The CB1100 Community Forum

Indeed...Happy Birthday America

Yes, Happy Birthday to all American fellows‼️

Happy 4th of July! Or as my English friend says, Happy Treason Day Ungrateful Colonists.

Heard that a heritage flight of three DC3s would be flying over our area, and making two passes along the coast in Huntington Beach.
I wanted to see them, but Huntington Beach is too... 4th of July... for me. People get a bit crazy.

I jumped on the CB1100 and rode to Huntington, and started riding North on Pacific Coast Highway along the beach. The area was swarmed with people riding bikes, E-Bikes, motorcycles going all over the place. I pulled up to a light and was the first bike at the intersection when I spotted a majestic sight. I could see the three DC3s in a diamond formation, coming in from the coast, flying low. They would pass directly over me! Two were in C47 green with D-Day stripes, while the lead plane was blue and white, wearing the livery of a vintage airline.

I muted my earpieces and lifted my visor, ready to soak in the music of six radial engines passing directly overhead. Just as they approached, I was swarmed by about 20 motorcycles, Harleys with speakers crackling with Springstein cranked all the way up, squid bikes bouncing off rev limiters... just a cacophonous nightmare. The light turned green after the planes passed, and half of the bikes shot ahead of me, while the others lagged behind, and I took the closest route out of the area.

But, back home there has been a squadron of T6s circling over the area, so I'm getting my radial sounds, Mrs. G and I rode our bikes festooned with red, white and blue streamers in a local parade, and we're about to go to a neighborhood barbecue with friends. Can't think of anything better.

Stay safe and have fun, gentlemen!

Gone, I have read that the V-twin used in Harleys, is basically two cylinders of a radial engine. Food for thought. A couple of years ago my wife scheduled a ride for me and our grandsons and their father, in a converted C-47 at the Commemorative Air Force in Mesa. My father jumped out of C-47s over Sicily and Normandy in WWII. He was in the 82nd Airborne and fought in North Africa, Sicily, Anzio (Italy), Normandy, the "Bulge" and Netherlands. I wish I could have taken him to see this one. He was proud of his service, but he did not talk much about it. I celebrate this birthday of our country knowing there will be good times and bad and hoping the good in America will always prevail.

You know, that's a very interesting comment, Nacho. Anyone who I've been told had a very commendable service career, particularly in combat, rarely talks about the experience. One of my best friends is a quiet, kind and very gentle person. When I introduce him to friends they comment "So, is he a minister or something like that?" to which I answer "Actually, he's a retired submarine captain."

I haven't flown in a C-47, but I did get a ride in a Ford Trimotor. I absolutely love the sound of radial engines. There's something magic about them. And yes, architecturally, a V-Twin is basically a slice out of a radial.

While we're talking about American history, radial engines and World War 2, last night at our community barbecue I had a nagging question answered.

In another thread, I  posted a picture of this T-6 Texan WW2-era trainer with German markings. It's parked at Van Nuys airport, and is near four or five T-6 planes that comprise a commemorative squadron that flies around the Southern California area. I park near them on my breaks from blood deliveries to a research lab just around the corner. Yesterday for the 4th of July, this group of T-6s got a workout, as I saw them fly over several areas in a diamond formation. 

It clearly looks like the plane in German livery is being cannibalized to service the operational planes. My friend is a walking encyclopedia of vintage aircraft in our area, so I showed him a picture of it at the barbecue and asked him if he knew anything about it. He laughed and said "You have seen that plane in the air." He said "Come on, think hard, you have seen that plane flying." I was three-deep into the "Colonial Cocktail" that Mrs. G mixed up for the party, so needless to say, I was... foggy.

Then, it came to me in an instant. The S.S. Lane Victory is one of the surviving Victory class cargo ships built by Kaiser Steel during WW2. It's docked in L.A. Harbor, and is a floating museum about the history of the American Merchant Marine service during WW2. https://lanevictory.org/

These days, the ship is stationary, but up until a few years ago its boiler was still operational and it would take cruises out to Catalina Island and back, while volunteer docents showed guests around and talked about life aboard a cargo ship traversing the Atlantic Ocean during the war. Mrs. and I, along with my friend and his wife took one of the cruises. My friend and I immediately made our way down to the engine room and hung out with the guys running the steam boiler and turbines, who were baffled as to why we wanted to spend the cruise in a hot, sweaty, deafening nightmare instead of enjoying the view on deck. 

After they kicked us back up topside, the announcer narrating the cruise talked about the dangers of German bombers swooping down on the cargo ships, and just then, a T-6 in German markings flew past, making a "bombing run" on our ship! After a few passes, another T-6 in American markings arrived, they staged a mock dog fight, and the German plane flew away, trailing smoke. It had to be this airplane. And now, with the Lane Victory out of running condition, the plane serves no better purpose than to offer up its parts to keep the other planes flying. 

I feel like one of life's great mysteries has been revealed, and I can rest easier.