warbird weekend at TASM

[AKguy1985]

here is some pics i took saturday at TASM, some nice planes out there, loved the B-25

some videos:

 

[AirMech74]

Very cool pics....man, looking at the Tomcat brings back memories....that was my favorite fighter growing up.

 

[flatwins]

Man, I was there! Wished I had known some other OSA'ers were there. The B-25 was nice! I was able to fly in a B-17 a few years ago. To sit in the bombardier's compartment while the plane was in flight is something that I will remember forever.

 

[YakBasser]

Do you remember if the Yellow T6 had an Ace of Spades with a sword through it on the fuselage? If so, I've got a few hours put in on that one!

 

[rhodesbe]

Warbird pictures? I'm in!

These were taken at a 2007 airshow called 'Gathering of Mustangs and Legends' held at Rickenbacker in Ohio. This event pulled together over 100 flying P-51s for one weekend. I believe this number represents 95% of the world's entire population of flying P-51s, and without a doubt was the largest concentration of the airframe stateside since before WW2 ended. It was an awesome trip; I got a chance to meet Chuck Yeager, Bud Anderson, Bob Hoover, and many other 'aces' of the war. It was kind of the last hurrah for most of them, and sadly quite a few of the 'legends' have passed since the event was held.

Of all the P-51s at the show, this one captured my attention the most. 'Twilight Tear' was shipped over from Britian and reassembled stateside just for this show. This airframe wears the original paintscheme, and as much as possible THE ORIGINAL PAINT that it wore during service during WW2. The sheetmetal is covered in little patches covering up flak and dogfighting scars. The gents that own her found her derelict and forgotten in a barn in England in the 1960s, and have worked fanatically to keep her stock and flyable since. It was like seeing a freaking timemachine in front of my face.

Here's a picture of me with 'Glacier Girl'; you might recall this is the P-38 that was thawed out of the ice up in Greeland several years back. The world's most bonestock P-38. Awesome. I met Steve Hinton while looking at this plane, and I offered him $350 to take me up in her. He laughed and said no.

Here's Mrs. Rhodesbe standing in front of a bluenoser of the 352nd. This plane looks just like a P-51 should look... immaculate, fast as hell, and ready to fight.

The 'Thunderbolt Flying Circus' was there, with their 3 P-47s. You talk about feeling small in comparasion to an airplane... when they turned over the props on all three Jugs at once, I just about peed my pants. During the war, our engineers took a 2000 HP radial engine, and designed a flying tank around it. These P-47s are kept in supreme flying trim, and during the show the pilots were kept busy flying these planes 150 feet above the ground. If I was a kraut during WW2 and these things were buzzing me all day, I'd find a way to surrender to the pilot. Awesome airplane.

I could ramble on, but I won't. I am a little jealous of your TASM airshow visit this weekend, thanks for posting the pics!