Tuesday, September 04, 2018

Random Leftuggies

There are some slide scans that just never seem to leave my computer. Today I'll finally post two of those!

I realize that this barely qualifies as a Disneyland slide - but it is, I swear. That whirlybird overhead is one of the Sikorsky S-61 twin turbine, medium-lift transports that ferried guests from Los Angeles International Airport to Disneyland and back.

I believe that the gray shape to our left is part of the TWA Moonliner, while that dark shape in the upper left corner is likely one of the oval cloth awnings that provided shade for some seating and souvenir booths.


Here's a photo of a helicopter, reposted from some months back.


And one other leftuggie, a faded slide showing a Storybook Land canal boat as it is about to be eaten by Monstro. This is a kodachrome slide, but it is a duplicate, and those always look slightly darker, with "off" colors. But it's still OK!

15 comments:

Melissa said...

Cool; most photos of the Prince of Whales seem to be from the other side. And the Storybook Land CM costumes are so e of my favorites from that era.

K. Martinez said...

There's the monorail track behind the helicopter that heads back to the magic kingdom of Disneyland. I do like the gray skies in the helicopter pics. Thanks, Major.

JC Shannon said...

Wow, something for the aviation buff in all of us. It is said that fixed wingers dance through the air on laughter silvered wings, while helicopters beat the air into submission. Great shots of the Sikorsky workhorse. I like the angle of the Monstro scan, so different from the usual snap. Thanks to Major for the uggies, great stuff.

TokyoMagic! said...

That angle in the last shot, shows so much of Monstro's left side, that I was almost expecting to see his left eyeball. However, I know that Monstro was only given one eye. Poor Monstro!

TokyoMagic! said...

By the way, that little tree next to Monstro is still standing, At least for now, it is!

Anonymous said...

I'm Tokyo, I was hoping for a peek at Monstro's other eye. The water color is singularly unattractive in this pic. Now I'm going back to look for other pics with the little tree.

I guess commercial aviation passenger helo's have stopped being a thing. I do remember seeing these pass overhead on at least one Disney visit.

My pilot friend used to say that a helicopter was composed of "50,000 separate parts, none of which want to fly."

Thanks Major.

JG

Major Pepperidge said...

Melissa, if Monstro is the Prince, who is the king?? It might be Fudgie, but I don’t want to make assumptions. I agree with you about the costumes!

K. Martinez, oh yeah, I didn’t even see the Monorail track. I still think that a nice blue sky would have probably made for a prettier photo, but the gray looks OK here.

Jonathan, it must have been one of Shakespeare’s many sonnets about airplanes that brought us the phrase about how they “dance through the air on laughter-silvered wings”. You’d think that watching boats get eaten from the same angle as photo #3 would be a no-brainer, and yet most pix are taken from the side.

TokyoMagic!, much like Claudette Colbert, Monstro only wanted to be photographed from one side, although in her case she didn’t want anyone to see the right side of her face. Why? You guessed it - one eye!

TokyoMagic! II, maybe the tree was there (for real) to hide that left side of his face? I can’t imagine it lasted very long.

JG, ha ha, yes, the water looks like there was a sewage leak. Blame that on the fact that the slide was a duplicate - those have the weirdest colors. I was in a helicopter once, and it was very cool, but I couldn’t help feeling a little nervous. I love that quote about the 50,000 parts!

Anonymous said...

Major, are you saying Claudette Colbert only had one eye? Did not see that coming.

Also, I think Chuck can confirm this, pilots of military rotary wing aircraft are issued a common red brick, referred to as a Rotary Wing Aircraft Glide Slope Indicator (GSI) with stenciled instructions that in event of rotor failure, to deploy the GSI from the window of the aircraft and the GSI landing point will indicate the landing zone (LZ) for navigation purposes.

JG

Chuck said...

I hate pointing this out, but the aircraft in the second photo, N303Y, is the mishap aircraft that crashed on 22 May 1968 flying as LA Airways Flight 841, killing all 23 aboard.

I flew in a few S-61s in the 2012-13 timeframe, and they were a pretty rough, noisy, utilitarian ride. Considering that the last S-61 rolled off the assembly line in 1980, that's not so surprising, although even when new they were never going to "dance the skies on laughter-silvered wings" (John Gillespie Magee, Jr., never had an opportunity to ride in a helicopter). Still, they got the job done. I read recently that many are being rebuilt into the S-61T standard, with improved avionics, composite blades, and greater lift capability. I'll be fully retired before the last one of those is.

JG, I've never heard that story before, but it sounds like something that community would embrace - a helicopter minus the spinny part has all the aerodynamic properties of masonry. As a retired Marine co-worker of mine used to say, "if the wings are moving faster than the rest of your aircraft, you may be in a helicopter and don't realize the danger you're already in."

Anonymous said...

Chuck, that's a sad comment to have to make. I knew the shuttle was stopped by an safety concern, but did not know it was so serious.

I withdraw all further attempts at helicopter humor.

JG

Chuck said...

There was actually a second fatal crash in August of 1968 on the Disneyland run. Those two mishaps did permanent damage to LA Airways' public image and contributed to their ceasing operations in 1971.

JG, the folks who fly those things have their own brand of "gallows humor," and they tell the same jokes about their mounts that the rest of us do (and quite a few more that the rest of us won't get). If they can poke fun at the risks they take, I'm sure we'll be forgiven for doing so as well.

TokyoMagic! said...

Major, did Claudette Colbert really only want to be photographed on one side of her face and not the other. And here I thought Barbra Streisand was the only one who was that whack-a-doodle!

That little tree really is still there today....it's just not so little anymore. I suppose they could bulldoze it tomorrow for something more important, like a Star Wars Land expansion or the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train rollercoaster....or even a Pooh playground for toddlers.

Major Pepperidge said...

JG, I am reasonably sure that Claudette Colbert only had one eye! Why else would she insist on being photographed from one side? Say, whoever thought of those Rotary Wing Aircraft Glide Slope Indicators was pretty smart! I would have just used a watermelon.

Chuck, when I originally posted that photo of the helicopter (on July 28, 2017) I mentioned its tragic history. Was there no such thing as a large helicopter that also had a smooth ride? Sikorsky’s were very large, but it wouldn’t be much fun having one’s teeth rattled loose.

JG, this is why you need to go back and reread every GDB post!

Nanook said...

Major-

Back in early 1967, our family took the helicopter from the top of [the then] Pan Am building to JFK. I remember my anticipation at the ride, but was a bit on edge for most of the journey. I can only imagine how exciting the view must have been, but I was a bit too nervous to enjoy it all - which did come as a big surprise to me. (Maybe it was as all that 'noise and roughness' that set me on-edge...)

Melissa said...

You know, I've never seen Claudette Colbert and Monstro in the same place...