Just Ride.

Should this ride thread be just a.... well, thread? Or should there be a dedicated Forum topic?

  • Yes, it's own topic in the Forums

    Votes: 19 90.5%
  • Nah... threads good enough.

    Votes: 2 9.5%

  • Total voters
    21
  • Poll closed .
The Confederate Air Force restoration hangar ride..........

Ok , I know they changed their name to Commemorative Air Force , But it just doesn’t have the same ring to it. :D

We are experiencing something of a cool break right now. It’s already been 110 degrees a couple of times this year, I frankly thought my riding days were just about done until the fall. But here came a front and it brought a nice bit of relief. It was 86 degrees this morning as I headed out. About 15 miles from home, I stop and top off my tank for what will be a 75 mile ride.
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I’m going to ride to The Buckeye Az municipal airport, blink as you drive by and you’ll miss it. It sits way out on the outskirts of town, surrounded by open desert and farm fields. There couldn’t be more than 20 or 30 small planes there. Ahhh....but the best kept secret of this tiny airport is that The Confederate Air Force keeps a restoration hanger there. Shown in the red square, the two rectangular structures are open air sheds that are about 100 yards long each.
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They don’t advertise being in this location, they don’t conduct tours , this is a place for working on planes, away from the public. I discovered it quite by accident while exploring lonely roads ( well that, and being nosey). There are no signs directing you in , I just rode around until I found a long gravel road leading back there. I probably shouldn’t be back there, but until they tell me to get out, well.......:cool:

C’mon , let’s go have a look. I’ve been here a few times and the inventory changes. I have no idea what kind of planes these are so IF YOU KNOW WHAT ANY OF THESE PLANES ARE , PLEASE TELL ME.

This first one, I just love. ITS HUGE, like a bus with wings, and the twin tails are just crazy big and long. Pictures don't do justice to the scale of this thing. I had to keep backing up to try and get it all in the frame.
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Next up, some kind of amphibious plane ( says Captain Obvious :laugh2: )
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And this one, a B-25? Maybe?
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This old Coast Guard plane was here the last time I was here. I took a ton of photos of it then.
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Now let’s go have a look and see what’s under the sheds. Let me also mention how difficult these next ones were to photograph, with half the body outside in the blazing sunlight and half in the shade.
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I am quite sure, I have no business being here, but I am doing this for you guys! :sneaky: The last time I was here, I didn’t walk around under the roof for fear of someone discovering me and yelling at me. But this time I’m fully prepared to play the old man card. “ I’m lost, I was just looking for the bathroom.” I can hear someone at the other end of the building banging on something, but I walk in like I own the place.
I’m not even gonna guess what the rest of these planes are.
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I like the bubble windows on this plane. It looks pretty old.
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At this point I pulled a bottle of water outa my tail pack and sat in the shade of the hanger and just kinda soaked in the history that was all around me. After a while I figured I better not stretch my luck , so I threw my gear back on , fired up old Blackie and got the hell outa Dodge, and headed for home.
On the way home I stopped in the desert mountain foothill town of Verado and let my bike ( and rider ) cool off a little.
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I pulled back into my garage and thought , it’s always nice to come back home. What a great old bike, it never missed a beat!
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Until next time,
Bob
Don’t worry about a thing,
Cause every little thing is gonna be alright.
That 1st plane is a Fairchild C119G aka the Flying Boxcar built in 1951 and used in the Royal Canadian AF...
The black plane is a WW2 era Douglas A26 Invader built in 1945...being painted for night attack colors...
And yes that is a B25 Mitchell...
Theres a website that has them all ...let me find it...
Buckeye Airport...
https://www.air-and-space.com/20100219 Buckeye Lauridsen.htm
 
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That 1st plane is a Fairchild C119G aka the Flying Boxcar built in 1951 and used in the Royal Canadian AF...
The black plane is a WW2 era Douglas A26 Invader built in 1945...being painted for night attack colors...
And yes that is a B25 Mitchell...
Theres a website that has them all ...let me find it...
Buckeye Airport...
https://www.air-and-space.com/20100219 Buckeye Lauridsen.htm

Wow! That link is so cool. What a treasure trove of information. I don’t know how you found that. Here all this time I was under the false impression that this was part of the confederate Air Force. I had no idea this was a private collection! Thanks for posting that link! :)
 
I looked for more information on Hans Lauridsen, the owner of this private collection. And though I wasn’t able to find out anything about the man himself. Here are a couple more links with info on his collections. They’re pretty interesting if you’re into military aviation.

http://lauridsenaviationmuseum.com/

And even more,

https://www.skytamer.com/6.1/AZ/Buckeye.html

I will also edit my posts that referred to his private collection as Confederate Airforce.
 
