Veterans’ Day

Skå-Edeby aerodrome hosted their annual Veterans’ day and some friends and I went there to see it. A brilliant and hot summer’s day, but finally wise from earlier mishaps, I donned my straw hat and slathered myself richly with SPF 50+, rather to the amusement of at least one in the company.

We had a most excellent day, went exploring in the hangars, ran into various friends and watched the displays. The refreshment hangar not only was able to supply gluten-free snacks (as it was unexpected I had actually brought my own), but also had a jazz band playing old favourites.

A police helicopter arrived and did public relations. They noted that their works is divided into roughly equal shares “looking for people who want to be found, looking for people who don’t want to be found, and, uh, other things [ominous wiggling of eyebrows]”. Apparently an embarrassingly large number of people manage to get surprised by nightfall while out picking mushrooms. The police would appreciate if the public wore brightly coloured garments on such occasions, rather than the tree-and-rock-coloured clothes they are wont to do.

A very dusty Yak-55 in a hangar. Seems the repairs got interrupted.

The unlikely-looking Rutan Quickie. Another surprise is that the registration cannot be found in the Transport Agency’s register.

A much earlier example of the tandem wing concept: A Flying Flea.

Not only aircraft but also ancient cars, fire engines, and motorcycles graced the airfield with their presence.

Biltema’s Spitfire Mk XVIE made several displays during the day, here starting with mighty exhaust flames.

And at the end of the day, my skin was as pristinely fish-belly white as in the morning, the sunscreen having fulfilled its duties perfectly.