Bonanza, with a beefier wing and a military interior, that was used by the
different military branches as a primary
trainer in the 1950s and ’60s. T-34s have
the beautifully harmonized controls of a
Bonanza, with a slightly more rugged
look (and better talent for graceful aerobatics) than their luxurious,
four-passenger cousins. Kind of like the
Jeeps that weekend warriors drive
around the suburbs. They’re more comfortable than true off-road trucks, but
they still make you feel as if you’re on
some kind of adventure.
We took off from Beverly and
headed southeast for a city tour of
Boston. City tours (or, in places like San
Francisco, bay tours) are one of the
great insider secrets of aviation. For all
the intimidating airspace markings that
cordon off big cities, a pilot with local
experience and route knowledge who
knows the right words to say to the
right controllers can get an astoundingly up-close-and-personal view of
those cities from the air. With surprisingly little fuss.
We flew over the Bunker Hill memorial, past Fenway Park, and then circled
the downtown skyscrapers from an altitude that gave us a bird’s-eye view of the
executive penthouse suites. It’s silly, but
flying past tall city buildings always
gives me the same kind of glee I felt as a
kid when I got out of school and then
realized that everyone else was still sitting in English class. The freedom to
The military panel of the “weekend warrior” T- 34 Mentor.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LANE WALLACE
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