A SAD EVENT...

 Heidy-Ho, Blogging Buddies!!

Turkey Day is arriving (or it may be here when you get this!).  Hope yours is fabulous!

I am posting this because it is something that occurred that never entered my mind.  We all live day-by-day without thinking about sad things that are completely unexpected or anticipated.  Yes... we do understand things will eventually happen to those we know and love.  But that is life on this planet.

Brief beginning: I have always loved airplanes. The Man (spousal-unit) has, too.  He worked on C-130s in the Air Force, got his pilot's license in the 1980s, became an A&P/IA (Airframe & Powerplant/Inspection Authorized Mechanic), and bought a private plane in 2013.  My favorite plane has always been the B-17 Bomber.  Don't ask me why.  I couldn't really tell you.  But I remember seeing them at airshows back in the '70s and '80s and really loving them.

In 2012, we went to the Jasper, TX airshow.  A B-17 was there from the Commemorative Air Force.  They were allowing rides and The Man surprised me with a ticket for me to go!!  I was SOOO excited!  After some things occurred, an additional space was available... so I got HIM a ticket to go with me!!  Won't give you a ton of details about the flight... but some pics for you to get a bit of the feeling I had:

"Texas Raiders" B-17 on the taxiway

Bomb Bays leading from center to Cockpit

First Engine fired up!!!  WooHoo!!!

Taken Off!!

I am in Heaven...

Our "Loadmaster"... who was a sweetheart!

We could go to the cockpit!!!  Amazing!!!

Flying over Lake Sam Rayburn

Finally had to land and exit the plane...

The pilot deserved my love...

So, I'm sure you don't understand why I call this "A Sad Event."  The sadness wasn't in 2012.  It was 11/12/2022.  The Texas Raiders B-17, one of only five B-17s remaining, crashed with another WWII plane at the Wings Over Dallas airshow for Veterans Day.  The crews were all killed.

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2022/11/12/plane-crash-reported-during-air-show-at-dallas-executive-airport/ 

The crew members.

https://commemorativeairforce.org/news/names-of-the-aircrew-from-texas-raiders-and-the-kingcobra

I was devastated... for the crew members and their families... for the B-17... for a very sad ending to my very fabulous memory.

Hope you never have a fabulous memory that ends sadly... but I will say I am happier to have obtained it than to never have done so.  I do still love having gotten to fly in a B-17.

Until next post...