Winged Wednesday

Because it's been far, far too long.

Heading east, following the Potomac River through the gap at Harpers Ferry.

Looking down on the historic Hilltop House hotel, once a luxurious inn with a view of the river to die for. Now it's just a ruin, and possiby too far gone to ever save.

Looking down on the Maryland side of the river at Harpers Ferry. Here you can see the two railroad lines converging at the mouth of the tunnel. Just before the tunnel, the tracks cross over the old C&O Canal. One of the old canal locks is visible, and alongside the lock is the remains of an old lock keeper's house. This one is notable in that one of John Brown's disciples , John Cook, took a job here as a lock keeper and schoolteacher in order to scout the armory before Brown's famous terrorist attack.

Here's the Blue Ridge, heading south into Virginia.

And out the other side, we see it going north, well into and through Maryland.

Railroad yard in Brunswick, MD. Two diesel locomotives stand waiting by the remains of the old B&O roundhouse that, when it was still there, housed steam engines.

Somewhere in Maryland. Dude--you really should have covered that pool over the winter. Good luck with THAT this summer.

Clearview airport (2W2). I needed to land here again since the last time I came in, I scotched the approach, came in too hot, and had to use roughly 1830 feet of the 1835-foot runway to get down and stopped. I gotta do it again.

Much better. Actually didn't embarrass myself this time. And another reason I landed here is to look at all of the sad aviation relics that adorn this field. I call it "The airport of misfit planes".
This was once a Cessna 175.

Here's an Ercoupe that could use a bit of work before it's next annual.

Sad, neglected Taylorcraft Tripacer. Almost missed this one back in the weeds.

Poor Piper.

This is an M-Squared Breese-2. Looks old, but it was built in 2004.

A 1947 Aeronca Champ.

I stopped into the FBO and spent quite a bit of time talking to the nice old fellow who was running it for the day as a favor to the owner. He told me that neither the Champ or the Breese has flown in years. That's so damned sad. Airplanes need to fly, and when you don't love 'em or fly 'em, they just rot away. And this airport is littered with examples of that.

After chatting for half an hour, it was time to go. There's nothing like a flat, smooth runway, and this one is really nothing like a flat, smooth runway.

I flew north, shot a touch-and-go at Carroll County Airport. Last time I was there was October, 2014, when Stretch and I went there to see the B-17.

Nothing cool there today, so I was in and out, and over this piece of hallowed ground in short order.

Gettysburg. 8,900 men died here between July 1 and July 3, 1863, and 22,000 more were wounded.
Devil's Den below. Little Round Top is just yards to the east.

The large white monument to the right is the Pennsylvania Memorial, largest monument on the battlefield. North of it a bit, just up that road to the left, you'll see an obelisk. This marks the high-water mark of the battle ant the war; it's the point where Pickett's Charge was turned back after suffering appalling casualties. That failed attack is said to have broken the back of the Southern army.

Lotta blood on the ground down there. Lotta futures lost forever.

Next, it was a landing at Gettsyburg Airport (W05). I parked, got out to explore, then saw this neat Super Decathalon, grandson of that Champ back at Clearview, come in and land.

I tried to talk to the pilot when he walked up to the FBO, but for some reason, he was pretty dickish and blew me off. Seriously dude, you're flying a Citabria, not an SR-71. Put the attitude back in it's box.

Off again, and headed to Hagerstown, MD. Overflew this armory below, which was cool because artillery. It was allegedly Frederick the Great who once said that "Artillery brings dignity to what would otherwise be an ugly brawl." (Or it might have been Old NFO. Rumor has it that those two hung around a lot together.)

Into Frederick. Three other aircraft in the immediate area and I couldn't see any of them. This is one of those times when tower folks are actually useful and cool.

Back out of HGR and headed for home. Passed over Wiliamsport, MD and spotted Doubleday Hill below. This is where Union General Abner Doubleday (yeah, the baseball guy) commanded a detachment and built this small fortification atop this hill to cover the Ptomac River crossing below. If you click on the pic, you'll see three cannon below.

Finally, after four states, five airports and 2.3 hours of flying time, I'm home.

Antietam

Because part of my job as a mentor and man-builder is to educate the Spud, I took him to the National Battlefield at Antietam so he could learn about the day that 23,000 men, some his age or younger, were killed and wounded on this relatively small patch of Maryland farm country.

The cannon were beautiful, all original iron and bronze tubes on rebuilt carriages. And they're all over the park.
Here's a 10 pounder Parrott Rifle, a rifled piece that was state-of-the-art at the time. This one was made in 1864, too late for the Battle of Antietam, which took place in 1862.

Here's a 3-inch Ordnance Rifle, made in 1865.

And here we have an 1841 six-pounder gun that was a leftover from the Mexican War but still in use by the Confederates here during the battle. On the right is a Model 1857 twelve-pounder Howitzer, better known as a "Napoleon". Both of these guns were bronze tube smoothbores. They could throw some heavy loads, but not nearly as far or as accurately as the rifled guns.

Here's another bronze tube shown with it's full carriage that would have contained it's shot and powder and the tools needed to load, train and maintain the gun.

But I think what impressed the Spud about war--real war, as opposed to his video games--was when we were in the museum and he saw the surgeon's kit that contained little more than a big saw used for removing limbs. And of course there were battlefield implements like this one:

He got a bit quiet after I showed him that and made him read the tag.

Here's Spud and my mom at the Dunker Church, center of the Confederate line on the first day of the battle.