A rare cloudy morning and the temperature wasn’t too terribly hot, so I rolled Big Red outa the barn for a little spin.
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I didn’t really go too far, I just wanted to give it a little exercise to keep it running good. I rode past the garage of a local car club and spotted a nice old custom car ( Mercury? ) parked outside, so I zoomed in for a better look.
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My wife always tells me “Motion is lotion for the joints! “ as she heads off to exercise class. I think the same holds true for our old bikes. Use them or lose them!


G'day B-O-B,

That certainly is a nice lead sled.......

GeeDub
 
I looked for more information on Hans Lauridsen, the owner of this private collection. And though I wasn’t able to find out anything about the man himself. Here are a couple more links with info on his collections. They’re pretty interesting if you’re into military aviation.

http://lauridsenaviationmuseum.com/

And even more,

https://www.skytamer.com/6.1/AZ/Buckeye.html

I will also edit my posts that referred to his private collection as Confederate Airforce.
Apparently he has some pretty deep pockets with 21 vintage aircraft to his name..plus the museum and grounds..wow.. no wonder you were able to just walk around freely...
i love the WW2 planes...My Dad flew a P47 Thunderbolt in the Pacific Theatre...
Not his plane ..
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Its not me riding the Honda ST1300 on which the camera is mounted - but check out this lengthy video of a couple of modern sport-touring bikes on the famous Tail of the Dragon (US-129) on the Tennessee - North Carolina border. At several points, you can hear the pegs on the ST1300 scraping - and it has decent ground clearance and superb brakes. This is a great road - but not for newbies or for the faint of heart:

Here is a video that gives a bit of a documentary on the road - its got to be one of the most famous 11 miles stretches in the world:

And finally, here is a video on the etiquette (rules of good manners) that should be used on this amazing road.
 
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TOD is okay..but mostly overrated IMO..theres no view until the end...many nicer roads with a view that have plenty of twists and turns...We do that road every year at the VYR..I'm used to thrashing my XS1100 in 2nd gear the entire 11 miles..I'm not so sure how that will work out with an XS650..but I would prolly be a bit more conservative with an unknown machine.
 
This "ride" was 500 miles with Prius and trailer to Escanaba MI, the "UP"
2007 Nevada 6600 miles, interesting bike to ride.
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Put about 25 miles on it tonight. Not sure whats up with the blued pipe yet. Runs well, it spent a lot of time sitting. Just the machine for an Italian tune up.
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So on trip up, with empty trailer I averaged 49 MPG, with bike on the trailer I got 34.5 MPG. After about 80 miles I had an idea, I stopped, removed the windshield and saddle bags mileage then went up to 40MPG.
Stayed at a Campground on Lake Michigan overnight, back of the Prius is actually not a bad sleeping area. There was a pretty decent car show going on at Symco WI on the way home so stopped and wandered around for a couple hours.
Very eclectic the general theme is old school hot rods. Also many 30's to 60's campers, mostly pulled by hotrods of all sorts.
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many women were dressed in 40's to 60's get ups.
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There were also a LOT of minibikes.
Glad I stopped, just plain lucky on the timing!
 
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I like Moto Guzzis ALOT, I’m the guy that owns a Fiat after all, so I have a weakness for quirky things. I really considered buying one , about the time I eventually bought a new Triumph. I went as far as test riding a new one.
I rode an 1100 Breva and was really impressed with both the bike as a whole and the character of the motor.

The bike looks good, Is this going to be your new cruiser? Or is this just a flip for you?
 
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