The "Air Travel From The Past: Part I - Lancaster's Airport Community Days" Story

Foreword:  I recently visited the Lancaster Airport Community Days with the intention of taking a few photos and heading home.  At least that's what I had told my wife.  Seems I stayed almost three hours.  The event was spectacular with close to two dozen planes on hand to examine as well as a few you could pay to ride.  I did take photos of the Ford Tri-Motor Plane, which I had read about in the local newspaper, but ended up also examining and photographing a few others.  Today I will give you a look at a variety of different planes and tomorrow show you the spectacular Ford Plane.

Entrance into the Lancaster, Airport Community Days.

It was an ordinary day.  Standing on the runway at the Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania airport talking to a fellow who had just taken a ride in a biplane, single engine plane at the Airport Community Days.  Telling me of the thrill of the open cockpit and the unobstructed view you get when all of a sudden he says, "I think I know you!  Do you live in Lancaster?"  

Biplane that you could take rides in over Lancaster County.

I told him I lived close by and that I taught high school at Manheim Township High School. "I knew it.  You paddled me in high school!  I was in a wood shop class and you were inside the room next to me.  You saw me throwing something and came out and paddled me."  I looked at him in amazement ... then said, "Sorry for that."  "No, I deserved it and if you hadn't done that I probably would have gotten in more trouble."  

Pilot in his gear for flying the plane.

Anyway, he introduced himself and we shook hands and spent the next fifteen minutes talking about his $195 airplane ride.  The plane he had flown in for the past hour was an open two-seater with a fantastic paint job of blue and yellow.  The front seat was where the passenger sat while the pilot sat in the rear seat.  

Getting ready to to lift off once again.

Along the side of the plane under the pilot's seat read Flt. Lt. David Kingston Inch RAF.  Naturally had to "Google" the name and found that Flt. Lt. David Kingston had died a few years ago.  But, I forgot the last part of the name and when I searched more I found that Flt. Lt. Inch was more than likely the pilot of the plane today,  He must have been, or perhaps still is, a member of the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom.  The biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other.  This wing structure has a structural advantage over a monoplane, since it produces more drag than a similar unbraced or cantilever monoplane wing.  The pilot and passenger communicate by way of headgear.  The pilot wore a leather hat that brought back memories of times past.  The passenger wore whatever head gear they chose.  

The "Bikini Blue" Assalt Helicopter.

After watching another passenger takeoff, I walked nearby nearby to view an a 170th "Bikini's" Assault Helicopter.  It was a Huey 823 which flew for the 170th AHC and Company 101st Airborne in Vietnam during 1968 and 1969.  It is currently being restored at the Lancaster Airport.  The wings for the copter were nearby on supports, but the body of the plane was open for inspection.  

A small boy having a chance to use the gun.

Children were able to sit in the side panels and see how the machine guns were used in war.  The machine guns were M-60s.  The engine had 1,400 HP and the plane had a crew of 3-4 but could accommodate up to 14 passengers.  As far as the helicopter's name, it was in 1965 that the 170th Assault Company in Vietnam adopted the name "Bikini's" with the first flight platoon called "Bikini Blue," the second flight platoon called "Bikini Red" and the armed helicopter platoon named "Buccaneers" or "Bucs,"  The 170th AHC paints custom graphics of the nose of their helicopters of the blonde "Annie Fannie" of Playboy fame wearing either a red or a blue bikini depending on the flight platoon.  

A retired commander telling about the assault helicopter.

The cockpit of the helicopter.

There were many places like this on the copter.  They are repair patches where the copter was hit by enemy fire while in battle in Viet Nam.

The two blades for the helicopter are in these wooden holders.  This plane is housed in a hangar a short distance away from where it is displayed.  It is still being readied for flight once again.