And the corn's about ready for harvest, much as it was on Miller's Farm as the Union troops moved up through it towards the church on September 17th back in 1862.

The cannon were waiting for them back then, and there's still plenty waiting there today.

A monument to just one of the many units that fought here. This one was the Union Army's Philadelphia Brigade from Pennsylvania. 545 lost on that morning, and a total loss of 3409 men between 1861 and 1865. And that was just one unit of one division of one army.

And here's the Lower Bridge over Antietam Creek, known today as Burnside Bridge after the vainglorious Union General who threw thousands of men against six hundred crack Georgia sharpshooters who were entrenched atop the ridge just beyond it. Before the bridge was taken, Antietam Creek ran red with blood clear to the Potomac, blood of countless young American men.

Antietam Creek today, where it meets the Potomac. No longer red.

Antietam Battlefield is a beautiful place, and a somber place. Beneath it's fields and hills lie bullets and bits of cannon shot and bodies still undiscovered. Most of the dead were quickly buried where they fell and only after the war was over did anyone even begin to search for them and remove them to cemeteries for proper burial. The most recent one was found in 2008 and it's pretty much a given that there are still more out there, American men who never made it home from their sojourn into Maryland while wearing either blue or gray.

Flight mission: Gettysburg.

It was a nice, sunny, almost windless day, so what to do...what to do?



I took off, and made the turn out of the pattern, and a short distance out, I saw what I shall call "Bob's House of Junk" down below. (Click on the pictures to enlarge them.)


This is not unusual around here, being west Virginia and all, but that one red truck caught my eye--is it? Could it be?

Yep--a second pass confirms that the red pick-up truck in the yard is almost certainly an old M-715 one and a quarter ton military truck. I want it. Next free day, Ima gonna find Bob and make an offer on it. Unfortunately I was so busy trying to photograph it that I forgot to take a bearing on exactly where it was, so now when I get back to work and have a couple of free hours, I'll hit Google Earth and hunt for it.

Hey look--snow!

It's one of those places where people go to ski. Absent real snow, they make their own. Would that be faux snow?


Arriving at the object of today's mission, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The last time I was here, it was October of 2006 and I was just learning to walk with my then-new prosthetic foot. Aaron of the Shekel had come to visit and we went here where I immediately overdid it with the attempts at walking. But it was great all the same. Now I'm back, but in a plane. This is easier. With a right bank, I head south of town to take in the battlefield.

First thing I see is the old Cyclorama.
Little did I know when I took this that the historic building, vacant for years, is going to be razed this week.

Here's the monument to the dead of Pennsylvania. There are monuments to troops from every other state here, but this one is one of the largest and most ornate.


These are the fields that 12,000 Confederates under General Pickett marched across in an ill-thought-out attack on 7,000 Union troops on the other side known today as Pickett's Charge.

This charge, ordered by General Robert E. Lee, across three-quarters of a mile of open ground right into the muzzles of Union cannon and rifles, resulted in almost 50% casualties among the attacking force and was the turning point of the battle and the beginning of the end for Lee's attempt to take Pennsylvania and Maryland and ultimately, Washington DC itself.


The tall monument marks the High Water Mark, or the point that the battle turned as the Confederates were repulsed. The red barn beyond it is to Codori farm, which was there during the battle. It's estimated that over 500 Confederate dead were buried on the farm when the fighting was done.

Down below here is Devil's Den and Little Round Top above it. Some of the battle's most savage fighting too place here, with snipers nested in Devil's Den and artillery pieces on Confederate-held Round Top to the south and Little Round Top (shown here) which was held by the Union.

These are significant to me because I walked up Little Round Top on my own--the longest walk to date--when last here with the new foot. That's when I also learned that it's easy to walk up hills with a prosthetic foot, but much harder to walk back down, both owing to the fixed angle of the foot. I made it up just fine, but had to send Aaron back to get the car because I wasn't up to the walk back down yet.

I walk much better now. And I fly.

Cyclorama again.


The National Cemetery at Gettysburg.

8,900 men were killed in the three days of fighting here. It took ten days to find and bury them all, and that didn't include the horse carcasses.


And heading back west towards the airport, I pass over the Railroad Cut, where there was heavy fighting on the first day of the battle as Confederate forces attacked Union troops here, driving them from this ditch before being driven out again themselves later on.

The bones of a dead soldier last washed out of the side of this cut in 1996, a hundred and thirty three years after the fighting ended. No one could tell whose side he'd fought for but he was interred in the National Cemetery nonetheless.

I landed at the little airport west of town.


When I got there, the place was all locked up and empty. Not finding anyone, I left my plane in an out-of-the-way spot and walked into town to find lunch. A couple of guys at a nearby shop recommended the Sharpshooters Grille about half a mile away, so I went there.

You know it's a good bar if all of the school bus drivers are there. And they were. They had a great selection of beers, but alas, I could not have any because I was flying. The iced tea was ok, though.

Then it was back to the airport and off towards home.

On the trip home, I decided to do a touch-and-go at Hagerstown Regional Airport in Maryland, basically just because I didn't feel like detouring around their Class D airspace again. They cleared me for a touch-and-go and I shot it and moved on to the southwest, heading back home again.

Once back on the ground at my airport, I saw this cute little Cessna 150 getting gas.

It's just like an airplane, only smaller.

This one even has a name.


Then I watched them use a ground tug to push one of the C-5 Galaxy transports out of the massive hangar across the field.

Yeah, I need to get me one of those for my next plane. I wouldn't have to walk to restaurants when I fly into new airports because I could just take my truck with me.

Good day. I'm happy.