Rory and I went to visit my parents since Josh was working some crazy overtime. We arrived in time for dinner and that is when we heard them...the Warbirds were out in full force. The planes of that era have such a distinctive sound it's hard to describe. Living close to the museum we learned their sound. It was such a treat. We carried our strawberry shortcake outside and watched the show!
My camera phone does not do the show justice. The planes were SO close. I'm a horrible judge of distance but these planes were close enough to read the serial numbers and if we had been at the correct angle to see the pilot, I could have described him well enough for a police sketch. Serious!
The planes did all sorts of formations-mostly two planes together but we did see all 4 do a pass at once. In all we saw 6 planes. It was spectacular!
We decided on Saturday we'd hit up the museum!
We found out from staff that the museum held a fundraising gala the night before and that is why the planes were out. Next year we will be having our own little fundraiser/block party during the gala. We can't afford the ticket price to the gala but we enjoyed the show so much it's worth donating and organizing!
Quite a few of the planes and automobiles they had were native to the WWII era, which I find absolutely fascinating. I'm anxious to go back with my real camera. (I can't even count the number of times I said, "I wish I had my camera!")
This is a T6. It's a trainer airplane and also what we saw the night before. We timed our trip just right because we were able to stand outside and watch her takeoff.
We also saw this plane fly....It's a TBM Avenger-Torpedo Bomber. This is the type of plane that George H. Bush flew.
There were quite a few volunteers around to answer any questions that you may have and they were more than happy to tell you what they knew. My Mom asked about this Jeep. I didn't know this but my Grandpa drove a Jeep during the Korean War. The volunteer explained that most likely this was the type of Jeep that he would have driven. It was popular during WWII and Korea. I've always been proud of my family and our veterans but this made it very real. Grandpa shared very little with me about his time in Korea and Mom said he shared very little with her and her two sisters. He did confide in Seth so I'm hoping that those stories get written down otherwise they will be lost.
"Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be." -General Douglass McArthur
We also saw this plane, which I mistakenly called a B52 in front of one of the volunteers. He corrected me and it's a B25. (My plane knowledgeable friends will know why this was a mistake of huge proportions! Whoops!) These were the type of planes flown during Doolittle's Raid.
I think it goes back to my American Girl days reading about Molly in the 1950's but I've always been intrigued by women during this time and their role during the war. The women's bathroom was filled with pictures of women working in factories, building planes and rolling bandages.
"They have given their sons to the military services. They have stoked the furnaces and hurried the factory wheels. They have made the planes and welded the tanks, riveted the ships and rolled the shells." -President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Rory was fascinated and I was right there with him. We plan on going back to the museum soon--I may have future pilot on my hands!
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