Look Up

 I was pleased to see that Sunday's paper contained a glossy insert announcing that the Kirland AFB airshow was returning to Albuquerque after a six year absence.

Pentax Spotmatic

Looking back through my collection of aircraft photos the only one I can find from Kirtland dates back to 2011.  I recall being a bit put off by the huge crowd of people at that one.  I'm planning on getting to this upcoming one, however, as there have been many fewer such opportunities in recent years.

Everyone in my family were all aviation enthusiasts, due mostly to my Uncle Jack's military flying career which took him through three wars, including being shot down in two of them.  When he came home to recover from wounds sustained in the crash of his DC-3 in Sicily he spent some time recuperating at Fort Lewis and then was given a job ferrying planes around the country.  One of my earliest memories is seeing the whole family run outside when Jack would fly over our West Seattle home and waggle his wings at us on the way somewhere in a Black Widow or a Lockheed Lightning.

Between wars Jack often worked as a flight instructor and he gave flying lessons to my grandfather, my mother and my stepfather.  I got to spend a lot of time in the air with him as well, though without making it to a flying license.  Most of our flights together were in float planes that got us into remote Cascade lakes.  He did nearly always give me a chance to steer on those trips, including this one in an Aeronca.  I think that shot was made shortly before the Korean War where Jack flew Sabre Jets.

Jack's military career came to an end in Vietnam when the Viet Cong brought down his Medevac chopper.  As in Sicily he managed to get everyone to the ground alive, but his right leg was badly injured.  That story along with a summary of his whole flying history is nicely told on the Warhawk Museum webite.