On Vacation

Spending some time in BC right now... last time I was here there was an unprecidented snow storm... and now of course its a freaking heat wave! Humidex is around 40... but the evenings are nice.

A few photos:

Avro Arrow Replica

The Avro Arrow replica was available for viewing at the Reynolds-Alberta Museum so I decided to make the trek down. This Arrow was started by Allan Jackson and, when CBC discovered it completed for a Docu-drama on the aircraft. The one issue with the replica is the wings... note the poles used to support them! Still, a very pretty (and BIG!!) aircraft.

This is a pano shot with three photos stitched together... it distorts the shape a bit but you get an idea of the size. Unfortunately there weren't too many places to get a good shot (because of the spectator fencing)

Here are some views of the front:
And a few shots from different perspectives:

Round 3 photos up

Photo gallery is uploaded to Smugmug. You can find it right here:

http://www.albertamotophoto.smugmug.com/gallery/8903560_qmFD8

Round 2 gallery is here:

http://www.albertamotophoto.smugmug.com/gallery/8678732_dWtxB

A few samples

EMRA Round 3

Busy going through the photos I took on Saturday... decided to try something different this time. Tried doing group shots instead of the closeups I usually do. Here are a few so far...

Roadside Attractions: Nanton Lancaster Society Air Museum

When we went to Salt Lake City for the WSBK race, we drove by Nanton's aviation museum and remembered to make a visit on the way backNanton is a central point between a pleathora of old British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) bases. Lethbridge, Vulcan, Fort McLeod, Pearce, Claresholm all had training bases.

One of the star attractions of the museum is an old Lancaster, FM159. The following are a few pictures from inside and around the Lanc.

And yes, you can go inside(!!). This is a photo looking back towards the rear gun turret:

Here is looking forward:

Eventually you come to the upper gun turret:

And me playing in the turret... oh dear...

And a few pictures from the overhead escape hatch:

The Museum ocassionally starts the Lanc to keep her in running order. Visit here for the next engine starting date:

http://www.lancastermuseum.ca/event_merlinrunups.html

Alberta Aviation Museum Part Deux

Here are a few indoors shots inside the Alberta aviation Museum. All images were changed to Black/White or Sepia.

Alberta Aviation Museum...

Here are a few pictures I took of outside displays at airfest.

The first picture is of a CF-101 Voodoo. This one is on a pedistal in front of the muesum and is aircraft 101060 (USAF serial 57-433). This would be a B model of the Voodoo and from Canada's second procurement batch. Canada bought the first batch for service in 1961. The surviving 56 aircraft were then traded with the USAF for 66 ' new' (desert storage specials from Davis Monthan AFB, Arizona) which were upgraded by Bristol Aerospace (out of Winnipeg) to new Voodoos.

The one you see here was originally part of 416 (Lynx squadron), which was based out of RCAF Chatham.

The second and third photos are of the controversial CIM-10 Bomarc Missile. Controversial because it was the replacement for the Avro Arrow and manned interceptors in general. To be effective, the missile required a nuclear warhead, which caused a storm of controversy with the Diefenbaker government. Dief decided the missiles would not be nuclear armed... thereby negating their effectiveness.

But, we bought the Voodoo and the rest is history... although the Genie rocket the Voodoo used needed a nuclear warhead.

Canada Day Criterium

Went around Edmonton during Canada day... here are a couple of pictures from a Criterium in Edmonton

Airfest 2009

Went to airfest last week. It seemed well attended (in the thousands) and it was really nice to see kids get their first chance at flying in a small plane (for free, courtesy of the Young Eagles). I gather there were 55 aircraft that visited. Here are a few photos.