Two FJRs (one two-up) and a sickly Triumph go to the air show.
This event was worthy of good photography, but you’ll not get it from me. Just a few pics before my card filled up to prove this ride happened and some random thoughts.
The last time the TBirds came to Greenville (Donaldson Center) the traffic was so snafu’d that we couldn’t get anywhere near the former airbase. So I was a little worried about taking the bike to this event. Traffic jams and 700# bikes don’t mix well. Shaw and Sumter had their stuff together. Total time foot down/clutch pulled, waiting in traffic: next to nothing. The website said designated M/C parking and the Skycops waved us right to it.
I dragged Mrs1911, the lone pillion, through the Herc walk-through line. I wanted her to get a little sense of some of what my mom went through, dragging a growing family around the world. When I was first grade and my brother preschool (I recall our adventures by where we were in the school year), Dad was transferred from Eglin AFB (Pensacola Fl) to Lajes Field (Azores Islands, just off the coast of Portugal). So how does the USAF move a family of four across the Atlantic? Space available, at 300 mph. There was a C130 not completely full of cargo going over. A pallet of passenger seats was added and off we go. Actual passenger seats was a treat for dad and the whole deal was just another adventure for us kids, but for the ladie(s) on board…..well, the Herc has no “restroom” just a curtain and a bucket…..go ahead, bitch to my mom about flying coach on a commercial airline. At least we were out of diapers and none of us had the Asian Flu (like when we came back from Japan, where my brother was born, but that’s another story). The flight back across was interesting too. The palletized passenger seats on the C141 faced rearward. As usual, once in level flight, us kids got turns sitting in the co-pilots seat. Bet they don’t do that now. I recall the crew pointing out constellations through the vast expanse of cockpit glass in the Herc and explaining how they could use them to navigate. Another interesting Azores tidbit-the waiting list for base housing was longer than dad’s tour there, so we spent the entire stay there living off-base. Half the island got electricity during the day and half got it during the night. Mom still has the kerosene lamps that we used to see at night. Kids think light by fire is cool.
The main attraction. Camera filled before they took off.
Shade is where you find it
I eventually got Mark out of the way but the truck wouldn’t budge
Somebody caption this for me
Stashed off in a corner and hard to find
To the far right of the pic: My memory says fighter jets used to make a lot more noise and smoke. Could just be a kids’ memories thing though.
Wish I had pics of the C17, the B 1 with the PR3 front tire, the Tbirds, Corsair and P51s in flight, and Wheat pushing off Griff at each stop. The day’s weather couldn’t have been custom ordered any better. There was just enough cloud cover to cause worry about the TBird show but a big hole opened up just in time for the main attraction. We used 0 interstate getting there and only a little (20 miles for me) getting home. The mightiest military on the planet is a bunch of kids! If watching the news or going to the mall makes you think that the youngsters coming out of school/college now are a bunch of disrespectful dufuses (maybe every generation thinks that of the next one, or two?), go to a military base. It was a great day!
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