Versyses versus Mother Nature

[KevinB]

Two Kawasaki Versys...

Versyses?

Versi?

This ride was originally supposed to happen back in the Spring of this year...but the remnants of a hurricane forced the participants (I couldn't get off work) south to Key West.

BrianA called about a month ago and said he had some leave at work he had to take before October or he would lose it. Coincidentally, I had some leave time I needed to burn also...so a plan was put into motion.

I'll let Brian go into the background that started the ball rolling as to our destination...but for me as a kid, books and model building spurred my fascination with military aviation. I can remember my very first glue-together model airplane somewhere around age 7 or 8...a B17, The Memphis Belle. From that first model, I started a small air force that would rival the air forces of many small nations as far as sheer number of aircraft.

Day 1
We rolled out @ 8am on Saturday (9/22) from Warrior with our destination for the evening Dayton, OH. We both had scanned the weather for the week ahead and figured there would be some scattered rain and balmy temps, and we both dressed appropriately.

When we pointed our front fenders northward, it was @ 82 degrees and sunny. By the time we reached the TN line, it was @ 85 degrees. Glad I wore my mesh gear and vented boots...

First gas/pee stop just over the TN line...perfect riding weather!


As we cleared Nashville, the temp had dropped to 72 degrees...feels awesome!

At the TN/KY line, the temp was 65 degrees and it's looking gloomy ahead. Uh oh...

By Bowling Green, it's 56 degrees and pouring rain. By the time we got to an exit, we were both soaked and to-the-bone cold. We donned rain gear and checked the radar...red, orange and dark green blobs covered our entire route. We mounted up and soldiered on.

We had to stop a couple of times because between the heavy rain, road spray and faceshield/glasses fogging, visibility became almost zero.

We finally made it to Louisville, where Brain discovered his rain jacket had shredded in the breeze. We were both laughing and shivering uncontrollably. As I squished around in my vented/perf'ed boots, I was thinking about those warm, dry GoreTex boots I had left in the closet...my feet felt like I was standing in buckets of ice water.








We got stuck in surface street traffic for about an hour in Louisville due to I-265 being at a complete standstill. Once back on the road, then rain intensified again and the "suck meter" got pegged. For the next 100 miles, we were both fighting the urge/instinct to stop.

We made it to Cinncinatti, OH around dusk...which ironically was the first time in the last 7 hours or so it cleared up and we actually saw the sun.

Finally, a respite after almost 300 miles in the miserable cold rain...



Another hour or so, and we finally made it to Dayton. We both made a comment to each other later that today was the most miserable day we had each had on a motorcycle.

[KevinB]

Day 2 & 3

Our destination for the trip...the National Museum of the United States Air Force. Words and pictures can't begin to describe this place. We scheduled two full days of the trip for the museum in order to take it all in.

The hangars and displays are arranged in chronological order.

We started at the beginning...














The actual Memphis Belle...











I had never seen a P47 in person before. It was huge compared to the other WWII fighters around it...like a Sherman tank with wings.














This is the B29 "Bockscar", which dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki.











We noted the incredible advancements in aircraft designs and capabilities in just a few short decades.

Then we walked into the second building and realized that in 50 years, we went from the first powered flight to this...



It's incredible to think that the B52 has been in front-line service for almost 70 years, and will probably still be in service on the 100th anniversary of it's introduction.

A few more from the SE Asia era...







F4 flown by Col. Robin Olds.



One awesome thing about this museum is that most of the aircraft on display have a storied history (unlike some other displays that were perhaps trainer aircraft or otherwise never saw service).


Next hangar, The Cold War...

To give an idea as to the scale of the buildings, this is just half...it houses a B36, B58, B50, RB47, and C97 (among other smaller aircraft).


















I'll let Brian relate the story of his personal association with this airplane.

[KevinB]

And the other half of the above hangar?

B1, B2, AC130, C133, U2, RB57, etc.

You really don't get a sense of how huge the buildings are while your walking around looking at the aircraft.

