Riding and Heritage Flights

Today was a windy day. We went out to Fantasy Island, which we normally don't do on weekends. It was not, however, crowded. Which was good. Here is me climbing up the steep hill after going through the Evil Wash.

This weekend is Heritage Flight weekend in Tucson. I took this picture last March. Left to right the planes are: P51 Mustang (WWII), F16 Falcon (1974 first flight, currently in service), F4E Phantom (Vietnam era), and the F22 Raptor (currently in service).

They're out flying again this weekend. We saw an F15 while we were out riding. They can climb at 60,000+ feet per minute straight up. That would be supersonic in the vertical. There was also an F4E out as well.

This two airplanes in this picture are a P51 Mustang and a Lockheed P-38 Lightning. The P51 provided air superiority and bomber escort during WWII. This one has black and white stripes which were applied during the Normandy Invasion. It was to let the Allied forces know that it was one of ours and not to shoot it down. The P38 is on the right, it was used in both the European and Pacific theaters in WWII.

It's sort of frustrating, no flight schedule is posted, so we don't know when they're flying. I'd like to be out there when they take off or land, so they're closer to the camera.

Can you believe it's March already? We're heading up to Seattle at the end of the month for medical tourism. Then we'll be back and will throw ourselves fully into the rigors of over-packing for a trip to the East Coast and then onto Germany. Luggage is an issue for us, there's nowhere to put it in the RV so we have to spend enough money so that it can survive the bag smashers, but not so much that it hurts to dumpster it upon our return.