Recent Visit to Seattle

Hi All,

I recently make a trip to Seattle on business. I was able to make good use of my time and visit a few aviation sites while I was there. This is a summary with links to my photo albums…

Me-262 Project
My first visit was to the Me-262 Project where I took a quick tour of the hangers. White 1 is still on site. Apparently tax season is a busy time for the owner, and he is therefore waiting to pick up his new Schawble. The third airframe is very well advance with the wing in position under the fuselage. Mating can’t be too far away if it hasn’t happened already. My tour guide indicated the previous two buyers are funding this build so far. If they approve purchase of the engines there could be taxi tests by the end of the summer. The 109 projects have not shown up yet. Rats!!! They are not allowing any pictures at all. Another bummer. I did get a few pictures through their wide open hanger door from the car before leaving the site. You can find the here…
http://community.webshots.com/album/549415807uMmhRg

Paine Field
The B-52 is still on the ramp near-by the Me-262 project. Other interesting sites included two Magisters painted overall gold on the field, with a Harvard in Golden Hawk. I spotted one Magister with the Harvard before. The second one was a surprise.
http://community.webshots.com/album/549412417XQelTV

Museum of Flight Restoration Facility
On my way out, I stopped by the Museum of Flight restoration facility. It is closed on Mondays and Fridays, the only two days I have off. RATS AGAIN!!! I did get a chance to peak around behind the building on the ramp. The green An-2 is not there anymore, but there was a T-28 parked in it’s place. They were also power washing the 727 prototype. I took pictures of what I could from the fence…
http://community.webshots.com/album/549419276GYNXKg

Future of Flight
From there I headed off to the new Boeing tour center, the Future of Flight. It is located at the north-west corner of the field and overlooks the main runway and Boeing ramps. They have a fantastic upper deck for viewing activities around the airfield. If anyone gets a chance to see any more taxi tests for the Me-262 Project this would be the place to go to watch it. They also have a very nice hall with aircraft hanging from the ceiling like at the MoF. There are also some airliner engines on display which are impressive as it gives you the ability to get up close to take in the size of the things.
http://community.webshots.com/album/549415808OFafdU

Boeing Field
After leaving FoF I took a drive down to Boeing Field to see what was new. I tried photographing a Beech 18 in rough shape on the east side of the field. I had seen it before but had no luck with pictures. Nearby was another Fouga Magister in what appeared to be Belgium markings. That side of the field also gives you a chance to see the cargo converted airliners.
http://community.webshots.com/album/549415612SBtIMX

Museum of Flight (outside only)
I zipped around to the west side of Boeing Field to go to the MoF. I was out of time to go inside, but photographed what they have outside. The B-47 has been moved from the Boeing ramp to the lawn in front of the main entrance just down from the Harrier. Between them was what appeared to be a MiG-17, and near by on the ramp side of the fence was what appeared to be a MiG-15!!! Pictures were taken of course…
http://community.webshots.com/album/549415722bfpfSN

Jet Chevrolet
From there I headed south to find the car dealership “Jet Chevrolet”. I heard they had a MiG-21 on site. I found it! If I was actually paying attention I would have seen it when I passed by on I-5 on two previous occasions! Anyway it is a well weathered Czech Fishbed. I couldn’t find the data plate, but then this was not a Russian built example. Pics were taken of course…
http://community.webshots.com/album/549408451vCmmaI

Flying Heritage Collection
Sorry folks, NO PICTURES! Apparently Mr. Allen himself says who and when publishes pictures, including on the internet. Since I would like to be welcomed back I won’t be posting any. I can tell you about what I saw. There wasn’t much change in the hanger from my last trip, but this time I did get to see the Po-2. They also make an effort to tell the story about the Russian “Night Witches” and the Po-2. In addition they have a newly restored ball turret for their B-17 on display. The P-51 was undergoing it’s annual in the other building and the tour took us there. In that same hanger I could see the to F-8s and a F-105 tightly packed in together. Unfortunately the P-47 hadn’t yet arrived. Apparently they are waiting for good weather up the length of the coast for a delivery flight. No sign of the Bf-109 or Fw-190 either, but I didn’t ask.

Air Station Museum
This museum is now closed, but some of the aircraft are still there. The volunteers from this museum now volunteer for the FHC, and one of those volunteers, Norm (an occasional poster on WIX), gave me a tour of the planes still in the hanger. I was pleased to see the Wildcat I once had spotted at the PoF in Chino in 1997. There was also an A-26 (one of my most favorite types), and F-84G and the nose section of a Neptune. Apparently the Neptune was an east coast bird and not a west coast bird. That is all I know. If anyone knows any more please let me know. I took some pictures, but it was a rainy day and dark inside the hanger. Combined that with me learning how to use my new camera… well… let me just ask you to please forgive the poor quality of these shots…
http://community.webshots.com/album/549570390kROLoh

Arlington Airport
The airport itself (the location of the FHC and the Air Station Museum) is an interesting place because of a few interesting types. I let you just browse the photo albums. I included information in the captions for whatever I could, but many of the airframes I photographed are not identified. If you have any info to add let me know!…
http://community.webshots.com/album/549562854uSQwHx

SeaTac International Airport
I had some time to hang out at the gate before my flight home on the Friday. While I was there I got some practice using the camera. If you like airliner shots you might like this album…
http://community.webshots.com/album/549571669wdximj

As I mentioned above, these are only the most recently added albums. I added some pictures to my other Seattle albums for which I posted links previously. For a complete list of my most recently created photo albums visit…
http://www.aerialvisuals.ca/Albums.html

Also, I just posted a new desk top calendar for your PC for May. You can find it here…
http://www.aerialvisuals.ca/Calendar.html
…and it features a picture of the Vintage Wings of Canada (Michael Potter) Mustang.

That is it for now.

Regards,

Mike