I Woke up, got out of bed, ran a comb across my head…. Sorry, listening to the Beatles.

I was out the door by 8am and arrived at 8:35 (one of the perks of having a digital camera is that you do not need to remember times or dates).

I first got permission to take some shots on the ramp as I waited for my two friends to arrive for the flight.  I had a smile on my face as I snapped shot after shot.  I knew I had to make my shots count because I didn’t want to run out of space on the card.

(Nose gear door tag, Like an aircraft ID)

My friend David arrived and I am hopping around like normal.   Dave and I chatted for awhile while I was taking shots of him with the Connie nose. As we were talking Dave turned to me with the greatest grin and said with his very cool British accent, “If you would like to go up… well, I don’t mind helping you with that”. This was his way of telling me that he would pay for my flight to go on the Connie with him. My eye’s lit up and with the greatest smile ever, I said, “No, I couldn’t”. My body was SCREAMING “YES” but I knew it was the right thing to do. My other friend arrived and he and David started talking.  As they talked I realized they were concocting a plan to get me on the flight with them. Well, I eventually gave in!

    All I thought about for hours was that I was going up in the Connie!  As I looked at the nose of the plane I realized that I would soon be flying over southern Long Island.  My mind started to race.  I was planning all of my shots in my head.  I would get one off the wing, I would get one of the tail, and I would get one of the flight deck.  Then it hit me! I realized I had taken over 60 shots already!

    When we boarded I did not smell the oil as much as I did the day before.  I immediately spotted my seat but decided to run around and take a few quick shots before anyone else got on.  We took the shots of the pilot cleaning the windscreen with a metal rod and a rag. Looking out the side of the aircraft,  I watched as a Minivan Slammed on his breaks so hard that his tires squealed! We worked our way to the rear of the aircraft and back outside for more pictures.

It felt like an hour and a half of adding oil. (You would think this thing runs on oil.)

(Man that is a lot of oil! I helped by passing one container of oil outside. Yep, hard days work.)

This is the pilot of the T-6 Texan.  The Connie Co-pilot and him were talking about were they would be so the Museum photographer (Nancy) could take our picture from the rear facing seat in the back of the Texan.

There is a chat about how one of the pilots of from the Airpower Museum will take Power, That can only mean one thing, IT IS ALMOST TIME! At this time I was given my airsick bag and was told that I need to go to my seat for engine startup.  I respectfully ask if I can remain at the window near the engine to take pictures of the fire I hope to see out the exhaust pipe (that never happened). I watch as they pull up the stairs and stow it for flight.

    Things are not right, This Is too good. I keep thinking about how I run out side when I hear a powerful fighter or big round piston engine moan from in side my living room.  Five minutes from now there will be Hundreds to thousands of people around Long Island that will have their jaws on the ground looking at what I will be flying in.

I was in total overload as I heard the #1 engine start from 3 feet away! Anyone that has ever heard one of these big engines knows that it is impossible to describe the feeling of being next to one of these mothers on startup! The engine start up sequence was the same for startup as the day before.  There was much less vibration than I expected.  The plane seemed to just get smoother with each of the engines starting.  As we pulled away from the museum, I could not help but notice how much smoother the ride was in comparison to the B-29 taxi.  We arrive to the run up area and that is were I was just so overwhelmed with excitement as I watched people in their cars tearing into the parking lot as if it was hospital ER.  People were jumping out of their cars at running to the fence at top speed.  I watched as father brought their sons and daughters to see this sparkling clean aircraft that I was about to take off in.  I am looking into the eyes of these people realizing for the first time that there were others that feel the same way about aviation as I do.  I feel like I am the luckiest person alive to be here and I never made it on the runway yet!.

    We go through the Mag checks one engine at a time as the pilot changes the pitch of the blades to make sure the engines are fully operational.  We make our left turn onto the Active runway 14,  and throttle. I am snapping away and get something I do not expect, Wake Vortices of the prop tips and the leading edge!

    Great takeoff and as I noticed the seatbelt light go off, I jumped to my feet and took a quick glance around, (THE WINDOW) I thought and saw the Connie crew member jump to his feet to announce that we could roam the cabin , I am standing 2 feet in front of my seat looking like a world class runner at the line waiting for him to finish his sentence.

    Full sync for the camera as we turn west towards JFK (John F. Kennedy international airport).  It is suppose to be a half hour ride so we will fly to the Jones Beach monument and then turn around so we can get our picture taken by the Texan as it overtakes us.