[KevinB]

The last hangar...the Presidential and Experimental displays.


The "Hanoi Taxi"...




The XB-70 Valkyrie...








President Eisenhower's Lockheed Constellation...




They also had FDR's VC-54 and Truman's VC-118, but I didn't get pics.



They also had probably the most famous Presidential aircraft...everyone here has seen photos of this one at some point in history.

[KevinB]

Day 4

Initially, our plan was to take the rest of the week and wander back through the coal mining communities of WV, Kentucky bourbon country, and the Blue Ridge Pkwy. But Mother Nature had other plans...

Looking at the radar, there was nothing but heavy rain forecasted in every direction. Not looking forward to sight-seeing in the rain, we decided to cut the trip short by a day or so and head south.

Putting on rain gear in Cinncinatti...



Louisville kicked us square in the junk again on the return trip...I picked up a nail in the rear tire.

My plug kit sucked...luckily Brian had a better one. What I didn't get a pic of was his unorthodox method of accessing the plug kit buried at the bottom of his pannier.





We actually dodged the heaviest rain all day and ran into just a few short burst showers. We arrived in Bowling Green and found a room just as the bottom was about to drop out.

[KevinB]

Day 5

Before heading home, we made a stop at the National Corvette Museum.



I didn't take any photos of the displays except for the "Sinkhole Corvettes"...

[Fencejumper09]

Looks like a great trip! I can't wait to get a bike capable of trips like this!

Thanks for writing this up!

[Brian A]

Good stuff Kevin.  Thanks for getting the ball rolling on the ride report.

I imagine anybody who likes airplanes, and military aircraft in particular, would enjoy a visit to The Museum. Both Kevin and I certainly did.

But for me there was an impetus.  Something beyond just going to The Museum to see all the airplanes. There was one particular airplane.

It was 6 months or so back, during one of my rabbit-hole trips in and around the internet, that I came to think again of that airplane. I wondered if a pristine example even existed today. A quick search returned the answer.

Yes! It sat at The National Museum of the United States Air Force - Wright Patterson AFB - Dayton, Ohio.

It was at that moment I knew I'd be throwing a leg over the seat of the Versys and heading to Dayton. As Kevin mentioned, initial plans for a trip a few months ago, had involved more guys. But plans changed and 3 of us rode to Key West instead. It was a great trip. But I knew I still had to go to The Museum in Dayton.

And so it worked out that Kevin and I hit the road on Saturday, Sept. 22, with Dayton, Ohio as the destination. It was to be - as he mentioned - the single most miserable day I have ever spent on a motorcycle. Ever.  But in the end, it was worth it. Worth every mile.



The story really begins a long time ago.  50 years ago.  Me.  And a little sticker book.  Published in 1966. 

I still have mine. It is tattered and missing the cover and several pages. But I still have it. 

It's my own story and even now, as I think back and remember being 8, 9 years old, reading the sticker book and looking at the pictures..... I find it curious that such seemingly mundane, wholly unremarkable events and experiences at the time, serve as one of the many threads that creates the fabric of my life. 

And how one particular airplane, that fascinated one particular little boy, would lead to a motorcycle trip, 50 years later.

[Mulley]

Looks like a great trip! I can't wait to get a bike capable of trips like this!

Your bike has a larger displacement engine than Brian's. It may vibrate you to death but it is most certainly capable. You're butt may not be and you will probably need a week to get feeling back in most of your body.

[Mulley]

This is a really cool place. I hate that I couldn't make the trip with you guys. I've always wanting to pilot a fast jet for the thrill of it but I've never really been into aviation and would struggle to name more than 3 or 4 planes in that building. However all of those aircraft right there in one place would be interesting.

[Brian A]

I think you would enjoy it Mulley. I think most folks who have even a passing interest in military aircraft and history would enjoy it.

Kevin has already mentioned, and we made note of it a few times while walking among the displays: The vast majority of the aircraft on display are "the real deal".

They are not prototypes or test examples or individual examples used for training. 

They have seen action. They have stories to tell. They are part of history. They are history.

