The Membership Newsletter for The Military Aviation Museum Summer 2015 INSIDE THIS IssUE: Docent Wings Awards 2 moSSie At OShkoSh Ghosts of Goxhill 2 Mid-Atlantic Dawn Patrol 3 Barry Knight Fall Fest 3 AACA Spring Meet 4 Pilot Reflections 4 Flying Proms 5 By Ray Grant Night Photography Event 5 Oceana Bus Tours 5 KA114 ‘Mosquito’ Wins Grand Champion at EAA Oshkosh Air Show Aerodrome Wine Classic 6 WII Air Show Recap 7 The EAA AirVenture 2015 airshow, held July 20-26th in Oshkosh, WI, was the place to be for aviation Visitor Takes Flight 7 enthusiasts of all ages. The week-long gathering set many firsts for the annual event, bringing together approximately 550,000 people, wanting to experience the history and thrills that only aircraft can bring. Military Aviation Museum This year’s tag line, “Only in Oshkosh,” was true www.MilitaryAviationMuseum.org to form, with a diverse array of aircraft on display, ranging from personal aircraft to the debut of the Virginia Beach Airport F-35 Lightning II, the only airworthy B-29 “Fifi” www.VBairport.com and the first-ever landing of a B-52 at the show. Fighter Factory Continued on Page 6 www.FighterFactory.com Biplanes and Triplanes www.VBairshow.com UPCOMING Air Show Biplanes and Triplanes Grace the Sky at World War One Air Show Our annual fall event celebrating the 100th anniversary of The Great War will be held this year on October 3rd and 4th in conjunction with the “Mid-Atlantic Dawn Patrol” flying activities. Many museum guests enjoy the slower pace and cooler weather of this classic display of early aviation and make it a family outing day complete This year’s show will be the debut of at least Rumors cannot be confirmed at this writing, with picnic. The beautiful wood and fabric planes two new additions to the event. The museum’s first but there is a possibility that other new additions show their graceful lines as they fly by slower, flyable Bleriot wing-warping aircraft design, his might make surprise appearances according to lower, and more quietly than their newer and louder model XI-2, has joined the museum in military reliable sources behind the front lines. stablemates. livery. In addition to that tantalizing prospect, yet another Fokker aircraft design will grace the skies Bring your beach chair and your camera, and A full two days of flying will showcase a large over Pungo in the form of an early war craft, a get ready for music and entertainment and to enjoy a variety of World War One planes, various sizes Fokker E.III “Eindecker”. Both of these planes are classic display of early aviation that is unsurpassed of remote-control planes, and of course museum wonderful examples of early military aviation from anywhere! For further details or to buy tickets, visit ride planes will be available for those who wish to a time when mission success depended every bit as www.VBairshow.com or call the museum gift shop scratch that secret “Walter Mitty” itch! much on luck as skill in ingenious but fragile aircraft. at (757) 721-7767. q PAGE 2 VOLUME 8, ISSUE 3 Docent Wings Awards The Ghosts of RAF Goxhill By Jim Meehan An English couple, who recently visited the museum’s Great War hangar, Museum volunteers Ken Craig commented on the photos displaying (back row, left) receives his 3,000 hour the RAF Goxhill control tower, which wings, and Tom Owen (front row, right) is currently under nearby construction receives his never-before-awarded 7,000 hour wings. Congrats! They said that most of the Great War and WWII airfields in England have stories of ghostly happenings related to their wartime operational days. Goxhill, they reported, was one of the most haunted. Many Prop Noise readers know that the number of hours a volunteer has given to A Google search on English airfields the museum is reflected in their museum and hauntings turned up hundreds of “wings” pin on their shirt. Our incredible incidents over the years of ghostly WWII aircraft, figures Ghostly occurrences reported at RAF Goxhill include: in RAF or USAAF uniforms moving about the hangars corps of volunteers donates 30,000 hours • The sounds of a P-38 flying each year to the museum, and gratefully, and buildings, and sounds of shouting voices, hammering we are still growing the ranks of eager new sounds and mysterious lights in long abandoned hangars although the aircraft is not volunteers. These are the men and women and buildings. There are many reports of figures in old visible on clear days. who do more to shape the quality of our uniforms or flightsuits on the roads and village