As you probably know, when I was kid we lived next to an airport and desperately wanted to become a pilot when I grew up. The proximity of our house was so near the strip, that when we were having lunch, we could hear the roar and the rushing of air when an airplane was overhead on its way to the landing strip.
My favorite spot was the airport terminal. I knew everybody there, and everybody there knew me. I talked to the pilots asking all sorts of questions and they tried to answer back. When a group of US pilots arrived at Changuinola to survey the area, I became their guide, and they took me on many rides on their choppers. The feeling of the air on my face and the motions of the helicopter are hard to forget after more than five decades later.
Alas, my father found out of my furtive trips on choppers and Piper Cubs, he spanked me hard and restricted me from ever riding choppers or small planes without his permission. Of course his permissions were never granted. So instead of a wonderful man on a flying machine, I became a wonderful man with an adding machine. Instead of a pilot, I turned out an accountant fixed to a desk. The only blue sky I could see, came from the small window of my office. And that my friends is my experience with choppers and planes.
This nostalgia for planes has been inside me, and every time I have to go to the airport or see an airplane flying high above my house in Panama City, I say to myself, “That pilot up there could have been me.” It didn’t happen, so there no use crying over spilled milk.
This is the last post on a theme of airplanes and of the recent airshow at the former Panama Canal Zone. We have reached the end of the road and tomorrow we will move on into new territory. Meanwhile, lets feast our eyes with a couple of pictures of those wonderful flying machines. Here we go.
Snapshot of a small plane on exhibition during a large air show in Panama City, Panama. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
That’s it guys. The airshow is over. I’ll keep my ear close to the ground to decide won hat our new subject will be and keep the ball rolling. Enjoy this beautiful Saturday morning. If you’re a flyer, have a good flight and savor the view. Good Day.
Oh, my! I didn’t know any of this story – no wonder you delight so in the air shows and the planes.
Isn’t it amazing to look back and think, “But for this…or that…” things might have been different? That’s certainly true in my life – whether they would have been better is an open question, and probably will remain so. I’m not sure any final answer is possible.
When I was a child, it was the railroad that fascinated me. I loved everything about it, and my grandfather and I would go to the roundhouse and look at the engines. It never occurred to me to want to be an engineer or work on the railroad – that was for boys. But I loved the “pufferbellies” – our name for steam engines.
You may have missed my one railroad post. I even made a video for it! You can find it here, along with a bit more about pufferbellies and Grandpa!
We had a railroad in Changuinola where I was raised. It was owned by the then United Fruit Company (UFC)headquartered in Boston, Mass. The railroad was used to transport the banana boxes from the banana plantations to the port of Almirante, where they were exported to the Eastern Coast of the United States.
The UFC had beautiful white ships known as the Great White Fleet. As soon as a boat reached port, the painters on board immediately started painting the exterior of the ship. The policy of the company was having spotless white vessels.
The locomotives were painted bright yellow, diesel powered, and manufactured by General Electric. Never was a train or a boat fan; my infatuation were those wonderful flying machines. Sigh!
Regards,
Omar.-
Omar, a fellow in England I read has just posted a series of photos of old airplanes. He knows nothing about them – or very little – and I thought maybe you could help him out. They’re very early – biplanes, I think WWI or that era.
In any event, I know you’d enjoy seeing them. You can find them here.
Yes Linda, I saw the remarkable black and white pictures of British planes from WWI I think. Sorry, but could not recognize them.
The quality of the pictures were outstanding. I wonder what kind of cameras were used in those days to take such high-quality pictures.
I made this same comment on his web site.
Regards,
Omar.-