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warbirds galore!
Nov. 9th, 2008 03:39 pmI've wanted to fly since I was a little kid. In the early 80s, when I started high school, I started finding my way to airshows by hook or by crook. I had to go. I just had to. One of my favorite memories from the time was at a Denton airshow, sitting in the pilot seat of a DC3 they had open for us to climb around and watching a Tora Tora Zeek and a T6 beat up the field with their propane pop guns. Later, standing under the shade of a B25 wing I watched the pilots taxi back in after their airshow performance and thought, it'd be great to be able to be out there where they are...
Not many years later I started my flight training in 1985, things happened and it got put on hold until early 2006 when I returned with a vengeance to get my ticket. Since then I've flown a small handful of different planes, picked up a tailwheel endorsement. I've been saluted by a B17 co-pilot when they taxied by at Arlington while I preflighted a Cheetah as a student. I orbited over Joe Pool lake that day just so that I could watch them return to the right hand pattern and land that grand old girl at the field.
Saturday, I arrived at Midway for a late morning appointment with my favorite Citabria. Scattered across the ramp I found all sorts of heavy iron. 3 Dc3s, 3 T6s, a B25, the 3 T28s, and even an L5. I found out later that they were staged at the field because they were going to do a formation flyover of a Veteran's Day event at the Waxahachie Civic Center.
Once I tugged her from the hanger, I preflighted my bird. Climbed in and started to taxied out. The DC3s and T6s were up. The B25 and T28s were just taxiing down the taxiway for runup. I fell in behind them in my little Citabria. Thinking back to when I was a kid, dreaming of someday, somehow, being able to be anywhere in the same area with these sorts of legends I had to smile. Here I am now, on the same taxiway as these beautiful planes. Reaching back to that 16 year old kid I watched the B25 call their departure on 36. I watched her roll out, line up, pause a moment and then roll the throttles forward. The roar of the engines through the open cockpit window made the kid in me smile. Next the T28s call their departure as a flight of 3, watching them take off, tuck their gear and climb out together, I couldn't help but grin again.
I smiled at the 16 year old kid from way back when that was cheering inside of me and thought, as I called my own departure, power in, tail up, the Citabria leaping off the pavement into a 1000 foot per minute climb, it's as much fun as you ever dreamed kid, and a whole lot more. As I entered the same ocean of air as all those who've flown before us, I knew, as much fun as you've ever dreamed, and a whole lot more.
Not many years later I started my flight training in 1985, things happened and it got put on hold until early 2006 when I returned with a vengeance to get my ticket. Since then I've flown a small handful of different planes, picked up a tailwheel endorsement. I've been saluted by a B17 co-pilot when they taxied by at Arlington while I preflighted a Cheetah as a student. I orbited over Joe Pool lake that day just so that I could watch them return to the right hand pattern and land that grand old girl at the field.
Saturday, I arrived at Midway for a late morning appointment with my favorite Citabria. Scattered across the ramp I found all sorts of heavy iron. 3 Dc3s, 3 T6s, a B25, the 3 T28s, and even an L5. I found out later that they were staged at the field because they were going to do a formation flyover of a Veteran's Day event at the Waxahachie Civic Center.
Once I tugged her from the hanger, I preflighted my bird. Climbed in and started to taxied out. The DC3s and T6s were up. The B25 and T28s were just taxiing down the taxiway for runup. I fell in behind them in my little Citabria. Thinking back to when I was a kid, dreaming of someday, somehow, being able to be anywhere in the same area with these sorts of legends I had to smile. Here I am now, on the same taxiway as these beautiful planes. Reaching back to that 16 year old kid I watched the B25 call their departure on 36. I watched her roll out, line up, pause a moment and then roll the throttles forward. The roar of the engines through the open cockpit window made the kid in me smile. Next the T28s call their departure as a flight of 3, watching them take off, tuck their gear and climb out together, I couldn't help but grin again.
I smiled at the 16 year old kid from way back when that was cheering inside of me and thought, as I called my own departure, power in, tail up, the Citabria leaping off the pavement into a 1000 foot per minute climb, it's as much fun as you ever dreamed kid, and a whole lot more. As I entered the same ocean of air as all those who've flown before us, I knew, as much fun as you've ever dreamed, and a whole lot more.