Another plane I had the chance to visit was a huge helicopter with the name of: CH-53E Super Stallion.  It was 99 feet long, 27' 9" in high and weighed 73,000 lbs.  Had a speed of up to 170 kilometers per hour, a range of 540 nautical miles with a ceiling of 18,500 feet.  It carried 2 .50 caliber machine guns in its windows and 1 GAU-21 .50 caliber machine gun on the ramp. It had a crew of 5 (2 pilots, 2 gunners, 1 crew chief) and could carry 37 troops or 55 if there were seats placed along the center of the chopper.  As you might imagine, you could walk up the incline plane at the rear of the chopper and into the rear of it.  Seating was along the sides.  The cockpit of the plane was amazing.  Hundreds of dials and controls line the panels in front of the pilots.  I suppose the pilot knew what every switch and dial were used for.  One of the crewmen of the helicopter told me it had 7 rotor blades and three engines.  Used primarily for transport of troops and cargo.  It could fly longer distances than what I stated if the fuel tube in the front was used for fueling while in the air.  

I'm standing in line to enter the rear of the Super Stallion.  Cargo and troops could be loaded into the plane through this door in the rear of the immense helicopter.

Seating along the side of the helicopter.

One of the crewmen with his stallion logo on his uniform.

The cockpit of this plane is amazing.

An officer of this plane walks along the side of it.

This device on the side of the helicopter is used for refueling while in flight.

A view of the plane from in front of it.

One more plane I will tell you about was the T-28B "Trojan." It was marked on the sides with "NAVY" and the US Navy logo.  The planes were built between 1950 and 1957.  It was designed to be a trainer for teaching military pilots to fly high-performance, combat aircraft.  It therefore has two cockpits with each having full instrumentation.  The pilots were being trained to fly combat aircraft.  The plane had a Wright R-1820-86B engine with 1,425 horsepower and could fly at 298 knots at 20,000 feet.  The T-28C would have had a tail hook for making landings on a carrier.  All T-28's could carry machine guns, rockets and bombs for weapons training.  They were used in ground attacks during the Vietnam War.   This particular plane was retired in 1976 and sold as surplus in 1990.  The owner of the plane was sitting next to it.  We talked about this plane and how he ended up buying it a few years ago.  Today was his second air show where he was showing his plane.  

A side view of the T-28B Trojan.  Please remember to click on photos to enlarge them.

The engine of this plane had 9 cylinders.  "Warbird" is a term that has come to mean any retired, military aircraft, whether or not it is a type that was used in actual combat.  Those with a true love of aviation view these airplanes as special.  There are about 200 civilian-owned T-28's in flying condition around the world and about that many more in various stages of restoration.

Here you can see the two cock-pits needed since it is a training plane.

My time at the air show was amazing.  Got to meet so many great people who have given of their time to serve in the United States Military.  I thanked each one of them for their service after talking with them.  Tomorrow I will tell you of my experience of viewing and entering the Ford Tri-engine plane that was probably my favorite.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Emerging Artist Gallery Show In Lancaster County, PA" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Standing in the upstairs gallery of Grebinger Gallery in Neffsville, Pennsylvania where I work part-time matting and framing artwork.  My boss and former high school student, Keith, told me that he was going to have an open house for Emily Buckwalter so she could display her artwork and hopefully begin a career in the arts.  He was showing me a few pieces of Emily's artwork and I thought it would be interesting to write about this young artist so you too could see what she has accomplished in her life to date.  

Emily Buckwalter standing with a few of her art pieces.

She graduated a few months ago from Messiah College and will be teaching Spanish in the Middle School in a few days.  I'm sure she will be a successful teacher, but it seems that her calling in life may be in the field of art.  In a small article I read she tells of spending time at her grandparents' Lancaster farm with her many cousins camping out on the back porch every summer.  While in Middle School, her grandpa took her to his wood shop and showed her how to turn dry gourds into a basket.  He then showed her how to burn designs into the outer covering of the gourd.  With a burning tool in hand she began to realize her passion for art.  In high school she learned to work in two dimensional media and the art display in the gallery I am standing in is the result of those many years of work.  The show features oil paintings, two-dimensional multi-media work, wood burning art and gourd bowls and baskets.  Emily grows her own gourds, lets them dry over the winter on the vine and then carves and burns them.  Check out some of her work and if interested, make a visit to Grebinger Gallery at 2618 Lititz Pike in Neffsville, PA which is a small town to the north of the city of Lancaster.  You can also call the Gallery at 717-569-9335 to make an appointment to see Emily's work.  I have photographed a few of her pieces to share with you.  I'm sure you will enjoy them as much as I did.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Oil titled Autumn Birch

