AIRBORNE

Sunday afternoon, an aviation guru friend of mine and I took a drive to
Bealeton, VA, located 60 miles South West of Washington, DC to check
out a 1930s air show called The Flying Circus and what a delightful
circus it was! Melodies of the 20s blasting in the background, a
re-enacted 20s radio personality reporting the latest and the greatest
in the style of the time, old retired air force pilots relaxing under
their straw hats, reminiscing about the old war years, and kids with
balloons in one hand, melting ice cream in the other, fully mesmerized
by the site of the planes, helped recapturing the sights and sounds of
bygone days >>> Photos

The announcer - dressed in circus costume opens the show…A parachute
jumper glides down gracefully, while carrying the American Flag, a
singer serenading the scene with the national anthem…A wingwalker
thrills an amazed crowd as she waves to them while hanging from her
ankles below the biplane’s bottom wing, followed by a procession of
maneuvering planes of the era- Yellow birds, Stearmans, Piper Cub, Faux
Fokker, USS Akron, and Waco UPF7 named and adorned with paintings of
various ladies of the day - The Broad, Inverted Roberta, No Buck
Rogers, and so on.

Another air plane demonstrates the good old style of postal pick
up/drop off via a hanging rope tied to a hook, picking up mail never
landing on the ground. Further in the grass field, the ever
entertaining German Baron is being bombed by planes descending 50 feet
above the ground to drop bombs on him by hand, missing him by only few
feet to the joyful screams of the children.

Naturally and fully inspired by events of the afternoon, I decided to
make my experience even more surreal by riding in one of the planes.
There was only one minor problem – I am not too keen on the heights, in
fact scared to death of them! So I review the package again and go from
aerobatic to acrobatics to finally settling for good old standard ride;
plane of choice, Stearman Biplane open cockpit and my pilot, Chuck. A
friendly mustached guy, sun burnt face, the famous flamboyant white
scarf tied around his neck, brown leather pilot cap dressing his head,
topped with old school goggles, approaches me then leads me to his
plane.

Fully jubilant, yet nervous, I decide to make the best of the
terrifying experience before me. This meant getting the thorough feel
of the day for myself! So trying those Irooni charms as I could, I
convinced Chuck to lend me his gear, which he agreed to do considering
my newly found enthusiasm not to mention the number of people waiting
in line for their turn. As if this was not enough I nervously asked him
if he didn’t mind taking a few shots of me with my headdress. I think
the poor man found he had no choice but to indulge. Finally post the
photo-op, I settle in my seat, get strapped and Chuck takes off.

The take off was so smooth that I did not even realize we were already
in the air. So at about 60 Knots later, and in case by now you were
feeling a lil sorry for Chuck dealing with me, fully knowing this was
my first time on a bird this size, he decided to return the favors by
adding in a few of his own maneuvers to our session that was not part
of the package. To his pleasure, and my own shock and amazement,
somewhat acclimated with the open air by now, I fully enjoyed every bit
of this, feeling free and weightless in the sunny afternoon skies - the
churning of the stomach twenty minutes later however, begged to
disagree! So we descended back to the grounds, he planted a kiss on my
hand, thanking me for being such good sport as we bid farewell.

All in all, a fantastic and surreal day at the heart of the American
culture! If such offerings are available in your neck of the woods, I
strongly recommend attending as it is a fabulous way of reliving the
golden years of flight! Enjoy the photo essay!