Captured 6/12/10, at the Centennial Aviation Day celebration held on the grounds of the beautiful Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum in Carson, California. Much better viewed full size. I was going to post this later on, but when debbielove beat me to the punch yesterday with his Bleriot photo, it forced my hand. His stellar foto was taken looking up when the aircraft was in flight. My shots were limited to the ship being parked on the ground (actually, can it warrant even being termed a ship?). But I did get extremely close to the aeroplane, so I captured all kinds of goodies. This Aviation Centennial had been advertised to have aircraft from around 1910 on display, with individuals appropriately dressed as pilots of that era to act as guides. But what really occurred is that instead of several antique planes being on display, there was only one, that being the 1909 Bleriot XI! And that was it! Needless to say, I was stunned and nonplussed as a result, and felt betrayed and a victim of fraud. The only other aircraft present was a BD-5 Sport Plane, a small target drone, a Bell 47G helicopter, and a Space Shuttle mockup; these hardly of 1910 vintage. What a letdown. It didn't help that it was also drab and dreary that morning; June gloom as it's known in these parts. Anyway, despite being discouraged, I made the best of it and took 20 pictures of the solitary Bleriot (probably a replica) before the rest of the crowd showed up with their cameras to make things uncomfortable for me. Thankfully, the gentleman with the mustache, bow tie and suspenders in the top two fotos encouraged me to enter within the yellow tape boundary and take as many shots as I wanted. So I did. And it compelled me later on to take pictures of a beautiful lady eating pizza. This is the first in a series of four collages covering this venerable aeroplane, so stay tuned. Incidentally, the plane was covered with a plethora of cables, wires and turnbuckles, several of which you can see in these shots. For pertinent notes and information on this aircraft, check out debbielove's posting from yesterday, June 6, 10. It covers all the details. Tallyho, thankx for the peek, and for any and all complimentary comments and faves.