So today while I was working on my Marauder in my garage work area (and my camera was handy due to just having taken photos of my work), I heard the deep rumble of a pair of radial engines. My home is near the flight path for both Los Alamitos Army Airfield and Long Beach Airport. Thereis always all sort of civil, military, and commercial air traffic around, from Gulfstreams, to Cessnas, to Blackhawks, to C-17s. I stepped out to the driveway to scan the sky, and sure enough there it was, a recently restored DC-3 on approach to Long Beach. I had seen this bird disassembled on the side of the airport near the Boeing plant (formerly Doglas Aircraft where it was probably orginally built) over the past few years, but apparently the folks there finished the restoration recently and got her airworthy again.
if she flies by again and I have the camera handy, I will try to get more photos.
There was an old saying when I was in the AF. When the Air Force retires its last manned aircraft… they will fly all the dignitaries there in gooney birds!
Nice! How asking around to see if you can get a ride in her? LOL! Never hurt to try and ask.
Ever since Griffis AFB in Rome, NY closed due to base realignment, a familair sight has ALWAYS been the B-52. The unmistakable noise I dearly miss hearing to this day.
I agree w/ Blacksheep 214 ask around , you never know. Back in the mid '80’s I saw a Ford Tri-Motor flying over my parents house toward the local airport. I rushed over there, and spoke to the 2 pilots who had just landed. End result was a ride in the classic that I will probably never get the opportunity to have again! Aside from flying in a Stearman, that was probably the noisiest/windiest ride in an aircraft I’ve ever had. I Still have the certificate they gave me after the ride
I am pretty sure that this prticular Goonie does do rides. But for a fee. It has livery for a local service that flies between Long Beach airport and Santa Catalina Island a short hop out to sea.
It’s always fun to see something unusual fly over. Years ago, I worked in an office that was right across the street from the end of Dobbins Air Force Base’s main runway in Marietta, GA. Had lots of close-up looks at F-15s, F-16s, C-130s and occasionally a C-5 Galaxy. That was one impressive sight, to see that thing coming in for a landing a couple hundred feet over our heads! It blacked out the sky!
Yes, I see lots of C-17s flying in and out of there. That suckcer is huge as well. Not quite as big as the C-5, but imagine a cross between a bat and a whale and thats a C-17 in flight.
I remember seeing a bunch of nearly derelict Gooney’s around there when I last lived out that way in '79.
You mentioned Catalina Island,so, that triggered another memory, does Catalina Airlines still fly any PBYs on tours out of LB? Back earlier than '79 they had so many PBYs parked so close to the old “Douglas Plant” fence that you swore you could ride your bike under the wingtips. Some of those must have been spare parts donors or airframes waiting for a refurbish, some were pretty ratty.
Tarn, I had forgotten all about those PBYs that used to be out there. Wow that brought back some memories. Those are long gone now for many many years… probably the early 80s. I have not seen any PBYs flying in this area since perhaps the early 90s. You would probably not recognize much of the area anymore as it has been thru so much redevelopment since the turn of the century. Only the Boeing (ex Douglas) plant, the airport runways & terminal (new control tower though), and the 405 freeway are about the same as they were.
NH, that would have been sweet. There was a C-47 painted up in D-Day markings flying locally for the annual Armed Forces Day parade in Torrance last month, but it was too far away for me to get any decent photos with my cell phone. And no jumpers. I would love to drop from a C-47 just once, just to be able to say that I did. And maybe a C-119.
yeah it looked a lot like that lol, but from inside it was even more interesting
When I was stationed in Japan I used to see JASDF P-3s and Shin Meiwa PS-1 flying boats over head all the time.
The greatest sound though was the day after the last air show I was at MCAS Miramar for and the two QF-4S Phantom II drones took off for their return flight to Pt. Magu, talk about a beautiful sound…
USMC6094 - I’d love to experience a JATO on a C-130, Heck, l’d love to experience the short runway landing in one. LOL! That’s gotta be better than a rollercoaster ride.
we just had the second B-17 bombing run over denver this month. memphis belle was in earlier and aluminum overcast is here now. last year i got a chance to climb all over the JU-52 that belongs to a german furniture company. ALL OVER.
Mine worked for United so he started as a runway loading engineer on the DC-6. Yours was probably TWA, right?
He had a funny story about a DC-8. Sometime in the middle 60’s an absent minded United crew coming out from the East Coast to Portland landed about 10 miles short at Salmon Creek, OR. The cargo was unloaded and sent by bus to Portland.
Dad flew up the next morning with a test flight crew to evaluate the retrieval, as the airport had about a 4,000 foot runway. After some intense slip stick work, he calculated the minimum fuel load for take off and the short flight west.
So the pilot asked him, “Kid, do you think it’s gonna work?”.
LOL! Thats a good story. Yes, my dad worked for TWA starting in about 56 or so. Before that he was with American Airlines for a short while before he was drafted into the Army during the Korean War. He retired from TWA in late 92 while he still had a retirement pension before corporate raiders destroyed that airline. I have many good memories of the goings on with TWA at LAX behind the scenes from when I was growing up.
