Warbird Information Exchange

Gosh, that was hot. The airshow on Saturday seemed a bit delayed and disjointed due to various events, like a late start to VFR flying due to lingering fog and what seemed to be an impromptu display by a pair of A-10s.

The airshow announcer had to be informed 2 hours into the show that Tom Duffy's name is not "Tom Duff", let us know that pilot protection in Zeros was so poor that "some of 'em didn't even have firewalls", and walked off the job promptly at the scheduled end time of 4:00, 40 minutes before the flying ended, without even letting the crowd know what was coming up. Or else that was when the sound system finally shorted out. I couldn't tell for sure.

The costs of providing medical attention to all the dehydrated heatstroke sufferers should be charged to all of the food vendors who charged $2.00 to $2.50 for a small drink and $4.00 to $5.00 for a large one, deterring many people from obeying the hundreds of thoughtfully posted reminders to keep up one's fluid intake in the extreme heat.

The aircrew and ground reenactors did an outstanding job under the conditions and made it an enjoyable show.















August

Just for fun I decided to try a little 3D photography at Reading this weekend. The images below are 3D stereo pairs. Specifically they are "divergent" pairs which means you will get the proper 3D effect if you look at the left image with your left eye and the right image with your right, forcing your eyeballs to separate (i.e. the opposite of crossing them). It may take practice if you are not used to it. The degree of 3D effect varies because I was experimenting with different levels of it. Let me know if any of you "gets" it! The Stearmans have the most subtle effect, but should be easiest for the beginner to view. The front view of Panchito is probably the most dramatic.

















August

Hi,

I thought I would add a few thoughts to this thread. As a former member of MAAM, it kind of disgusts me to see what is going on with it. Don't get me wrong, the P-61 is going to be a world class restoration, and I got to fly in most of their aircraft at one time.... But. What happened to some of their other "world class" aircraft, especially the R4D. Someone said it was parked on the other end of the field. What happened to all of the fund raisers to bring it back to flying condition? Is there an underlying problem with it (ie, corrosion)? Atone time they had maybe 10, 12 flyable planes. Now they are down to the TBM, B-25, and T-6. Am I missing any?

As for the WWII weekend, it is neat but the weather always is terrible (not the museums' fault). It is definitely leaning more towards less aircraft and more infantry stuff. The prices (both food and admission) are terrible. A few years ago I scheduled a flight in the Yankee Lady with my uncle. It was on a late Friday afternoon and my whole family came along to see us off in the B-17. They neglected to tell us that we had to pay the $20 something for every one of us (about 8 of us) to get in even though we were just there for the B-17 and it was the end of the day. That really left a bad taste in my mouth.

Please understand I am not trying to "flame" the museum or any of it's people, but these are just some observations that I have made.

Dave

The N3N is flyable.

_________________
Long Live the N3N-3 "The Last US Military Bi-Plane" 1940-1959
Badmouthing Stearmans on WIX since 2005

I don't think it is that bad Dave.

Yes, it is too bad about the R4D and those of us who remember the glorious sight of their P2V in the air feel wistful about that as well.

On the other hand, it was a bit disappointing that Briefing Time did not fly in the show this year, and their TBM did not fly this year or last year. When you have people like Mr Duffy and Yankee bringing 3 airplanes each, you would think that the home team would make more of an effort. Perhaps money is tight and they would rather budget for fuel to bring visiting aircraft than to fly their own? It is a notion with some merit.

I give them props for trying to bring in a few aircraft from far afield each year to make it not just the same lineup each time. In the past several years they've booked the CAF B-24/B-29 and SBD, the touring POF fighters, and the CWH, Russell and Potter a/c from Canada. Weather and broken planes have frustrated these efforts at least half the time, yet still they try. This year and last were probably the most similar aircraft lineups in consecutive years but not for lack of effort on MAAM's part.

I don't blame them for making the airshow in some respects secondary to the ground stuff. The ground reeanctments seem far more reliable and self-supporting and they do draw the crowds. When you look at the airshow crowd at reading, it is only 1 or 2 rows deep until the ground battle and Iwo Jima reenactment get going, then everyone rushes to the fence. That has to tell you something; the airplanes are there mainly as ground props and to provide the atmosphere of period engine noise to complement the ground stuff.

