Sitting at the computor a few minutes ago when a jet flew very low over the house and send the dogs crazy! Happened a second time and I suddenly realized it is almost 9 am and the Stampede parade will be about to start. Rushed outside in bare feet and house coat, risking the mosquitos and was treated to a flying display by the Snowbirds!
Wonder how the horses in the parade liked that?
This message was edited Jul 7, 2006 8:02 AM
The Snowbirds are here!
Never thought to take out my camera! Duh!!!!!!!!!!!
They move quickly. ;) Two days ago we saw them flying in formation over our veggie patch. So did your windows and house shake? One day I swore they were going to go right through my house. Speaking of which a monument was just put up in town for the victims of the TC North Star from Montreal and a Harvard trainer from the CFB Moose Jaw.
Quoting:
Art Babych says a plan to restore a vintage North Star aircraft brought back vivid memories of a major crash involving that type of aircraft in his home town of Moose Jaw 50 years earlier.
CREDIT: Rod MacIvor, The Ottawa Citizen
(Re: North Star refit is almost airborne, April 11.)
It is ironic that April was chosen to launch a campaign to restore a vintage North Star aircraft. It was 50 years ago on April 8, 1954 that a Trans-Canada Airlines North Star was part of the worst air accident to that date involving a scheduled airliner in Canada.
A climbing Harvard trainer from the RCAF base south of Moose Jaw struck the tail section of a North Star. After the two planes collided, the North Star began its rapid descent in the direction of one of the city's largest elementary schools, filled with students.
But the fuselage stayed aloft long enough to skim over the roof of the school before crashing into a home nearby, killing a housekeeper who lived in my neighbourhood but worked across town.
All 35 people on board the North Star and the pilot of the trainer aircraft also died. Debris, luggage and bodies rained from the skies over Moose Jaw.
Among the debris that plummeted onto the streets of Moose Jaw were the North Star's Rolls-Royce Merlin engines. One was found in the backyard of the house where the woman died. Another had fallen off the plane on its descent, bouncing and rolling before coming to a stop on the city's main street. Much of the debris slammed into unpopulated recreation grounds adjacent to the city's northern residential area.
Did the North Star pilot courageously manage to guide the aircraft over the elementary school before it crashed, or was it just luck? And was it a miracle that no one on the ground was injured and only one person killed? Many Moose Javians think so.
The memory of the 1954 collision, which happened while I was attending elementary school across the city, had faded until I read the article about the plans to refit a North Star that has sat outside the Canada Aviation Museum for almost 40 years.
I hope to visit the refitted North Star when it goes on display years four or five years from now.
While doing so, I'm sure I'll think about Mrs. Hadwen, the frail-looking housekeeper who lived in our neighbourhood and who was the only ground casualty.
Here the horses are pretty immune to them but the older people tend to get very nervous when planes fly low (for years after the crash they weren't allowed to fly over Moose Jaw).
Enjoy the Stampede Carol and hopefully the horses will be kept under control (seems silly to have the fly over horses that could head into the crowds).
We got to HEAR them in their flypast on Canada Day, but being about 12 km east of downtown, they were well in the clouds when directly overhead.
Ann
A bunch of show planes were whipping around in the air above my house yesterday. Not sure if they were Snowbirds but my goodness, I felt my teeth just rattle with the vibration. I live just across the street from Pearson International so I'm used to loud plane sounds but the noise from these planes was intense. My neighbor's pup just cowered, poor thing so I can imagine it might spook a horse. But those planes and the stunts they perform are just incredible and I could never be bored watching them.