Tag Archives: Stinson

Military Day at WAAAM

13 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by in History, Locations, Shooting

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May 9, 2015 was military vehicle day at WAAAM and it was one fantastic Second Saturday. To begin with, it was the most fabulous weather yet for a Second Saturday this year. It got a bit warm for someone who is a real wimp about dealing with heat like me, but overall it was incredible.

There was also a ton going on, hard to decide what was the most impressive. As one could predict by the theme of the day, the museum got out their Jeeps and their M3A1 Scout Car as well as many of their L birds. Then, some other aircraft were flown in by other people. A Stinson L-5 Sentinel arrived. Drawing the biggest excitement from the crowd was the arrival of a Bell UH-1 Iroquois, more commonly known as a “Huey.” This helicopter was done up in AirCav markings of the Vietnam era and was very impressive.

There was also a pilot present selling biplane rides and I spent a great deal of time photographing his Travel Air 4000. It was in a very attractive blue with red wings paint scheme and was doing a lot of flying, so of course made a great subject.

Now to tell you a bit about my favorite part of the day; it was a bit off topic for the day. However, it involved one of my favorite artifacts at the museum.

I had only been around a little while and had only taken a few images. I was busy preparing my customary social media post, letting my fans know what I’m working on that day when one of the regular volunteers asked me to help move a car. I’m a member and a volunteer, at the museum, so this request wasn’t particularly unusual. However, this car was the 1936 Cord Model 810 Westchester Sedan, and it was being moved out to take part in the day’s events. I was thrilled that one of my favorite cars at the museum was coming out into the sun to play. It was a bit difficult to get out of there, being that it was placed in a tight spot between a structural beam and the 1928 Waco ATO, but we managed to get it out of there.

Unfortunately, I can’t volunteer as much as I’d like at WAAAM, due to being two hours away. Mostly, I’ve helped them recover artifacts that have been located closer to home here in Keizer. It’s always been a fun time though.

Take a look at the rest of my WAAAM’s Military Day images, or my aviation portfolio.

Northwest Antique Airplane Club Flyin

06 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by in Shooting

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I’m here to tell you about another fly-in. August and September are turning out to be full of tons of aviation events for me to photograph and there’s many more I won’t make due to budget.

Anyhow, WAAAM is an awesome museum that I follow on Facebook and one day their feed mentioned the fly-in at Scappoose, Oregon of the Northwest Antique Airplane Club. So I made plans to go. When I was younger my aviation interest was essentially entirely in military aircraft, but now that I’ve gotten involved in aviation again, I find the antique civilian aircraft equally fascinating.

As we arrived, we found a nice casual atmosphere. It was very nice.

We walked to the end of the flight line on the near side of the runway. There was a Stinson Junior and a Stinson Model O. These were fascinating beautiful planes and you will probably notice, they were among the planes that I spent the most memory card space on.

Then came one of the things that was unusual but sort of charming about this fly-in. Many of the aircraft to see were on the other side of the runway. Getting over there meant walking to a crossing taxiway and having a volunteer escort you across. They had radios so they could monitor what air traffic was coming. The other side also had the best location for photographing landings, take-offs, and taxiing aircraft. We spent a lot of time watching someone train on a gyrocopter and photographing the antique aircraft coming and going. It was another really hot day and heat shimmer did ruin a significant number of my photos. (This is a difficulty in aviation photography that I haven’t found anyway to have a positive impact on the issue.)

In summary, a very exciting day of antique airplanes, but quite hot. Now I’m very excited about the coming fly-in at WAAAM.

Take a closer look at my NWAAC photos.