As an aircraft mechanic I’ve worked on a variety of different aircraft. And as any mechanic knows, some aircraft tend to form personalities, much like their human care takers. You get to know an aircraft, its quirks, its strengths and its weaknesses. Day in and day out it sits on the ramp through blizzards or blazing heat, waiting to serve.

Then for some unforeseen reason its days of service come to an end, to be discarded in a local bone yard, or sold for scrap and melted down. The lucky ones will some day be reborn, to serve as static displays, as museum pieces preserving history, or to be used as tools to teach future generations of aircraft technicians.

At the air show yesterday stuffed away on a corner of the field, I ran upon this MU-2. With the excitement of the show, the crowds attention drawn to the sky and other aircraft on display, I had to feel sorry for the little MU-2 and how it was ignored, sitting patiently in the elements waiting for its day to be reborn.