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Warbirds Over The Beach, May 20-22, 2016 |
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| Location: Virginia Beach, VA |
| Admission: adults $30/day ($50/all three days) youth $15 ($25/all 3 days) |
| Parking: Free - included in price |
| Value: Excellent |
| Rating out of 10: 7 due to weather |
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This annual fundraiser for Virginia's Military Aviation Museum provides visitors with a trip back in time to the memorable days of World War II. Hundreds of re-enactors fill the museum grounds as WWII warplanes fill the air. Unfortunately, this year the weather did not cooperate - it was a cloudy and soggy weekend. However, Friday - the day that the re-enactors setup their camps and displays, and visiting warplanes arrived, was a beautiful day. Without the normal crowds of visitors, I was privy to an almost-private tour of the museum which includes a WWI hangar filled with wood and fabric bi-planes and tri-planes and a Luftwaffe hangar relocated from Germany and filled with German aircraft. The museum site also includes a newly-reconstructed English control tower that once served on an airbase in Goxhill, England.
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The Military Aviation Museum features one of the world's largest private collections of historic military aircraft. Founded in 2005 by Gerald Yagen, each aircraft is restored to flying condition in accordance with the museum's mission to preserve, restore and fly historic aircraft to ensure that the past does not remain in the past. The Military Aviation Museum's aircraft collection continues to grow, recently adding a fully-restored Messerschmitt BF-109G4. A fantastic addition since there are only two Mersserchmitt's in the world that continue to fly. I had the great fortune on Friday to watch Mr. Yagen's BF-109 on its maiden flight in the U.S.A and stand so close to it that I could almost feel the spirit of the German that once flew this aircraft.
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| On Friday, the day before the start of the "official" show, there are no promises as to what planes will arrive and fly. But on this spectacular day the sky's were magnificent and full. A 1944 North American B-25J Mitchell bomber is part of the museum's inventory. The B-25 was one of America's most famous airplanes of WWII with a total of 9,816 built. The B-25J Mitchell at the Military Aviation Museum was built in Kansas in late 1944. It was equipped with a dome in the nose and surveillance equipment in the fuselage. Following WWII the surveillance equipment was removed and it was converted into a training aircraft. Since 1958 it has had several civilian owners including Arthur Jones, the inventor of the Nautilus exercise equipment company, who had lost it to a Cincinnati sheriff's office after a planned publicity stunt did not go as planned. The museum acquired this aircraft in 1997, underwent a comprehensive restoration, and joined the museum's ranks in 2008. |
The Douglas C-47 Dakota is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. Affectionately known as the "Gooney Bird" it was used extensively by the allies during WWII. It originally served with the 12th Air Force in the Mediterranean Theater in 1943 and the 9th Air Force in England 1944-45 as part of the 316th Troop Carrier Group. It was one of the lead aircraft of the first strike on the D-Day invasion over Normandy, transporting paratroopers for the 82nd Airborne Division. It continues to remain in front line service with various military operators. For the museum, their C-47A "Whiskey 7' participates in The Airborne Demonstration Team's parachute jumps aimed at educating people about the parachute jumping style of WWII airborne soldiers.
