Friday, March 4 — In at 9 after paying some bills downtown. Phot’d a Falcon 10 on the ramp. Processed those pics and the GV from yesterday by 10:40. From some distance, photed the departure of an MD-900 NOTAR helicopter with Canadian registr4ation. Late afternoon was visited by two IPs flying a T-1 from Air Training Command in Oklahoma who let me phot’ their bird. An IP named Joseph Springfield was very impressed with the collection, and I was so impressed with him I gave him a copy of my book Springfield Aviation from Arcadia Publishing. He gave me his 3rd Flying Training Squadron shoulder patch. The entire day was spent processing and sorting pictures, and the rest of the day was spent taking more pictures. Didn’t spend a minute upstairs. Departed for home at 6:10. Day rating: A (BIG smile)
The Falcon 10 and the Centurion were not here long. The Cessna owners visited the Welcome Room and we chatted. I didn’t appreciate how clean their 210 was until I saw them warming up after refueling, and I wished I had gone out onto the ramp (They were nice and would have approved I’m sure.) before engine start and taken a few more.
I had my eyes on the computer almost all the time, but I saw the MD900 on the ramp with rotor in motion probably 100 yards away, dashed to my office for a camera and snapped some marginal-quality pics THROUGH the bleeping FENCE. Parked aircraft were in the way as he turned and began climbing with his backside to the camera. A thrill and disappointment all in about five minutes.
The crew with the visiting Beech T-1 were terrific. When one stepped into the welcome Room and I saw the USAF uniform, I welcomed him and asked what he was flying. “A Beechjet,” he said. “Oh, I said, T-1 Jayhawk, aye?” He knew when he heard those words that he was talking to a friend. His associate’s name is Joseph Springfield. Both posed for pics in the Welcome Room and gave permission to phot the ‘Hawk before returning to 3rd Flying Training Squadron home base in Oklahoma.
Abe Lincoln's Air Force 