#b-25 — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #b-25, aggregated by home.social.
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Flights to nowhere can be fun
I hadn’t planned on my brief visit to Vancouver for Web Summit’s second annual conference there to include any flying between my landing at Vancouver International Airport Monday and my departure from YVR Thursday morning. But sometimes, your event schedule has a gap just large enough for somebody to pilot a floatplane through.
That idea of taking an aerial tour of Vancouver got lodged in my head at Web Summit Vancouver last May–when I found myself distracted by aircraft departing from and arriving at Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre, next to the convention center and its bitmapped-orca Douglas Coupland sculpture.
And as I was nearing the end of my first five appointments on an overscheduled Tuesday, I realized that a) I had almost two hours before my next appointment and b) the weather looked ideal for flying, at least compared to Wednesday morning’s forecast of clouds and possibly rain. So I booked a 20-minute tour flight on Harbour Air’s site at what seemed a workable time before I had to walk a few blocks away for an offsite panel.
The flight on this 67-year-old de Havilland DHC-3T Turbine Otter was what I hoped and expected it to be, going from my experience taking a floatplane ride above Seattle out of Lake Union 13 years ago. Taking to the air and returning from it without solid ground below the wing feels like cheating at flying; being in a plane small enough where you can see the pilot adjust the controls and almost immediately see and feel the aircraft respond provides an extraordinary demonstration of aerodynamics at work; the views from a large and non-pressurized window maybe 1,000 feet above ground are magical.
(The timing of this particular flight was less than magical, in the sense that it seemed that Harbour consolidated its 3 and 3:15 p.m. tour flights into one that departed at 3:20 and then left me hustling to get to my panel. I’ll expand on my avoidable scheduling fail in this Sunday’s weekly recap.)
Avgeeks sometimes call out-and-back bookings like this “flights to nowhere,”1 and I’ve now taken enough of them to realize I may have a bit of a flying problem.
My introduction, as far as I can remember, took place at a 1997 air show at College Park’s airport–the oldest continuously-operated airfield in the world–at which I recall paying $20 in cash for a flight in what years-later searching suggests was a Stearman Model 75 Kaydet biplane.
I then went almost 16 years before the next such flight, my Lake Union joyride–and then followed that days later with a balloon excursion above Sonoma County, Calif., that remains my slowest-ever aviation experience.
2014 bought a work-related flight to nowhere, a hop out of Austin during SXSW on the inflight WiFi operator Gogo’s business jet. That company invited me to try out the ground-to-air connectivity on this Canadair CL-600 by texting people, so I taunted a friend on the ground with “I’m texting you from a private jet. How are you?” and got the reply I deserved.
I had another Gogo flight to AUS and back in 2016 on the 737-500 that Gogo had acquired in the meantime, on which I saw a travel journalist successfully ask the pilots for a chance to experience takeoff in the cockpit jumpseat. That led me to make the same request before another Gogo flight on that 737 in 2017, treating me to an EWR-departure experience unlike any other.
In 2019, a friend took my wife and I on a tour above Sonoma County in his Diamond Star DA40 single-engine, four-seat aircraft. That remains my smallest-plane experience, and the only one in which I got to touch the controls. Briefly.
In 2021, I had my loudest-plane experience when I spent $450 to fly on a 1945-vintage B-25 bomber out of Hagerstown, Md., my only flight to date to allow a view from a tail gunner’s seat.
And in 2023, JSX treated me and other invited journalists to a DAL-DAL hop to try out Starlink WiFi on an Embraer 145.
The last two years tacked on ORD-ORD and LAX-LAX flights courtesy of United Airlines to test their deployment of Starlink on an Embraer 175 and then a Boeing 737. And with this week’s joyride above British Columbia’s metropolis, I have to accept that I’ve developed a moderately expensive habit here.
Which is okay with me.
- The bad kind of “flight to nowhere” involves a long-haul international flight that experiences some sort of malfunction that requires returning to the departure airport, even if that requires backtracking across much of an ocean. ↩︎
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Lieutenant Colonel James H Doolittle & B-25 Bomber - ww2cards Postcard
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TB-25J Mitchell NL25JZ takes off behind Blue Angel #6 at the at the Capital Airshow, Mather Field, California. March 2025 #airshow #Mitchell #capitalairshow #aviation #AvGeek #spotter #USN #B25 #photography #Nikon #nikonphotgraphy #CCA2025 #Z9 #Warbird #WWII
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The only flying example of of a PBJ-1J (Navy version of the B-25) N5865V makes a pass at the Capital Airshow, Mather Field, California. March 2025 #airshow #capitalairshow #aviation #AvGeek #spotter #USN #B25 #PBJ #photography #Nikon #nikonphotgraphy #CCA2025 #Z9 #Warbird #WWII
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The only flying example of of a PBJ-1J (Navy version of the B-25) N5865V makes a pass at the Capital Airshow, Mather Field, California. March 2025 #airshow #capitalairshow #aviation #AvGeek #spotter #USN #B25 #PBJ #photography #Nikon #nikonphotgraphy #CCA2025 #Z9 #Warbird #WWII
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TB-25J Mitchell NL25JZ makes a pass at the Capital Airshow, Mather Field, California. March 2025 #airshow #Mitchell #capitalairshow #aviation #AvGeek #spotter #USN #B25 #photography #Nikon #nikonphotgraphy #CCA2025 #Z9 #Warbird #WWII
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The only flying example of of a PBJ-1J (Navy version of the B-25) N5865V makes a pass at the Capital Airshow, Mather Field, California. March 2025 #airshow #capitalairshow #aviation #AvGeek #spotter #USN #B25 #PBJ #photography #Nikon #nikonphotgraphy #CCA2025 #Z9 #Warbird #WWII
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The only flying example of of a PBJ-1J (Navy version of the B-25) N5865V makes a pass at the Capital Airshow, Mather Field, California. March 2025 #airshow #capitalairshow #aviation #AvGeek #spotter #USN #B25 #PBJ #photography #Nikon #nikonphotgraphy #CCA2025 #Z9 #Warbird #WWII
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The only flying example of of a PBJ-1J (Navy version of the B-25) N5865Vmakes a pass with bomb bay doors open at the Capital Airshow, Mather Field, California. March 2025 #airshow #capitalairshow #aviation #AvGeek #spotter #USN #B25 #PBJ #photography #Nikon #nikonphotgraphy #CCA2025 #Z9 #Warbird #WWII
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Among the things I *didn’t* expect to find when I arrived at my local muni airport for a little plane spotting: a B-25 Mitchell.
