Planes and stuff

Esta semana não havia nenhum registo que me estivesse a "piscar o olho" para foto da semana mas, ontem ontem dei de caras com umas fantásticas fotos de PBY Catalina, e lembrei-me deste velho registo, que fiz há já alguns anos, de um destes aparelhos, do Ejército del Aire, no Museu de Cuatro Vientos, nos arredores de Madrid. Na altura, o aparelho já estava com um ar um tanto quanto maltratado, como é natural, num aparelho exposto no exterior, à mercê dos elementos. Entretanto, parece que em 2016 foi concluído um restauro no mesmo, após quase um ano de trabalhos (notícia e historial, AQUI )

Esta semana, um companheiro destas andanças do spotting e aviação que se dedica ao desenho de perfis (bastante bons, por sinal), pedia informações acerca dos De Havilland DH-89A Dragon Rapide da CTA - Companhia de Transportes Aéreos, pelo que lembrei-me de ver o que tinha deste tipo de aparelho... Não são muitas nem nada de muito especial mas, como nunca tinha publicado nada deste aparelho, cá vão 3 registos, obtidos em Cuatro Vientos, Madrid e no Museu do Ar, em Sintra. Começando pelo Português, no Museu do Ar, o 2307 G-ACYR da Olley Air Service, em Cuatro Vientos ainda em Cuatro Vientos, um espanhol, de registo 40-1  Já agora, relativamente à CTA, fica o link para um blog bem interessante com alguns registos e história da mesma, AQUI

Apesar do título em inglês, não se preocupem que desta vez não andarei para aqui a assassinar o idioma de Shakespeare... As recentes notícias da falência da SAAB lembraram-me de partilhar um par de fotos de duas das antigas glorias deste fabricante, no que toca à indústria aeronáutica. (Aliás, nas notícias onde pesquisei, apenas encontrei referência à falência das empresas do grupo ligadas à industria automóvel...ou procurei mal ou a parte aeronáutica deverá manter-se...eventualmente quem poderá esclarecer algo mais sobre este assunto será o "tovarich" Pagoda...) De qualquer forma, o facto de não serem aviões propriamente muito comuns ou habituais pelas nossas bandas,  mais habituados a receber a sucata...errh..indústria aeronáutica de ponta norte-americana, é mais uma razão para a partilha destas fotos de um par de aviões da Força Aérea Sueca (Flygvapnet) 32543 - Saab J-32 E Lansen. Apesar de ser um avião que já conhecia, nunca tinha visto grandes referências ao me...

The Canadair allways felt like a special plane for several reasons...its design, the fact of beeing an amphibian, its  mission and finally the fact that I had never seen any here before.... The first time I had the oportunity to photograph one of these was last year, an old CL-215 at Museu del Air, in Madrid. It was really nice but it was missing the vibrance and power of a living plane... Lets of hope that changes next week when, hopefully, there will be an oportunity to shoot a "living one" around here... wheter its a CL-215 or a 415...

Today is a General Strike day at Portugal. This one was taken in LEVS - Museu del Aire, Madrid last easter but, I guess it's quite descriptive of what's happening today in Portuguese airports... In Madeira there will be hapenning only 2 flights today: 1 to/from Porto Santo and another to/from Lisbon as the minimal assured service....

Today we had a couple of flights from a French Navy Alouette. Unfortunatelly, didn't get any of them... This year we've had quite some Alouette traffic at LPMA due to the Portuguese Air Force Celebrations but the French Navy would allways be a nice catch....too bad... As I've already shared a few pics of the PoAF Alouettes at LPMA, this is a good oportunity to share a couple of pics from a Spanish one at LEVS - Madrid - Cuatro Vientos Air Museum ...

Just saw a vídeo of a display made by a German Air Force F-4 that was pretty nice! Check it HERE The Phantom was allways a plane that filled my imagination, specially due to its roll in Vietname. It was one big and beautifull plane and those twin engines roaring in the air just made it more beautifull. Unfortunatelly never had the oportunity to be near one of them. I still would like to see one of them flying live but for now, it was really nice to be near a couple of them last easter vacations (actually it was in easter day....beats going to church, for sure...)

Carrying on with the spirit of this week's photo, it's a good time to share a couple of pics of another old bird from Museu del Aire. Aerofenix is also restoring to flight state one of these birds, an ex-PoAF T- 6G (1635) . This type has also some special meaning to me, specially due to its connection to one of my first "mentors" regarding aviation: Capt. João Vidal, that flew these at Portuguese colonial wars and had a special interest in it.

There are some planes that allways have been on a special place of my imagination since I can remember. Many of them I'm pretty sure I'll only see them in photographs or videos... But very recently I had the oportunity to be near some of those beauties...some (the protected ones) were looking great, some (the ones on the outside...) weren't looking that good but, it was still a great oportunity to finally be side by side and apreciate the details on those old birds.... I'll be sharing from time to time some pics. For today, the Catalina... Allways had an interest in hidros and the Catalina has a pretty amazing look, and some great stories, since the times of WWII....