Warbirds Over the Beach:

Last year on the third weekend of May, I saw lots of warbirds at the annual Paine Field Aviation Day in Everett, WA (http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/aviatorchat-com/368023-paine-field-aviation-day.html).

This year I'm going in a different direction, and on the third weekend this year, I'm attending Warbirds Over the Beach at Jerry Yagen's Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, VA.

The main reason I decided to go was to see the North American debut of Yagen's recently restored de Havilland Mosquito F.B.26, serial KA114, which was restored in New Zealand and flew down there last fall (http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/aviatorchat-com/384009-d-h-98-mosquito-fly-new-zealand.html).

The airshow literature indicates that other types that might be flying are one of the new-build Me 262s (ironically, built at Paine Field!) and at least one Fw 190. Yagen also has a couple of Polikarpovs, and it would be neat to see at least one fly. I last saw a Mosquito fly in the U.K. back in 1990, and I've never seen any of these other types fly, so I'm really looking forward to this. All warbird enthusiasts in eastern North America should try to make this one.

The link to the airshow is WW2 Air Show.
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Looks like a total blast - have fun!

 

Jim, it sounds like you will be having a real blast there. I had a great and kind of crazy weekend there in 1944 when I was stationed at Langley Field. Virginia Beach wasn't much more than a board walk and one or two blocks of houses back from the beach. There was a Ferris Wheel and a bunch of " carny" spots and a spook house that we spent most of the afternoon in. Even in the dark we could see that there was no ceiling over the maze of hallways so we climbed up in the overhead and had a ball up there scaring those who didn't know we were there. Amazing how much you can get away with when girls went by. Iv'e written about it and it is a fun story. Have fun and take a lot of pictures.

 

The amazing thing about that is that Virginia Beach is now the largest city in Hampton Roads - even larger than the nominal anchor city, Norfolk!

 

Jim, I did a Google search of Virginia Beach churches and darn if I didn't find the church that we slept in front of on the Saturday night when we were there. There was an empty lot across the street where we parked the old Plymouth coupe and sort of camped out. It was really late and really dark and we had been unable to get bunks at the USO so we parked the car on this lot and some slept in the car, some under the car , and some outside the car. There were four of us and we had one sleeping bag and two blankets between us so it was a long cold night. We had no idea that we were in front of a Catholic Church and we were awakened early Sunday morning by laughter and chatting as parishioners walked by our sleeping quarters. Some of us were not well presented , if you know what I mean, and we had a mad scramble to get back into the car. It was the Star of The Sea Catholic Church just back from the boardwalk. I remember that beyond the church to the west there was nothing but grass and sand. We tried to get breakfast at the USO where it looks like there is a bed and breakfast now. Crazy fun weekend.

 

Mosquito now flying in the US

Warbird Information Exchange ? View topic - First step for a long voyage to the US

 

Wow! I am tempted to make the trip from Charleston...

 

That is cool ! The Northwest is a haven for collectors and their planes.

I used to live in Portland, and there was this guy (whom I never got the chance to meet) who lived near me in Lake Oswego. He had both a Spitfire and a P-51 that he used to fly regularly out of the local community airport on the weekends. Almost every Saturday morning (weather permitting), I would be treated to the sights and sounds of either plane buzzing above my neighborhood as I would sit on my deck having my morning coffee.

It was absolutely tremendous !!

 

I hope that Gavin Conroy from Classic Aircraft Photography New Zealand does not mind me posting up this great photo. Will remove if requested.
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Have wondered this...

Why does the Mosquito have only 5 exhaust stacks? That's a V-12 engine...

 

If you look at the inboard side of each engine you can see that the radiator intake and housing juts forward to cover the space where the sixth stack would be. Ports 5 and 6 are fed into a collector that feeds into the 5th stack. The Mossy makes a spine-chilling sound in a low level pass with both Merlin 61's at full boost. Incredible airplane. I had a friend and neighbor in Friday Harbor who had 13 NIGHT victories in one.
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What a lovely trio of Merlin-powered aircraft!

 

Two photos - six DH's
Thanks James
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I'll be out there tomorrow, as will zygomatic. Should be fun! Hopefully, the wx will cooperate!

 

Wish that I could be there again. Would love to see footage of that RE-8 in flight.

 

It was a fun day! Always nice to go out there. Bob, your mosquito painting is marvelous. Then again, ALL of your paintings are incredible!

 

Thanks muchly. That painting is one of my early attempts to paint when I was self teaching. I can see a lot of things that could be done much better. It is one that I did for the book and tells part of the great story of the "Ball Bearing Airline" that flew ball bearings out of Sweden and had to dodge the German fighters that came after them. In this particular scene the Mosquito out ran two FW190's that attempted to shoot it down. Flight Officers Ray and Payne dove down to the North Sea and attained a speed of 400+mph.

 

I16- The WW-I reconnaissance aircraft in your bottom photo is actually a Royal Aircraft Factory BE-2e, .

 

OOPS! I rarely make misteakes and I must have been tard when I thought of the rong airplane. The Re-8 was the Harry Tate I buleeve.
Thanks, Taz.

 

Well, at least the BE-2 was at least designed, at least partly, by G. deHavilland... Had to look it up, wasn't familiar with it.

 

A few pics from a soggier-than-planned, but still fun, day at "Warbirds Over the Beach".
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A few more... including one of the better naval rangefinders I've seen and the airplane that has become, to me, the embodiment of graceful interwar air travel, the Dragon Rapide. It even sounds stately -- burbling quietly and whistling as it passes overhead. And, finally, the airplane which showed us that 50-75 yards is a "true short-field landing"
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Who owns the P-26! That is exciting to see but I question the color. From all the photos I have of that particular color scheme the fuselage was olive green not blue. AND THE FURY! Did they fly that ? Is that the one that was being built I believe in England? BEAUTIFUL!

 

What a great show! In spite of intrusions by Mother Nature, I got to see four aircraft types fly that I had never before seen in the air, and three more types (including these two) that I hadn't seen fly in over 20 years.

Here are a few teasers. I hope to post more photos tonight.
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I *think* both are owned by the museum (Military Aviation Museum | Home) -- but I'm not certain. The P-26 and Fury were terrific surprises (to me, anyway) -- they were in line right in front of the gate, and I dashed for them.

Unfortunately I didn't get to see the Fury fly -- though I wish I had!. On the day I was there (Saturday), only the T-6, PT-19, DH Rapide, Storch, the FW 144, and a Chipmunk took to the skies. We did get to see the 262 (not based at the field) make a few passes, and a FM-2 Wildcat buzz overhead.

From Gatorrari's photos above, it looks like Sunday had more action


Bob, I'll speak for the East coasters here. If you can get to the DC/VA area, we'll gladly bring you to the airfield/museum (and any others you may like) in return for the pleasure of your company. Chupacabra is a terrific host, and I can be used to lift heavy objects or prevent chairs from blowing away.