Visit to our Velocity Buddies Brett and Elizabeth in Dayton, Ohio
Departure from Chester County/KMQS
We have been getting a lot of use out of the Velocity this year. In the last few months, we have been to Oshkosh, Charlotte and, now, Dayton, Ohio. Our longtime Velocity buddies and Oshkosh co-conspirators Brett and Elizabeth Ferrell invited us for a visit to their home in Ohio. We decided on another weekend trip and flew from Philadelphia to Dayton, about 400 miles, after work on Friday. We took our 15 year old son Sean with us.
As usual, the forecast was shaky for the weekend. There were 30 knot headwinds on the trip out with moderate turbulence forecast, especially over the mountains. Sean hates a bumpy ride, but we decided to launch anyway. Here are some shots of the trip west to Ohio.
Crossing the Susquehanna river near Harrisburg
Pretty shot of winding river
Bumpy terrain
Sean hated this part
After clearing the mountains it smoothed out and Sean fell asleep
As we crossed from West Virginia into Ohio, the terrain got perfectly flat and the air was smooth and calm in the late afternoon. We still had a ridiculous headwind.
We texted our ETA as we approached and landed right on time at 5:30. Brett and Elizabeth met us on the ramp at Dayton/ Wright Brothers Airport. From there, they took us out to a great dinner at the Golden Lamb restaurant.
Saturday morning I woke up early at their house, which has been dubbed "Cape Ferrell". The sunrise views were amazing. We had some breakfast, then watched them feed the ducks.
We stopped by their hangar to see their Velocity XL- FG N44VF, which is nicknamed "Victor Fox". It is a beautiful plane and is actually for sale. It is going to be a real steal for someone. Here are some pictures of it. Contact me if you want to get in touch with them.
Nancy was complaining that her sunglasses broke the seal on her Bose headset, causing undue noise. (RWGP - rich white girl problem). Brett and Elizabeth live near an outlet mall, sooooo....
I feel compelled to comment on the transportation provided by Brett. He kept calling the vehicle "The Funkmaster". I thought that was just his nickname for the funky paint job. It turns out that it was actually a limited edition "Funkmaster Flex". You really can't make this up - nor can you find such a vehicle outside of the Midwest. I loved it.
Next up, the National Air Force Museum. I had wanted to see this for years. It is absolutely spectacular with an exceptional collection of aircraft from every era of aviation including a stealth bomber, XB70 Valkyrie, X15, rockets, missiles and so on. We had to move fast through it but will go back.
From the beautiful sculpture garden
Velocity gang with rockets
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Look at that tubing. I would have scrapped a mile of the stuff to do this.
Valkyrie!
The gang reflected in a Lockheed Connie
Sean and I in fuselage reflection
Brett's atomic legacy
Ordinary rudder hinge holds spacecraft closed?
Not sure about these wire terminations
Mark and Brett salute Valkyrie power
Brett and I organize the thermonuclear bombs
Nancy next to the hot section of turbine, of course.
Sean spends 25 cents to make souvenir penny. Ah, capitalism.
On Sunday, storms, turbulence and violent storms were forecast to move in along our route as the day progressed. We decided that we would need to do the "Oh Dark Thirty Departure" for home. Brett and Elizabeth were kind enough to get us to the airport by 8:00 a.m. The winds were forecast to be 35+knots, but this time as a direct tailwind. Cool!
We made the 400 mile trip home to Philadelphia from Dayton in one hour and 50 minutes. This is what the Velocity is really great at. We took all this stuff to visit our far off friends for the weekend and spent only 4 hours traveling. This makes most of the eastern U.S. reachable for weekend trips. I just love our Velocity.
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