Yaks Fly Freely Over Iowa

A growing drone of propeller planes came in from the east over Lake MacBride last Thursday, near North Liberty, Iowa. Then three WWII-era looking fighters roared westward. These didn't look like any planes from around the area. At first the planes resembled Japanese Zeros but the red star on the tail and slim fuselage didn't add up.

Turns out these are Soviet Yak 52TWs. The Yakovlev Yak-52 is a Soviet primary trainer aircraft. It first flew in 1976 and is still being produced in Romania. Since the early 1990s many Yak 52s have been exported to the west. The question is where did these planes go on Thursday? Perhaps to Ottumwa for the upcoming antique airplane show or maybe to Omaha's SAC base for last weekend's airshow. Or maybe they were testing Iowa air defense radar. If so, we failed to detect and intercept these fast moving aircraft.

Cold War Remnant Gimme Shelter

Cold War tensions may be over but a few artifacts remain like this one. Had the Soviets lobbed a nuke missile towards 42N country, this sign would have pointed the masses to an official government shelter. In this case, the shelter was rated to hold 100 souls. These signs can still be found in various towns usually on older buildings but are becoming increasingly harder to find. Know that.