streets near these former bases. A common theme seems to visitor’s experience than anything else the be American or British airmen asking for directions as • An officer in USAAF uniform museum can do. if lost and vanishing soon after. Airmen in German has been seen walking from a Two volunteers are standouts for the uniforms have been seen near known crash sites of hangar to the watchtower. quarter. First is Ken Craig. Ken joined us in Luftwaffe aircraft as well. 2010, and was just awarded his 3,000 hour RAF Goxhill has a few of these ghost stories that • Two officers in USAAF uniform pin for service to MAM. Ken is a shift coor- seem to occur repeatedly over the years. Briefly, Goxhill walked through a hangar dinator, a coach to new docent trainees, and was an air force field during the first world war, then is a member of our Training and Standards abandoned until the beginning of WWII. It was to be and vanished into a wall. Committee. Thanks, Ken, for your gifts to a large bomber base but was found to be too close to • A man in ground crew fatigues our museum. the air defenses of the port of Hull and instead hosted The other volunteer wearing freshly- target tow aircraft and a later squadron of Spitfires. has been seen around the minted wings is Tom Owen. Tom is truly a In 1942 it was the first RAF field to be transferred to hangars walking a bicycle. force of nature. Red Dot (aircraft handler), the USAAF and was used for training fighter groups coach, and T&S Committee member, Tom as they arrived from the US before moving on to • A black Labrador has been seen joined us at the very end of 2011, and just operational bases. The American airmen referred to many times on the perimeter received his never-before-awarded 7,000 the base as “RAF Goathill.” Goxhill was returned to hour wings complete with cake in front of RAF ownership in January 1945 and eventually sold track near a hangar and the another volunteer, his wife Linda! Since as agricultural property in 1962. The control tower watchtower but vanishes was dismantled in 2003. Three large hangars, the taxi this amazing record means that Tom has track and several aircraft hard stands are still visible. when approached. worked an average of 34 hours every week A memorial to those who served at the site incorporates for four years, Linda really doesn’t have any the propeller of a P-38 Lightning that crashed on The question now, as discussed with the English trouble guessing where he is! Tom, you’re the airfield in 1944, killing the pilot, 2nd Lieutenant couple, is whether the ghosts will relocate to Virginia q an inspiration! Lane Ferrara. Beach from Goxhill? q VOLUME 8, ISSUE 3 PAGE 3 HANGAR HAPPENINGS MID-ATLANTIC DAWN PATROL Barry Knight’s Fall Fest Ready to Launch Action in the Sky! It was a crisp fogbound October morning on the bigger and better than ever with lots of good flying. This year the Military Aviation Museum grass runway. As you looked up you would think you will again be hosting Delegate Barry Knight’s With last year’s spectacular weather, we enjoyed had travelled back in time to the frontlines of WWI. Annual Fall Fest community event. This five days of awesome flying. This year’s annual M.A.D. Fokkers and Sopwiths were dogfighting in the cool event is held every year on the last Sunday morning skies, twisting and banking, while trying Patrol will again run in tandem with the Military of September, and is a great way to have the to line up that perfect shot. But as the fog cleared, Aviation Museum’s Biplanes & Triplanes Air Show. In community come out and support Delegate instead of the war-torn fields of France, it was the neatly contrast with the limited flight maneuvers conducted Knight, while also having the chance to tour tilled farmlands of Virginia Beach. Welcome to the by the Museum’s veteran warbirds, the R/C planes the museum facility and gain an appreciation Military Aviation Museum, host of the 2015 Mid- and their skilled pilots are able to demonstrate the full for the planes up close! Atlantic Dawn Patrol (M.A.D. Patrol)! potential of these ancient designs. Engaging in aerial dogfights, we have some very exciting close-calls Last year Delegate Knight had a record- In concert with their full-scale brethren flying breaking turnout of over 900 people show during the Military Aviation Museum’s Biplanes & during the half-time shows on Saturday and Sunday. Hosted by Tidewater R/C, the local chapter of the up, and he hopes to break 1,000 visitors this Triplanes Air Show on 3-4 October 2015, a large year.