Warbirds over Washington

Here they are, in all of their (mostly) radial-engined glory.

Some L-4 and O-1 observation birds led the way.

Then came a flight of Stearmans.

Then a pair of Fairchild PT-19 trainers. (Harrison Ford was not in evidence today.)

T-6 Texan time...and SNJs, for you Navy types.

A pair of P-40s put in an appearance, one dcked out in AVG colors.

And three B-25 Mitchells came over low enough to set off a couple of car alarms. Because RADIAL ENGINES!

Next came a beautiful PBY Catalina flying boat.

And a Grumman F4F Wildcat (lower left) escorts a Douglas Dauntless dive-bomber (upper right).

Another pair of Wildcats made a low pass.

Then a Lockheed P-38 Lightning flew past almost to fast to capture.

A B-24 came next, escorted by three little friends of the P-51 Mustang variety.

And four more very photogenic Mustangs followed.

They were clearing the way for two Boeing B-17 bombers.

Then it was a couple of Douglas DC-3s, better known in military parlance as C-47s.

Next, a Curtis SB2C Helldiver came over.

He was leading a flight and had a Grumman TBM Avenger on each wing.

Then came a Douglas A-26 Invader, my favorite attack bomber of all time.

Followed up by my favorite fighter in the form of a pair of Chance-Vought (of Goodyear) Corsairs.

Then Fifi the B-29 made a low pass over Arlington and came on across the river into the District.

Last, but certainly not least, the "Missing Man" flight, composed of (left to right) a P-40, a Corsair, a TBM Avenger and a P-51D.

I got these from the back side of the Lincoln Memorial, and it was well worth the effort to get down there to see this half-hour long parade of aircraft goodness. A special thanks is due to the men and women who made this event happen, because it could not have been easy to coordinate this event and make it come off as smoothly as it did. Out of all of the participating aircraft, only one, a TBM Avenger, had mechanical problems. That one made an emergency landing at Reagan International Airport just south of the District, and it'll be ok.

More Udvar-Hazy

This heavily-modified North American P-51C has quite a history. It was first owned by Hollywood stunt pilot legend and racer Paul Mantz, who used it to win the Bendix air races in 1946 and 1947 before setting a transcontinental speed record with it. Mantz then sold it to Charles Blair, who used it to set more speed records on flights from New York to London and from Norway across the North Pole to Alaska.

And here on the other side is a stock Grumman F6F Hellcat.

This one was actually used to gather data in the early atomic bomb tests...but they say that it's not really radioactive any more.

Not far away is this Grumman G-22 aerobatic plane, once flown by Al Williams, air show pilot for Gulf Oil. He last flew it on it's final flight into Washington National Airport for donation to the Smithsonian in 1948.

Turning around, you look down on one of the most famous aircraft in military history, the B-29 bomber Enola Gay, one of the two aircraft that ended World War Two.

She's huge, but this building is so big that she fits in here just fine. Here's the tail-gunner position below her rudder.

And beneath her huge wings we see this Republic P-47 on one side:

And a Japanese Kawanishi N1K2 Shiden Kai "George" behind that.

On the other side of Enola Gay, there's this beautiful Lockheed P-38J, shown in it's "preserved, not restored" condition to reflect the way that she looked when she came out of storage.

Behind that is a classic Hawker Hurricane that Old AFSarge and I both drooled over for a while.

Old Sarge put it best: "The Spitfires got all the credit, but the Hurricanes did all the work."

It kills me knowing that there are runways right outside. Pity that there's no door open to them or me and this Hurricane might have to skate out. Hell, ANY of these fighters would be a joy to fly, even for just a few minutes.

And speaking of aviation gems that just beg to be flown, This ultra-rare P-61 "Black Widow", still wearing her old NACA colors, has a special spot in the collection...and in my heart.

Just a baby when she ended her flying career and came here; she only had 531 hours on her engines. That's not nearly enough and I'll be starting a petition to convince the museum to let me take her up for a few more hops.

The twin-engined Japanese plane in front of the P-61 in this last picture is a Nakajima J1N1 "Irving" night-fighter, the only one still existing.

There will be more later. Stay tuned. And special thanks goes out to OldAFSarge's incredibly tolerant wife and daughter for gamely putting up with us all morning as OldAFSarge and I ran around like two hungry fat kids in a candy store.