Warbird Information Exchange

hi all,

I sent a letter also to this Shell organization:

I wrote:

Hello,



I am writing in regard to the United States Air Force museums planned B-25 reunion that will be held next April in Dayton Ohio. I know that the legendary James Doolittle worked for your Shell company in the 1930's. As you may know Doolittle led a raid on April 16, 1942 when he and his squadron took off from the carrier USS Hornet with 16 B-25's to make the first bombing mission on Japan. This event is to honor the history of the Doolittle raid and will probably be the last gathering of Doolittle raiders as 5 of the 9 surviving Doolittle raiders are to be at this event. I hope that your company can look into possibly helping this event out in terms of sponsorship. Any and all help would be appreciated.



Thanks for your time,



Nathan Milarta



1941 Historical Aircraft group, Geneseo NY museum volunteer


Hope it helps,
Nathan

Has there been any comment about, or interest in, WWII USAAF living historians being invited/allowed to set up a display? I know I would love to do this, and I am sure there are more of us who would... And I may be able to get the Airmen's Preservation Society (WWII APS) to add it to our schedule.

Thoughts? Information?

Robbie

This would be fantastic! There are several problems however.

Previous "fly-ins" have always been staged at the active runway over on the base. Not at the Museum. Doing something like that post 9-11 is a stretch.

The "runway" at the Museum is in gawd-awful condition. The last landing I actually saw there was the SR-71. I believe the Hanoi POW plane landed there more recently but I didn't see it. I drove past the Museum the other day and was surprised to see them laying new asphalt at the west end of the runway. I could not guess why--maybe this is the reason!

The USAF has some sort of bizarre agreement with the Dayton (Cleveland Jr.) Airshow regarding fly-in's and static displays. I overheard a discussion about this while setting up the DZ for the parachute drop at this years Tattoo. But on the other hand they do host the WW1 Great War fly-in every other year.

No aircraft landed during the Tattoo. All were fly overs and they staged at the active base if they were RON.
The base has created a crowd access point on the south perimeter of the Museum grounds. This is how they stage the Tattoo program. However, the runway is "dead ground" and the fly-overs are done over the grass strip between the runway and the Museum. FAA regs have requirements for flight line and crowd line set backs. I just don't see how they would accommodate active landings, and static display, with a crowd present.

Approaches and landing have to be made west to east. The reason for this is that if a plane lands heading west, and runs away, it will exit the AFM property and hit either Wendy's or McDonalds off the west end of the field. If they have a malfunction landing west to east they would hit government property and that presents "less" of a problem. This was made very obvious during the return of SHOO SHOO SHOO BABY. There were THOUSANDS of people awaiting her return and landing. She circled the Museum field several times when it was apparent that the winds were wrong for the west to east approach. The CG of the base was flying in the plane at the time and he made the call to land it east to west while in the air. So she came in "over the hill" and rolled out facing the burger joints. That was a gutsy call.

April is regrettably the worst month of the year in Ohio for predicting weather. We have these little disturbances called Tornadoes....Google search Xenia, Ohio and April. Lightening DOES strike twice in the same place and nearly on the same date!

All that taken together I think they SHOULD pull out all the stops and cut all the red tape and make this thing happen.

Dave

(Sorry, the graphics didn't copy and transfer. Doolittle Raider's patch should be here.)




DOOLITTLE TOKYO RAIDERS ASSOCIATION, INC.

Public Relations: Tom Casey 4588 Longleaf Lane
Sarasota, Florida 34241 ~ 941 921 7361


NEWS RELEASE December 2, 2009


DOOLITTLE TOKYO RAIDERS PLANNING AN AVIATION FIRST AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE U.S. AIR FORCE


Sarasota, Fla - The Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Association in cooperation with owners of North American B-25 Mitchell bombers from all over the U.S.A. and Canada, are planning to host 25 of these famous WWII war birds April 16 – 18 during their 68th reunion at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

This will be the first time since WWII that this many B-25’s have been assembled for public viewing. The event titled “A Tribute of Mitchell B-25’s to the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders” is a major financial project which will depend on raising funds to support the fuel, oil for the planes and housing for the crews participating.

The B-25 Mitchell became one of the most effective medium bombers of WWII and was made famous by the Doolittle Tokyo Raid on Japan, April 18th 1942. Today these Mitchells are one of the most popular aircraft seen at museums and air shows.

The Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Association is seeking financial help for this important mission in the way of sponsorships and donations. Your contribution or sponsorship will be most welcome at this time.

Please contact: Tom Casey, Manager, Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Association Inc. (941) 921 7361 or Email tomcat911@comcast.net

- end -

...The Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Association in cooperation with owners of North American B-25 Mitchell bombers from all over the U.S.A. and Canada, are planning to host 25 of these famous WWII war birds April 16 – 18 during their 68th reunion at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio....