Arsenal of Democracy Flyover Event

[Mayhemxpc]

The day after...

Good publicity and public interest generated a huge turn-out today. Almost all of the advertising (excuse, me "public information") only mentioned that aircraft from the fly-over would be on display at Udvar-Hazy today. The four bombers, however, are still at Manassas and three of them: the B-29, the B-24, and the EAA B-17 are available for tours and flights. Somehow, there was enough awareness that hundreds of people showed up at Manassas today. In fact, 89 seats had pre-booked on Aluminum Overcast alone for the time it is here, and all seats for all scheduled flights today were pre-sold. Overflow parking was a very serious problem. Despite the size, the crowd was friendly and cooperative. This was especially important as low clouds delayed the start of flying by two hours. I played tour guide for Overcast (one of several). I was amazed by the number of people there whose fathers had flown on fortresses. Many brought memorabilia, such as their A-2 jackets, hats, other uniform items, and medals. All wanted to see the position their father (or grandfather) sat in on a B-17 and have their picture taken. It was wonderful to be able to help out. Overcast, Diamond Lil, and FiF will be available at Manassas through Wednesday -- although I can't imagine that tomorrow will be as busy as today. (Hey honey, to celebrate Mother's Day, the boys and I are taking you to the airport to see some real WW2 bombers!)

The value of flying history is clear when you see things like this. The ability for these flying memorials to come to where the public is, the ability for them to see these machines, touch them, have their questions answered is a necessary supplement to the fine museums where people can go to see examples in, well, museum quality preservation.

Unfortunately, I was too busy today and forgot to take photos.

Edit: Actually, I did take one picture.

Diamond Lil arriving at the end of the last passenger flight of the day. Shot enroute to the EAA 186 Chapter House for a barbecue for the bomber crews. CAF's Texas Raiders was still on the ground, so they were able to come over, too. I heard that huge crowds went to NASM Udvar Hazy on Saturday. Unfortunately, because of the weather, only one airplane, a C-47 -- made it from CJR to IAD.

I saw that AOPA has a couple of very nice slideshows of what was going on at CJR and over the Mall.