Hellcat, P40, Zero... and a small plane crash - Oh, my!

 

I don't think you could actually build a better day for a Free Fly Day at FHC!  I rode down in the morning with excellent company (myself), stopping for another delicious breakfast at the Acme Diner.  The ride to Paine Field was awesome in the 20C morning temps - T-shirt weather! The skies were blue, the clouds were white, the temperature was spectacular, and after a rather long 45-minute delay (while they were likely getting the Zero back in running order), the show was on!  While we waited, we were treated to several take offs and landings of a wide variety of aircraft of all sizes, including an experimental that decided to land with only the main gear down (8 photos down).  I watched it go past, and both me and the fellow next to me said out loud "That doesn't look right", shortly before the plane touched down, followed mere seconds later by a "Bang" and then a scraping sound.  At that point, I remembered I had a camera in my hand... Duh!  However, a few seconds after that, we heard his engine rev up and he kept on going.  We think he put the power back on enough to lift off and cycle the gear up and down and land again at the far end of the runway!  Luckily, whatever happened, it didn't delay the show, because a few minutes later we heard the roar of engines!  Today's pilots weren't quite as aggressive toward us "west siders" as some of the previous shows (on Ground Attack day on Father's Day weekend, the planes were roaring right at my usual vantage point apparently), but we still got "strafed" in close enough fashion to get some super close-ups!  After the show, I meandered back over to Route 9, then north to Arlington for a yummy lunch at the Local Scoop, and after a walk around their annual street fair, it was time to head home.