Short post today - on the road again. We passed this billboard along I-10 near Palm Springs, CA. Glad to see that NRA supporting rocker Ted Nugent, of “Kill it and Grill it” fame, is getting gigs. Clickable image courtesy The Better Half.
Update: The Better Half informs me that Ted’s latest Manifesto is Ted, White and Blue.
DrJim, who blogs at Every Blade Of Grass, liked the expression so I decided to use it as the title of this post. Jim was commenting on the post yesterday about Miss Piggy.
Clickable image - Sitting in the H-4 Cockpit
As we continue to sort through all the old junk in the closets and drawers, we find little nuggets like this ancient photo of me sitting at the controls of The Spruce Goose. It was on a slide when I found it last week so I took it to the photo shop to have it scanned onto a CD ROM.
The story dates back to 1982 when I and a contingent from the Hughes (Aircraft) Radio Club were invited to take a private tour of the H-4 Hercules in Long Beach, CA, prior to opening the exhibit up to the public. The huge wooden airplane was in a dome adjacent to the Queen Mary.
We got the whole deal. We walked out into the wings of the plane where an engineer was stationed behind each of the eight giant R-4400 Pratt & Whitney radial engines. I even got to climb up on the top of the Goose (covered in plastic tarps) and walk on the wings and fuselage. It was incredible! Everything was there - the 20 passenger seats behind the cockpit, the radio rack with all of the original ARC radios from that era and the cockpit itself in its original condition.
Of course, I wasn’t the only guy to sit in the same seat occupied by Howard Hughes that day, but I was the best looking (according to The Better Half, that is).
My Mom (still around at age 90) says I was present the day Hughes lifted the Hercules off in Long Beach Harbor in 1948. My Dad had taken the family, Mom, me and my two brothers, to witness the taxiing-turned-test-flight. Sadly, I was taking a nap in the car and can’t remember the event. I was five at the time.
Back in the early 1980s, I had the pleasure of serving as flight instructor to primary student Fraser Heston. A mutual friend and former student, Ralph, introduced Fraser to me and wanted to have Fraser take his primary instruction in Ralph’s Piper PA-18 Super Cub, a descendant of Piper’s Venerable J3 Cub. I was one of the few taildragger instructors at SMO then, so I got the job.
Clickable image: Fraser Heston posing by Ralph’s Super Cub (found during the big house cleaning)
One of the big events was when Fraser was to have his first solo flight. His Father, the immortal Charlton Heston brought the family to witness the event. After a few trips around the traffic pattern as dual instruction, Fraser was ready to make his three take-offs and landings to a full stop (touch and go landings don’t count for taildraggers). I got out of the airplane near the gas pit where there was an observation deck. I introduced myself to “Chuck” and his family as Fraser taxied out for take-off.
Fraser’s three trips around the pattern were flawless. His landings were smooth and uneventful - which is a good thing. We cheered from the observation deck as Fraser taxied back for each subsequent takeoff. after the last landing, Fraser taxied to the tie-down area next to the observation deck and we all met him there.
Chuck proposed a toast to the event. The family brought a bottle of champagne and several little plastic champagne glasses. Chuck had to pour the champagne into glasses on the horizontal stabilizer of an adjacent Cessna since Ralph’s airplane’s horizontal stabilizers aren’t horizontal on the ground. We toasted to Fraser’s perfect first solo flight. The family then adjourned to have brunch in Westwood Village.
The Better Half and I were honored to be invited to the screening of “Mother Lode” a few weeks later. We both met with Charlton Heston, the star of the film, and with Fraser, the writer and producer. On the way out, The Better Half (literally) bumped into Lou Ferigno, star of “The Incredible Hulk.” That was a fun night.
I am very proud to have these events in my pilot logbook. I still brag about having this experience from time to time. This is one of those times.
My NRA email newsletter arrived in the inbasket today. One of the articles in it is about Caleb, a fellow gun blogger who writes at Gun Nuts Media. The American Rifleman interviewer, Ben O’Brien, discusses Caleb’s transition from competition shooter to reality show TV star.
The Better Half and I have watched each episode. While we have never met Caleb in person, we were rooting for him and the blue team. Of course we were sorry to see him eliminated but getting that far into what must have been a great experience surely must be rewarding.
Free 9mm Ammo
M.D. Creekmore at The Survivalist Blog – a survival blog dedicated to helping others prepare for and survive disaster – with articles on bug out bag contents, survival knife choices and a wealth of other survival information is giving away a 1,000 round case of 9mm – 124 Grain FMJ (a $200 value – donated by LuckyGunner)! To enter, you just have to post about it on your blog. This is my entry. Visit The Survivalist Blog for the details.
It is with regret that we cannot attend this years rendezvous. 
I informed Mike and KeeWee that we will be busy with the new house in Wickenburg during that time frame. Mr. Completely has a nice post about the GBR and how it all came about (hat tip to Say Uncle who posted the link.) I also read some of the same information Linoge posted on Walls of the City.
You should go if you can. I have to say that it was a lot of fun and The Better Half and I enjoyed ourselves immensely. I made a slide show with some of her photos and posted it last year on the other blog. See for yourself how much fun it was last year and will be again this year for those attending.
Place your cursor on an image to stop the slideshow. All photos credit The Better Half.
UPDATE: It would be a disservice if I didn’t point out a couple of notable attendees. The gentleman in the black T shirt standing among a group of bloggers is none other than Alan Gura of D.C. vs. Heller fame. The gentleman demonstrating the Valour-IT notebook computer is Major Chuck Ziegenfus, an Iranian IED victim and the originator of the Valour-IT program at Soldiers Angels.
The Better Half and I took a ride today out to the Wickenburg Sportsman’s Club. You can see from the signage in front that they are a full-services shooting facility with a 100 yard rifle range, 3 bays for pistol and two 5 stage trap range and a skeet field. We will probably get our membership after we get our arsenal moved to the new home.
Clickable Image.
Mark Alexander, who writes for the Patriot Post, wrote an exceptional essay today on the right to keep and bear arms. The article is entitled Second Amendment — Still ‘The Palladium of Liberties’.
The article begins with this insightful quote from Founder James Madison:
“The ultimate authority … resides in the people alone. … The advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation … forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition.”
— James Madison
Toward the end of the article, the topic of how gun rights reduce the violent crime rate leads the author to this interesting conclusion about violence:
After all, violence is a cultural problem, not a gun problem, and certainly not a Second Amendment problem.
The article is certainly worth taking the few moments to read it.
