Month: June 2009

What Just Flew By My Office Window

One of the cool side-benefits of working where I do is our proximity to Seattle’s Boeing Field. Interesting aircraft seem to fly by fairly often. My office window faces NNW and Boeing Field’s main runway’s southern end is literally smack dab in the middle of my window, a bit over a mile away. My office is on a hillside, and I’m on the 6th (top) floor, and the runway in the Duwamish valley below:


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I was at my desk a bit ago and heard the unique sound of four big radial engines roaring by. I look up just in time to see a distinctive boom tail go off the edge of my window. I grab my camera and run out onto the deck outside the kitchen and sure enough there is a B-24 Liberator. Unfortunately it is in a steep bank left turn, flying away from me. By the time it turns and is heading north with a side profile it is over Lake Washington and far away. I snap off a photo though:

B-24 Liberator over Seattle

I walk back inside and sit at my desk, only to hear ANOTHER roaring warbird. I scurry back to the deck just in time to see a P-51 Mustang roll left, then away following the B-24. It was too small and too fast to get a photo of, but I was able to watch it with my binoculars when back at my desk.

One old plane is an anomaly. Two in quick succession is a pattern. So instead of getting back to work I sit and watch the runway. Sure enough a few minutes later an unmistakable shape arose from behind a massive hangar that houses the Boeing Military AWACs planes at the SW corner of the field. It slowly and gracefully lifts away from terra firma at a pace leisurely enough for me to get outside and shoot this sequence of photos:

It is of course a Boeing B-17. One of this city’s most significant contributions to the war effort in WW2.

Just thought I’d share.

Update A little while later the B-24 took off again and I managed to shoot it:

I’ve got to run up to Ballard this evening, so I’ll stop by the airport and see if I can catch them on the ground.

Arlington Show & Shine, June 13th, 2009

I really don’t like car shows. I much prefer to drive my old car. There is nothing as dull as sitting around all day while a bunch of other people sit around all day. I love to look at old cars. But doing so within the context of a show is less than ideal. Don’t get me started on competitive car washing, aka “Concours”… The idea of making a car show into a competition to me is ludicrous.

I make an exception every year for at least one show however, and usually that is my home town “show & shine” which usually falls in early June. They do have a competitive aspect to it, but since my car falls into an oddball “catch-all” category, “Specialty Cars”, I stand no chance of winning anything. Specialty Cars covers everything from imports, military vehicles, tractors, race cars, and golf carts. Really anything that doesn’t fit within the usual domestic classes of *0’s Stock, *0’s Modified, *0’s Hot Rod, Muscle Cars, Rat Rods, etc. I’m not there to win, I’m there to share the car with people and take some photos.

I rolled into town early and found a spot in front of the hardware store. I chose the spot since it had a bench nearby, and since I’m not a car show “regular” I don’t have the usual folding seats and picnic table. I set up the car with it’s “OK to touch me” sign, a small card with instructions on how to open the bonnet, and an open suitcase on the luggage rack with the KZOK calendar the car was featured in a few years back, along with a few other photos of the car.

Then I walked around and shot photos:

1919 Dodge Brothers Utility Wagon

One of four of British cars there

The owner of this Ariel Atom lives near me, as we see each other on SR530 often. We spoke once in the parking lot of the local NAPA store and talked about trading drives someday. I really need to catch up with him at some point!

The guy in the Ferrari, thankfully parked as far from me as it could be, revved his engine seemingly all day

Despite what I said about preferring stock examples of cars, I actually like these goofy sorts of presentations. If you’re going to modify, go all the way! This old Rambler was pretty ratty to start with, and then Rat Fink got ahold of it.

Two cars south of my car was a very nice 1960 Corvette. The paint on it is beautiful. This is the car that I posted a cropped photo of the other day as the “name the car” CPotD.

The C1 Vette is owned by a guy who it turns out is my neighbor, living about a mile to the NW of me. We enjoyed a long “car guy” chat while we both sat on the bench.

There were easily over 200 cars all up and down Olympic Avenue. I didn’t photograph much more than what you see above, since there is only so much static domestic steel I can take before my eyes glaze over. After I did a “lap” of the show to shoot what interested me I hung out around my car and talked to people a bit. I kept inviting people to sit in, touch, etc, the E-type, which I think freaked out the guy with the freshly restored Camaro parked between me and the Vette. He ended up leaving soon after. I did photograph one person sitting in my car. I think I made this boy’s day when I invited him in:

I actually left the Jag at the show around mid-day and caught a ride home with Sue. I had some household chores to catch up on as well as brew-up a batch of BioDiesel. John, one of the members of my BioDiesel Co-Op dropped by in th afternoon to bring some veggie oil and pick up some fuel. He gave me a ride back into town. I missed the “awards presentation” so I have no idea if I won anything. I doubt I did anyway. Wrong sort of crowd for a Jaguar.

Car Photo of the Day: Heavy Heavy Fuel

This Touring body Ferrari 166 has appeared before here at a “name that car” so no use in doing it again. The fuel filler cap though rates a return visit, as it is monstrously HUGE and very cool looking. It so well represents that time when, as Jeremy Clarkson said, “They weren’t concerned about saving the planet so much as driving around it very fast.”