The edge of Moffett's Hangar Two at left, and then, across the field from that, the famous Hangar One, as the sun comes up over the Santa Clara Valley. The moon still shines on California's Coast Range, in the distance.
I was up at oh-dark-hundred this morning, in my volunteer role, escorting a news crew from KNTV in San Jose, for the Moffett Museum. We headed in the dark over to Moffett's Hangar Two so reporter Bob Redell, from the local NBC-TV affiliate, could do some early morning live reports on Jack Clemens and his hand-built, flyable model of the old airship, USS Macon.
A twenty-foot-long flying toy blimp! Good pictures for television and that's for sure.
Clemens' blimp in a test flight July 2011.
Reporter Redell was smart and talented and the live reports, at 5:30 a.m., 6:15 a.m., and 6:50 a.m., were excellent. The scene felt so familiar to me! Model builder Jack Clemens, who is 78 years old and has cochlear implants to help his hearing, was a champ at working his radio controls, answering the reporter's questions, and still keeping his helium-filled airship model from crashing into Hangar Two's rafters. Sigh of relief.
Jack Clemens with his USS Macon model, over his house in Brentwood, Contra Costa County, California in July.
I was having so much fun kibitzing with the reporter and photographer, and watching the live shots, I forgot to take out my own camera. Guess I dozed off there for a minute and thought I had a cameraman there to do it for me.
It didn't matter: the best part came at the end. After we wrapped up, I walked out of massive Hangar Two, and dawn was breaking over the Santa Clara Valley--my valley. It is so very beautiful here.
This time I remembered my camera. It is so great to be home.
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5 comments:
was that a p3 i saw in the background? thought the navy had vacated the base?
Geez--good eye! That's an exhibit near the museum!
i was assigned to a reserve patrol wing at moffett...lol! could probably see one in my sleep! :-)
Herb Parsons was a squadron master chief out there during the P-3 era, he's now prez of the museum. Other museum officers from the P-3 squadron(s) are retired Cmndrs Tom Spink, John Mascali, and Greg Landers, along with ground crewman Lou Somontes. Know any of those folks?
sorry robin, don't recognize those names.i was there from oct 1980 until july 1981.
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