Last day of summer with a Tri-Motor

On our way to grocery shop this morning, Denise and I stopped down to Harry Clever airfield in New Philadelphia to see one of the last remaining Ford Tri-Motor airplanes that was on display and also giving rides.  We didn't have it in this weeks budget to take a ride, but, we did have a chance to take a look around it and for me to get some pics.  Even got to duck inside for a minute before they took off.  Really a cool piee of aviation history.  Denise remarked on how the thing could even fly.  When looking at the outer hull, it is no surprise to ask that question with all the ridges in the metal.  It was especially cool, (and lucky they didn't get us to move), to stand behind it as the engines fired up for take off.  Not super loud, but a lot of air moving from the props.  Was a cool way to spend the "last day of the summer".  Labor Day 2012.

D-Day Conneaut - Part 3 - Operation Overlord

To finish off the day in Conneaut was the reenactment of the Normandy Invasion.  I had seen photos of the event from years past and even some video, so I was very excited to see it in person.  And to take pictures of it, of course.  I headed down to the beach early, but not early enough to secure a spot to be able to see the troops being off-loaded from the landing craft.  But, I was happy in the end with the results of the photos.
I have to give a lot of respect to these reenactors.  Really, any reeanactor.  These folks aren't trying to glorify war.  Rather, they are making sure that the history of what had happened and the sacrifices made by those are not forgotten.  They give our modern world a view of what life was like back in these times.
Between the B-25, T-51's, amount of participants and all the sounds of the automatic weapons fire, this truly was the finest reenactment that I have ever witnessed.  

D-Day Conneaut - Part 2 - Lessons learned at the bridge

One thing I did not do ahead of time is get an idea for the layout of how the reenactment runs. At Zoar and Dennison, it's easy. This reenactment was very different. A lot more people brings a lot less opportunity to get in to a position I wanted to to get the best shots possible of the action. For instance, the battle for the bridge. The scenario was that the French Resistance was going to attack a bridge held by German soldiers and after being driven off, US Army Airborne troops would come in a save the day. Great setup for catching action. However, where I was located was too far off to catch any of it. I did snap a few of the Airborne staging their entrance, but that's really about it. Next year, I will be more prepared. On top of that, I didn't realize that the German camps were on the other side of that bridge. Again, something I will have to plan for next year. After the battle, we headed up to the main vendor area to enjoy some lunch and some of the local color and soon after I was off to scout a position for the invasion.

D-Day Conneaut - Part 1

This past Saturday, my wife and I headed up the road to Conneaut, OH to attend the annual D-Day event.  The reenactment is inspired by the events surrounding the Normandy invasion of 1944.  While just a reenactment, the intensity of the event is like one I've never seen before.  With the use of actual landing craft, men portraying American soliders are brought on-shore to attack the hillside manned with German soldiers.  To add to the chaos going on around you, a B-25 bomber as well as 2 P-51 Mustang replicas, (officially called T-51), are added to the mix doing low flybys and with the help of flash-pots dug into the beach, simulate bombing runs.  But the real awe striking moment of the day was hearing a WWII veteran give his personal accounts of being in France after the invasion.  As my wife put it, he is the true definition of swagger.  He enjoyed being with the men sharing his experiences so that they can add that to their memories and continue his story and the stories of his comrades.  As you could expect, I shot a lot of images there.  Here is the first set of those.

Celebrate with fire - The 2012 edition!

Just like we did last year, this past weekend was time to once again celebrate the anniversary of our dear friends Joel and Shannon.  And like last year, it was a night of fireworks and sky lanterns.  Always a good time to play with time exposures.  I especially liked how in some of them you can make out stars along with the brightness of the explosions.  A happy and unplanned result!