Wishing a Final Farewell to the Yankee Lady

I found out yesterday that the Yankee Lady would be leaving for California at Noon today.  I figured that I would head over to Willow Run to see her off.  I will have more thoughts on that after the pictures.

I arrived a little early at the airport.  I wanted to make sure I had a decent spot and it turned out to be fairly decent.  I was able to catch this RV-8 as it was doing touch and goes at the airport.

The RV-8 is a homebuilt aircraft that can be used for stunt flying.  It was first introduced in 1995 and a little over 1600 have been built.

I think this particular one comes out of Monroe.

This is a 737 but I'm not sure who it belongs to.  I'm pretty sure it is used for hauling freight.

The RV-8 again.

This is a Piper Archer that belongs to flight school that operates out of Willow Run.  I think it is the school that now handles the Eastern Michigan flight program.

As I was looking at Flight Radar to see if the Yankee Lady had a flight plan, I saw that this plane would be taking off around the same time.

It is a 727 belonging to USA Jet.  It was heading down to Laredo, TX.  I presume it is delivering parts.

A Diamond DA-20.

The Piper Archer again.

The moment that I was waiting for, the Yankee Lady taking off from Willow Run for the last time.  It was a pretty nice day for it.

The Yankee Air Force bought her in 1985 for $250,000.  After some test hops, she was brought from Mesa, Arizona to Ypsilanti, MI.

When the museum got her to Ypsilanti, they found that they need to do alot of work to restore her to her condition in World War II.

It took nine years to do that and her first post-restoration flight took place in 1995.

She has been in a movie and took part in the dedication of the Memphis Belle at the US Air Force museum.

Last year, there was a directive from the FAA that kept her grounded.  The Yankee Air Museum had to some work on her wing spar to make her compliant.

They had to do some other work on her this year.

In June, they announced that she was sold to a person in California.

It was announced kind of clumsily and caused a bit of uproar.

So now she is on her way to California where she will be taken apart and shipped to New Zealand where she will be completely restored.  Her purchase price was 15 million.

As I said, they kind of fumbled the announcement of her sale.  Initially reading between the lines, it sounded like the museum could be in some financial trouble.  There were other people that explained it better.  Namely, that she was getting expensive to maintain and it would come down to saving her or doing other things.  They decided on other things.

To put it in perspective, I believe the cost of spar thing was close to a million dollars.  It costs close to 300,000 to replace her engines.  I'm not sure on costs of other parts but I imagine they are not cheap.  I would hate to see them keep her and then have to scrap her later because of lack of funding.  Of the planes in their collection, the B-17 was probably the most valuable.

So I hope she has a good home and may come around some time in the future.
 

One More Chance to Catch the Yankee Lady

 I heard the B-17 flying around after work, so I decided to head to Willow Run again to catch her again.  I am hoping that I will be able to catch her as she takes her final flight out of Ypsilanti tomorrow but we will see.

I was barely able to catch her, she was in her approach as I was nearing the airport.  I didn't have time to change lens but it seems that worked out fine for me, as I am pretty happy with this shot.

I waited around a little bit to see if she was going to do another circuit, but that turned out not to be.  I saw this citation coming in.

Farewell to the Yankee Lady

 As I was perusing Facebook, I saw a post the Yankee Lady was going up.  In this post, it was mentioned that she would be on her way to her new home tomorrow.  Not being sure if I would be able to catch her tomorrow, I headed over to Willow Run to catch her.

Fortunately, she circled around the field again because I was able to catch her.  Unfortunately, my pictures are the greatest.  Hopefully I can get better pictures tomorrow.

Earlier in the summer, I found out that they sold her to a group in California.  I didn't see her go up much over the summer and I found out that they were doing some work on her.

I think this was a check ride before she has to make her hop to California.

When I found out that they were selling her, I was upset but then I read about the financial realities they are facing.  I think her last maintenance was over a million dollars.  I don't think it's going to get any cheaper to keep her flying.  They were able to get a fairly generous offer her for.  So I can understand why they took it.  I'm just not happy that I wont see a B-17 flying around anymore.

