Thanks, Zac, but it got more interesting -- Vlado Lenoch was going to have a Mustang there to fly with the F-22 Raptor as a Heritage Flight. Unfortunately that Mustang developed engine troubles. So he asked if he could use ours?
Ordinarily we'd say NO, of course, but after some research, and references, and discovering Vlado's vast qualifications on the P-51, we decided to allow it. So -- here's the Really Big Thing -- my wife, Robin, in her role as the Airshow Coordinator for Mike Potter, tasked herself with getting a Foreign License Validation Certificate for Vlado -- WITH A TIMELINE OF ONLY 3 DAYS! (To fly a Canadian-registered airplane in Canadian airspace, you need a Canadian license, or this validation.)
My wife is an "Irresistable Force". And TC can be an "Immovable Object". But we had excellent cooperation from TC (Mr. Omer Lemaire -- thanks!), and although it came right down to the wire, we got the document, and thus Vlado rode with me in the Mustang to the show in Bagotville.
But, you notice...
... he is in the back seat. Well, I was glad we were able to help out, but No Way Was I Giving Up 4.0 Hours Of Mustang Time! Not happening! So poor Vlado, brave man that he is, was forced to sit in the back, no control column, while a P-40 pilot rastled with the new airplane to Bagotville.
Of course he is a most pleasant fellow, a gentleman, very easy to get along with, and quite kind to a sprog Mustang pilot, and we got there OK. However, when he told me later that this was the 55th Mustang that he'd flown, I was glad I hadn't pounded the thing onto the runwaythere in Bagtown. In fact the aircraft was pretty much reusable.
Here we are parked in 433 Squadron's operational hangar, which is usually full of F-18s.
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