Headed East ('cuz I'm Not a Young Man Anymore)

[ZenGum]

Wait, WHAT???

You just slipping that in as an excuse to delay a holiday write-up?

[Elspode]

Yeah, I guess I did kind of leave this thread hanging just a mite. Yet another sin of my prolonged Cellar absence.

Indeed, Tree Fae and I were legally wed on October 13, 2012. My most excellent friend and literally world renowned Pagan scholar Mike Nichols presided. The couple behind us are Rich and Kathie. I was their best man some 30 plus years ago. I was, in fact, Rich's best man at his *first* wedding some ten years before that.

[Elspode]

I'll dribble a few DC pics in here, starting with Udvar Hazy. First up, the coolest aircraft ever to fly, the SR 71 Blackbird. Look in the background and you'll see the Space Shuttle Discovery, which had only been installed at Udvar Hazy for a couple of months when we visited. I believe that that Glatt posted some shots of the day it flew a couple of parade laps around DC before being delivered. At least, I know he posted some on FB.

[Elspode]

Next up, the legendary Dash 80, Boeing's prototype of the 707. This is the very aircraft that Tex Johnston used to perform two glissades (a one-g slow barrel roll) over Lake Washington during the hydroplane races, and before an assembled crowd of airline execs and military buyers. It is sometimes said that this unannounced demo sold more airplanes than anyone had dared hope. In an interview I saw once, Tex claimed that he had a cup of coffee in a holder in the cockpit, and not a drop was spilled.

[sexobon]

Originally Posted by Elspode

... First up, the coolest aircraft ever to fly, the SR 71 Blackbird. ...

During a stopover at an air station in England, I watched an SR-71 pilot practice touch and go. The first couple passes he touched the wheels down; then, accelerated climbing only enough to go around again. On the third pass he touched down; then, accelerated lifting the nose rapidly until the aircraft was nearly vertical still over the runway and hit the afterburners shooting straight up until out of sight ... like a rocket man!