Warbird Information Exchange

uh oh I opened up an ash.

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I can dig it, man. I hope something positive and righteous happens like soon and there will be change in the narly negative waves that surround us and things return to beauty, grooviness and become far-out once again. Right on, Bro, in a vintage aeronautical kind of way.

I hope that is really impressive and everyone who sees it gets a little thrill. We were hoping to have FIFI be a part of the final 509th reunion this year but this fly-over will be awesome to see as well.

"Patriotism swells in the heart of the American Bear!" - Fozzi Bear

Tom P.

I will be working in downtown DC tomorrow. It happens to be the busiest day of my museum's year, but I hope to get up to the roof for a view from Dupont Circle, about a mile from the Lincoln. I don't expect to see anything like this again so I hope I can. My wife works at the Library of Congress so they should go right by her; against all odds she seems excited by the idea... so perhaps I'll give her the good camera. We'll be remembering my dad (8th AF, B-17 FE) and hers (9th AF, P-38 squadron commander).

Saxman,

There wasn't as much money available to get planes there as originally thought. Ergo, some dropouts. I'm sure there were other dropouts for personal financial reasons as well, but I know of one specific instance where a prominent aircraft was promised $X to come, but two weeks before the event they were notified they'd only get $1/2X. They had to come up with several thousand on their own to make the trip.

While this is an impressive gathering of warbirds, it is still a far cry from the 100+ (120 something if I remember correctly) we had on Freedom Flight 1995. Then again, price of gas wasn't much more than a dollar back then.

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Taylor Stevenson

The C-SPAN network is broadcasting both the ceremony at 10:30am and the fly-over at 12:10pm.

http://www.c-span.org/video/?325807-1/w ... y-ceremony
http://www.c-span.org/video/?325808-1/w ... ry-flyover

If you get C-SPAN 3 these will be replayed over the next few days.

It is true that the funding fell short. It is pretty disappointing that more corporations etc. did not see the historic value in being able to honor the veterans in this way. I for one wasn't going to miss it...whether they funded it or not. As was eluded to in this thread above, a great many of the airplanes that were invited were CAF airplanes..as it should have been as one of the primary organizers. Unfortunately, because of security arrangements and background checks that were required back in February, new airplanes could not be added. So, when the funding didn't come in to bring some of the CAF airplanes from across the country there was no option to allow private owners to bring similar airplanes at their cost. Understandably many of the CAF units couldn't afford to eat the cross-country transit costs on their own. I know numerous warbird owners with bomber/fighter type airplanes that would have come on their own nickle to be part of it but it wasn't an option this late in the game. The organizers could not have known they wouldn't get the money...and they sure made a great attempt to get it.

In the end there is still a fantastic group of varied airplanes here, and while the number may not be as great as the 1995 Freedom Flight, my recollection of that event is that it was largely made up of trainers. This even has a wider cross section of rarer type...and I don't think Freedom Flight flew down the National Mall...

My hats are off the organizers, I am sure none of us can fully comprehend the amount of planning that went into this. The number of Federal security agencies represented in our briefing this morning was interesting.


Today was a great day, and tomorrow should be even better!

I agree, Tim. There are a varied group of aircraft there. Freedom Flight had the luxury of being a multiple week event, so along the way I'd argue we had an equal amount of varied aircraft involved. While we didn't fly over the mall, we did fly down the Hudson, past the Twin Towers, dropped rose pedals on the Intrepid, and flew over the Statue of Liberty. It's a pretty big toss up which is cooler

Glad you all made it. Had it not been for final exams, I would have brought something. (A-26 looks mean by the way!)

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Taylor Stevenson

Fly safe! We're proud of you guys and the legacy you honor, be it 1 airplane or 1,000.

Ken

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."

Anyone know if Ronald Reagan Tower will be handling the fly-over, or if another facility will be?

I would like to listen via LIVE ATC.

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Regards

Eric Rogers

Photo Linked from A of D's Facebook page. What is the grey bird in the lower left? MiG/Yak?

What happened to the TBM during the Leyte Gulf formation? On the live stream I was watching, it looked like it broke off suddenly, dropped it's gear and started descending towards National. Hope all is ok.

Was thinking the same thing - shame that the wheels sort of fell off this presentation, would have been nice to actually have seen a true mass collection.

On FB someone said it declared a mayday and is on the ground OK. Edit: Now they're saying it was the Fighter Factory TBM.

I saw on TV the TBM break off and going down. My heart sank! They are ok, on the ground. So thankful. The rest of the parade wasn't too enjoyable after seeing the TBM go down. I don't know anyone on the plane, but it's still upsetting to see fellow warbirder's in trouble like that.

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