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11 April Bluebonnet Cafe & CAF Ride An Unexpected Gift…. The Chapter U ride schedule said “ Saturday 11 April - Bluebonnet Cafe & CAF ride, We will be leaving the Exxon at 281 & 46 at 8:30! Come early to socialize!” Now the Bluebonnet has great food (leave room for pie!) but the “CAF.” What’s that? Oh, the Commemorative Air Force. It’s in Burnet but hmmm. The local forecast is saying a high of 73 with a possibility of thunderstorms late in the day but the day was going to start cool and cloudy, and it is Easter weekend! Hmmm. Maybe I should stay home. I could sleep in. Clean the house. Catch up on “stuff.” Shop for a new Easter hat! Always something to do but Brad wanted to ride, and I wanted to spend time with Brad. Ok, I’ll go but it could be cool. Ok, I can turn on my heated seat if its cold and if we take the trike. So I decided to go…and, am I glad I did! Let me tell you about our typical, fun Chapter U ride but the unexpected gift I received.
At the meeting point. Ordering at the Bluebonnet! Our trike and two bikes with Ride Coordinators Gary Skorman and Skip Surre were socializing in the parking lot at the meeting point for the ride, the Exxon at 46 and 281. The sky was overcast, the temperature in the low 60’s, a light wind, and while we expected the cool start to the day, we didn’t have much hope of anyone else turning out. Then down the ramp came a bright yellow trike bearing “Fly ‘N Low!” It sure was great to see Olin Gover back on his trike after a year or so off it! Of course we spent more time socializing and catching up before mounting back up and heading for the Bluebonnet Café in Marble Falls. Skip was in the Lead and Gary was in the Drag allowing the two trikes to just enjoy the ride up 281. The clouds moved higher as we headed north, and we did see some pockets of bluebonnets and other wild flowers on our ride. I kept looking for the sun, but it was still sleeping in I guess. By the time we pulled into the Bluebonnet Café, we were ready for food, and after a short wait (for the Bluebonnet!), we were seated at a round table for five. Perfect! We were soon eating our way through eggs and chicken-fried steak, gravy, biscuits, omelets and more. Delicious and, as Brad and I had split a breakfast and some sides, we then capped off our late breakfast with the last slice of coconut cream pie…amazing how at 10:30 in the morning they are on their last slice of coconut cream pie! Great to see Olin back out to join us on his trike! Fortified by a solid meal, we headed towards Burnet and the CAF which, we realized at the Bluebonnet Café, was holding its annual airshow and was well-organized for crowds. Motorcycles were able to park for half price, and we met Olin, who was able to find disabled parking, across from the entrance. We wandered in and quickly found our way down a flight-line of historic planes. It was great to see everything from bi-planes to a MIG. The MIG was the type that the Soviet Union flew during the Czech uprising in 1968. I had my picture taken by that one as I am currently talking about the Cold War at school to a bunch of kids who never lived during the Cold War. I know my years are numbered for teaching kids whose parents lived through the Cold War but I have a few years before that! What a wonderful thing for people to have such a passion (and money and time) to preserve our “flying” history. Some of the planes had placards talking about their capability. Some of the World War II planes had “nose art,” one had Japanese flags on it, painted, I suppose, to represent the number of planes shot down by the pilot. We saw planes flown by the Marines, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. My favorite, and my unexpected gift, was at the far end of the runway…the “Bluebonnet Belle”, a Douglas C-47, a 60 some odd-year old plane, like what my dad flew in World War II!
Everyone had their favorite and this P40 Warhawk was skips!
Jill likes the nose art... Brad liked the 30mm gun of the A-10
Mig-17 and the group. Gary in a gun turret
The aerial show was great! Now I am one of six children, and my dad was single during World War II, and became a pilot after he says, overturning a jeep he was driving while transporting his company commander! World War II had been going on for several years, and the Army needed pilots. Dad transferred to the Air Corps and earned his shiny new wings. My favorite, and probably only military picture of my dad, now 86 years old, is sitting in the cockpit of a C-47 in his flight cap and jacket. I remember him telling me, in response to my question about whether he ever transported anyone famous during the war, that his most memorable flight as a pilot was transporting some type of dog team. The dogs were tied up in the back, and they barked and yipped the entire flight. After they were off-loaded Dad found out the worst part of the trip was not to be the noisy flight but the cleaning up after the dogs had departed! My dad flew the Azores during World War II, and left the flying he loved somewhere after marrying my mom and around the second or third child with another on the way. Pilots didn’t make a lot of money back then, and, after seeing a B-26 Marauder "widowmaker" with a full crew dive into the ground during his pilot transition training, Dad felt he couldn’t take the risk anymore.
