Other than porn, the biggest use of the
Internet seems to be looking at cute pictures of cats and
babies. So here's my contribution:
(cats and babies, NOT porn....)
The amphibian behind the Fly Baby is a Consolidated PBY-5 "Catalina", a naval patrol aircraft from WWII. Its restoration was just completed for a Nicholas Cage movie about the USS Indianapolis. It was parked at the end of one of the local small fields, Pierce County Airport (aka Thun Field). A professional restorer did the work, aided by some students in the aviation department at Clover Park Technical College, which is located just across the runway.
I originally parked 'Raker a polite distance down the taxiway, but a couple of the students trotted up and offered to tuck me under the Cat's wing. Nice guys, and (justly) very proud of their work. I was able to set up one of my favorite types of shots, with (good 'ol) Mount Rainier in the background.
As I often do in cases like this, I offered to let them sit in the cockpit. They took turns sitting, shooting pictures of each other....
Ron Wanttaja
(cats and babies, NOT porn....)
The amphibian behind the Fly Baby is a Consolidated PBY-5 "Catalina", a naval patrol aircraft from WWII. Its restoration was just completed for a Nicholas Cage movie about the USS Indianapolis. It was parked at the end of one of the local small fields, Pierce County Airport (aka Thun Field). A professional restorer did the work, aided by some students in the aviation department at Clover Park Technical College, which is located just across the runway.
I originally parked 'Raker a polite distance down the taxiway, but a couple of the students trotted up and offered to tuck me under the Cat's wing. Nice guys, and (justly) very proud of their work. I was able to set up one of my favorite types of shots, with (good 'ol) Mount Rainier in the background.
As I often do in cases like this, I offered to let them sit in the cockpit. They took turns sitting, shooting pictures of each other....
Aftermath
This is really pretty horrible. The Catalina left
for the Gulf Coast the day after these pictures were
taken, as that was where the scenes for the movie were
being shot. It developed a leak, and they beached it
with the nose awash.
And when salvagers tried to recover it, they tore it
completely apart....
Ron Wanttaja
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