Welcoming the Yankee Lady Back

 As I was putzing around on the computer before going out, I heard the distinctive sound of an old aircraft.  So I looked on Flight Radar and it turned out that it was the Yankee Air Force's B-25 heading out somewhere.  I figured it was heading out to do the flight experience.  So I checked flight radar at about the time it would be returning and I saw that the Yankee Lady was returning from Osh Kosh.  I decided to go out and catch her.

But that wasn't what I was welcoming her back from.

A couple of months ago, I saw a post on the Yankee Air Museum's Facebook page that they were cancelling the Yankee Lady appearances indefinitely.  After some poking around, I found out that they had to send her out for an inspection.

It turns out that it was an inspection that was happening because of an airworthiness concern coming down from the FAA.  Apparently, they are finding that the wing spars of old warbirds are wearing out sooner than expected.  So the Yankee Lady had to get a special test.

I saw that she was out again a couple of weeks ago.  Unfortunately, I couldn't catch her because I was at work.  Nor was I able to catch her as she headed out to Osh Kosh.

Needless to say, I was happy to see her today.  The clouds made for a nice picture taking opportunity.

Especially since the sun was out too.

I'm glad that they fixed whatever they needed to fix.

Hopefully I will see her at the air show in a couple of weeks.

I like this shot.

I was sticking around because I thought that maybe I would catch the B-25 as it was coming back.

Instead I caught this Piper Archer III.

I waited for a bit and then I saw that Hairless Joe was returning.

Hairless Joe used to be Yankee Doodle Dandy before they repainted her.

I guess they wanted her green.  I still prefer the old colors.

She is a C-47/DC-3.

It's amazing that these aircraft are still flying.

In fact, I think there are a few DC-3s that are used in cargo service.

One more shot of her.

The Piper Archer III came back just before I headed out.

Blue Angels Practice Day - Friday

 I took yesterday off in order to get some better shots of the Blue Angels as they were practicing.  It was a pretty nice day for it except that it was a little on the warm side.  It was pretty cool and the fact that it was free was even better.

This was a Beechcraft Model 18 in US Navy colors.  The Model 18 first flew in 1937 and over 9000 were built.  In the Navy it was known as an SNJ-2 Kansan and was used to train navigators and bombardiers.  

A Gulfstream III taking off.  This was not part of the air show.

Always happy to see the Yankee Lady.

Another angle of her.

This is a CH-53 Sea Stallion built by Sikorsky.  This may be the first time I've seen one of these in flight.  I've seen a few as static displays.

It is a heavy lift helicopter and came because of a need for heavy lift helicopters.

It first flew in 1966 and has seen service in all branches.

The Michigan Survival Flight Helicopter.

The Blue Angels C-130 called Fat Albert on its takeoff roll.

Banking.

During one of its passes.

I think this would have been a photo pass if I were in the crowd area.

This was pretty cool.

As it was turning.

I like this shot.

As it was landing.

The Blue Angels as they were taxiing.

Blue Angels 3 and 4.

The two opposing solo Blue Angels.

I kind of like this shot even though it was through the fence.

Fat Albert after landing.

The Blue Angels getting ready.

The diamond formation.

They break.

On a pass.

One of the solos as it gets into a high speed pass.

The other solo.

THe diamond again.

I think they were doing stuff they wouldn't do in show because I saw a few things repeated.

I think they also use the opportunity to get an idea what the lighting would be like.

I liked the shot I got at Traverse City better.

The diamond in landing configuration.

This was cool.

One of the breaks.

I forget what this formation was called.

Echelon formation.

Climbing.

Another break.

And another.

A pass.

The two opposing solos passing.

I kind of like this shot.

Another diamond.

With the humidity, the smoke lingered at spots.

The delta formation.

Anotehr break.

And the planes peel off as they get ready to land.