P-40 Flying Tiger C-47 Sky Train Anyway, back to the air show. I had seen a C-47 before but they were never still flying. Imagine my thrill when I realized you could go up into the plane and maybe even catch a real glimpse of the cockpit in Dad’s picture. When I walked up, they were turning people away as they were going to load up some parachutists to be part of the air show. I explained that my dad had flown a C-47 in WWII and I had never been in one, and they graciously agreed to let me quickly walk through. Talk about metal bolted together with not much between you and the clouds outside the windows! It made you appreciate how far air transportation has come even if the seats seem too small and you only get peanuts (if you are lucky!). They had put 2 small litters on one side of the cargo hold to show that it could carry patients, there were some regular passenger seats (you can get a ride if you want at a price) and there was a metal bench with indents and seat belts, I guess, for parachutists. The area in front of the cargo hold and behind the very small cockpit was empty. I guess the navigator and radio man sat there but that is still on the project list for renovation. When I peered into the cockpit, the windows seemed so high and small, the seats so narrow, and the pedals on the floor wouldn’t let you stretch your legs very far. Obviously pilots have different comfort needs than motorcyclists but then our Gold Wings are a lot more comfortable than most military aircraft! I hadn’t brought a camera and thought someday I will have to go back and recreate my dad’s picture but with me in the pilot’s seat. The sky divers were loading up, and the air show was starting with the C-47 taking part in it. I hurried out and waited for the show!
The C-47 was the largest there. The sky divers jumped from it! It turned out fortuitously that the C-47 was at the end of the runway as we just walked up to the edge of the runaway, well away from the crowds, and watched the air show. It was wonderful seeing all the vintage planes take off and circle. Some were flying higher, some lower; some inside the circle, others outside the circle. Most of them part of what has kept our country free over the last 70 or so odd years. I waited with baited breath for the C-47 to take off. I realize that seems funny but that plane represents a part of my family’s history, and I wanted to see her take to the air! When she started up her engines, there was a lot of smoke. I thought “maybe she won’t be able to fly,” but eventually she evened out, and I wondered if my dad would recognize that sound. I called him on my cell phone. He wasn’t home but I left a message, and then held out the cell phone to capture the sound of her engines. I bet he can still recognize that sound!
C-47 details fuzzy yes, but he was some distance away!! Eventually the C-47 took off and circled higher and wider than the others, eventually flying twice across the field and releasing the parachutists almost over our heads as they floated back to the ground. Brad was muttering something about jumping again, and I kept repeating the fact that those parachutists were much younger and obviously didn’t need double knee replacements. You know who is going to win that discussion don’t you? One of the last jumpers coming in brought in an American flag. What a wonderful salute to our country and its freedoms. I have to tell you I had tears in my eyes when the C-47 took off. As the years go by, we lose vets from each war, each conflict, each skirmish. It doesn’t really matter what it’s officially called. It may not be a “war” in Washington, D.C., but for the young men and women who are “over there,” and their families left on the “home front,” it feels like a war. I feel like if these and other vintage planes keep flying, we are remembering those who paid the ultimate price, and those who have gone before, and those who are serving now. We are preserving part of our country’s history and what is great is they are not in a museum but still out flying our free skies! I was happy to make a small contribution specifically to the maintenance and preservation of the “Bluebonnet Belle,” and asked Gary to put this air show on the Chapter U ride schedule for next year.
The flag was hard to land with! Perfect landing!
On the road! Gary in the lead. Have to have a DQ stop! So that was my “unexpected gift.” I went, as do many Co-Riders, to spend some “quality” time with my Rider. I expected safe riding, very good food, and friendship. Like many other times over the last three years with Chapter U, Brad and I had a wonderful time. This time, however, I went home with a special memory…a link to my own family history! Thank “U” Chapter U! Jill Severe
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