Warbird Information Exchange

The accidental ones!!!
In the mid 70s in the parking lot at work one day and looking up and through the smallest of holes in the overcast seeing a white P38 fly over.
NOW I've learned I've seen Lefty Gardner.

In 2000ish helping at a Special Olympics and Thunderbird flying over.
It led me to Galveston, the rest is Hysterical!

And just this past summer in my car on the freeway home and finding out later I'd seen Glacier Girl on the southern leg of the cross Atlantic trip.
First P38 I'd seen aWing since the 70s.

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Support Your Local Warbirds! KBO!
The only reasons the airplanes matter is what the veterans did with them... and why.

Well, it was only half warbird (modern) I guess, but at La Ferte Alais in France in 2002 or 2003 there was a formation pass with a 1912 Morane-Saulnier H and a Mirage jet fighter. Admittedly not a close formation, but together down the runway. Talk about a heritage flight. Then the Mirage pilot did an aerobatic routine that was tighter than any jet routine I've ever seen, negative G stuff, fantastic.

Also not a warbird, but forgive me, in the mid '90s I was crewing a Curtiss Jenny at a show in Westminster, MD, walking the wing as it taxied back on the far side of the runway after displaying, and Delmar was doing his act in the Gee Bee. It seemed like he was lining up on us on each pass, moving over to go by about 50 feet away each time, inverted, knife edge, etc., what a great show that was from my vantage point.

And, maybe stretching the term "fly-by", but one of my favorite warbird stories-- I worked for Kermit Weeks pre-hurricane, and used to fly his L-4 a lot. One day over the everglades he and Pete McManus were chasing each other around in their blue-nose Mustangs, and when he found out I was in the area and on frequency he told me to fly very straight and level (!). A minute later there was a hellacious noise as Cripes A Mighty went by about 30 feet under us and pulled up into a roll in front of us. Just as we hit the wake there was the same noise as Pete did the same thing. That was an exciting fly-by or two.

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http://www.biplanerides1.com/

A Monday morning in September, 1953. An idyllic, late English summer’s morning, with warm clear skies and the merest puff of wind. On a long beach at Climping, just west of Littlehampton, a small boy plays happily at the sea edge; his parents in deckchairs some way off, read their newspapers knowing no harm can come to the child - the beach is not crowded, the sea smooth, and the waves lap gently on the shallow, sandy shore.

Some movement catches the boy’s eye: he looks up, towards the west, and sees a blurred outline in the far distance. A gull? No...but it has wings: wings that are shimmering and blurred. With each split second, the image grows - nearer by 350 yards every blink of an eye - and the clear outline of an aeroplane reveals itself; a bright scarlet dart, its wings seemingly wreathed in layers of steam. But still no noise is heard.

The boy starts to turn to his Dad, to bring his attention to the strange soundless machine, but then it is right in front of him, so close he could almost touch it, so low it seems to kiss the sea. It is the most beautiful aeroplane ever: a Hawker Hunter, its pilot a blur of a white helmet.

And then it is gone. Past. And silent, until two rolls of thunder make the boy - and his half-asleep parents - jump. Then a noise like a thousand sheets of silk being torn, or an avalanche of snow sliding from a roof onto a gravel drive, fading gently until peace returns to the beach, and the boy closes his mouth and looks in wonder at his parents.

“Just a jet, boy, just a jet. No need to be scared.”

35 years later, and the boy, now a man, sits in his local cinema watching “Empire of the Sun”, smiles at the iconic moment as the Mustang flies across the Japanese airfield, its pilot (the late Ray Hanna) waving at Jim (Christian Bale). “P51!” the boy cries, “Cadillac of the skies!”

Maybe Jim, maybe. But I was the boy at Climping, saw the real thing. WB188. Neville Duke. 728mph at Sea Level for the Air Speed Record. And I remember it as if it were yesterday.

Anowreck wins. Close the topic.

Excellent

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Kind Regards,
Gary Lewis
J.A.F.O.

