Roost Air Lounge => Aviation related topics => Topic started by: TheSoccerMom on May 07, 2007, 01:35:49 AM
Title: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: TheSoccerMom on May 07, 2007, 01:35:49 AM
A local WWII museum hosted a wonderful display this weekend... the Warhawk Air Museum was very proud to welcome one of the THREE flying P-38s in the world.. flown by Steve Hinton, of the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, CA. The fly-bys also had a T-28, a P-51 and the Warhawk's own P-40. There was a crowd of approximately 1400 people... with many old veterans who were pretty misty-eyed.
Two former P-38 pilots who flew combat missions in Europe spoke for over an hour.. what stories.... they were a hoot. They talked about the dogfights, the strafing runs (trains were a favorite, until the Germans caught on and devised "fake" boxcars whose sides flopped down to reveal omni-directional guns...).. oh it went on and on. One of these men survived a mid-air with his wingman when the wing passed out from an O2 system failure (they deduced later)... he said he saw him pitch up steeply, roll hard left (over his head!), hit his left wingtip, and then descend in a steep dive.... Our speaker-pilot turned for home and one of the other P-38s stayed off his wing.. he said he was visibly missing the outer and aft parts of the left wing, and wasn't sure of the tail.. he said he had aircraft control until he got down to around 145 knots, so made his approach at 150... and he did manage to stop and got out okay... only to see the entire airfield staring with mouths agape at the shreeded airplane he had just landed... and he said it flew amazingly well.... He assumed the pilot who had passed out was killed, but was surprised to learn some time later, the guy had come to, just in time to bail out of his plane before he crashed, and was captured by the SS... he did survive the war.
They were madly in love with that airplane, and they flew all the fighters of the war... The P-38 was their "first love" and is to this very day.
I planned on seeing one fly-by but spent the entire day there... here are a few pictures.....
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: TheSoccerMom on May 07, 2007, 01:39:06 AM
A few more....
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: Baradium on May 07, 2007, 01:40:12 AM
That's quite a high speed camera you've got there!
Love the pics!
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: TheSoccerMom on May 07, 2007, 01:40:54 AM
One more... man it was a fun day!!!
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: FlyboyGil on May 07, 2007, 03:34:15 AM
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: TheSoccerMom on May 07, 2007, 04:34:20 AM
A few more... my heart is still at the airport..... :-*
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: airtac on May 07, 2007, 05:10:39 AM
SIGH!!! That MUST have been good for you----just seeing the pics was good for me ::) :-*
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: chuckar101 on May 07, 2007, 05:27:58 AM
Dang I'm jealous. But thanks for the pics they are always a welcome substitute
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: Fabo on May 07, 2007, 06:26:57 PM
Sounds like a perfect day... wish I were here..
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: gibbo_335 on May 08, 2007, 01:43:41 AM
::complaining: MOM ::complaining: TOO JEALOUS!!!!!
|:)\ Awesome pics.......YOU ROCK!!!! ::bow:: thanks for sharing!!
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: cj5_pilot on May 08, 2007, 08:52:04 PM
Awesome post and pics! Thanks for sharing them with us! I love the old iron. I can easily spend DAYS at an airshow (or airrace) without ever getting bored. Thanks again!
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: TheSoccerMom on May 08, 2007, 09:04:13 PM
You are all welcome... I was just a drooling idiot... it was a GREAT day. 8)
It was neat.. some folks in the crowd asked Steve Hinton what it was like to fly those airplanes, and he just grinned and said "I smile in my sleep." I thought that was pretty cool. :D
8)
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: Frank N. O. on May 08, 2007, 09:42:10 PM
Wow! Pictures and stories like that is what makes me both happy and sad (I'm sure you know why), thanks for posting them :) Where there a lot of people around and how big a chance is there to get such chances to see such planes without getting squashed in a loud crowd?
Btw, is there a two-seat P-38? (just wondering how microscopic my chance of ever getting a ride in one would be). The Lightning is the Tomcat of WWII in my opinion (at least in terms of my favourite twin-engine heavy fighter, and in case you're wondering, my favourite modern fighter is the Black Widow II in case I never mentioned it before).
Frank
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: chuckar101 on May 08, 2007, 11:50:56 PM
Hey Frank. They used to have two seat versions. I don't think they were dual controls, but they had them. The problem is that I think there's only 2 or 3 flying left in the world, and none of them have two seat capability. Don't worry I hate that as well.
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: TheSoccerMom on May 09, 2007, 02:40:53 AM
Hi Frank, This one had two seats.. that lady at the end is the museum owner and they were going up for a ride after all the excitement was over....
There were 1400 people on Saturday and 1300 or so when I was there. It didn't seem like that many, and it was possible to stand right at the ropes as they all cranked and taxied. They had the entire length of the ramp open to the spectators. More than a few guys were in wheelchairs and their wives had chairs set out for them. It was chilly but later warmed up to be a perfect day.
It's an awesome museum, all built on a lot of heart and volunteers and hard work. The two -38 pilots who spoke, said this weekend was their reunion for the squadron in St. Louis. They grinned and said "Well, we figured we'd rather be HERE with the REAL airplane, than in some hotel in St. Louis, just talking about it!"
;)
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: TheSoccerMom on May 09, 2007, 03:06:51 AM
The pilot said this is one of three flying in the world. He also said there could be three more flying in a year, to year-and-a-half from now. There were 10,000 made in all.
8)
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: G_Stratton on May 09, 2007, 05:49:25 PM
Hi SockerMom
Where in Idaho is this Warhawk Air Museum?
Might be a fun trip for the kid and I.
Thanks Guy
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: TheSoccerMom on May 10, 2007, 04:02:34 AM
Hi Guy,
It's in Nampa, Idaho -- just 25 minutes west of Boise on I-84. It's right at the Nampa airport. It's a small but rapidly growing museum.... great place.
Check out www.warhawkairmuseum.org (http://www.warhawkairmuseum.org)
The people there are just fantastic. :D
S'Mom**
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: G_Stratton on May 10, 2007, 06:05:48 PM
Thanks - I'll check it out.
Guy
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: undatc on May 10, 2007, 06:34:59 PM
Ah the P 38, my fathers favorite plane of WWII. Neat plane, I've been next to the one in Tillimook OR, that one is also a flying model. My Grandfather flew on B29's and fire bombed Tokyo. He gave me a bunch of pictures from those missions, some really neat stuff.
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: cj5_pilot on May 10, 2007, 07:08:05 PM
Ah the P 38, my fathers favorite plane of WWII. Neat plane, I've been next to the one in Tillimook OR, that one is also a flying model. My Grandfather flew on B29's and fire bombed Tokyo. He gave me a bunch of pictures from those missions, some really neat stuff.
Well don't just stand there, post em! :D
Title: Re: The Sounds of Warbirds fill the Idaho Skies....
Post by: undatc on May 11, 2007, 04:41:53 AM
