Another Great Day at Lubbock Aero

Today I look at the Lubbock Avalanche Journal online and discover this article. We have already blogged about our wonderful adventures at Lubbock Aero, such as here (with pictures) and here. This is also the airport Nannie flew out of. So in keeping with our plane theme, I decide to pick up Luke from school and head on out to the Lubbock Aero (Just in case you ever want to visit them. They seem to be very friendly people.)

The planes are owned by The Collings Foundation, which if you look at their web site, you will discover they own lots of planes and cars. They are basically a flying museum, heading out to about 125 locations a year and offering plane rides for people to help support their upkeep and flying costs. Not just any plane ride, mind you. Planes like these...


This is a good thing and a bad thing. It is good because I am sure there are plenty of people in the world who love flying on these planes. (There were plenty of people in Lubbock who enjoyed a ride on one of these planes!) This is a bad thing because Luke will not be one of them. At the time, I thought is cost $3,000 a person for a flight. That is actually the cost for an hour lesson in the P-51. We could have gotten by with just $425 per person. That's still too much. (Although I won't say I wouldn't have considered it for a half-second!)

I have a collection of pictures here on Flickr, but here are a couple to enjoy now.


This is the Ball Turret on the B-17, "Nine-O-Nine." You have to be very, very small to ride in this thing. And very, very stupid (As evidenced here.) Here is a link about the Nine-O-Nine and another here. The original "Nine-O-Nine" was scrapped, but appeared in the painting "Full House - Aces High."


I believe this is officially called the Waist Gunner on the B-24, "Witchcraft". Pretty cool wall of honor -- it's on the side of the plane to Luke's left. It actually takes up the entire side. The paint schemes are not from the original planes, but are done to honor previous planes. Here is an article from the the Collings Foundation about renaming the B-24 "Witchcraft" and a link about the original plane.


This is the nose of the B-25, "Tondelayo." Notice there are no close-ups of the nose art of this aircraft. There is a reason for that (link appropriate for work and other locations and to be viewed by most everyone).

All in all, it was a fun time. We came home, started the grill, and Luke was bumming about not getting to ride or watch the planes fly off, when lo-and-behold, the B-24 flew by overhead. We later saw the B-17. Not what you usually expect to see flying around Lubbock, Texas.