It would be nice to see Reading break into the top one or two tiers of warbird shows, and a few times they seem to have been on the threshold, but it just never happens. Regardless, there's enough there to provide a warbird fix for those of us who want it.

August

One thing that makes the ground element more reliable and cost effective is that most come for no money at all. They get an event mug at the end of the show (if they don't run out of them). Some units get a small amount of travel money and certainly the big tanks might get their expenses paid, but for the most part, the re-enactors don't cost anything but space.

They also make them park about a mile from the flight line and they have to walk in each day, usually with bags of ice and equipment in their hands. Also, the displays are not allowed to breakdown or bring trailers back onto the field until after 4:00 pm on Sunday. Understandable, but when an aircraft gets a several thousand dollar to appear and then are able to depart after their flight demo at 1:00pm, it makes a little difficult for the re-enactors who aren't paid anything to comprehend why they can't breakdown early. Some displays are quite large and take hours to assemble and breakdown. That's dedication that should be recognized, for with out the re-actors, this event would not be what it is today.

Understand that the airport also continually puts constriants and hurdles on the museum's show, but it is the hearts of the living history groups out their that make the event.

Taking into consideration the food, lodging, (many don't sleep in the tents!), gas, equipment and supplies for the show, my wife and alone drop about 1,200-1,500 bucks for the weekend just to go and and sweat like pigs and act like it's WWII!

I'm not complaining, since we've been a part of the show since the first one in 1989, but there are many other things besides the aircraft that go on to get Reading going every year.
Blue skies,
Jerry

_________________
"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

Jerry, you said a mouthful... I will be commenting more, but gotta grab a shower, and off to work. (Did I tell you guys I am now an A&P Instructor?)

Robbie

Hi Robbie;
Sorry I didn't get down the line to see introduce myself to you. I've been doing Phys Therapy on two bad heels (pretty painful) and I really didn't even get around to see everything. Just stayed at the Field Hospital pretending to save lives!
Jerry

_________________
"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

I was there Saturday for a good chunk of the day with part of a group that had a charter bus, so I was on their schedule and not my own, or I would have had more time to absorb everything. I really liked the show overall. I made it a point to look into every re-enactment tent on the grounds, and was highly impressed. I think they are on to something. There was stuff for the airplane nuts, stuff for the equipment nuts, stuff for the gun nuts, stuff for the vehicle nuts, and just cool stuff in general. The guest veterans that were available for autographs and speaking were worth the visit alone!

The live 1940s radio shows were fantastic, as were the Abbott and Costello impersonators. They really added some great flavor to the event.

I enjoyed the re-enactors' battles as well. The German vs Russian battle was good, but I was a bit disappointed that during the American vs German battle that took place around 3:30pm or so they didn't call in the P-47 for some strafing runs, especially after having the laision flying around

The $2 water didn't bug me - I've come to expect as much at any airshow that I attend. They could have had some more free water available though, as there were a number of older folks about that looked as if they were going to keel over.

The only thing that really bugged me, and oddly enough almost to the point of being offended, was the fact that some of the German re-enactors had what looked to be real SS and other Nazi insignia tattoos bared proudly for all to see. Now perhaps they were fake tattoos, but even so, they seemed to take a bit too much pride in showing them off. It's one thing to study the history and do the re-enactment bit, but to go so far as to get a swastika or SS lightning bolts tattooed on your body is a bit too much for this American.

Other than that, I really enjoyed the show, and have the sunburn to prove it!

Zack

_________________
Curator - EAA Aviation Museum, Oshkosh, WI
"Let No Story Go Untold!"
http://www.timelessvoices.org

I forgot about the N3N.

The last time I was there was last year and my son loved it. He was so thrilled to see the men walking around with guns and tanks driving around. I actually love the WWII theme. It is just some of the other things that leave me less than thrilled. I guess I miss the good old days when they would fly all of their flyable planes to Wilkes-Barre and other great shows. Maybe I am just frustrated. I really appreciate the reenactors with both time and effort put in to what they do. I did not realize they did not get reimbursed even for their expenses. Walking around with swastikas tattooed (fake or otherwise) is not right in my book either.

Maybe I should have started a different thread on this.

Dave