"Off We Go, Into the Wild Blue . . . " Heart of Aviation, Part 1

Quick - where are the Wright Brothers from?

Where is the United States National Air Force Museum?

Where are writer Erma Bombeck, 

first talk show host Phil Donahue, 

comedian Jonathan Winters

(you seniors will remember the above folks),

actors Martin Sheen, Chad Lowe 

and Allison Janney, 

baseball player Roger Clemens, and

 Olympic gold medalist hurdler Edwin Moses from?

Where are the inventors of 

the parachute, gas masks, the cash register,

 parking meters, the self-contained refrigerator, 

the lighted scoreboard, space food, radiator hoses, 

the price tag affixing machine, the ink jet printer, 

the movie projector, movie camera, movie film 

and movie theater, the pull tab and pop top beverage cans, 

the human heart-lung machine, 

 the motorized wheelchair, cellophane tape 

and the step ladder from?

And this is a very partial list.

Did you know that the answer is Dayton, Ohio, 

population less than 142,000?  

That's about the size of 

Washington County, Utah (144,809).

I don't think our list of famous things/people 

in the St. George area 

is nearly that illustrious.

Okay, so what are all of these factoids 

about Dayton all about?

Roger and I attended a reunion in Dayton

(April 10 -13 -

we actually added a day before 

and a day after to get better air fare.)

to celebrate the 50+ years since the squadrons 

were formed to instruct students to fly the T-28

in the United States Air Force.

 Former instructor pilots and students 

of all of the squadrons 

(Roger was in the 3389th Pilot Training Squadron),

were invited!

It was a chance for Roger to -

see old pilot buddies he flew with over 40 years ago. . .

. . . spend time in the USAF National Air Museum 

(we've never been there). . . 

. . . get away to a place we've never been . . . 

. . .  AND . . . 

. . . fly the T-28 again!

No brainer!

We all stayed at the Crown Plaza Hotel 

in downtown Dayton.

We were there a day early,

so we explored downtown Dayton on foot.

I read about a farmer's market on 2nd Street,

where they had local produce, curios, crafts 

and organic and ethnic food booths 

that served breakfast and lunch.

They are just open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays 

until 3 PM, year round.

We chose some wonderful Mediterranean food

that had been prepared by 

a charming woman from Yugoslavia.

This is a very long, thin building, like a train, with many booths down both sides.

stuffed cabbage - yum!

(The pic above our heads is not 
the charming Yugoslavian woman - 

I don't know who she/he is!)

Greek lasagne, pastitsio - delicious!

After lunch, we walked to the Oregon Historical District,

where there is a street with restaurants and shops,

and streets with lovely old historic restored homes.

We attended a casual reception that night

(we forgot to take pics)

where we reacquainted with old friends.

Next morning, shuttles took us to Wright-Patterson AFB.

Roger is posing with Lee Richmond, 

a special fellow instructor and friend.

We all needed our IDs to get on the base for a tour of 
the Restoration Hanger, 
where planes that were to be put on display 
in the Air Museum are restored, 
many of them by volunteers 
passionate about airplanes and flying.

This is our guide explaining how they bring these planes 

back to full restoration, down to the minutest detail.

Our guide through the airplanes that follow
 in this post will be my husband.

The B-17 Flying Fortress was one of the 
work horse bombers of World War II.

This navy plane just arrived at the restoration hanger 

to be worked on.  It had capabilities to take off 

as a helicopter, then engines would rotate, 

so it would fly as a regular air plane.

  When they were restoring this B-17, 
they recovered the names under the paint 
of those who flew the airplane. 

This is the Memphis Belle B-17 F model.  

You can see the bomb hits that this plane made, painted on 

the nose.   The history of the Memphis is written below.

We were shown US Presidential aircraft of the past.

They will soon be housed in a new hanger at the USAF Museum.

This is the VC-140B Presidential Aircraft.

In the background is the VC-54C "Sacred Cow,"

in which Presidents Roosevelt and Truman flew.

Also in the pic, is the nose of the Boeing 707, 

in which President Johnson was sworn into office 
after President Kennedy was assassinated.

This is the F-100 D model 

painted in the Thunderbird colors.

Does she look official?

An ambassador or a diplomat perhaps?

How about this guy?

The Avrocar is the result of a Canadian effort 

in the early 1950's to develop a supersonic vertical takeoff 

and landing (VTOL) fighter bomber.  

The circular shape gives the appearance of a "flying saucer."

This is the P-75A Eagle that, for practical reasons, 

never made it into production for World War II.

This is the XB-70 "Valkyrie."

This plane's design was used to build the 

supersonic commercial aircraft, like the Concorde.

The Valkyrie cockpit

The North American X-10 was an un-manned technology demonstrator for advanced missile technologies 
during the 1950's.

The "Blackbird," or SR-71, is a Mach 3+ strategic 

reconnaissance aircraft built in the mid 1960's.

After our tour, we were taken over to the National AF Museum.

These are statues of a four-ship of planes 

flying the missing man formation.

We first had lunch.

  Below, I am with Larry Lovett; he was a check pilot 

when I was training SouthVietnamese pilots.  

We had to have check rides every so often 

to check our proficiency 

and I had an aerobatic check ride with him.

(we did loops, barrel rolls, wingovers, 

Cuban eights, stalls and dives.)

This is the G-suit we wore everyday flying the T-38.

This is the T-28 B Trojan in which I instructed 

Vietnamese pilots to fly.

This is the T-37 jet aircraft in which I trained German pilots 

 at Shepard AFB in Wichita Falls, Texas.

This is the F105 "Thud," a main stay in the Vietnam War.

This is the F-4 Phantom, another fighter used extensively 

in the Vietnam War.

This is a T-28 A model trainer.

It has only two propellers and less power than the T-28 B.

This is a C-130 Hercules. 

 When I had to evacuate a T-28 B out of Kessler 
because a hurricane was coming, while waiting 
in Little Rock, Arkansas, to return to Biloxi, 
I got a ride in one of these -  
a five-hour flight out over the Alantic Ocean, 

and I flew it for a while.
Awesome!

Lee and Sherrie Richmond are talking to Bob Rashka, 
who was a standardization evaluation pilot 
when I flew at Keesler AFB. 

He and his wife, Judy, were our bowling partners 

in the squadron bowling league. 

That evening, we had a delicious dinner 

at a highly-recommended Thai restaurant

in the Oregon District.

The sushi was sooo good!

Join Roger for more touring of the USAF Museum 
in the next post.
To be continued . . .