interesting wing design

That evening, a few more planes showed up just after sunset. Made for nice pictures:

plane was pretty packed with 2 bikes and all our hiking and camping stuff

I flew by Mt Shasta on the way up:

Sadly California had multiple fires, which made visibility often bad, especially by noon or so. On the way up, it wasn't too bad though and we got to see Crater Lake which was totally smoked in later on, on most days. We had actually planned to go to crater lake, but I cancelled that part of our trip once I saw how bad the visibility was on most days:

I think that's the hike down to the ferry that goes around the lake

We eventually got to Madras, which had nice scenery:

After watching the eclipse, we flew to Klamath Falls, with its big lakes:

once on the ground, we drove to that bridge to see the lake from both sides, you can see the falls aren't that big afterall :)

big runway, hard to miss (I was asked to land long)

there is an air force training base onsite

We first landed in Klamath Falls to see Lava Beds National Park, and then on the way back, we had a look at the town.

We were supposed to fly out the day after, but when we arrived, there was a line of thunderstorms around the airport and another one around Lassen where we were going, so I opted for us to stay the night in Klamath and fly down to Lassen early the next morning just after sunrise:

got lots of pictures from Lassen on the way

and finally landed at Chester/Rogers airport, from where we had a rental car waiting, and we drove back up (1h) to Lassen

After a full day in Lassen, we flew back at sunset (20:00) and got home in Palo Alto just before 22:00, tired, but happy from all the nice sightseeing

Solartown, north of the airport

the rest of the year, Madras has a small racetrack and drag racing strip

when we landed on sunday morning, a few planes were there already, but many more arrived

I was able to negotiate a parking spot closer to the exit for the next morning, and we setup our camp

some amount of vendors at the airport

We then took our foldable bikes and biked to Solarfest, a few miles south:

Madras was ready for visitors

and their money :)

Nasa had a display room, but hard to get into due to crowds

lots of vendors

I then went to Solartown to meet Arturo and Louis at their RV:

It was then time to get back to the airport for sunset pictures:

We then tried to sleep in our tent, and I very much appreciated the jet that landed at 05:02 and stayed idling close to our tent for a good 5mn :)

people getting ready early

I packed up our camp and turned the plane around in the direction of 'get the f out of here' :)

I was one plane away from the last taxiway to the runway

Tim, one of my many coworkers who went to the event

In case the sun disappearance brought a big flood, some were ready :)

And then, it started:

this lucky guy landed 1mn before the runway closed

getting closer

that little sun left, is still very bright

without a filter, it was still super bright

almost there, but still way too bright to look with naked eyes

and finally!

the corona of hot plasma around the sun, only visible during an eclipse

mercury became visible

So, it's hard to explain, but it does get quite dark, and cold. The cold was really noticeable, which is surprising how quickly it changed in just a portion of a minute:

and then, after barely 2mn, it was over

Just to give a feel for what it looked like, here are 4mn starting just before totality:

Those 2mn were as cool as they went by quickly. As soon as totality was over, we rushed to the plane, and went in line for the runway, got the first spot and I was the first person to take off when the runway re-opened. While waiting over 30mn, I took a few more pictures from inside the plane before finally being able to take off:

in the 40mn I waited before taking off, the roads were filled up already

jets were the only ones allowed to take off for about 1h after I left

solarfest

a long road home

And one last shot of the partial eclipse still going on while we were flying to Klammath Falls:

We had a great time, definitely an at least once in a lifetime experience.

There was a good history of early planes:

a good reminder that the first aircraft that was heavier than air was French, even if it didn't fly far

very bird-like aircraft

of course the wright brothers are mentioned, along with their patents and thirst for money that caused the US to slip back decades while France quickly took over the world of flying machines

one impressive thing on the wright brothers' airplane was the engine: light and efficient

lots of early french planes

While most people know about the French Mongolfier brothers and their hot air balloon, few know about all the dirigeables that many countries experimented with, including England:

The section on VTOL aircraft was very nice. I didn't know about the pre-harrier prototypes:

VTOL thrust vectoring prototype

Short SC-1, first UK VTOL aircraft

and harrier

Other random planes:

first german jet aircraft

early airplane with inefficient propeller

So again, while it was not an aviation museum, it sure had a worthwhile collection to check out.

love the windshield wipers :)

Mirage III

Mirage IV nuclear bomber, the only one outside of France

this one got me excited, the electric lightening, one of the highest flying jet planes outside of the US

a 5000 ton bomb, to penetrate tunnels and caves

an early glider prototype

GB put effort into big airships too, but they prooved too problematic and dangerous in the end

They had a control tower, and copy of the french pilots quarters

While I kind of regret not having had the chance to see bigger aviation museums while in the UK, but this one at least gave me a taste :)