They flew several of them, and I stood about 30 feet away from the "Planes of Fame P-38 as he fired it up to join a Warthog in a "Heritage Flight". As I stood there waiting for them to start the P-38, they took a WWII Veteran P-38 Pilot out to the plane and let him climb into the cockpit. You could tell by the look on his face that they just absolutely made his day...
Here's a few more. I hate to waste Ryans space, but I know there are a lot of Warbird buffs on the HAMB...
OK, how about a bunch of "vintage tin" photos - http://image08.webshots.com/8/5/74/70/150757470saYMdJ_ph.jpg http://www.airpirates.com/gallery/Papua_new_guinea/Sandman_II_4 http://www.pacificghosts.com/swampghost/photos/exterior/b17-nose-side45.html http://www.pacificghosts.com/pearlharbor.html http://www.airpirates.com/gallery/Hawaii_1/Larkins_on_P_47_Sacred_Falls_001 http://www.airpirates.com/gallery/Hawaii_1/B_18_Larkins_across_draw http://www.airpirates.com/gallery/Hawaii_1/JackonTBF
Here's a few more. I took a shitload of pictures, but this pretty much covers the WWII stuff. I overheard one of the Pilots saying that Tom Cruise has bought three P-51 Mustangs for restoration, and that Microsoft has also bought several Warbirds to restore. Glad to see they are using some of their money wisely...
They were protesting the "Glorification of War", from what I understood. They stood just outside the entrance to the show handing out leaflets and holding signs. There was another group of people between them and the gate though, calling themselves the "Shredders". They had a portable paper shredder and were shredding the leaflets almost as fast as the protestors could hand them out. People were taking the leaflets from the protestors just so they could hand them over to the Shredders...
Some links that have cool nose art http://www.bombergirl.com/noseart/noseart.htm http://www.collingsfoundation.org/tour_b-24j.htm http://www.fightingcolors.com/velasco.htm
Hey fantastic pix !! Its interesting to note that these fucking imbeciles who are "war protesters" would be the first to dodge the draft when it came time to defend their homeland, families and way of life. For pete's sake....what a bunch of fucking RETARDS. NOBODY likes war, but we have to do what we have to do to proetect our way of life. I thank these men and women who did what they HAD to do....NOBODY said that they enjoyed it. The only reason that these dickheads are around and "FREE" to protest is because of the people who had the guts/balls/duty to fly these machines. I can't stand seeing these minority groups trying to sway other people's feelings with their "new age" bullshit. Rant over !!
So at an airshow dedicated to mostly WWII, there was a gaggle of generic war protesters? Did they feel we would be better off today as a world of peace-loving Nazi's? Glorification? I never heard a WWII vet talk about how 'great' it was. "We killed the HELL out of 'em!" Nope, never heard it like that. On topic, there is a guy with what I think is a P-40 at a hangar down the taxiway from my shop. First nice spring day I heard that radial making it's way past me to the runway and I almost broke my neck running to see what it was. When it throttled up it had a dead spot and always sputtered a bit before opening up. Just like most engines from that time. Reminded me how primitive that stuff is.
Thanks for the cool pics, I never get enough of those! My Dad has done some work with the Confederate Air Force and has a couple of buddies that have P-51's. Never had a problem getting me out to the airport to help out. I play a WWII aircraft sim that's supposed to be the most accurate in the world. If half of what they coded is accurate, I want me a P-47D something fierce! Biscuit
It's ironic that they protest at a time when we should be saluting the men who so willing went overseas to DEFEND freedom our WWII veterens are dying off at a rate off 1000 per day and the estamite is 143,000 are alive now tommorow it will be 142,000. Think we could get some of the protesters, to sit crossed legged on the ground and eat a bowl of rice daily instead of going home to their nice warm houses.
As an Air Force alumni, I'd just like to say, "Leave it to todays Air Force to send an A10 Thunderbolt II to fly a "Heritage Flight" with a P-38 Lightening."
Thanks for the pictures. I can't get enough of those old planes. My dad was a bomber pilot during WWII and continued in the Air Force flying until the end of the Viet Nam war. I grew up following him around from base to base, it was an education like no other. He died about three years ago, a patriot to the end. He never understood why people wouldn't be grateful for the sacrifice of so many men and women who gave their lives so that we can have the country we have today. He understood it wasn't perfect, but thought working to make it better was of more value than protesting. Frank
My Grandpa is still alive and well at 82 years of age. He was a Tank Scout for the 2nd Marines at Tarawa, Tinian, Saipan,and Okinawa. He says he remembers the P-38's best, mainly because you could recognize it easily from the ground due to the twin booms. He says he didn't see planes very often though, he was a hell of a lot more worried about what was on the ground... Somebody mentioned the Cannon on the A-10...
Frank...remember me asking a couple months ago about a B-17 crew? Check out what I did to the truck...still not done! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/unpunk01/Planes/DodgeBomber01.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/unpunk01/Planes/DodgeBomber04.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/unpunk01/Planes/DodgeBomber02.jpg
Amen brother, maybe we should starve and torture em the way our POW's were by the Japs, then they might get the message..... Rat
The Jalopy Journal
