Just Plane Unusual

Although you don’t hear about it too often any more, the Bermuda Triangle used to be a hot topic, a mysterious place where planes disappeared  – with the popular notion that they might reappear decades later from a sort of time warp.

I was reminded about all that a week ago Saturday around noon, when I had a rather unusual experience. 

I was driving south on Leavitt Road around noon, with the intention to get my car washed at Zappy’s (located just north of the 7/11). Unfortunately with my Mr. Magoo-like tendencies, I turned too soon and drove onto the P. C. Campana property.

Suddenly, I saw something out of the corner of my eye in the sky. I looked up and saw what resembled a huge military transport plane, coming in for a landing from the south. I thought it might be about to crash, so I sped up and got out of the way. I watched as the pilot cleared the treetops just beyond the Dollar General, and swerved to head west.

I wondered: what did I just see? 

There wasn’t a lot of time to wonder, because a second one then came out of nowhere, following the same flight path. Both of them made a long, wide curve to turn around and head south.

The aircraft reminded me of the transport plane that John Wayne was piloting when he had to make a forced landing in the frozen woods in Island in the Sky.

People in another car in the parking lot had witnessed the whole thing as well, and I rolled down my window to hear what they had to say about it. “That was scary,” said the other driver.

“Maybe the pilots were looking for the airport,” I joked, although I got the impression that neither the driver of the other vehicle nor her passenger were aware that an airport was once located on the spot where they were driving.

Anyway, I tried to find out if there was some sort of an airshow going on, or something, but couldn’t find anything on the internet. So I called the Lorain County Airport.

“That must have been those C-130s from Mansfield,” said the staff member who answered the phone there. “They were doing some training.”

I asked him if anyone else had called about them.

“We got a lot of calls about them,” he confirmed. “People were concerned.”

Small wonder, with everything going on over in the Ukraine.

My older brother Ken (who was in the Army) thought it was interesting that there were C-130s flying over Lorain. “Those things are huge,” he commented.

I’m just glad that there wasn’t a tear in the fabric of time, or break in the space time continuum.

“Hey, where’s the airport? My brand new 1952 map
says there’s supposed to be an airport here!"

****

Mansfield is the home of Mansfield Lahm Air National Guard Base.