Prop Noise-Issue3-2014Summer
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The Membership Newsletter for The Military Aviation Museum Summer 2014 INSIDE THIS IssUE: Commemorate the Centennial of the War of the Nations! Museum Visitors 2 AIM Students 2 Summer Camp 2 Jerry Yellin 2 Screaming Eagles 3 Warbirds in Review 3 Hangar Happenings 4 Trench Art 4 PBY-5A Catalina 4 If you missed the First World War, then this is the time October 1-5 with pilots and builders from around the world MAM Red Dots 5 to return and experience only the best parts of it. Join us attending. On Saturday and Sunday, between flights of the Mosquito History 5 October 4-5, 2014 at the historic style buildings of the Military museum’s aircraft, you can enjoy the aerial antics of a broad Aviation Museum, located at the Virginia Beach Aerodrome, Glider Towing Spitfire 6 assortment of scale-models intended to recreate some of the for the centennial of the War of the Nations. Go with us on a more elaborate maneuvers you may have seen overhead at WWII Airborne 6 journey to the dawn of aerial combat and discover where the the time of the First World War. term dogfight originated. The museum owns and displays Plan to be comfortable on your beach chair or blanket and dozens of aircraft from the First and Second World Wars, enjoy big band music, singing, dancing, impersonators, and which are all in meticulous flying condition. Even more much, much more. Your Saturday ticket also gets you into the Military Aviation Museum aircraft will be on display from other museums and personal www.MilitaryAviationMuseum.org collections from around the country. The sky will be crowded Saturday Evening Hangar Dance with the Roaring 20’s style Virginia Beach Airport with colorful airplanes as rarely seen before. orchestra. Come dressed in your World War One uniform or www.VBairport.com Hundreds of R/C models, representative of WWI-era your favorite zoot suit and flapper dress. Dance the Charleston, Fighter Factory aviation, will also fly at the Biplanes & Triplanes air show. The Lindy Hop, and Foxtrot through the evening. www.FighterFactory.com Academy of Model Aeronautics Tidewater Radio Control For more information, go online to www.VBairshow.com q Biplanes & Triplanes Chapter hosts its third annual Mid-Atlantic Dawn Patrol or telephone (757) 721-7767 for further details. www.VBairshow.com Flying Proms: Accept No Substitute By Jonathan R. Lichtenstein & Mark Whall As dusk settled over the crosswind runway of “I think it was our best yet and we’re the Military Aviation Museum, the musicians of getting better all the time! What was Symphonicity took to the stage for the 4th-annual it? It was another wonderful evening Flying Proms. Glistening in the twilight, the grande of musical magic and flying sorcery dames of the museum’s air armada hearkened to the in the characterful setting of the sound of forgotten melodies, with brasses, strings, and Military Aviation Museum. An woodwinds singing in the summer air. These disparate established part of the UK air show elements formed the counterpoint of an occasion that calendar…in the heart of rural has fast become a Virginia tradition, but has remained England for nearly two decades, an true to its British heritage. American version of the Proms is The “Prom” traces its origins back to the 18th- now very much at home in Virginia.” century pleasure gardens of London, England. These The first half of the program formal outdoor performances have since given way to showcased some of the latest additions to the museum’s rarest musical offerings on the program was composer the modern BBC Proms and, in turn, to the Shuttleworth collection, including a newly restored 1918 Curtiss JN-4D John Addison’s main theme to Reach for the Sky, a BAFTA Collection’s original Flying Proms. Jenny, flown to the accompaniment of Henry Mancini’s Award-winning film that chronicled Group Captain Sir Imported from the UK in 2011, the Military Avia- score to The Great Waldo Pepper. Straight from the pages Douglas Bader’s life and wartime service with the RAF. tion Museum’ is the first and, so far, only authentic Fly- of Pasternak was a Polikarpov Po-2, the note of its exhaust Of course, the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines of our Hawker ing Proms in North America. Mr. Mark Whall, commen- mingled with Maurice Jarre’s music from Doctor Zhivago. Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire were the perfect tator for the Shuttleworth Proms, returns to our shores Other dramatic chords were struck by a P-51D Mustang complement to Addison’s work. Besides a squadron of each year to offer his charismatic accompaniment. Mark and an FG-1D Corsair, in concert with music by John Fokker biplanes and triplanes, the remaining aircraft on had the following to say of his experience this year: Williams and Richard Rodgers, respectively. Among the the program was a Curtiss Model Continued on Page 3 PAGE 2 VOLUME 7, ISSUE 3 MUSEUM VISITORS Summer Camp: Fledgling Warbirds Get Their Wings By Jonathan R. Lichtenstein AIM Students Visit MAM A fun week was had by all in attendance of the 3rd- Every day was punctuated by a catered lunch, annual Warbirds & Wings summer day-camp at the including the day of the field trip to NAS Norfolk. By Brad Groom Military Aviation Museum. The campers’ curriculum Each year campers enjoy an off-site sojourn to one included practical instruction in the fundamentals of The Aviation Institute of Maintenance of our area air installations. This year’s visit included flight, aided by the museum’s resident Eugene Ely, Mr. (AIM) is a career college that teaches students a tour of USS Kearsarge, a Wasp-class amphibious Robert “Boom” Powell. Dressed in period-appropriate to become Certified Aircraft Mechanics. AIM assault ship of the United States Navy. The ship’s attire, Mr. Powell gave his captive audience a flight is located at 2211 South Military Highway in motto is, “Proud...Bold...Trustworthy.” demonstration of the museum’s Curtiss Model D, a Chesapeake, VA. design whose origins date back to 1910. Also included was a talk with members of Carrier This summer, AIM hosted an Aviation Airborne Command and Control Squadron VAW-120, Further flight activities were recorded over the Camp for recent high school grads, and their a United States Navy airborne early warning (AEW) course of the week, including a seminar with members students visited the Military Aviation Museum and squadron. Nicknamed “The Greyhawks”, they fly the of the United States Air Force, from Andrews Air Force Fighter Factory on July 3, as their grand finale. E-2 Hawkeye along with the C-2A Greyhound. VAW- Base, who once again graced us with their presence and 120 traces its lineage back to 6 July, 1948, when Carrier Before visiting the museum, the summer offered a tour of their Beechcraft King Air. Also airborne Airborne Early Warning Squadron VAW-2 was created camp participants had a very busy schedule at were the museum’s Stearman PT-17 biplane and North at NAS Oceana, Virginia. It was later relocated to NAS AIM. The camp was mostly hands-on. Aircraft American SNJ-2. Additional flights were recorded in Norfolk, Virginia. engines were disassembled, aircraft rivets were a WWI-era Sopwith One-and-a-Half Strutter and a installed, and model aircraft were designed for Fokker Dr.I triplane. The last day of camp included an opportunity for a a flying contest. With all the hands-on projects, A visit to the Fighter Factory yielded insight into the tour of the museum’s historic Cottbus Hangar, a structure they were really busy–which they enjoyed–but restoration of the museum’s warbirds, plus a close-up dating back to the mid-1930s. Originally known as their visit to the museum and the Fighter Factory inspection of our Curtiss P-40 Warhawk. The corner- Hangar No. 6, the building was constructed in Cottbus, was the icing on the cake. “It was cool to see the stone of the museum’s collection, this airframe was re- Germany, as part of a larger air installation. Used Mosquito do an engine maintenance run!” stored from a wreck recovered in Russia. Also included throughout WWII and later during the Cold War, the Larry Teator, the docent tour guide, was were tours inside of our Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina facility was declared surplus following the reunification very impressed by the young visitors and their and T-34 Mentor. Further familiarization was provided of Germany. Eventually secured by the Military Avia- enthusiasm and questions regarding the exhibits by another veteran pilot, Mr. Obie O’Brien, USN ret., tion Museum, dismantled, restored, and re-erected at its and variety of planes housed at the museum. whose long experience of flying the Corsair made him present location, the hangar once more provides shelter As the tour was ending, one of the participants the ideal candidate to introduce the next generation to to wartime warbirds of the Luftwaffe. said, “I’ll see you at AIM in August because I an earlier concept of airborne operations. Mr. O’Brien’s Besides a final clinic on the finer points of model am going to enroll.” commentary was integrated into lectures on the Battles building, Friday provided an opportunity for children of Midway and the Coral Sea, plus the Korean War, a The Aviation Institute of Maintenance is to share with their parents all they had learned in the conflict in which he served. hosting another Summer Camp August 11-22 course of the week. A grand cookout was the highlight and if you know a high school senior who Hands-on activities included the construction and of the afternoon, followed by a graduation ceremony.