Eagle's Lair
Members Roster

November 8th, 2007

Ladies & Gentlemen:

On my last day in Paris, Steve & Libby Wallace headed off to the west side of Paris, while Ed and Elaine Shadle headed north to Denmark to see some relatives.  I elected to pick a spot a little closer to the airport so I could be within a few miles of Charles de Gaulle Airport when I left the following day.

In the spirit of Ed Drumheller II, I went and visited the Museum of Aviation and Space at the Le Bourget Airport.   This is the same airport that host the world famous Paris Air Show.  Little did I realize, but I would be visiting this magnificent museum on the one year anniversary of Ed Drumheller II's death.

Since I first met Ed II at the Puyallup Fair in 2002, during our travels together Ed II would always make a point of visiting an air museum if it was within a hundred miles of our destination.  Every time Ed and I would fly to Bonneville to help out on Ed Shadle’s Lakester or Roadster, we would always make a point of stopping off at Hill Air Force Base Museum.   Ed always enjoyed going to museums.  He, and his surviving wife Barbara, had been to many of them all over the world.

When I went to Orlando earlier in the year, I was driving to the Kennedy Space Center and saw a sign that said Warbirds Museum.   For some reason the steering wheel seem to migrate to the off ramp, and in Drumheller tradition, I went and visited the museum.

The Le Bourget Museum was no different.  I knew that if Ed II were alive today, he would be chewing me out for not going.  So on my last day in Paris, after a very successful presentation at the 2007 European CATIA Forum hosted by Dassault Systèmes, I made the trek to Le Bourget.

What I found was one of the greatest displays of ballooning, aircraft and space vehicles.  Many examples of WW I, WW II, Korean and the modern jet age were on display.  They even had not one, but two Concordes on display.

Also on display is one of the best ballooning exhibits I have ever seen.  As a member of the Naval Airship Association, my two friends in Orlando would be proud: Sal Vacanti (NAVY Ret) who got me interested in Naval Airships and Aviation Hall of Fame Inductee Col Joe Kittinger (USAF Ret).

On display was a German Luftwaffe F-104 G model.  I talked to the museum staff and they graciously let me step over the boundaries and get a close look.  Here are some photos for your enjoyment.

Signed,
Keith Zanghi

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