Original wood burning on gourd titled Snowman

Original wood burning on gourd titled Aztec

Original wood burning on gourd titled Butterfly Duo

Original wood burning on gourd titled Aztec design

Original oil titled Solitude

Original acrylic titled Evening Still Life

Original wood burning on gourd titled Mountain design

Original acrylic titled Psalm Tree

Original oil titled Wine and Grapes

The "A Remarkable Woman Living In A Remarkable Mansion" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Talking to Elizabeth who happens to be my tour guide at Wright's Ferry Mansion in Columbia, Pennsylvania.  I have driven past the Mansion on the corner of Second and Cherry Streets many times, but thought it was time to stop and take a look inside the neat English Quaker House.  

This looks as if it is the entrance to the home,
but it is the rear of the Wright's Ferry Mansion.

Walked through the gate to the front door where I found a small sign hanging on the door telling me the next tour would be at 2:50 pm.  Spent some time walking around the grounds taking photographs and returned in time for the final tour of the day.  I was greeted by Elizabeth who ushered me in the door which I found later was the rear door. 

On the kitchen side of the Mansion was a water pump
under grape vines.  In the right rear of the photograph
is the exterior of the squirrel's tail oven.

Inside I found a small entry room that had the original 1738 or the home.  The rear door had a lock with a dovetail coverplate while the dutch front door had glass on the upper half.  The house was built in 1738 by John Wright for his family.  John Wright, was an English Quaker minister and bodice-maker who lived with his wife and six children in Manchester, England.  

This plaque is on the exterior of the Mansion.
Click on photographs to enlarge them.

In 1714, hoping to find prosperity in the New World, he took his family to Chester, Pennsyl- vania and settled in as a shop keeper.  Daughter Susanna remained behind in England since she was being schooled in Manchester.  Some time later she also joined her family in Chester.  John's wife died in 1722 and two years later her father decided to preach to the Native Americans along the Susquehanna River in an area known as Shawanatown, Pennsylvania.  

The parlor shows the wide unfinished flooring.  In the center
is a stone fireplace with cabinets on the right and a
set of stairs on the left with faux cabinet front.

John built a log cabin near a tract of land granted to George Beale by William Penn in 1699, but a year later returned home to Manchester.  He returned once again to the Susque- hanna River location with his family and began to develop the area with Robert Barber and Samuel Blunston.  He built a new house about a hundred yards from the edge of the Susquehanna River in the area of South Second and Union Streets.  

Another view of the parlor showing the desk that was
probably used by Susanna for record keeping.

In 1730 he received a patent to operate a ferry to carry goods and people across the Susque- hanna River and built a ferry house.  The settlement was given the name of Wright's Ferry and became well known throughout the Colonies.  His ferry consisted of two dug-out canoes lashed together so the wheels of a wagon or carriage could be placed in each canoe for the trip across the river.  Then in 1738, John built Wright's Ferry Mansion and his daughter Susanna moved in to help take care of him and her bother James and his family as well as manage her father's affairs.  

This was the clock room which featured the large Grandfather's
clock in the rear of the photograph.  This room also had a
fireplace for warmth.  

