January 15, 2009

So I'm sitting in my office and I hear what sounds like a warbird flying overhead. So I run out on the deck and scan the sky and spot a strange aircraft that I'd not seen before heading towards the airfield. It had a silver body and orange wings (at least on the bottom side), and had the throaty rumble of something like a T-6. So I grabbed the camera and booked over there and managed to catch it just as it was touching down for a gas and go. It was a Yak-52 based out of Oakland. The Yak-52 was used to train Russian airforce pilots in the 70's and 80's I believe. The pilot was quite friendly and let me climb up on the wing to look at the cockpit. A couple Vans RV-4/6? dropped in, too. I was only there for 45 minutes or so.