Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

I don't know if I've posted about this here before or not, but here goes. The BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) railroad has track running down the center of Houser Way in Renton, Washington. That's not too unusual, and in fact used to be fairly common, but over the past century or so towns and cities throughout the US have pushed to have railroads reroute their tracks onto private rights-of-way, and as the inner city industries that once required rail service go out of business. So it is a little more rare these days than in decades past. But in this case, it is even more unusual, as the tracks in question carry trains to the Boeing factory. Among the more notable freight those trains carry are the fuselages of Boeing 737 airplanes from a Boeing facility in Kansas to the facility in Renton where final assembly takes place. Linked here is footage of a train carrying several such a load down the street, past parked along the sides of the road and across the route of cars travelling the cross streets. So, we have planes, trains, and automobiles.

The Dawn Patrol - report

I went up to Dayton yesterday for the Dawn Patrol Rendezvous, and watched a variety of manned replicas of WWI airplanes fly through the skies above the Air Force Museum.  There were also vintage cars, large RC planes flew overhead, WWI re-enactors roaming about and encamped, and numerous vendors of books and memorabilia.

The event wasn't by the main part of the museum, but in a field alongside an abandoned runway to the south of the museum proper.  I caught sight of biplanes flying even before I arrived at the entrance.

Camp library, just inside the entrance.  Books for troops, a hundred years ago.

As soon as I entered, there was a small encampment of soldier re-enactors with tents set up, including a library tent.  The other side lay the runway, separated from the main space by a temporary orange fence.  A number of planes were present in the main space, but others were just on the other side of the fence, so as to be more accessible to the runway.

The first few planes I saw were German, but then I bean to encounter American planes, too.

German Fokker DR1 triplane

American SPAD in markings of 94th Aero Squadron

The planes were really cool on the ground.  It was neat to see them flying by in the air, as well.

First plane in the air that I was actually able to photograph.

Crosswinds interrupted the schedule of events.  Manned flight took a backseat to RC planes for a while, during which time I grabbed lunch, picked up more books than I really should have from the book dealers, and watched a presentation by Graydon Allen Tunstall, author of Blood on the Snow: The Carpathian Winter War of 1915.  The presentation covered the importance of air power, particularly aerial reconnaissance, on the Eastern Front.  His general thesis seems to be that aerial reconnaissance was essential to German victory, and made the Austro-Hungarian defeats less severe than they otherwise would have been - that last is a truly scary thought, given the severity of the losses they suffered with better aerial reconnaissance.

By this time, the crosswinds had died down and manned flights had resumed.

A biplane against a blue sky

Fly away

During the later flybys of the manned planes, a group of soldier re-enactors set up a position and offered anti-aircraft fire by rifle and machine gun.  They were eventually knocked out by an assault on their eastern flank.  Alas, I discovered them late in their performance, as the last doughboy "died", so I only have a couple photos, and none without flight line personnel in bright orange shirts.

Doughboys cut down by Brits?

One interesting aspect of flight operations was caused by the fact that many of the aircraft lacked a wheel at the rear.  Instead, they had some form of wooden skid at the tail, which dragged on the ground.  As a result, takeoffs and landings were conducted from a stretch of grass adjacent to the old runway, rather than on it.

Skid at tail of plane

Colorful German biplane

By the end of the session of manned flights in the mid-afternoon, I'd had enough.  It was a lot of fun, but I was starting to get hungry, and for some reason the food trucks didn't seem appealing that day. So I packed it in and headed back toward my car.  On the way out, I caught a quick photo of an interesting stroller alternative one family was employing.

Themed stroller alternative - fit for a Baron (or Baroness)!

The Dawn Patrol

This Saturday and Sunday, October 1-2, 2016, there is going to be a World War I event at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.  Since the Ruritania story I'm working on takes place in the aftermath of (an alternate) World War I, this has me very excited, and I'm hoping to make it up there one of those days.

From the museum's website "The World War I Dawn Patrol Rendezvous features vintage original and reproduction WWI aircraft, radio-controlled models, era automobiles, period re-enactors, educational activities and a collector's show. This flying event is offered by the museum and the Great War Aeroplanes Association. FREE admission and parking."  They're also going to have food trucks!