Day Tripping

During these endless day of COVID my wife and I have undertaken a series of day trips. We tend to stay rather reclusive most of the time. But once week we take a day trip. Day tripper (the song written by McCartney and Lennon) comes to mind.

This past week our destination was the Hickory Aviation Museum. Nestled in the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains about sixty miles from Charlotte, North Carolina, at the Hickory Regional Airport is the museum.  If you've followed this blog and especially my YouTube channel (http://www.YouTube.com/ty2u) you would know how much I like airplanes. Actually when I was a toddler my mother would take me outside while she hung up the wash. I would stare silently at the sky until I a saw an airplane. With my toddler voice I would scream "Airplane! airplane! airplane!"  

We checked our route and museum details on the internet before an early Tuesday morning departure. We wanted to arrive at the museum shortly after its 10 AM opening time.  Also we hoped to avoid traffic around Charlotte. We packed up some sandwiches and bottled water for lunch.  (As followers of a plant-based diet we can't usually find lunch that is diet compliant.) We left Goose Creek in our aged Toyota under cloudless skies with hint of fall in the air. The trip was faultless and we arrived well within the estimated time suggested by Google Maps. 

The collection of old aircraft was visible as we approached the terminal building. There was a parking space near the entrance gate for the Toyota. The long tail boom of a P-3 Orion anti-submarine aircraft provided som shade for the car. After only  few steps inside the chain link fence We were approached by a white-haired mustachioed man who welcomed us to the museum. He wanted our names and address for the museums log book. We have visited over twelve aircraft museums and this was the smallest but it had some unique aircraft I had not seen. 

As you enter the aircraft display area you are almost immediately under the wing of the Lockheed P-3C Orion. This plane was one of the reasons for our trip. I had never seen one up close and had a friend who flew one for his entire Naval career. Normally, the large turboprop plane would have been accessible, but not on Tuesdays. All of the planes are from the jet era except for the P-3C and the Curtiss XP-15C-1, Stingeree.  The later is a true one of a kind, a hybrid. Only three were built and the only one to survive is at the Hickory Aviation Museum.

The Stimgeree is powered by two engines,  One is a reciprocating engine and the other is a jet turbine engine. When the plane was built for the Navy in the 1940s the military had concerns about the dependability of jet engines. However, due to the improvements is jet engines, jet powered aircraft did prevail. The Orion began as a passenger airliner for Lockheed. It was the Lockheed Electra, the first turboprop powered airliner. But it was plagued with problems  including two disastrous crashes with many fatalities.  The public lost faith in the airliner and Lockheed could not sell them although they solved the problems. However, the Navy found use for the turboprop plane in its anti-submarine warfare program. Introduced in the 1960s it has served the Navy for over fifty years. 

It was my intent to shoot video of the museum content as is my custom. My preferred camera is an iPhone SE. I was using a new wireless microphone and with the  Filmic Pro app. I also carried a Joby tripod and a Zhiyun gimbal. Claudette was my cinematographer. (A new role for her.) The plan was simple, I would stand in front of each aircraft and talk about it while she shot the video. Those shots not requiring my being on camera, I would shoot myself.  

Claudette did a super job did a great job with her duties as she recorded me expounding of the attributes of the Fury, Shooting Star, Prowler, Skyhawk,Cougar, Orion, and Super Cobra. Soon it was time for lunch and we found a picnic table beneath the wing of the P-3C Orion. 

Claudette had packed a great lunch.  We had sandwiches on rosemary bread of vegan cold cuts with lettuce and tomato with vegan mayo.  A pasta salad with veggies and a balsamic mayo dressing. Desert was a  Gayla apple we had bought previously at Blue Haven Orchard in Long Creek, SC. Cold bottled water was the proper beverage before getting out of the shade and back into the warm, almost hot,  sun. 

I shot video clips of the balance of the aircraft in the museum before we were preparing to leave. We individually would comply with S.C. (Senior Citizen) Rule #3. NEVER PASS UP AN OPPORTUNITY TO USE A RESTROOM. The restrooms were inside the building that housed the terminal.

I found that the museum's indoor displays were closed due to the COVID rules. But I did get a sneak peak at dozens of model aircraft  and other memorabilia. And I met one of the men responsible for the creation of the museum. He was a Navy vet too and naturally we had to swap sea stories. I'm not sure how long we could have talked had I not had a wife waiting for me in the car to head south.

Our trip home was uneventful except we tired of the few CDs we had brought. I can handle only so much Norah Jones!