Mind your huckleberries, August will be
special
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June 27, 2013 |
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| The
only Boeing 40C, an aircraft of legend,
is scheduled to land at the Boundary
County Airport August 24. A legendary
breakfast will be there for the pilot. |
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Every aviator in Boundary County, as well as
many aviators from around the region and folks
here who just like huckleberry pancakes for
breakfast, well know that the Boundary County
Airport is the place to go on the morning of the
last Saturday of each summer month.
There'll be a lot of folks there this Saturday,
between 8 and 10 a.m., enjoying their breakfast
and swapping stories.
In August, though, they'll need to set their
clocks back a week.
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| "I'm your
huckleberry ... and mind you, you better
set your watch." |
Daniel
Day-Lewis
"Abraham Lincoln" * |
It takes a very special occasion to pull a trick
like that, but this August, two such tricks
happen to coincide. First, there are five
Saturdays next month instead of the usual four.
More importantly, though, an aviation legend is
scheduled to alight here on the morning of
August 24, the fourth but not final Saturday of
the month, and a legendary landing well deserves
a legendary breakfast.
The Boeing Model 40 was a United States mail
plane of the 1920s. It was a single-engine
biplane that was widely used for airmail
services in the United States in the 1920s and
30s, especially by airlines that later became
part of United Airlines. It became the first
aircraft built by the Boeing company to carry
passengers (wikipedia).
Pemberton and Sons Aviation, Spokane,
completed restoration of its 1928 Boeing 40C,
and the aircraft was test flown for the first
time on February 17, 2008. It was the aircraft
that launched Boeing, and it's the only one of
the series still flying.
Originally designed to win a contract to carry
U.S. Mail, the aircraft was designed to carry
2,000 pounds of mail, along with something other
planes couldn't, two passengers.
Able to fly the mail for a mere $3 a pound
thanks to innovative design (still using wooden
components), Boeing won the contract to carry
mail from San Francisco to Chicago.
The modifications that made the 40C had an
enlarged cabin that could accommodate four
passengers, though wood was still a component,
and with a few more modifications the Model 40
became the Boeing B series, the planes that
played such a crucial role in winning World War
II for the allies.
A few folks might be upset at having to reset
their watch, and those who forget and show up at
the airport August 31 will be doubly
disappointed, hence the early warning.
This is a public service announcement.
It would be a tragedy to let anyone miss a
huckleberry pancake breakfast.
*
Just kidding. |
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