I was traveling to an appointment in El Segundo, the beach city that borders the Los Angeles International airport (LAX) on its southern side.  Of course, I was running  a little late when I spotted a strange large airplane parked in a spot reserved for large visiting airplanes like Air Force 1.  I thought I recognized the airplane as one of the Russian-built Heavy Lift aircraft.  I turned off the main road to one of the side roads fronting the airport to get a better look.  

Indeed, it was an Antonov 124 plane first flown in the 1982.  I wanted to take some pictures of it but the airport is surrounded by high chain-link fences and I couldn't get a clear shot until ...

I remembered a building located close to the ramp.  It was open and it afforded a clear shot.   I parked the car; fumbled getting my camera gear out.  My luck was running high ... the light wasn't too bad, there were clouds in the sky, and an uninterrupted view of the largest plane ever built! 

Click, Click:

Click, Click:

Click, Click:

There was a DC-3 parked on the ramp near the AH-124.  The DC-3, built by Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica, CA, started life in the 1930's.  It is widely credited as being the cornerstone of commercial flight.  Thousands were built over the course of its life.  During WWII, the C47, the name the DC 3 was given by the Army Air Corp, flew cargo over the "hump" from India to Burma; was used to drop troops onto Normandy, etc.  And even today, there are DC 3s carrying cargo into unimagined places.  

I've flown in them several times.  My last flight, during the 1970's, was from La Paz, Mexico to Cabo San Lucas  (located at the very tip of Baja California). We left La Paz shortly before sunset.  There was cargo in the aisle ... and a couple of surfboards, too.  Cabo did NOT have an airport at that time ... just a dirt strip behind the Hotel Cabo San Lucas.  It was pitch black dark when we arrived. "How are we going to land?" I asked myself as we started down the final approach ... then I saw it a dozen cars lined up with their headlights lighting the dirt runway!  And, there you are ... off-airport flying  in a DC 3! 

So, as I walked back to my car, I turned around and took these last two shots of the DC-3 and the Antonov 124 facing each other nose to nose:

That's it ... photos of two historic aircraft parked near each other ... a tiny little unexpected photographic adventure.  

Bye for now,

adam

P.S.  Did you forget to click on any of the images to see them larger?

P.P.S.  By the way, I forgot to tell you that a hurricane had just gone through Cabo a day earlier.  There were all of ten guests staying at the hotel ... but that's another story!