a basic trainer for the USN (as the NS & N2S), and with the RCAF as the Kaydet throughout World War II. After the conflict was over, thousands of surplus aircraft were sold on the civil market. In the immediate post-war years they became popular as crop dusters and as sports planes.

October 9, 2009 by Aerospace Bob's 3D Stuff Retirement

The Torrance Air Squadron

These were seen in the airspace near Torrance (CA) airport today. Although the paint schemes are not uniform, I believe that all five of these are either Army/Air Force AT6 ‘Texans’ or Navy SNJs (which are the same airframe, but with folding wings for aircraft carrier use).

squadron.jpg

Now, I can’t take credit for this nice photo of the squadron’s straight echelon formation since it was Verna’s camera that got this while I was still on my way home from work today. Click the image above for a closer view.

January 30, 2009 by Aerospace

Avalon 1998

Categories

Archives