Day 234: Remembrance day

Today is 11/11/11 (no matter how you write the date), Remembrance Day or Armistice Day, or Veterans' Day depending on where you live. A couple of years ago, we went for a walk on the beach and were treated to a flypast by a small squadron of light aircraft. They flew back and forth a few times in different formations. I remembered this just before 11 am, and wondered if I'd see it from our balcony. I ventured outside and waited in silence. At almost 11 on the dot, I saw navigation lights to the west which materialized into a large plane. It flew closer, and passed barely a kilometre to the west, at an altitude of probably no more than 500 m, dipping its wings in what I originally thought was the pilot keeping control in the blustery wind, but now I wonder if it was a salute. I snapped a dozen shots, staying outside to see if the smaller planes would make an appearance. They didn't: I'm guessing the weather was just too bad for them, with a stiff blustery wind from the east. (The weather got really interesting later: we had a downpour, hail, thunder and lightning followed by sunshine and blue skies and a couple of rainbows.)

I was still on the balcony a minute or two later when I saw the big plane flying back - it must have done a loop somewhere down by the airport - passing by even closer this time, filling the frame at full zoom. Today's photo is from that second pass. I recognized the aircraft as a Lockheed P-3 Orion, a maritime reconnaissance aircraft. I could see the aircraft's serial number on the tail fin and did a Google search for it. The results told me that this was, in fact, a Lockheed CP-140 Aurora which is a Canadian variant of the Orion using different electronics. I've always liked aircraft, so it was a real treat to see this one fly by so close.

Remembrance Day flypast