Eventually she became sole resident of the Mansion and lived there until 1750.  As for Robert Barber, he constructed a swa mill in 1727 and later built a home near the river.  That home still stands today and is the second oldest in the borough, after Wright's Ferry Mansion.  Samuel Blunston also built a mansion on a hill near Wright's Ferry.  He died in the late 1740s and willed his mansion to Susanna.  I have read a variety of accounts of Susanna's relationship with Samuel, but am still unsure of what it may have been.  She eventually moved into that mansion for the rest of her life composing poetry, gardening and raising silkworms until she died in 1784 at the age of 87.  For most of her life she lived on the edge of the Pennsylvania frontier, but was able through books, periodicals and letters, to keep up with political and scientific debates taking place in Philadelphia.  

The kitchen had a very large fireplace that had a squirrel's
tail oven for baking and had a rather unusual device for
cooking known as a clockjack rotisserie.

One of Susanna's best friends was Benjamin Franklin who visited her frequently at the manson.  In 1788, Samuel Wright, grandson of the founder and Susanna's nephew, laid out the town in building lots and disposed of them by lottery, and named the town Columbia after Christopher Columbus.  Well, my trip through Wright's Ferry Mansion was extremely interesting.  I was told I wasn't allow to take photographs which I abided by, but did find photographs online that I will share with you. The majority of the Mansion was the work of Susanna, who furnished it with items that suited her taste.  The first floor consisted of a parlor that had a wall of original red woodwork with a cabinet on the right, a fireplace in the center and another cabinet on the left which was just a front for a door that led to the servant's quarters on the second floor.  In the center of the house was a clock room that housed a Henry Taylor, a Philadelphia clockmaker, grandfather's clock.  The walls of the house are limestone from the area which look to be 18" thick.  Plaster covers the walls on the interior of the house.  75% of the house still has original plaster which was made using deer's hair.

Another view of the kitchen showing the
turkey hanging on the rear wall.  The table
in the center could be used for eating meals.

 Most of the glass in the home is original glass.  The floors were mostly unfinished and mostly original with hand-made cut nails.  The final room downstairs was the kitchen with a huge fireplace used for preparing food.  To the right of the fireplace, which had a squirrel's tail oven which ran to the outside of the home, was a clockjack rotisserie.  The steps going upstairs were very narrow and very worn.  Just loved thinking of whom may have walked up the steps at one time; perhaps Benjamin Franklin! Upstairs was one room known as the "Best Bedchamber" and another known as the "Secondary Bedchamber."  Both rooms were beautifully decorated.  A final bedroom, to the rear of the second floor, was for the slaves.  It had an exit that led down another set of stairs that came out in the parlor.  The mansion was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.  Susanna Wright was a remarkable woman.  She was an artist, had some knowledge about medicine and law and counseled the local Native Americans.  Wright's Ferry Mansion was purchased a few years ago by the von Hess Foundation from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and is now a showcase with furniture from the Queen Anne and William and Mary periods.  And, Elizabeth was the perfect tour guide for a place such as the mansion.  I was amazed at her knowledge of everything in the mansion.  Every question I asked she answered.  I asked her how she knew so much about everything in the mansion and she said, "It's my job."  Job well done!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Older photograph of Wrights Ferry Mansion.

  

The "The Magnificent, Stately American Elm Tree And St. James Church" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Checking my Facebook page and saw a note from Stanley Imboden.  Rev. Imboden was the minister for many years at the historic St. James Episcopal Church in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  

Old photograph showing the English elm trees along Orange
and Duke Streets.  Click on photographs to enlarge them.

Our entire family loved him while he led our church during the years that our three children were growing up.  His father was a professional baseball umpire and Stan had many a baseball tale to tell our children who all enjoyed the sport.  Well, Stan posted a note in response to another post asking about the English elm trees that were along the West Orange Street and North Duke Street Street sides of the church as well as quite a few of the elms in the churchyard behind the church.  His post said that "At time of removal, one of the Orange Street side trees had a 160 ring count."  

A 1944 black and white photograph showing
the trees in front of the church.

