So I looked at the schedule for the Yankee Air Force to see when the Yankee Lady would be flying next and I found out that she was flying last Saturday. I was going to catch her and then go catch the Wolverine at Chelsea.
I got at almost the right time to catch her coming in but I wanted to get better pictures of her, so I decided to stick around to catch her for the next trip.
As I was waiting for the return of the Yankee Lady, I saw the Yankee Doodle Dandy take off and then take a flight around the airport. She was landing on the east-west runway which gave me a chance to get Metro in the background. It turns out that light silhouette behind the plane is an MD of some sort. In way, that plane is a descendant of the DC-3.
The DC-3 was the result of a design process that started with an inquiry from TWA to Donald Douglas. United Airlines was starting a better service with the Boeing 247 but Boeing refused to sell any to another airline until they completed United's initial order of 60. TWA asked Douglas to design and build an aircraft that would allowed them to compete with United.
The first design was the DC-1 in 1933. It was a promising design but not quite competitive. The DC-2 was developed in 1934. It was a success but could could use some improvement. The DC-3 resulted from a call from American Airlines looking for a sleeper plane. The DC-2 would work but it wasn't quite wide enough.
The DC-3 first flew on December 17, 1935 and was introduced to service in 1936. The DC-3 was almost an instant hit. A total of 16,000 variants of the DC-3 were produced. In 1998, there were still 400 left in commercial service somewhere. The oldest DC-3 in flight is called Flagship Detroit and was built in 1937. It can still be seen at airshows. There are still quite a few flying and it is an awesome aircraft.
The Yankee Warrior which is their B-25.
Just a Cessna.
The Yankee Air Force also owns a WACO YMF-5 which is a 1986 design based on the original WACO planes.
It's a pretty neat looking aircraft and the red sets off well against the blue sky.
Another angle as it comes in for a landing.
Another Cessna coming in for a landing.
But of course, the plane I was waiting for was the Yankee Lady. I was able to find a decent spot to get some decent angles of the planes.
The clouds were cooperative.
And made for some good pictures.
The almost straight shot.
As I was getting ready to return to the car, I heard a plane coming in for a landing and saw this plane. It is a Beechcraft 500.
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