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Does anyone have a spare $2mil laying around?
https://www.platinumfighters.com/inventory/1943-b-25d-grumpy/
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Retro SciFi Film of the Week…
Forever Young (1992)
This is a romance drama / sci-fi written and produced by Jeffrey Abrams (JJ Abrams). It's basically a Rip Van Winkle story about a guy in 1939 who ends up volunteering for some advanced cryogenic experiment, gets frozen, and wakes up in 1992.
The story manages to avoid most of those hackneyed anachronistic encounters of a guy who's misplaced in time; it really sticks to the romance, emotions, and characters, and this guy's quest to find his old friends from 1939. The film has the feel of a Spielberg film, particularly ET, which was produced a decade earlier. It’s sentimental, almost sappy. It's commercial -- very much so -- and tries to appeal to multiple demographics. Jerrald Goldsmith, who scored Logan’s Run (which was last week’s Film of the Week), created the exceptional score for this movie, and overall it’s a well produced film. Some of the plot points seemed forced and unrealistic, placed in the story simply to create tension, not uncommon for a Hollywood film.
With Mel Gibson and Jamie Lee Curtis in the lead roles, the acting is world class, although neither of those actors completely disappear into their roles. Elijah Wood also has a major role and gives a great performance as the ten-year-old son of Curtis’ character. Isabel Glasser plays Gibson’s character’s love interest, but oddly doesn’t get as much screen time as the other leads.
There's only one black character in the film (Joe Morton), a researcher who was portrayed as antagonistic and in this story was unable to figure out the design of the cryogenic apparatus that was created by a white character (George Wendt) fifty years earlier. This type of depiction of black characters was typical of films produced prior to the Rodney King beating and LA riots which broke out just as initial filming for this film was wrapping up. Other than that, I saw no other significant bias or racial stereotypes.
As far as technology, there wasn’t much, basically just the cryro-chamber, which had a steam-punk design that was out of place for the pre-war time period.
Overall the film is worth watching, just don’t expect much in terms of science fiction gadgetry, aliens, spaceships, etc.
#science #fiction #ScienceFiction #SciFi #FTW #sfftw #film #movie #physics #B25 #helicopter #military #warehouse #1990s #Buford
accessible image description:
movie poster with Mel Gibson’s face covering most of the poster and a small image of Gibson and Isabel Glasser embracing and kissing.
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RB-25 Mitchell. This was only the fourth North American B-25 to be built, and did not conform to the required build standard, so was classified as 'R' - not for 'Reconnaissance' , but 'Restricted'. It was adopted by General H.H. 'Hap' Arnold as his personal transport, hence the name 'MissHap'. An elegant aircraft, and an amazing survival from WW2. #B25 #Mitchell #GeneralHHArnold #USAAF #WW2 #aircraft #aviation #aviationphotography #photography #avgeek #airshow #USA #Massachusetts #NorthAmerican #bomber
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RB-25 Mitchell Shown here at the New England Airshow at Westover ARB, Massacusetts, this Mitchell was just the FOURTH built of this iconic WW2 type. In a way, it was a wonder that this aircraft survived; mainly, this was because it was adopted as the personal transport of USAAC General H. H. 'Hap' Arnold. Hence the nose art, 'Miss Hap' ! This Mitchell's type designation, RB-, doesn't mean that it was intended for reconnaissance duties, it refers to a 'Restricted' rating, which means it was not up to combat standards. #B25 #Mitchell #USAAC #WW2 #General #HHHapArnold #HapArnold #airshow #avgeek #Massachusetts #USA #UnitedStates #aircraft #noseart #photography #aircraftphotography #Westover #ARB #AirReserveBase #MissHap
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North American B-25 Mitchell 44-30254 #photography #northamericanaviation #b25 #naa #mitchell #fhc #flyingheritagecollection #northamerican #everett #seattle #washington #avgeek #aviation #highlight (Flickr 20.07.2013) https://www.flickr.com/photos/7489441@N06/9334871453
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North American B-25 Mitchell 44-30254 #photography #northamericanaviation #b25 #naa #mitchell #fhc #flyingheritagecollection #northamerican #everett #seattle #washington #avgeek #aviation #highlight (Flickr 20.07.2013) https://www.flickr.com/photos/7489441@N06/9337651690
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@AnnaElizabeth Here's a rare RB-25 (the 4th B-25 built, and still flying!). I am involved in the restoration of a DH Mosquito (yes, the 8th Air Force used them, too) See www.peoplesmosquito.org.uk Take care! #aviation #airshow #aviationphotography #WW2 #aircraft #B25 #Mitchell #MightyEighth #USAAF #USA #Massachusetts #PeoplesMOsquito #aircraftpreservation
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North American B-25 Mitchell 44-30254 #photography #northamericanaviation #b25 #naa #mitchell #fhc #flyingheritagecollection #northamerican #everett #seattle #washington #avgeek #aviation #highlight (Flickr 20.07.2013) https://www.flickr.com/photos/7489441@N06/9334871453