St. James Church was founded in 1744 with the current church building being started in 1820.  I'm assuming that a few years after the church was finished the English elms were planted.  I searched the first of two books titled St. James Church which dates 1744-1944 and could find nothing that tells of the English Elms.  While searching the second book that dates 1945-1994 I found a section in the appendix titled "The Saint James Elms."  It was in 1983 that the first of many alarming reports on the condition of the ancient elm trees was issued.  The elms are deciduous trees which are very susceptible to the Dutch elm disease which traveled throughout Europe and much of North America in the second half of the 20th century.  

A photograph from 1969 shows the trees still remain.

The disease is caused by a micro-fungus transmitted by elm-bark beetles which act as vectors.  All species of elms native to North America and Europe could be affected.  Fungal spores, introduced into wounds in the tree caused by the beetles invade the vascular system, thus eventually killing the tree.  Now, it's a bit more complicated than that, but I'm not about to bore you with all the biological aspects of the tree dying.  

the church steeple with the majestic trees around it.

It was thought that the elms began their infestation with the beetles in the late 1970s.  Little by little the trees began to be removed.  First the trees along the streets and then the trees in the churchyard.  Mr. Henry C. Brown, Jr., a member of St. James, wrote on September 15, 1993 that "with the loss of the stately elms in the St. James churchyard one can be grateful that other replacement trees furnish shade in the churchyard and continue to provide beauty and peacefulness to the area which adds so much to the grace and charm of downtown Lancaster."  

A plaque that stands in the location of one
of the largest English elms in the churchyard.

The largest of the English elms was named for George Ross, St. James' vestryman and signer of our nation's Declaration of Independence.  The elm was located between our chapel and rectory, towering over the chapel.  Must have been over 90 feet in height with a trunk that measured 80 inches in diameter at breast height.  A count of the growth rings on a few of the trees in the churchyard showed the trees to be lover 100 years old.  The church did report in 1990, in the book I examined, that "there is hope for the future by planting two yellow-wood trees on Orange Street and a gingko tree on Duke Street, replacing the ancient elms it had tried so hard to save."  

Mr. George Rodgers, organist and choir director
stands in front of what I believe to be the tree
that now honors George Ross.  Date was 1910.

One more visit to my church with my camera was made to give you an idea as to what shade and solitude exists today at our churchyard.  I found plenty of shade, but not as impressive as the stately English elms that I remember from the past.  I spoke with the church sexton about the trees and he said the oldest tree in the churchyard today is the huge shedding Sycamore tree which towers above the main part of the church.  St. James churchyard is filled with gravesites of many historical people who helped form our nation.  Losing a few trees is extremely disheartening, but in the realm of history, the churchyard still holds the same story it has held for centuries.  Church member William Arnold may have expressed it best when in October 1989 he wrote this poem:

While inside, robed choir sang and priest and people prayed,

This old retainer silent stood outside and lent its shade

For longer far than any human's span.

And now, when sawyers come, would it seem blasphemous or odd

To say a requiem for this ancient creature made by God,

But until now, perhaps not treasured adequately by man?

It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. 

One of my altered Polaroids which shows the cloister in front of the chapel.

This photograph I took while in college of the cloister and chapel.  In the courtyard in the center-front of the photograph can be seen a cross.  That was carved from one of the English elms that had to be taken down due to Dutch elm disease.  I took this photo by climbing the inside of the church steeple and leaning out of the area where the church bell is located.  Today this area is enclosed with screen to keep out birds, and perhaps young photographers.

An old photo of the churchyard on the right with one of the English elms along the sidewalk by the street.

This is the Duke Street side of the church.  You can see the trees in this photo are small in stature and stand where the English elms would have stood.

The cloister can be seen leading into the chapel.  To the right in the photo, where an English elm, and then the cross, stood now show very little but for a fountain.

This tree stands where an English elm was removed and a plaque placed in honor of George Ross.

The final photo I took today shows the shedding Sycamore tree next to the church.  It is perhaps the oldest tree in the churchyard and towers above the church.