Seattle A Saturday Historic Air Show
We live near the Boeing Factory in Everett north of Seattle. From time to time I have toured the place looking at their planes under construction. The strangest recent discovery was that they still make 747s there. But the big newcomer is the 787 and the 7879 which starred in the 2014 Farnborough commercial Air Show. Almost every day we drive past the Boeing Air Field strewn around with gleaming new planes just out of the paint hangar.
BUT I have heard through the grape vine that a Spitfire will be flying today. I have to see this so we drive around the huge area which Boeing leases from Snohomish County until we see a sign advertising some type of exhibition. We follow directions until we find ourselves in a car park for this exhibition.
On one side of the car park we see some enthusiastic volunteers supervising shuttle buses to the exhibition. They assure me that there will certainly be a Spitfire flying today so we board the bus.
Now we meet our first group of people obsessed with old aircraft. When they hear that I am English, one of them tells me, “You are not allowed to shed any tears when you see the Spitfire!” I reply that I am certainly NOT going to comply with THAT order!
We arrive at the line for the ticket office and now we are surrounded by old plane enthusiasts. They know EVERYTHING about planes. I ask a few silly questions and receive very detailed replies. Google or Wikipedia have nothing on these people!
The first sound we hear is a World War 2 style big band playing tunes I know very well. They have a full complement of trombones and trumpets and make a good sound although I am puzzled about the fact that they have a baritone and five other saxes whereas I have only played in big bands with five saxes.
Nearby is an anti-aircraft gun which insists on firing now and then. The commentator warns everybody to cover their ears but it doesn’t stop the annoyance. Then there’s a tank which dashes around showing how manoeuvrable it is. We also see the great little Jeep and other miscellaneous WW2 stuff.
The exhibition seems to assume that, if you are interested in fighter planes and bombers, you MUST be interested in anything else that kills people. The permanent exhibition here includes a good collection of planes and even has a V2 rocket designed by Von Braun who eventually helped get Americans to the moon. But I can remember the devastation that this rocket and land mines did to London towards the end of WW2.
I discover that we can now actually view the planes that are to fly later. The flying collection includes a couple of spotter planes, a larger number of fighters and a good selection of bombers. We look at each plane in turn making sure that we have one of those knowledgable aircraft enthusiasts with us to explain exactly how many were made, how many versions there were, the power of the engines, their range, in which theatre of war they operated, . . . . . . . the details they give us are endlessly fascinating. You learn a lot standing next to people like that.
Of course, one of the fighters is the Spitfire. I gaze at that little plane and shed not a tear. I just marvel at the young people who jumped into them to defeat the might of the Nazi onslaught. I think of the designer R J Mitchell and the women who flew the planes to the units who used them. But for the airmen who gave their lives in each of these planes we say . . . . .
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
. .. . . . . . .and we can watch the film about Mitchell again at . .
Eventually we filter out through the hundreds lining up to buy wurst, hamburgers and some delicious Mexican food to the Air Field. I fancy that many of the people who have reserved the best places are already sunburnt on this unusually hot day – for Seattle anyway!
There are two runways in front of us. The barriers are a few feet from Boeing’s main runway. On the other side of the main runway is the runway which the smaller planes use and from which the exhibition planes will take off and land.
We all take our places except for the people waiting for their wurst, hamburgers and their delicious Mexican food. Even during the show itself the lines seem ridiculously long – that food must be GOOD!!! . We all wait for the show with bated breath.
But then comes a surprise. The Dream Lifter descends from the East of the airport and lands directly on the main runway just a few feet from us. This is a very peculiar 747 adapted to transport bits of outsourced 787 to Boeing for assembly.
Then comes another surprise. The latest 787 takes off into the East for a proving flight. (Boeing engineers tell me that they simply challenge each command in the cockpit trying to make the aircraft fail in some respect. They SAY they enjoy doing this but I find that hard to believe!) I even met a Boeing Test Pilot who told me he had only flown passenger jets around Whidbey Island every day and had never flown anywhere else!!! I found it difficult to believe that!!!
Being SO close to these aircraft taking off and landing is the highlight of my day! Seeing the weird DreamLifter then that beautiful 787 is an extraordinary experience.
But back at the ranch the pair of aircraft being demonstrated first taxi down the main runway then turn to starboard twice and take off from the far runway. Each aircraft would do its thing then both would fly down the main runway in close formation as a sort of finale. They then land and slowly proceed back up the runway waving at us, acknowledging our adoration. This goes on all afternoon while we listen to the comments of our neighbours who, as usual, know so much more than we need to know about the planes.
Many of the planes swoop down to fly just over our heads. On the other hand, some others tend to stay high well out of harm’s way. Our knowledgable neighbours tell us that these higher planes are owned by Paul Allen who gives explicit instructions to his pilots to stay high during air shows like this.
Last of all comes the Spitfire accompanied by a propellor Messerschmitt. The Spitfire’s climb at the end of the runway reminds me of that display in the film “The First of the Few” made with very limited resources in 1942. We leave with a happy crowd of aircraft enthusiasts. “We come every year!”, they tell us.
I’m glad that there are people here who care about these old planes. We need to preserve the artefacts of our history and touch them from time to time. We need to remind ourselves that it really happened. Perhaps that may help us deal with things that are still happening?
Keith of Ninewells 