2018 Airshow at Spirit Airport

It was a chilly, gloomy Sunday morning (14 October) when I drove to Spirit of St. Louis Airport (https://www.spiritairport.com/) for this year's Spirit of St. Louis Airshow and STEM Expo (http://spirit-airshow.com/). I went there primarily to help staff the Missouri Aviation Historical Society (https://moavhist.org/) information booth, which was beside the static aircraft ramp. Jim Means and I staffed the booth, but we had few visitors. This was likely due to the reduced attendance that day compared to the day before. We thought the weather was to blame for that. Still, it was good to represent our group at this show.

I was able to get out and look at the aircraft on the ramp. These included several Boeing (http://www.boeing.com/) F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters; this year marks the 40th anniversary of the Hornet's first flight. Several Boeing F-15 Eagles, a CV-22 Osprey, a P-8 Poseidon, and other current aircraft were on display. Older aircraft present included the B-25 Mitchell, TBM Avenger, and L-3 from the Missouri Wing of the Commemorative Air Force (http://cafmo.org/). Also there was the B-29 Superfortress "Doc" (https://www.b29doc.com/), one of only two flyable B-29s in the world.

I caught the air displays, which included several of those aircraft mentioned, although the clouds made the aircraft fly lower than normal. A B-52 Stratofortress made a pass in front of the crowd. I caught the flight by the Royal Canadian Air Force's CF-18 Demo Team (http://rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/en/cf-18-demo-team/index.page). This aircraft's scheme celebrates the 60th anniversary of the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) (http://www.norad.mil/). It was a most spirited display by the CF-18's pilot, helped by the enthusiastic narration.

I left Spirit Airport soon after that demo to head for home. The air show returns to Spirit Airport on 7-8 September 2019, with the US Navy's Blue Angels (https://www.blueangels.navy.mil/) as the featured attraction.

Later.

Scale Modeling, a Friend in Town, and Aerospace History

After a rather quiet weekend and a busy start of the work week, I was at Calvary Presbyterian Church (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/) this past Tuesday night (21 August) for the IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) (https://www.facebook.com/IPMSGateway/) meeting. Besides helping set up the Fellowship Hall for the meeting and taking down the meeting minutes, I was drafted to help run the contest judging seminar. Our contest director, Marion Morris, could not make the meeting due to a family emergency, so Bill Wagner and I gave the talk about what judges should look for in contest models. We used a few models of our own and others loaned to us in making our presentation. This seminar was done because we will need as many judges as possible for our Invitational on 8 September.

Off work the next day, I met up in mid-morning with my Saint Louis University (http://www.slu.edu/) classmate and friend Stacy Alcorn-Davenport. She was visiting family and friends here from her home in England. We last met four years ago when she was in town for a visit. It was great seeing Stacy at Saint Louis Bread Co. (https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/home.html) in Mehlville. Over coffee, we caught up on things in our lives. It was great talking with Stacy and was so happy to see her, as she was to see and talk with me.

After a brief stop home, I was off again. (My mom was hosting her monthly bunco get together that afternoon.) I drove up to visit the James S. McDonnell Prologue Room (http://www.boeing.com/company/tours/prologue-room.page) at Boeing's St. Louis Headquarters near St. Louis Lambert International Airport. I had not been to this museum since before Boeing acquired McDonnell Douglas in 1997. The Prologue Room tells the story of Boeing and its component companies--Douglas, Hughes, North American, McDonnell, Piasecki, Vertol, McDonnell Douglas, and Rockwell--through models, pictures, and memorabilia. Full size engineering mock ups of the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft, which McDonnell built during the 1960s, were also on display. It was very nice to visit this museum, which is open to the general public during June, July, and August, and to organized groups throughout the year.

I definitely recommend this place to aerospace history buffs and to educational groups.

Later.