When Burl and Mary Burlingame were visiting last summer, I took them by the old Curtiss-Wright Hangar at Owens Field. Burl being a professional aviation historian, I thought he’d take an interest in the hangar’s rusty glory, having stood there since 1929. It wasn’t quite as impressive as what he showed us in Hawaii, but it was something.
But today, on the way to watch grandchildren play soccer, I noticed that the hangar had all new windows, and a new paint job, and (I think) a new roof.
Soon it will be a brewery, and we can all go and enjoy it up close and personal — although we might have to wait awhile before Burl is back this way so he can go with us…
The way it looked back when Burl saw it. (This is the opposite side.)
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Pretty cool project. My grandkids also play at Owens Field. I’ll check it out next week.
It’s probably bad form to hijack a post but this one slipped past me somehow:
SCANA, Santee Cooper to reassess reactors after Westinghouse bankruptcy
http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article141420014.html
I have a lot to say about this but I’ll wait for an open post.
Hey hey! Looking good. The details are being preserved, it seems (do you have a historical-buildings reconstruction guidelines there?) like the ball pinnacles atop the corner posts, and the counterbalanced door pockets. This type of vernacular architecture was created in an era when municipalities were proud of their public structures. By the full rubble dumpster out front, looks like work goes on.
It’s a challenging project, preserving the historic nature of the building (part of the funding comes from tax breaks available only if specific historic preservation guidelines are adhered to) while transforming the building into a restaurant – brewery. The project was slowed when some environmental issues were discovered that necessitated a voluntary clean-up agreement with DHEC.
The Rosewood Community loves this project, which is right next door to an urban farm, City Roots. Owens Field is a gem, with so many families using the park for soccer and other physical activities while my wife, dog and I use it for the trails in the urban forest. Three new baseball fields are nearly completed, one a “Miracle Field” specifically designed for children with handicaps. There is a new playground outside the field’s outfield fence with an “aircraft” theme. The grand opening of the Miracle Field is Saturday, May 20.
I saw them working on those baseball fields last weekend. Looks like they are just about ready to roll. This post also reminds me that I need to get some of my pictures up from the air show at McEntire. They put on a great show, had tons of static displays, and ran a very good program. I’ve been to plenty of airshows, and this one was very well done.
My favorite aircraft happened to be there as well: the F4U-4 Corsair. Sure, sure, the P-51 is everyone’s favorite war-bird, but I just love those inverted gull wings of the Corsair.
Is that the same Corsair that went down a few years ago?
Yeah. It crashed in 2002, killing Jim’s father. Jim restored the aircraft and flies it now.
I remember that plane very well !!! I went there that Saturday with my wife & youngest Daughter …It was getting near the end of the day and we stop at the Beautiful Corsair sitting there …It was nearing close to 5 pm …and the crowd was thinning …We talked with Jim’s Dad ( A Very Nice Man) ,he let my Daughter climb up on the plane and look inside the cockpit… Then she got down and we took a pictures of her leaning back against the plane & wing … Little did we know that plane & the very nice Man would be gone the following day …I told him Thank You for letting my Daughter up on his plane & told him how Beautiful the plane is….I love those ol WarBirds….The Corsair is one of my Favorites too….We heard that Sunday evening that the Corsair had crash & the Very Nice Man was killed in the crash …Me & my Daughter were very sad & shocked …We had just saw them just a short while a go ..it was a big lesson to my young Daughter on how quick you could leave this earth …We got the pictures developed and she had me get the one of her beside the Corsair blown up to an 8x 10 and frame …she still has it today and it means a lot to her ..she thinks of the very nice Man and the ol Corsair …Glad to her he Son restored the plane …I know his Dad would love that too…Wish he was here too to se it …Y’all take care & God Bless to everyone …Take It Easy ….Ol Sgt.Love
You like the Corsair because it’s a gut bustin’, mother-lovin’ Navy plane. Me, too. Whistling Death.
But the P-51 was definitely the hot rod of the war, in terms of looks. It was like the Corvette of fighter planes. Or, if you will, the Mustang.
