I spent this afternoon at Flabob Airport (Riverside, CA), waiting to see THE VIMY make its scheduled appearance. I was NOT disappointed.
Flying at about 70 knots, it appeared out of the haze from the north and proceeded to make a “high” altitude pass, followed by a low altitude pass over the taxiway. Then it came around another time to land, finally turning around and travelling down the taxiway past the sizeable crowd. Pulling off the tarmac, anybody there could then get “up close and personal” with it.
She is MAGNIFICENT. Stately and elegant, the Vimy is a time-traveller no forumite should miss the opportunity to see. For further info regarding its schedule of appearances on the way to Oshkosh, see
www.vimy.org.
EAA Chapter 1 put on a fine BBQ and provided a shaded seating area for people to watch from a distance. They also acted as marshalls, and I owe them a special thank you for pointing out the best areas for photography, as well as allowing me on the taxiway (at a safe distance) to get clear photos of the Vimy in flight and taxiing.
I’m strictly a camera and film photographer (I’d lose my LUG membership were I to go digital <G>), so it will be 3 days until I get my slides and about a week before I have prints to scan. At that time, I can e-mail them if anyone is interested.
BTW, Lee, I asked around if anyone knew where you might be but it was a case of too many people and too little time. I will see you in September at the San Diego OTF Seminar, right (Just about the time the Yankees kick it into high gear<G>)?
Also (in-re an earlier thread) Glenn Miller went down in a Noorduyn Norseman, another Canadian utility craft that does resemble a Beaver on steroids. Did you see the article Roy Conyers Nesbit did in Aeroplane Monthly a few years ago? If I recall correctly, he concluded Miller’s A/C was shot down by an RAF plane in a case of mistaken identity (which occurred more often than the powers that be will ever admit).
VBR,
Ira
15 July 2001, 07:41 PM
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