My buddy Skywalker sent me an email titled "The Silent Soldier" about a Fed Ex 727 that has been sitting at Sacramento Airport for a while. It seems to have been forgotten by Fed Ex and simply sits waiting for another chance to do what it does best.This reminded me of another Fed Ex 727 which sits at Oakland Airport. The plane has been sitting there for years now. Still proud and boasting her purple and orange livery. Skywalker and I once visited her about 4-5 years ago and we may have been the last ones to do so.
It seems that all airports have Silent Soldiers. I remember that for a long time there were two Convairs at Oakland Airport that just sat on the North side of the field waiting. When I worked at Hayward Airport there were a lot of Silent Soldiers, most of which were private planes. There was one in particular that I recall was a Beechcraft Queen Air. She sat right next to the fence looking out over the road which ran by the airport, her glory days clearly behind her, waiting.
I think I will add Silent Soldiers as a regular column on the blog and try to snap some pictures of that Fed Ex bird at Oakland. If any of you out there come across any of these silent soldiers snap a pic and send it to me. They can be of any type of plane so head out to your local field and see if you can find some plane that may enjoy your company for a few moments while you take her picture. Send me the pics at wrightwaynejr@yahoo.com
The only thing more beautiful than the Grand Old Lady in this picture is to see her fly, The B-727 was one of the last Heavy Meatl aircraft, along with the DC -8, to be built like a real plane and fly like the wind!
ReplyDeleteI've seen news article lately about these two types of planes being bought by 3rd class carriers and using them over from Africa to South America to haul drugs and other contraband, When the plane can no longer fly due to lack of any kind of maintenance, then they are either left to rot on deserted runways in Western Africa or burned up to cover evidence of what they were carrying. THese planes and the people who built and maintained through their honourable serviceable life don't deserve to see their pride and joy ending up in a kind of slaver they were never intended for. Viva Le Roi !