Wednesday, April 03, 2024

A flying legend drops in

Riveting
St. Thomas, ON
June 2018
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Late on a mid-June afternoon a few years back, I was lucky enough to be wandering around the apron at St. Thomas Municipal Airport when a flying piece of history screamed out of the sky and landed.

A small crowd of onlookers gravitated to this stunningly preserved aircraft as the pilot shut the engines down and the ground crew settled her in for the evening.

I had never seen a Beechcraft Model 18 in the metal before that memorable day, and I recall thinking at the time how photos simply didn’t do this design justice. It first flew in 1937, and they must have snuck some artists in among the engineers.

This airframe once flew for the Royal Canadian Air Force, and as luck would have it our aerial defenders celebrated their 100th anniversary on April 1st.

I hope whatever they end up flying in their second century is as timelessly lovely as what they flew during their first.

#stthomas #ldnont #london #airport #ontario #canada #throwback #airfest #airshow #aviation #beechcraft #model18 #rcaf #flight #aircraft #aviationphotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #planespotting #instaplane #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Related:
Crashed dreams, May 2020
Watching Snowbirds fly, February 2011
Birds on a wire, February 2010
Caption This 128, July 2009
Vapor trails, July 2009
Old meets new, June 2007

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