Bell 206

 While driving around in the prairie, I saw this helicopter hovering very low to the ground, almost on the ground. It then began to move forward very fast, and flew almost directly overhead. Luckily I was able to get out in time and take a few pictures.

I suspect this is a Bell 206, which is a single engine or twin engine twin rotor multipurpose helicopter. They are made by the Bell Helicopter Textron company is Mirabel, Quebec. For more information, look here.

Starting one of the early ones.

Starting one of the early ones.

Starting a biplane.

Old Picture of the Day: British Imperial Airways

Old Picture of the Day: British Imperial Airways

Recently we posted the British Airways television advertisement that features their old aircraft. Here's another example of aircraft from the dawn of commercial aviation.

Old Picture of the Day: British Imperial Airways:

Quite the plane. I'd frankly be afraid to fly in it, but in its day it was no doubt quite the advancement. Of course, flying in those days was a real rarity for most travelers.

Starting one of the early ones.

Starting one of the early ones.

Starting a biplane.

The Star Duster

The Star Duster

The Star Duster, Natrona County Airshow, 1985. This was a biplane built by Norm Weiss of Casper Wyoming, a Casper College professor.

Bombed Out Refinery, Nagoya Japan.

Bombed Out Refinery, Nagoya Japan. Early 1950s

A photograph taken by my father in Nagoya Japan, depicting refinery damage from World War Two.

Boeing C-17 Globemaster III

C-17 Globemaster III. Click for Larger

This is the C-17 Globemaster III, a larger military transport aircraft.

This specific one, serial 0185, is a  Boeing C-17A Lot XII Globemaster II, and is named "Spirit of America". The "0" in front of "185" may indicate a ten year old aircraft.

British Airways - Our advert 2011: To Fly. To Serve.

British Airways - Our advert 2011: To Fly. To Serve.

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Normally I wouldn't post an advertisement, but this one is just so well done.

F/A-18D

All of these are the same F/A-18-D. CLick for full size.

F/A-18D.

The  F/A-18 is a modern, supersonic, and Aircraft Carrier capable fighter/attack aircraft (F/A). It is still in service primarily with the US Navy and US Marine Corps, but also with the Royal Australian Air Force and the Spanish Air Force. 

This was at the Natrona County Airport airshow in 2006. I've got a lot more photos from that airshow, but I wont put them up all at once.

P-51C "Betty Jane"

P-51C "Betty Jane"

This is the Dual-Seat P-51C Mustang "Betty Jane". I'm not sure if it has the original Packard engine or not (the Allison wasn't fully introduced until the D model), but I saw it fly in the airshow when it had a fuel system malfunction and had to land to get repaired. It took off again later that day.

Very pretty plane.

Osa's Ark - A strange Plane

Osa's Ark

I was looking through pictures I took to find an interesting picture to start off the blog. I think this fits nicely.

This is a Sikorsky S-38. A quote gleamed from it's Wikipedia Page explains it nicely.

"The Sikorsky S-38 was an American twin-engined 8-seat amphibious aircraft. It was sometimes called 'The Explorer's Air Yacht' and was Sikorsky's first widely produced amphibious flying boat which in addition to serving successfully for Pan American Airways and the U.S. Army, also had numerous private owners who received notoriety for their exploits."

This particular aircraft (this might actually be a replica, not sure) is the "Osa's Ark", which belonged to Martin an Osa Johnson, two American explorers. There is a whole gallery of original photographs of this plane here.