Of course, looks can be deceiving. I used to think, going by looks, that the Me-109 was the later, more modern plane compared to the Focke-Wulf 190. I was going totally by looks. The Messerschmitt was just so sleek, so streamlined, while the 190 looked clunky with that big ol’ round cowling (rather like the Corsairs, come to think of it) and generally thickset appearance. A Dutch-built, slab-sided bugger if ever I saw one.
But I was wrong…
There is no such thing as an “Me-109”. Common mistake. It’s Bf 109. It first flew in 1935 before the company name officially became Messerschmitt. The 109 along with the Spitfire which flew a year later these two planes were in service in improved versions throughout the war.
I’ll take a P-38 Lightning over both.
Never seen one at an air show, even as a static display. Wonder if many survived the war.
Burl?
The P-38 was a fave for model-builders when I was a kid, mainly because it was so funky-looking with that double fuselage.
But not only have I never seen one, but they played a smaller role in popular culture. I think movie makers thought it cooler to put their stars in more normal-looking planes.
The one pop-culture reference I can recall was that Frank Sinatra’s character was shot down in one in “Von Ryan’s Express”…
Speaking of funky. Did you ever see a double-fuselage P-51? It’s like they built it on a dare or something. It even had two cockpits! The P-38 was way more conventional-looking than this.
Looks like a great renovation! Happy someone with a real plan is involved in this now.
On the flip side, love the industrial – style appropriate – windows; though hate the out of place side door. Ruins the feel of the facade right there…
Both the Spit and the 109 originally designed as racers.
The 190 fools you because it has an inline engine with an annular radiator.
Brad — check out the ultimate expression of the 190 series, the TA -152.
Here’s what Burl was referring to. Yes, that’s way sleeker-looking, although still not as much so as the earlier 109…
I think the early A model had a radial engine, hence the cowling. Late in the war the D had the inverted V which greatly improved its performance at altitude.
Here’s something you wing-nuts (get it?) might find interesting. During the war, Sawyer’s Viewmaster made 3D reels for training military personnel in the identification of aircraft. There were study reels which would show the same aircraft in 7 different ranges and elevations, and there were test reels which would show 7 different aircraft at various ranges and elevations. Here’s a gallery of a few of them. Clicking on the images should make them larger.
(I’ve never shared a photo gallery like this. I hope it works.)
The link worked — although all I saw was the viewfinder discs, not the images on them.
Speaking of 3D… My son and I went to see “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” Sunday, which was enjoyable. Since a 3D showing was more convenient for our schedule, we chose that option. And my observation about the state of 3D technology is that it is occasionally very cool — sometimes an object on the screen will seem to be hovering right of the heads of the people in the couple of rows in front of me.
But to a great extent, I get a sort of Viewfinder effect — rather than seeing full 3D objects, I tend to see flat, two-dimensional objects that are at different distances from me. The effect is rather like a child’s pop-up book, with the figures having no more depth than thin cardboard. Rather than seeming more real, the effect is more artificial-looking than 2D.
But maybe that’s a quirk of the way my brain processes information. How about y’all?
3D doesn’t really do much for me. However, the leap from SD to HD was huge. Nowadays, when I occasionally see something that’s not in HD, I sort of squint my eyes and do a double-take. If it’s still not in HD after that, I promptly change the channel.
Yes, that was a more substantive improvement. Although I watch a lot of stuff still on my old RCA CRT (which shows every sign of continuing to work for the rest of my life) upstairs where I work out, and after a moment I’m no longer conscious of it being SD. I prefer HD, but I don’t turn away if it isn’t…
I knew you couldn’t see the images. Need the viewer for that.
I really like 3D in static formats. I like View-masters, its predessor Tru-Vue, and otherstereoscopic still images. I can only see those Magic Eye things by looking at them cross-eyed, which gives a sort of reverse 3D effect. And I like some 3D movies–animated films seems to do the best job with it (thinking of Up and Inside Out). I’ve seen a few live action movies in 3D–most recently Skull Island, which was disappointing, but for reasons not related to the 3D.
A great problem with 3D screenings is that it reduces the light level by about a third, making everything in the projection murky unless the projectionist gooses the wattage on the bulb. And many theaters don’t bother.
There are five P-38s still flying. It’s a rare bird.