Hmm. I'm not so sure it's appropriate to say it's the most exciting warbird flyby, but the most memorable one I have. It was at the late, great Merle Gustafson's funeral service in late September or early October 1984 in Tallulah, La. At the end of the service, Howard Pardue came screaming out of nowhere amongst the clouds in his Corsair. I don't think too many folks expected that. Sure did hit me where it hurt.

WOW, this is a tough one. Got to go with a cold day at WPAFB when the B-70 arrived on her last flight. Came in high out of the west. Made a long circle to line up the runway. As she came in on final at first just that long pointed nose came over the tree tops and then the rest of her right over our heads. She lined up to touch down right in front of the reviewing stand with all the brass and dignitaries but instead when she reached that point all six throttles were pushed forward and with a whole bunch of black smoke she took off like a bat out of hell. From the fence line you could see hats flying all over the place. On her next approach she touched down right where she was suppose to and rolled out of our view. Thanks to a friend with connections, the next weekend I got a chance to climb the portable stairs and check out the cockpit before she was decommissioned.

Number two on the list has to be any time I get to see a P-38 do slow rolls. BEAUTIFUL sight and sounds.

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Greg

I just started reading this post today. An early request for a photo of the P-82 flying was made. These photos were taken in Harlingen at AirSho 87, the last year the P-82 flew. It made this flight and the wheel/wheels collapsed on landing. The flying photos are not great but I enjoy them.
bill word

Our house in England was on the flight path for Duxford, so its hard to pick a particular plane, but the Sally B was always in the air nearby.

As a Radar Tech, I remember being in the RAPCON one day and having an Air Traffic Controller show me the F117A flying over... no primary target on the scope at all. I ran outside as it flew over again to verify that it was actually there

B

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documenting restored B-17s and those undergoing restoration to flight:

an F-4 screaming down a canyon in the siskiyou's with me about half way up the sidehill looking down at it. sure would like to shake his hand.

On the lawn at Goodwood House in a tuxedo with a drink in hand just before sunset and a formal dinner. Good company and a beautiful evening: early September, blue skies, mild temperature, no wind.

Just then, out of the west, came a Spitfire at 300 knots and 300 feet to start a short aerobatic display for the assembled guests. There have been many memorable air show sights before and since, but never any better than that...

I forgot early this year when the Collings B-17, B-25 and B-24 flew into Santa Barbara, they flew over my house right along the beach at about 2000 feet I'm guessing. SO COOL!!! ... Then I watched them give rides to folks for the next two days.

''The Accidental Ones"
Standing ontop of O'mally Peak near Anchorage, AK home to Elmendorf Airforce Base sometime in the mid 1990's when a pair of F-15E's came screaming by at eye level at high speed

But, below is the description of the most impressive flyby I have ever seen that will never be topped (not exactly a warbird flyby, but there were warbird's involved).

Date: January 16, 2003
Location: New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport, Florida
Standing on the ramp of American Aero Services at tail of Jimmy Leeward's P-51, "Cloud Dancer" with the Collings Foundation's B-17 "909" a little further south parked in the grass while watching and listening to a Space shuttle launch for the first time.

How can you top that fly by?

During the launch with the P-51 and B17 on the ramp, and the Space Shuttle roaring up into the upper atmosphere with all in view at the same time, a Bald Eagle flew by.

It was the most "American" moment I have ever experienced made all the more powerful when on February 1, 2003 while heading to work in Bethel, Alaska, I learned the Space Shuttle I watched power its way into space on January 16 broke up upon reentry. It was the "Columbia"

1. An Allison at full song........

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WMZNOe6-770

and 2. a Merlin-motored Warbird........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A95tD9iZ ... re=related

and 3. for tha P-38 Fan, "Glacier Girl" and a "Warthog."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuE1B9fH9EU

now all I gotta find is a P-40F Packard-Merlin in flightsong.

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Zeb Matson -
P-40Fs
44th Ftr. Sqn. Guadalcanal-1943(Dad's record-5 KIA, 3 Probables and 1 P-40F {hiz own})