May 10, 2006

"OV-2 Near Miss"

"Move!  Move!" should be the caption on this photo from James Wreyford of Marble Falls, Texas.  (We confess:  One of us actually ducked for cover when we saw this photo.)  Naturally, this is an air show photo — from last month's CAF air show at Burnet Municipal Airport in Burnet, Texas.

"I Too Was Once Indestructible"

Continuing with this week's unofficial Mission: Impossible theme, William F. Tinsley of Santa Paula, California has a harrowing adventure story:

"Growing up on a small airport makes for some interesting times.  After taking my girlfriend to her senior prom, I still had the tux.  Well, what do you do with a tux before you return it?  You do a little wing-walking, of course."

And to think:  Our "POTW" Editor was too squeamish to go swimming in his tux.  Pfah.

"Flying Octopus"

We're quite fond of the little historical gems that show up in our submission box from time to time.  And while we can't date this photo exactly, we can tell you what submitter James Rix (of Wichita, Kansas) told us:

"My grandfather worked with DeBothezat on the first helicopter to fly.  It flew in 1922 for one minute and 42 seconds at McCook airfield.  We found this autographed picture after my grandfather's death, along with other early airplane memorabilia."

Thanks for scanning and sharing the photo, James.  (We love this kind of stuff!)

"How Many Can You Identify?"

Dirk Tanis of Rock Hill, South Carolina brought this photo home from the aviation museum at Le Bourget in Paris, France.  Engraved on the prop are the signatures of many French WWI pilots.

Rain was a common element in many of this week's photo submissions, including this one from Ioan Suciu of Bucharest (Romania).  We found Ioan's photo simple and to the point — nothing says "waiting" like a wet windshield and a lonely headset.

"Short Water-Landing"

We'll see you off this week with a photo from Joe Horenkamp of Novi, Michigan.

For those who don't immediately recognize it, that's the Collings Foundation B-17 Nine-O-Nine under the U.S. flag — sporting a nice color touch-up from Joe.  (We know it's a digitally-altered photo — but ain't it purty?)

Joe wants us to remind everyone to support the Yankee Air Museum's hangar fire recovery program — so we will.  You can find out more by visiting the "Donations and Needs" page at YankeeAirMuseum.org.