Saturday, March 26th, 2011
The temperature at 5:30AM was 47.1F under a clear sky. It has been several days since we have had anything open at night. The furnace has been on now and then as well. At 6:10AM the temperature was 48.1F under a partly cloudy sky. By 9AM it was 63.9F under a clear sky and one could feel the heat in the sun. At 9:37AM we watched the temperature go to 67.0F under a clear sky.
Ron and Jan came in about 10AM and Ron and I went to Falcon Field to the Military Museum. I had taken both cameras, the Nikon and the Sony. The parking lot was full so we had to go across the road and park in the Wal-Mart parking lot. After taking many photographs with the Nikon the battery went dead so I went back to the truck and got the Sony camera. I was not bright enough to take both cameras with me. When I came home we put the Nikon battery on charge. When it was charged Joan erased all the photographs without thinking. So all I have are these taken with the Sony. The ones missing were indoor shots of various aircraft in the first hanger we visited.
This is the main entrance to the museum.
This is a Navy three inch gun from a naval ship just left of the main entrance.
This is just left of the main entrance.
Ron checking out a piece of old Army radio equipment. Ron spent 34 years with the U.S. Army and started as a radio technician.
These four photographs show various pieces of military equipment on display.
Ron did two tours in Vietnam and this is the model of Jeep they were using there.
This is a World War II U.S. Air Force Jeep that is in perfect condition sitting next to the one from the Vietnam era.
The U.S. Air Force called this a C45, the British and British Commonwealth countries called it an Expeditor. In civil use it was known as the Beech 18. The Department of Transport had several of them and Joan managed to fly one at Teslin, Yukon Territory about 1964. We were using it to adjust our old radio range transmitter and she and the pilot flew around until we had it adjested correctly. The pilot was from Nova Scotia and let Joan fly the aircraft.
This was the second hanger with various interesting aircraft. The other aircraft were in the first hanger and the ones I had taken photographs of with the Nikon camera. Unfortunately there was an interesting Grasshopper and a Vietnam era helicopter used as a gun ship to name two.
This is a World War II Cessna aircraft used by the military for training. The Royal Canadian Air Force may have called this a Cessna Crane. I am going by memory and may be wrong.
The aircraft in the second hanger.
This is a biplane as one can see. I did not write it down but believe it was a Stearman.
Ron is taking a photograph that is probably bringing back many memories.
There has to be a Gooney Bird and it is without question the nicest looking aircraft sitting on the ground or in the air. It is a C47 known as a Dakota by the British and British Commonwealth countries. A DC3 in civil use and many are still flying.
A U.S. Navy vehicle that Ron felt may have been used by the Navy Shore Patrol.
This is a British military Land Rover.
Another view of more military equipment.
A World War II Invader. This aircraft along with a few others are equipped to take people up for short flights. A Navy blue SNJ was taking people up today but neither Ron nor I went up.
This is a Canadian World War II military truck. They were manufactured by Dodge, Chevrolet and Ford. This one is a Ford. There were many of these in civil use around home after the war. One garage had one rigged up as a tow truck and used it for years.
We were not sure of the technical name of this vehicle. It looks a lot like the old World War II Bren Gun Carrier in use by the Royal Canadian Army. We had a few in our regiment when I was in the reserve army while in high school.
We arrived home at about 2:40PM when the temperature was 75.7F under a partly cloudy sky.
Joan's quilt was ready so we went over to Apache Junction and picked that up.
This is Joan and Monica holding up Joan's latest quilt in front of the machine that quilted the quilt. The machine is a long arm computerized quilting machine. The computer is just behind Monica. We did not see it working but it must be something to see when in use.
At 3:40PM when we returned home the temperature was 75.3F still under a partly cloudy sky.
Joan, Jan, Ron and I then left for the ballroom for the final dinner of the season. They called it an African Safari Dinner and had the room decorated in stuffed animals. They had a husband and wife team there singing after supper and a dance. We all came home at 7PM when the sky was still partly cloudy with a temperature of 67.7F.
At 8:55PM the temperature was 61.8F under a clear sky.
I spent the rest of the evening getting this ready. It was another great day.