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Posted by Lex, on September 24, 2010

It’s passing strange, and nearly magical, how different circles can intersect.

 

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Shayne Meder and the Team finished the MH-60

The Best Looking Helo Paint Scheme Ever.

The Scorpions CAG Bird is finished.

Shayne Meder with the Scorpions CO, CDR Bobby Brown. I do believe the Skipper is very happy with the results.

Passages. Sad Passages.

Brownsville, Texas
It is where ships go to die.
Forrestal and Saratoga are unrecognizable.
Constellation arrived a couple of weeks ago.
The three Good Ships I made cruises on are in the queue. Independence, Ranger and Kitty Hawk.
Yeah.
It hurts.
Old friends they are to so many who chose the sea.
The times are indeed, a changing.
Passages.

Tip of the Hat to Buck Pennington

On our return to Casa De Sharon y Glenn, we stopped by the Vineyard on MCB Camp Pendleton. Among other things, I procured a couple of See Gars.
The Guinness was purchased shortly after leaving the gathering at Shakespeare’s.
The Missus said to maintain the same thing.
Buck Pennington gave me the idea to have a cigar, so I did.

Tonight I enjoyed both on the Verandah at Casa de Sharon y Glenn in California City.

MAAM P-61B Black Widow Restoration Update

The MAAM’s P-61B Black Widow as she currently appears.

We’ve written before about the Mid Atlantic Air Museum’s Northrop P-61 Black Widow here.

Northrop’s P-61 Black Widow is the only night-fighter designed as such from the ground up. Built and flown in 1942, the P-61 could arguably be called one of the first fighter aircraft designed as an entire weapon system, namely the SCR-720A Airborne Radar.

The P-61s SCR-720A airborne radar as it appears under the aircraft’s radome.

As we also mentioned there are a few on display throughout the world including the National Museum of the United States Air Force (at Wright/Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH) and the National Air and Space Museum Uvdar-Hazy Annex (at Dulles International Airport in Washington DC).

The only soon-to-be flyable P-61 is owned by the Mid Atlantic Air Museum in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Museum was gracious enough to dedicate a portion of it’s website solely to give people a chance to see the restoration in progress (the website was last updated on 13 December 2013). The P-61 has always fascinated me and it’s interesting to see the aircraft from pieces to almost a complete aircraft. Just over the past few months there has been great progress on the P-61, enough that it’s being publicly displayed so you can view the Black Widow as she’s being restored. Below is one of the latest photos from the MAAM’s P-61B restoration site.

The right nose landing gear of the MAAM’s P-61B

The video below gives you a bit of a walkaround on the MAAM’s P-61:

An interesting thing to me was the detail with which the radar operator’s station at the rear of the main fuselage. Here’s an illustration of what the radar operator’s station looks like from the P-61’s Pilot’s Operating Manual (I know you know I have one…lol):

P-61 Radar Operator’s Station.

Compare that with how it now appears after the restoration:

This example of the restored Radar Operator’s station serves to underline the painstaking care that the Museum is taking to get the Black Widow not only to flying condition but also “1942” flying condition.

This particular aircraft even has an interesting history in it’s own right. You can learn more about that courtesy of Warbird Radio. If you don’t only to learn about the MAAM’s P-61, you can also be part of it by donating to the restoration here. That’s your chance to be part of history.

I can’t wait to see this aircraft completed to be flyable. Hell I’d be the first to volunteer to fly it 🙂

A P-61 Black Widow in her glory days.

Kids!

Spent thousands of days/nights in hotels over the years hauling the freight in the purple jets. Always, always dreaded the hotels packed with high school kids attending some big function.

This video redeems them all. There is hope that our next generation gets it.

Warning: you might mist up just a little bit.

Goodyear FG-1 at KIBM

Pics of an immaculate Goodyear FG-1 Corsair at Kimball Municipal Airport in Kimball, Nebraska.

Imma quite smitten.

She was stopping by for fuel:

Interesting Vintage Aviation Advertising

A new Ferrari and 4 sets of tires

There are people in this world that get to do fun things for a living. Like flying fast jets.

I never put fast cars in the same category but along comes this video.

This guy, Chris Harris, has gone beyond fun. Don’t know what to call it. Chris gets to go test drive a beast, 700 hp and more, and his video report is just too good. Go to full screen, turn up the volume, and wait for the good stuff at about 7:45 when he turns off all the automatic traction control.

He punches it in 4th gear at 86 in a full drift right hand turn and…comes out of the turn at 106.

Dang. The guy left me grinning.

http://slashdrive.tv/post/64885024643/killing-tires-with-a-ferrari-f12-chris-harris

Off to Mystic, Connecticut this weekend.

I’ll be winging my way to the great New England area and Mystic, Connecticut.

I’ll be leaving the Chi tomorrow morning and arriving in the early afternoon.

I may be going to the New England Air Museum and later to the Quonset Air Museum with pictures to follow in a future post.

Sunday at noon will be the Lexican meetup at the Harp and Hound located at 4 Pearl Street in Mystic CT 06355.

If you’re going to be in the area I look forward to seeing you.