The Consolidated PBY Catalina was an American flying boat and later an amphibious aircraft of the 1930's and 1940's. During WWII, PBYs were used in anti-submarine warfare, patrol bombing, convoy escorts, search and rescue missions (especially air-sea rescue) and cargo transport. The PBY was the most numerous aircraft of its kind and the last active military PBYs were not retired from service until the late 1980's. The aircraft continues to fly as a waterbomber in aerial firefighting operations all over the world. The museum's PBY-5A Catalina was built in 1943 and flew wartime patrols from French Morocco, south to the Canary Islands, north to the Strait of Gibraltar and as far west as the Azores. Late in 1944 it was used in patrols and anti-submarine sweeps protecting the approaches to New York. In 1945 its armaments were removed and it was loaned to the U.S. Coast Guard. It was removed from the Navy's inventory in 1956 with 3,567 flying hours. In 1961 it gained its civilian registration. It's nose turret was removed and the side blisters were replaced with cargo door and a new seat arrangement. It was used in Alaska to ferry passengers to fishing sites. In 1978, bulk liquid cargo tanks were installed to haul as much as 1,500 gallons of fuel to remote parts of Alaska. What happened to the plane next is unknown, but in 1985 it was seized by U.S.Marshals as part of a drug-smuggling case. It was forfeited to the federal government and sold to a new owner who began restoring it to WWII condition. In 2001, the Military Aviation Museum obtained this aircraft and spent the next 10 years completing it restoration. |
The TBF Avenger is an American torpedo dive bomber developed for the U.S. Navy and Marines. It entered service in 1942 and first saw action in the Battle of Midway to destroy enemy U-boats. They were often accompanied by F-4F Wildcat fighters that would strafe surfaced U-boats with gunfire forcing them to submerge. Once submerged, the Avengers would deploy their Fido torpedoes tat could detect, target and destroy the submarine. The Military Aviation Museum's 1945 TBM-3E Avenger was listed as a Pool aircraft, ready to be assigned to any squadron at a moment's notice. In February 1946 it was shipped to Pearl Harbor to serve as a Pool aircraft. Over the next 7 years it was posted at various naval air stations throughout the U.S. and deployed aboard various ships. The U.S. Navy officially retired this aircraft on April 2, 1956 with only 1,227 hours logged. Civilian duty for the Avenger began in 1963 in Idaho where it was converted to an Air Tanker dedicated to aerial firebombing capable of dropping 600 gallons of retardant on a single sortie. After nearly 20 years of service as a fire bomber, it was sold and underwent restoration work. The Avenger acquired by the Military Aviation Museum had its rear gun turret to working condition in 2001. On January 10, 2010, the Avenger flew over the commissioning of the USS George H. W. Bush in Norfolk, Virginia in honor of the former president who flew an Avenger during his naval service.
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| In April 1940, the British Purchasing Commission gave the North American Aircraft Company 120 days to produce a flying advanced fighter prototype. The P-51 Mustang it introduced received outstanding marks with it 1150 hp Allison engine, duct coolant radiator, four .50 caliber guns and four .303 caliber guns an sufficient amount of ammunition. It also was capable of carrying two to four times the amount of fuel as its rivals, making it ideal for long-range missions. When air-to-air combat began to occur at higher altitudes, the Mustang's Allison engines failed to perform well in the thin air, the Mustang was assigned to low altitude recon and photographic missions. In 1942 the U.S. Army Air Corps placed large orders of variants to the P-51 when it realized the potential of the Mustang. A newly-developed Rolls Royce Merlin 60-series engine was installed into the P-51D. A sliding Plexiglass "bubble" canopy improved visibility, and the Mustang's firepower was greatly enhanced with the addition of two .50 caliber M2 Browning machine guns. Previously problems with jamming guns was rectified with upright mounting and installation of the K-14 gun sight improved the aircraft's targeting. This innovative targeting system required the pilot to dial in the wingspan of the aircraft being chased, along with the range. An analog computer would calculate the targeting ring on the sight that the pilot would use to determine if he was on target. This advanced targeting system had a great impact on aerial combat victories. The museum's P-51D was built in 1945 and sent to England where it was assigned to the Eighth Air Force. It 1947 it was transferred to Sweden and it 1955 sold to Nicaragua. In 1954 it came to the U.S., changed ownership several times, and was purchased by the Military Aviation Museum in 2004.
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The Messerschmitt Me 262 was the world's first operation jet-powered fighter aircraft. Although it's design began in 1939 prior to WWII, engine problems prevented the aircraft from attaining operational status with the German Luftwaffe until mid-1944. It served in two capacities - the Me 262 A-1 Schwalbe (Swallow) was designed as a defense interceptor and the Me 262 A-2 Sturmvogel (Stormbird) served as a fighter/bomber. While the Me 262 lacked the maneuverability of Allied fighters, it was very effective in intercepting Allied bombers. Despite its fighting capabilities, the Me 262 was unable to make a significant impact in WWII because it represented only one percent of the attacking force. Because of its late introduction into WWII only 1,400 Me 262's were produced. Due to maintenance problems, lack of fuel late in the war, pilot shortages, and lack of airfields that could support this aircraft, only 200 Me 262's made it into combat. The Museum's Me | |
