COME FLY WITH ME





My husband posing beside a ski plane display in Alaska

Now he’s posing by the plane that took him and our eldest daughter up over Denali (Mount McKinley) to see its glaciers.

A field of glaciers on Mt. McKinley (Denali) as seen from the plane.  They were supposed to be able to fly over the top of the mountain, but unfortunately, by the time they got up in the air, the top had clouded over.  Too bad.  But they still saw some beautiful mountain glaciers.

My youngest sister’s husband built this Sonex airplane and is seen here flying it over the Sacramento Delta.


A granddaughter is a passenger in an airplane ride on the boardwalk at Santa Cruz, Calif.

Thanks to a spotter plane's direction, the pilot of this air tanker knew right where to drop its load of fire retardant on the “Rim Fire” in Tuolumne County in 2013 – an official photo. 

Likewise the pilot of this helicopter on a different fire, having just loaded up with a bucketful of water from Pine Mountain Lake in Groveland, Calif. – My photo.

Speaking of Pine Mountain Lake, here’s a plane flying into the Pine Mountain Lake airport.  Folks would fly up to the lake for the weekend and round about 4:00 on Sunday afternoon, they’d all start flying home so they could go to work the next day.  Those of us on the beach who lived by the lake year-round would happily wave goodbye to them as they left as that meant fewer folks invading the local stores and hogging all the parking spaces.

Ward Field airstrip in Gasquet, CA.  Off to the right is a road called the Gasquet Flat Road which runs alongside the Smith river.  On summer nights after dinner, Dad would watch the kids for a while so I could walk alone and I’d walk along the Flat Road.  It was a lovely evening walk.  But the real fun was coming up.  A friend had a house just off the far end of the airstrip and I’d cut through her property from the Flat Road to the airstrip, the entire length of which, by then, was lit up with ground-level lighting akin to footlights on a stage and I’d strut down the runway singing “Hello Dolly”.  Probably not the smartest thing to do, but what a kick!

The owner of this plane at a local air show was offering free rides for those interested.

In 1984 our family went to a U.S. Air Force air show at Castle Air Force Base in Merced, CA.  They had some pretty good-sized planes there for people to wander in & around.

This cargo plane was HUGE!!!

The Air Force’s Thunderbirds performed at the show.  This is my photo of the planes.  It’s pretty good, but . . .

. . . the Air Force’s official photo is a little clearer.

Same here.  My photo . . .

. . . the Air Force photo.

At times all six planes flew in formation.  At others, only four flew.  If I’d known what I know now about that, I could have been quicker to alert my kiddos to what was coming.  The six planes were flying in formation when two of them broke off and the remaining four continued on.  I wondered where the other two planes had gone?  By the time I figured out what was happening, it was too late.  I threw my hands over my ears & yelled to my kids to do the same, but the two absent planes were already coming toward each other so fast the sonic BOOM they created happened before my kids could get their hands over their ears!  Oops.  Sorry kids.

A cute version of the Thunderbirds. J 

:-> 

La Nightingail



Fly Me to the Moon


A quick note:  When my Mom & Dad were on their honeymoon on Santa Catalina Island in southern Calif. in 1939 who should be preforming there in the pavilion but a young, 22 year old Frank Sinatra – just getting started in his career.  Funny.  Mom wasn't really all that impressed with him. J

Comments

  1. Barbara RogersOctober 24, 2025 at 11:40 AM

    Wonderful plane photos, especially those of your family! Of course it's hard to get a camera to focus on planes flying overhead so fast! And yes, there is the noise of jets! I've never had any make a sonic boom right over me though, and I bet that hurt some ears!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. La NightingailOctober 24, 2025 at 8:21 PM

      My kids were none too happy about my not warning them soon enough to get their hands over their ears. I think my eldest daughter put it rather succinctly when she said in a decidedly dry tone of voice: "Thanks Mom."

      Delete

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