Planes – Broon's Ramblings

Category: Planes

Planes

February 10, 2017 / 1 Comment

The Boneyard

This was the second part of the Arizona aviation pilgrimage. The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Generation Group currently holds 4,000 aircraft in various states. Not that long ago there were 7,000! The temperate climate means that aircraft survive very well indeed, after being washed on receipt (twice for salty naval types) and their vulnerable bits (like canopies) sprayed with layers of back and then white latex. The Arizona soil is also ideal because it is so hard that there is no need for tarmac – even the largest aircraft can just be towed about. As our guide observed, if you want to put up a fence you hire a large drill, forget picks and shovels!

The place is simply epic. Sure, it’s interesting to see specific aircraft – in my case I was most excited by F4 Phantoms

and B52s

– but it is the sight of row after row of them. To a Brit it is something that you could never experience otherwise. After the Nimrod debacle in particular, the sight of dozens and dozens of P3 Orions sitting unused in the sunshine was galling.

There are four areas of planes. In the first airframes are kept intact and can be reused fairly swiftly.

Others, the second area, are kept intact in anticipation of sale – currently many early F16s are likely to be converted into drones.

In the third aircraft are used for reclamation. In other words, mechanics travel to the plane and remove the required part, take it away for bench test, and if it works it gets used on an active airframe.

The fourth and final area is aircraft which will be reclaimed. The remnants of the rows of B52 I coveted as a child fall into that category, and they sit, with their wings cut off in satisfaction of SALT treaties and to allow Soviet satellites to confirm they could never fly again, awaiting scrapping. There are still a dozen or so newer models that might yet fly.

And it’s not just planes – there are lines of neatly cocooned engines too.

As always there are only a representative few photos here as well as a video below if you can bear it. More are in Galleries so get those anoraks out!!

Apologies for the quality but the tour is done on a bus with tinted windows which you can’t get off. It goes slowly past some individual aircraft but then motors at about twenty mph round the rest, and while hard, the surface isn’t smooth! However, worth every moment;)

February 6, 2017 / 5 Comments

Pearl Harbour

This is the post I imagine most of you have been dreading. How long will he drone on for about war, planes, and ships? I shall try to be restrained though the good news for fellow anoraks is that if you go to Galleries you will find lots more photos!

Suffice it to say it was a long but interesting day and typically well done. The visit to the Arizona is efficient, respectful and terribly sombre. My boatload of Americans was essentially silent throughout.

The two things that kept coming back to me were Taranto and Royal Oak. The Japanese took note of the Fleet Air Arm’s attack in Italy and repeated it in spades. The Americans took note of it but were dramatically disorganised when the raid hit.

Cue Royal Oak for she sank due to inadequate organisation pre war at Scapa, and like Arizona entombs most of her crew and still leaks oil – both ships had been refuelled almost immediately before. And both receive the ashes of surviving sailors when they pass. The Americans more so as can be seen by the numbers. One is currently waiting to go in and then there are only five survivors left.

The exhibits around the attack were balanced – the two things that caught me in particular were first,the discovery that the fleet had been having a battle of the bands amongst the battleships in the weeks before the raid and Arizona had won the opening rounds, and second, that many of the civilian casualties were caused by American anti aircraft shells being badly fused so that having gone up, it was only on coming down and hitting Honolulu that they exploded.

Then it was onto Mighty Mo, the USS Missouri.

To my horror she was covered in scaffolding which was a tad disappointing but at least shows she’s being maintained. Having seen New Jersey last year the impact was not that dramatic, but she is satisfyingly vast.

And seeing where the peace was finally signed – MacArthur keeping the Japanese waiting but with hands shaking with nerves was fascinating.

The PC bit that shocked me though? A note above a signal pad from 1944 which contained the word “Jap” came with an apology but explaining they had to keep matters historically accurate. To a former Warlord agent this seemed unnecessary.

Finally, for I won’t bore you with submarine USS Bowfin,

the Aircraft Museum was excellent! Well thought out, and in one hangar completely centred around the attack and the response. Included was the actual little plane, being flown by someone like me, which suddenly found itself surrounded by Imperial might on the morning of Dec 7th.

The Airfield itself is historically interesting and is the only museum I’ve been to with bullet holes in the windows.

There was also a hangarful of modern heavy metal, though the most interesting bit was the B17 recovered from the swamp into which it crashed, and which is wonderfully eerie.

