Honor Flight Departure at DCA

Since its inception in 2005, the Honor Flight Network has flown over 200,000 veterans of WWII, the Korean War, and Vietnam War from over 141 hubs across the United States free of charge to Washington, DC. Once in DC, the veterans are escorted to visit the war memorials and other sites in the District.

Flights run year-round into DCA, IAD, and BWI, but are more frequent in the Summer months, when often there are flights daily, sometimes several a day. Upon arriving to the airport, veterans are warmly welcomed by volunteers and live music as they deplane. From there they leave the airport to begin their tour in DC over the following few days.

After the veterans’ visit to our nation’s capital and it’s time to return home, veterans are greeted at their departure gate with live singing of period hits, swing dancing, and a fresh meal. Just before it’s time to board, a mail call delivers letters and small packages from friends and family thanking veterans for their service and giving their support.

Below are some of the pictures from an Honor Flight on September 12th, 2018.

In this case I was documenting airport concessions’ support of the Honor Flight Program, so I only covered some of the festivities at the gate. Full photo coverage of specific honor flights can be found by contacting your representative at the Honor Flight Network.

Katie's Cars and Coffee: May / June

I recently attended two Cars and Coffee events; one on Memorial Day Weekend, and the other on Father's Day Weekend. Cars and Coffee is a weekly car show event sponsored by Katie's Cars and Coffee in Great Falls, Virginia.  It is completely free, as it is more of a free gathering celebrating exotic and / or classic car heritage.  Though it is a small event, located in the heart of Great Falls (an upscale suburb of Washington, DC in which many  very expensive cars call home), it has national attention, and often guests will drive hundreds of miles just to participate and grab a Saturday morning coffee while sharing the car culture.

Memorial Day Weekend, 2013:

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One of the more interesting cars on hand (at least to me) was this Corvette powered Miata.  The owner who converted this Miata cooly placed an LS1 badge on the fender.

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The notable car for Memorial Day was the original Briggs Cunningham; an extremely rare car; only a few were ever built.

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Father's Day Weekend, 2013:

For Father's Day, I decided to surprise my Dad and take him to Cars and Coffee.  He's never heard of it before, and I didn't tell him where I was taking him.  He certainly didn't realize we had a weekly car event just a few miles from home.

As I pulled in, he got excited when he saw some Cobras in the lot, but thought they just happened to be parked there.  A moment later it was "Oh my God!  Look look look look look look!!!" when he had spotted the Arial Atom I parked beside.  I think it was when he saw the Diablo VT next to the Atom that he realized it wasn't a coincidence all these cars were in the same place.  I know he loved going to this!

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This true track Ferrari garnered a LOT of attention once people realized it had shown up.

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Another cool little gem was this Miura S.  Probably under-appreciated by most who saw it, this car was number 1 of only 140 produced, and is valued in the $500,000 - $800,000 range.

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Upon leaving, people were still puzzled by the clearly Corvette based SV 9 Competizione - myself included.  This Italian redesigned automotive costs almost $100,000, is powered by an LS3 Corvette engine modified to output 450 horsepower, and is just one of 1,000 made.

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