[Bama_Rider]

I have been there.  The USAF museum is a don't miss if you are ever within 100 miles of it.

[Brian A]

Kevin mentioned it earlier and I'll bring it up again. 

Walking through the 4 giant buildings that housed the various displays, all laid out in time-line, chronological order, one could not help but take note of the incredible advances in heavier than air, fixed wing powered flight, that occurred in the few decades following the Wright Brothers first flight.

Their wood and fabric and wire plane had been designed and built at their home in Dayton, Ohio, crated and transported to Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina where it flew a total of four times. The longest flight was just under a minute and covered about 850 feet. The Wright Flyer was disassembled, put back in its crate and shipped back to Dayton. It never flew again.  The year was 1903.

Fast forward to 1940. The North American P-51 Mustang first flew. It was to see improvements and modifications, not the least of which was replacement of the original Allison engine with a Packard-V1650-7. The Packard was a copy of the British Rolls Royce Merlin, built under license in the USA.
It was a two-stage two-speed supercharged engine. The improved variants (ex: P-51D) had a top speed of 440 mph, a service ceiling of just over 40,000 feet and, with drop tanks, a range of over 1,600 miles.

40 years earlier man had managed 850 feet on a beach in North Carolina.

The pace of advancement was to accelerate over the next few decades.


I was born in 1962.

Thirteen years earlier, in 1949 a Generalized Bomber Study had been issued by the Air Research and Development Plan out of Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio. The study called for the development of a long range supersonic bomber.

Note 1949!!

WW-II and the era of the B-17, the B-25 and the B-24 - all powered by radial (piston) engines which moved the various bombers at 270-280 mph - this was all just a few years in the rear view mirror and the call had gone out for a supersonic bomber.


First flight: November 1956
Formally introduced: March 1960

Powerplant: four GE J-79 Afterburning Turbojet engines

Service ceiling: approx 65,000 feet

Top Speed: Mach 2 at 40,000 feet (just over 1,300 mph)

The aircraft was the Convair B-58 Hustler.

If you scroll up and look at the cover of the sticker book, bottom right, you can see it. The B-58 that was one of the stickers inside the book.

It was that book and that sticker, which lead me, 50 years later, to be standing in The Museum in Dayton, Ohio.

Looking at this airplane.

[Brian A]

As a kid, there was no home computer. No internet or cable TV. No YouTube documentaries to watch or VHS/DVD/BluRay movies to see.

It was pretty much just a few books I had, trips to the library and building plastic models.  I guess I never really knew a great deal about the B-58 as a kid.

I knew I liked the way it looked. It thought then - and still do today - it's a beautiful airplane. The sleek wasp-waist fuselage.
The impressive 60 deg swept delta wing design with 2 jet engines slung below each wing.

Yeah. It's a beautiful aircraft.








Here you can notice the wasp-waist, the big delta wing and in the tip of the fuselage...... a radar guided, 6-barrel 20 mm rotary cannon.
Yep. The M61 Vulcan.

[Brian A]

My affection for the B-58 mattered little with respect to its service life.

Advancements in missile technology, and other aspects of offensive and defensive war strategy, rendered the B-58 near obsolete immediately upon its entrance into service.  While its performance characteristics were very impressive, it was difficult to fly, had a high accident rate and was fairly expensive to maintain.

It never dropped a bomb in anger and was retired from service in 1970, just 10 years after being introduced.

As I look back at my childhood now, I realize that about the time I came to know of and be captivated by the B-58 Hustler, it was being retired from service. I guess I was never any the wiser. How would I have known? All I had was my sticker book, maybe a few other books, and my imagination.  I guess that was enough for kid of 8, 9 or 10 years old.


The Convair B-58A hustler on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force is 59-2458. 

"Cowtown Hustler".

It flew from Los Angeles to New York, then back to Los Angeles, setting 3 separate speed records in the process. This accomplishment won the crew the Bendix Trophy and The Mackay Trophy.

It was March, 1962.   The same month I was born.