Like the audience at a too-short concert, some wondered, “Is this all there is?”

After air show crowds waited for two hours last weekend to glimpse the inside of a P-3 Orion at Brunswick Naval Air Station, many people were shocked by what they found:

An aging plane with the used-up utilitarian look of an old school bus. Floors were scuffed and worn. Some seats were torn. Electronics stations, though outfitted with new technology, looked on the outside like holdovers from the 1980s.

Once inside, some people groaned. Others kindly asked, “Does this still fly?”

“The answer is yes,” said members of Patrol and Reconnaissance Squadron 8, known informally as the Fighting Tigers.

It was hard to believe, said visitors, who sat in the cockpit seats or peeked out the porthole-shaped windows.

It was a new perspective for many people who have grown accustomed to the propeller-driven plane, always present in the skies above Brunswick. Of course, the planes will be leaving as the base prepares to close its doors, scheduled for sometime in the next three to six years.

Perhaps those changes are why the plane, scheduled to be replaced in 2011 by a new Boeing jet, drew such long lines. Maybe, people just wanted to see for themselves what they were losing. However, suggestions that the plane is an antique irked crew members.

Although most of the P-3 Orions are 25 to 30 years old – Lockheed no longer makes them – each plane is periodically reconstructed. The engines are rebuilt, the electronics are updated and the fuselage is given many fresh coats of paint.

Crew members made few explanations, though. They smiled through gritted teeth.

“Yes, we still fly this plane,” they said.

– Daniel Hartill
Free advertising

Soon-to-be hot dog vendor Richard Joseph got a bonus when his application for a lunch wagon permit was accepted by Farmington selectmen Tuesday. After granting his request for the stand to be located on Wilton Road where he will sell hot dogs and sausages, selectmen amiably queried him about his plans and wished him well.

Gesturing to the Mt. Blue TV camera taping in the back of the room, board Chairwoman Mary Wright egged him on.

“Speak up,” she said, “We have free advertising here.”

– Jodi Hausen

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