Before picking the car up on Saturday, my friend and I stopped by the Flying Heritage museum to watch them take the Hawker Hurricane and Polikarpov I-16 Type 24 Rata up for a demonstration flight. The Hurricane is a beautiful aircraft, not as pretty as a Spitfire, perhaps, but quite handsome. The Rata is like a pug dog–squashed-nose and barrel-bodied but likable all the same.

The Merlin engine in the Hurry sounds smooth and powerful, where the Rata sounds like a gang of un-muffled big-bore single-cylinder motorcycles.

Please excuse the photos, as always…I use a pocket camera (a digital Casio) which is great for portability, not so hot for photo quality.