February 2, 2017 / 4 Comments

Points Mean Prizes!

I don’t wish to proselytise but on a trip like this it is worth playing the points game. On the flight front I should end up with a BA gold card which in my case means access to free fizz and less queueing when on low cost flights to London.

I really can’t recommend headforpoints.com highly enough. I have no real idea what’s going on – the guy who runs it does!

This showed last night as I stumbled into LAX after twenty four hours travel. I followed his advice and now have an IHG credit card. I signed up to at the right time and got top tier. Which I’ve since kept by everyday card spend. That all meant my hotel room was paid for with points, I was upgraded to the top floor with lounge access – free breakfast – and most importantly of all got a $10 beer for free on arrival which I was sorely needing!!

Blissful eh? Almost! All the swanky hotels are by the airport which never sleeps so a silent night it is not. However, continuing with the unguents voyage of exploration I also plastered “relaxing” cream over my face. It assured me of restfulness but lied. More entertainingly I found a little bag of earplugs, which contained a single example. Are they worried if you have two you might sleep through your flight and sue them?

Anyway, now at LAX and almost ready for last phase outbound. Hurrah! Even I am beginning to flag. Though surrounded by thousands of people the world is still small – blethering with a couple who raved about their stay in Scotland at a funny sounding place. Muckrach lodge!

February 1, 2017 / 1 Comment

1st February 2017 – a day of gluttony.

It has also been gloriously long- fortunately travel stamina, as opposed to anything else, has always been good! Up at 4 am UK time to fly (breakfast one and lovely early morning views of dutch towns gleaming under low cloud)

to Heathrow for the second breakfast of the day

in the Concorde Room, followed by the first fizz of the day at 9.30 which was ninety minutes later than it could have been!

For all the hype CR is overrated tbh. Yes, an oasis of calm with art work on the way to the toilets, Concorde seats in the working area, and good views of planes, but ultimately more style than substance. There weren’t even any celebs to spot – though that’s not to say they weren’t there of course!

Onto a “Dream Flight Back massage” in the Elemis Spa, which was really quite good save for the cold ridden girl sniffing continuously. Hot stones and inhaling some rose gunk was better than I would’ve imagined.

The real fun began on the aircraft to Toronto as it was very good indeed. Turning left on entry is a pleasure, and the champagne flowed immediately and often. My two windows were above the R and the I!

Really good crew – including a couple of chatty Scots – and service. Genuinely tasty meal and the first two white wines on the list were excellent!

Couple of hours recharge with the seat in bed mode and then afternoon tea pre landing in Toronto where it’s been snowing and is just above freezing.

So now 11.30 UK time and about to head for LAX. Border control for US done here and without any issue happily – no sense of any of the tensions in the news. My border security guard was more concerned that he hadn’t had his lunch break, not due to numbers it appeared but a bad supervisor! More food drink required for me now I’m afraid, this time courtesy of American Airlines.

January 31, 2017 / 6 Comments

And so it begins … Easyjet to Amsterdam

Free from a dank Edinburgh it’s gentle lounge time. Semi healthy option but fear not, the giant fishfinger will soon be on its way. Nice!

In fact, trade description outrage – it was three small fishfingers. Which is better? Discuss.

Much more importantly, travel to Schipol could not have been easier. The bulk of the flying on this trip will be BA/AA. The world’s favourite airline could learn lots from EasyJet at Edinburgh st least. From turning up at the gate to the aircraft doors’ being shut took 20 minutes and that included a bus ride! And why? Because their staff were proactive and efficient, insisted that every wheeled case went in the hold, so there wasn’t the tense scrum and log jam on the aircraft as cretins with enormous bags try to put them into letter box size spaces. And lo, we left and arrived early and were serene!! How different from the omnishambles that is the norm on Heathrow flights at least.

And Schipol is a dream too. Automated passport reading (meantime) for U.K. travellers though having been allowed in a guard rushed up and removed my passport saying cheerily you’re in the system but we just want to check it’s you- eh??? However, drinking a restorative beer in the hotel twenty minutes later.

Got to love Dutch uber efficiency while we still can ……

January 29, 2017 / 0 Comments

Pre ramble ramble over Edinburgh

Brief flip in WIFE to try out new camera. Mixed day weather wise – glorious winter sunshine over Edinburgh but cloud over the border hills as well as some snow.

Broon's Ramblings