Harvard flight- sometimes impulse decisions are awesome.

 Saturdays in the summer are chock full of possibilities. Today the obvious first stop was the Port Dover Market for cinnamon buns then the options included watching the Interclub boats come in from Erie, going to a mural festival in Simcoe, a Strawberry festival (offering free strawberries and ice cream) out side of Simcoe and the Harvard association Open House at the Tillsonburg Airport. Rick mentioned that last one but wasn't pushing it - he had been before, we had gone to the museum there together, before. But I suspected it was his preference and its a nice drive, not that far and they are cool planes, so I supported that option and there were no objections.

As we walked in, Rick asked how much the flights were and if any were available today. 

 

Flights were $250 (half the price he had been considering paying at the Hamilton Aviation Museum) and lots of availability. Next thing I knew he was signing up (He never does anything on impulse!) Then he said "Are you going to do it?" I had never even thought about it, But then I thought "Why not? It's not something I will ever have the chance to do again" and just went for it. 

Sign a waiver, pay, get given closed toed shoes and there was no wait time, straight out for the safety briefing.

It is explained that it is a risk, though the pilots are well trained and the planes are well maintained. You are flying on a Transport Canada Exemption (as really both people in the plane should know how to land it) so you have to prove you could exit the plane in 20 seconds. You clamber in and are shown how to buckle the seat belt and close the canopy. Then you are timed to see if you can get out in the designated time. (I took 15seconds, Rick tells me he took 12, show off!)

Rick got his briefing ahead of me

 

and left slightly ahead.

It's not a very big space, canopy around you, instruments in front and pedals on the floor that you don't touch (the pilot is moving them). The headset allows you to hear from and talk to the pilot.

Ground crew gesture you out and the noise really kicks up.

You can hear pilots around informing that they are coming in to land, or touch and go and can hear your own pilot communicating his intentions.

We pulled off the runway to let another plane land.

You could feel the tail lift and the noise increased as we took off.

Then we were up and looking down over the agricultural surrounds of Tillsonburg. I looked down at one point and saw a Mennonite farmer cutting hay behind his 2 horses.

It was a 10 or 15 minute flight but we flew over Tillsonburg and the surrounding countryside. At one point Allan (the pilot) asked if I would like to try some maneuvers and I replied "Sure". He then put it into a couple of really tight banking turns and I told him that was enough because of the G-force. On the ground he said we had done about 2 to 2.5 Gs. ( Rick did more maneuvers and experienced 4Gs) 

I opened the canopy at one point but found it too noisy and windy to be pleasurable and closed it again. I don't like the top down on a convertible and this is way more intense.

We came back to the airport and Allan broadcast to the other planes in the area, our intention to land. There is no traffic control here so you just let everyone else know what you plan.

We circled around and came in

for a nice gentle landing and then taxied back to our spot.

Rick had landed just before me so took some pictures.

With Allan after I had clambered all the way out (took longer than 20 seconds)

Rick had his pilots license but its now lapsed. However his pilot let him take the controls and bring it back to the airport. They also did some aerobatics ie a "wing over". He also chatted with Allan afterwards.

One of the things he told us was that every Harvard has a penny in the engine designating the year it was made.

I was in a plane built in 1941. 

Invigorated and with the adrenaline still pumping

we went to the airport cafe and had a grilled cheese

while watching the comings

and goings

of the Harvards

Not something I would ever have thought that I would want to do. But I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

The Harvard is probably the best known and most successful training aircraft of World War II. As part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) during the war, it helped train more than 130,000 Canadian and Allied Forces aircrew to become pilots, gunners, navigators and more. Referred to as both the “pilot maker” and “Yellow Peril”, the Harvard was a transitional aircraft. Pilots earned their wings on the Fleet Finch, de Havilland Tiger Moth and Fleet Cornell before flying the Harvard, and progressing to single-engine fighters such as the Hurricane, Spitfire and Mustang. from Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association website.

On their website I learned that my plane was actually  made in California and snuck into Canada and served out west and in Kingston. Ricks was made in Canada and did most of its training service out west.

End of June garden update.

 I can never remember what's in flower at what point in the summer. So when I decided to play with the macro setting on my camera I took pictures of what is in flower right now.

My Pansies have been going strong since mid April. I expect them to droop soon, when we get some summer heat.

 

Most of the Iris varieties have been and gone but there a couple of varieties that are still flowering or just into bud.

The blue Baptista (False Indigo) has finished but the yellow is still in flower.

Bee Balm have just opened.

I'm not sure what this is. It looks like it could be a Loosestrife but it is not Gooseneck. I had that once and it is very aggressive/invasive.

I know this as Evening Primsose but the other day someone called it a Sundrop. Quick Google search says both names are correct and that it is native to North America.

Coreopsis.

Some of my daisies I have grown from gifted seeds. I think this was called Crazy Daisy.

This is a Shasta and I have tons of them. They have just started to bloom and will last quite a while.

The Day Lilies have just started. I have red, yellow and gold as well as tons of the orange Ditch Lilies.

No idea what this is. It is a couple of feet tall and I purchased it at Northland Nursery.

I believe this is a Mock Orange shrub and it has been flowering for a couple of weeks. It is a few years old and this is the best showing so far. Either it has matured or, like so much in the garden, it has loved this cool, wet spring.

My camera has a very difficult time getting focused on stems of small flowers

especially if they a moving a bit in the breeze. Coral Bells.

A Saturday walk around Silver Lake resulted in sightings of 

turtles

 

and

a Heron.

Arbor Dogs

The Arbor, famous in Port Dover for their Hot Dogs and Golden Glow, are the sponsors for the Annual Wiener Dog Races, run by the Port Dover Museum. I had been once before and found it to be a lot of fun. This time I shared the experience with Rick.

We started the day by dropping off donations to PDThrifts and then, as we were too early for the races, had a coffee at the pier while watching the boats and wildlife.

 

There's a small patch of grass beside the museum and the event takes place there.

Owners registered their dogs for the costume competition, races or (most) for both.

Just lying on a picnic table trying to pretend she wasn't dressed as a "disco dinosaur".

Spike wouldn't keep his sunglasses (to go with the Hawaiian costume) on."Spike", because his human Dad refused to own a dog with a "fru fru" name.

Although its billed as an event for Dachshunds, all shapes, breeds, sizes of dogs are accepted. Its a very inclusive event.

However there are lots of Wiener dogs - short haired, long haired, miniature, wire haired.....

This is Dewey, who ultimately won the costume contest in his sailors outfit. His handler wore a matching shirt.

Most were on very good behaviour, aided by the liberal distribution of treats.

This was my favorite 

and his handler, a young girl, was also dressed as a cheerleader.

While the results were tallied they had a costume parade along the pier and then returned for the prize announcements.

A couple of German Shepherds cooled off in the river, 

boats went buy,

and we were introduced to Maple, a Nova Scotia Duck Trolling Retriever, whose claim to fame was that he, as a puppy, was featured on a Purina Puppy Chow bag.

The inflatables raced,

the Coast Guard came in

and then it was time

for the races.

4 or 5 dogs in each heat, with one person to let them go and another, at the finish line, calling them.

Hilarious chaos, as some understood and others wouldn't start or turned back half way or were more interested in the other dogs or just stopped not going forward or back!

After the overall winning wiener had been declared then the other breeds got to get in on the fun too.

All in all, great fun and Rick and I finished it off by walking over to the beach and having an ice cream for lunch.