My son Ty and I went to the WWI fly in at the Wright Patterson USAF base and museum in Dayton Ohio this past September. Met up with a member of another forum that I belong to and had a great day. That's me on the right Doug on the left. That's another nice thing about these forums, sometimes we get a chance to meet up for a few hours.
The air show was great. It was a long slog for Ty and I on Friday but I'm glad we did it. We left very early in the AM before the sun was up from our home in New Jersey to get past Philly and Valley Forge traffic We drove it in a little less than 8.5 hours straight through, with a stop for gas and a Micky D's drive through lunch..... Got to the Airforce museum in time to tour the WWI and WWII sections at our leisure. Saved the memorial gardens and the flight line for closing time. Had a great time linking up with Doug and walked the flight line and vendor tents together. He got some fantastic deals on both models and books . He's a better negotiator than I am ....
My I phone camera kept acting up again...... I got some shots of a lot more aircraft than these but it kept freezing up on me. Aircraft being built were on display and the owners were a lot of fun to talk with. Due to thermals and some winds not apparent to the ground observer, some for the flying had to be curtailed but there was always plenty to see.
The Museum
Early morning flight line Waiting for Mannock or McCudden to make their appearance.
Ty and I capped off the trip with a canoe run on one of the rivers just below Pittsburg. That was interesting in itself as we helped out a couple who got stranded when their 2 man kayak swamped . We had stopped for a short break on the other side of the river before deciding what side to take the canoe. I could tell there were some shallows. I looked out and saw a couple dead in the water in the shallow rocks just sitting there. Nothing unusual there happens all the time on these little rivers, you just climb out and walk your self carefully out of it.
A kid with his girlfriend paddled up as far as they could and he jumped out to help. This went on for a while and he seemed to be trying to push them off the rocks. Then I noticed his small fishing skiff floating away and his girlfriend who did not seem to know which end of the oar to put in the water seems to be waving her hands but with his back turned and the water noise in the ripples he did not notice.
So Ty and I go in, come down the left side of the little island and up behind the small skiff. With Ty gripping the skiffs side and me paddling like crazy we got her to the other shore. Her boyfriend came out and climbed in. He seem both irritated with the people he was trying to help and his girlfriend.
The stranded couple were sitting on the shore and I asked the kid if they were OK ... He said they had no business on the river in that kayak in their condition. I asked are they calling for pickup. I'd never been on that river before and they were on the undeveloped side. I asked do they have a phone? He said I don't know and headed down stream.
Ty and I paddled up the shore line to find an older couple and the wife honestly was a really huge woman. I knew what had happened, the kayak had so little free board left with the two of them in it, when they hit the shallows they went sideways, tilted and swamped the craft. No one was in danger of drowning but the rocks are very slippery and they were not in very good shape. A good way to break and arm or a leg.... I rolled their kayak and we got the water out and pulled them to a point where the water was calm. The kid said there was a boat launching ramp on the other side of the river about 3/4 of mile down so I suggested they call their livery when they got there. They asked me the best way to manage the kayak....
Guys ........she had been in front when they got stuck and the bow was like a submarine with her up there. .... I just said with
my eyes cast down towards the water "well my experience in canoeing and kayaking is the person who weighs the most should go in the back .
We got her in with a plop and her husband got in up front, pushed them off and told them stay in the channel . Of course they did not listen and started heading for the rocks again so Ty and I followed behind them for a while just in case. The boat launching ramp came into view with 7/11 type store near by. They said they were headed for it to call the livery to pick them up. If they had 1/2 inch of free board left to the waters edge, that was a lot. TY and I had a bet they would swamp it one last time . Good thing about that ramp, as there were more small ripple areas like that before the trip was over. Turned out they were using the same livery we were.....
I told Ty, well we did out two good deeds for the day and we were looking forward to getting home. Sure enough no good deed goes unpunished
Somewhere in the hills headed towards Harrisburg Pennsylvania traffic came to a dead stop. We all just turned off our engines and listened to the radios, Ty and I scrounged the last of our snacks, drained the ice melt from the cooler popped a few Tylenol for our sunburns and enjoyed the setting sun.
I got a few books ...the $10 table had several copies of the same book. Doug got some really great ones, but like I said he is a negotiator.
I can't wait to try out those clamps Doug....thanks for picking them up for me. ....
