Happy 4th Of July

[Buckeyejake]

It's great to be an American. Thank you to all those veterans for preserving our freedom.

What's freedom ? Freedom is the ability to follow your vision such as Elio. American made and American driven.

Everyone, have a great holiday. Spend time with family and friends. Be proud to be an American.

 

[Lil4X]

From a time long passed, tonight there will be a great tradition launched from public parks, stadiums, and backyards across the nation as we observe one of the hallmarks of our holidays. Although China and Italy take credit for them, there's something just so American about fireworks. Maybe it's that "rocket's red glare" thing, but the Fourth of July just wouldn't be the same without them.

Fireworks tend to be destructive – and that is the basis of their appeal to boys from the age of about six up. It was 1949, the year we kids discovered a new firework – one that would forever eclipse the roman candles and skyrockets that highlighted our Fourth of July celebration. Several neighborhood families got together every year on our big screened porch seeking shelter from the omnipresent mosquitoes while the dads played with the pyro out on the large front lawn.

That year, “Helicopters” were the latest in destructive technologies. They were half-pound waxed cardboard cylinders about 6 inches tall with two pair of aluminum propeller blades glued to the top. Filled with powder, when the fuse was lit, a pair of flaming peripheral jets would cause the body and attached blades to spin wildly, take off and climb up a hundred feet where they’d fire off a few colored stars, or a big firecracker at altitude. Well, so said the package . . . and we were true believers.

That year we kids had hounded our fathers into a pretty spectacular collection of fireworks. We personally selected the Helicopters for the show, based on their impressive size and promised mayhem. Looking back I now know our fathers probably wanted to play with them more than we did. In the gathering dusk, the show began with firecrackers, fountains, and sparklers. My father, perhaps for being the neighborhood aviator, was placed in charge of the aerial displays as the highlight of the evening. I now know that because our house was situated directly in line with a major airport’s runway, Dad was selected most likely to be able to explain to cops and the FAA why we were trying to shoot down commercial aircraft.

Experience with aircraft, as we were to find out, does not necessarily transfer to proficiency with pyrotechnics. There is a rather large disconnect between aviation and explosives, even those that managed to get airborne. Although no real man would ever admit it, there was perhaps as much fear as anticipation that drove the events of the evening. As darkness descended, it was Dad’s cue to go on.

Taking center stage, he placed the first helicopter on an old sheet of plywood in the middle of the lawn, carefully balancing it on its tail. He applied the smoldering punk to the fuse, and with a sudden screech and demonic howl, the little craft leapt skyward, showering him and his “assistants” with burning propellant. A soft “pop” and an arcing array of brightly burning colored stars announced that the device had reached its apogee, an event greeted with appreciative ooohs and aaaahs from the gallery assembled on the porch, and our fathers dancing around swatting out small secondary fires on their cotton shirts. The menfolk agreed that these things had short fuses, and a more expeditious retreat was in order to prevent incineration. Being mostly engineers, they examined the casing of the first device and took the extra precaution of pulling the fuses a bit further out of the remaining helicopters to provide additional evacuation time. One of the dads, a member of the neighborhood volunteer fire department insisted we wet down the tinder dry lawn with a nearby hose.

That task complete, my Dad approached the launch platform and carefully set up the second helicopter, making sure it would clear the nearby pecan trees. He bent back the longer fuse and applied the punk. As the fuse began to sputter, he turned to join the rest of the macho troop, and slipped in the wet grass, kicked the plywood, upsetting the helicopter. In an instant that must have seemed endless, he quickly calculated that 1.) It was now pointed directly at him, and 2.) He needed to revise his evacuation route.

Dad sprang to his feet and had only managed to gain about a 20-foot head start on the little buzz bomb when the propellant ignited and gave chase. Bounding along the ground as the blades began to spin up, what began as a low moan became a rising shriek as it reached takeoff power. I never saw my Dad move so fast. Pursued by a half-pound of blazing powder and a pair of whirling scythes, he covered the 20 yards to the porch in record time. He leapt to the porch, jerked the screen door open and dove through in one fluid motion. As the spectators cowered on the porch, the door slammed shut and the hurtling projectile ripped into the screen, screeching and clawing its way through the woven wire like a hell-hound, finally detonating its concussion bomb payload only inches from Dad’s heels. End of fireworks for the night; another short fireworks performance for yet another year.

The dads in our neighborhood always seemed to have a very quiet July fifth . . . . The kids were still laughing and retelling the events of the evening’s performance . . . and our moms were still not speaking to their juvenile husbands. Years later, the neighborhood picnic would be followed by a trip downtown to see the fireworks in the park. It was never again as much fun, but we survived.

Fly your flag proudly! (It’s safer than fireworks.)

 

[zelio]

It's great to be an American. Thank you to all those veterans for preserving our freedom.

What's freedom ? Freedom is the ability to follow your vision such as Elio. American made and American driven.

Everyone, have a great holiday. Spend time with family and friends. Be proud to be an American.

Happy Independence Day everyone. :-) Z

 

[olddog1946]

I'll second that !!

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

Oh my, what a tale. I had a neighbor who bought one of those three foot tall black cat fireworks packages, packed with rockets, fountains, and all other kinds of things - basically an all-in-one fireworks show. He put it down on the parking lot, lit it, and backed off to watch it.

Nice idea but he forgot about one thing - the pine tree directly overhead.

 

[Craig]

 

[Rickb]

Hope you all had a happy 4th of July with friends and family!

 

[RogWild]

Yes, Happy 4th....... but still another BLOG..... with NO mention of PROGRESS! Maybe NEXT, 4th of July.

 

[Rickb]

Yes, Happy 4th....... but still another BLOG..... with NO mention of PROGRESS! Maybe NEXT, 4th of July.

The good news is they are still on target for 2015's production schedule.