I'll be adding some more over the next few days, these shots were from a day trip up the coast with my wife last month. A small grass airfield, a great airfield cafe, and spectacularly ancient, functional to the point of open-air coastal flyover tours.. a masterfully maintained 1931 Biplane. There were other aircraft there of course- but, you don't see something like this every day. As we fiddle with our digital build-it-yourself hobby, here's one awesome analog throwback any engineer has to love. Look at that cockpit. It's an air tractor. Yes, that is one stick, not even a yoke. A stick and some pedals. And a bungee cord (!!!!).
The owner was happy to allow me to spend a few minutes snapping some shots, though the wifey got a little more impatient after I started crawling around on the ground looking for a good angle for the engine block shots. I am planning to take a drive up there again in a few weeks with a friend for one of our infamous "where the hell are we now?" meanders. Though my wife is more patient than most, she runs out of patience far before my buddy does..
When it comes to photography of people, I love people who are what I call "partisans". Geeks, in whatever subject that they are passionate about. Plane geeks- especially the old stuff, not the "oooo ahh" fighters.. the biplanes and the wwII corsairs and such.. these guys are awesome if you just let them start talking about their toys. You can't help but get caught up. Cheapest entertainment on earth... putting a nickel in a nerd, and I'm famous for it. I guess I am a Geek Geek at times...
I'll just post a gallery link, as I will be adding more to the gallery. When I return to the airfield (with a couple of darn skylight filters, too much contrast in these shots for my tastes), I want to arrange beforehand to spend some time with the camera and the actual mechanic and engineer who maintains this and other vintage aircraft.. fabricating the parts himself in many cases. That's got to be insanity. These guys are tinkerers to be given props...literally. (groan)
Real airplanes have a stick and 2 rudder pedals and NO TRAINING WHEEL up front. And the really good ones let you hang your arm outside in the breeze...
I don't know what type of plane it actually is, and here's where I let someone who knows fill in the blanks. Wasn't really prepared to do an in-depth pictorial and BS session, and considering the day trip was for our 18th anniversary, she was pretty patient with me getting off on one of my tangents. I'm sure Crossroads has some insight here.. and possibly even knows the particular aircraft and owners..
This plane and others apparently are maintained and built here, in this unassuming gray hangar. I think it's an actual visceral NEED to get a chance to let these guys show off their stuff... but I really need to bring along the right equipment to get better shots and have the time to let these guys do their thing.
I really ought to just think about producing some kind of blog or video series or something. Another "partisan" I will be hanging out with for a day is the caretaker and engineer that maintains the Grist Mill at Longfellow's Wayside Inn, including "Ford's Folly", the project that could have bankrupted Henry Ford. He spends his days maintaining the historic site, repairing, maintaining and operating "as built" a functioning water-driven grist mill. Lots of Colonial and Revolutionary War history there also. While I was there yesterday, I got him started talking and ended up getting shown a whole area of the historic site which is not open to the public-- a geothermal and water cooled cider mill with the floors still littered with tattered remains of apple sacks and the strikingly weathered, underground-darkened cider press and canning equipment from the early 1900's. Awesome. I'm going back with the gear in a few weeks or so, and will be doing the first public pictorial of this historic site ever. All I do is show a little interest.. folks like these, they WANT to tell you about their "thing". No matter where you are, you can find people like these.. and nothing is more interesting than getting one of them rolling about whatever their "thing" is. If I play my cards properly over the next several days, I'm looking into getting access to some professional-level video gear from a local TV station from time to time (mainly just a portable studio camera and lens) in exchange for broadcast rights. No lose situation for them...
Some day, I'll make it to one of the Maker Fairs. Let's face it, as Arduino hobbyists, it's much the same thing. We're all junkies for going on about whatever little nonsensical blinky light or silly contraption we make. We are "partisans". I really want the chance to let a whole bunch of people passionate about this little toy we have simply "talk my ear off" and show me what they are doing. It really doesn't matter at all what they are doing.. that, to me, is usually much less entertaining than the PERSON doing it....