Sunday, July 22, 2012

In the Sky

I have to admit that I have had a fascination with airplanes since childhood.  I grew up in areas of the country where you didn't get to see many planes fly overhead and when they did I was transfixed watching them and day dreaming about all the places they would take me when I was rich and famous.  

Taken on my first ever plane flight

I never did become rich or famous, and as I was reaching my retirement years as a cash strapped widow I began to believe that a plane trip was not in the cards for me.  Then suddenly that all changed when I met the Old Salt.  If you have spent much time around this site or checked out the "about us" tab you know that we met on a singles site and The Old Salt relocated to Missouri when we married.  During our short courtship I got not one, but five chances to experience the trill of air travel.  

Air travel played a big part in the Old Salts navy career.  He was a CW04 in charge of Aviation Maintenance. One of the helo's that was part of his department is now a museum display on the aircraft carrier USS Midway in San Diego, Ca.  I took the above shot of him during our second time together when he was able to give me a personal tour of the Midway.
Captured these planes around our hotel near the Dallas/Fort Worth airport in Texas during a visit last summer.   
For over twelve years my first husband and I lived within the flight plan of aircraft using the St. Louis International Airport.  I got to see lots of planes and do lots of daydreaming.  I would often pull off the road and watch the planes land or take off and snap a shot or two.  However, I never managed to get a decent photo of one with my old film camera.  Plus, the cost of film process prohibited my taking lots of shots.  Since I've gone digital I have taken hundreds of pictures of planes in the air and most of them still end up getting deleted.  The above aren't great photography but at least you can tell what kind of plane they are.

series of shots of a crop duster  
About three miles from where we live now is a small regional airport.  It is not unusual to see small piston engine aircraft flying around our area. In fact one was circling over our yard while I was out watering my plants a few evenings ago.  I snapped the above crop duster working a farm just across the river in the next county.


These next two shots look like a remote controlled toy in the sky, but, they are both full sized planes captured near our local airport.


A few weeks ago we attended a Christian Bikers Rally in the neighboring town of Union and the Life Vac helicopter was on display. I got this shot of it taking off after the rally.

I am linking this post to Sunday Stills.  
This weeks theme is "In the Sky."  


Also linking to Mosaic Monday 

11 comments:

  1. Planes are fascinating to me. I know engines and power and all that science, but it is amazing how all that weight can stay up in the air for so long.

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  2. Hello. I found your blog while link-hopping. I too love planes and have a fascination for the commercial kind. You must use a very good lens to be able to capture them that way. -- Bom

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  3. Aircraft of all kinds are fascinating. You have fine photos of many types. I'm more drawn to the small prop planes myself. Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment. Stop back any time.

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  4. WOW! I'd say you aced this challenge. Terrific shots. And, welcome to Sunday Stills. :)

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  5. Great plane shots! When I first moved to Missouri I lived at the end of the West runway of the St. Louis airport. I mean literally at the end. I live in a small trailer court and when the planes would take off the whole trailer would shake. I could never open windows in the summer because of the noise. My grandson would love to come and visit and watch the planes land and take off. I knew it was a temporary place to live and was an investment because the airport expansion buy out program. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to handle it.

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  6. Welcome to Sunday Stills. Great shots.

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  7. I actually took a flying lesson once - but I decided it was WAY more responsibility than I wanted to take on, so I only took that intro lesson! You got some nice photos - Dan will be at the airport in the morning to fly back home. He is staying tonight near the airport so he can get a shuttle there in the morning.

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  8. Lovely shots and I love what you write about them too.

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  9. Nice shots....perfect for the challenge!

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