Flying High

I spent a couple hours today at our Heritage Flight Museum at the airport. It was "fly day" and several vintage planes went up, including this P-51 Mustang. I'm a real sucker for WWII warbirds -- there's just something about the sound of their engines that's a thrill all in itself.

Photographing a plane in flight is a challenge for sure. I thought trying to get birds in flight was bad enough, but while they move fast, they're standing still compared to this baby. It was good practice though and a great way to spend some time.

The concept of flying always terrified me so I never wanted to learn to pilot a plane. I think I got my love for vintage aircraft from my husband who for the entire 25 years I knew him, lamented the fact that he never became a pilot. The man would trample me to get to a warbird if there was one in the vicinity and he could identify one flying overhead when the thing was just a tiny dot in the sky.

One year for his birthday the family bought him a couple hours in a fighter plane a and a mock dog fight over Seattle with an outfit called "Air Combat". They suited him up, put him through orientation and plopped him in the the plane with an instructor and off they went. I'm not sure how we managed to get him back, but we did although he was never quite the same, and we were never able to top that gift.