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Doolittle Reunion 2012

Wittpilot

Wittpilot

Warbird Guru
I will try and keep a running thread with updates over the next week with the goings-on in Ohio. Hopefully weather plays in our favor, and if it does, I think it is going to prove to be a pretty neat and busy weekend. Rumor has it that 9 planes will be offering rides throughout the week.

-witt
 
Really looking forward to the updates, Witt! Miss Mitchell had her first engine runs of the year yesterday, and it and the scheduled crew will be leaving on Saturday for Urbana.
 
stumbled on this thread , funny how things are put forth , i live here in canada - hamilton ontario . great wife and all 2 daughters 1 nurse and 1 teacher .....now i live with my mothinlaw , she has severe Alzheimer's disease , but heres the kicker


she loves , over and over and over to watch see hear the old movie

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037366/



as a result i watch it over and over and like it ........


so if you can any updates will be most appreciated


tks

joshua
 
Would you believe that was the very first book I ever read front to back.. It nearly took me a year or two when I was a kid, but I finished it damn it... I haven't seen the whole movie, just parts here and there... And what I can tell you from riding in Wild Cargo for the reunion two years ago is you can full out ignore any scene where two people are talking to each other w/o their mike in a B-25 while it is flying. It is hands down the loudest experience I have ever had. I'd be willing to say it's at least twice as loud as a B-17, maybe 3X!!! I took off my headset to climb into the nose.....yep, won't make that mistake again. I'm usually the type that has to get that 'full experience'. Well I got it all right, and couldn't hear right for a week!

-witt
 
Looks like along with Bettys Dream, the Flying Legends group will also be bringing the rest of their planes. I knew some of these were coming, but didn't realize the P-40 was coming as well...

Betty's Dream - B-25J
Dakota Kid II - P-51D
Aleutian Tiger - P-40K
Whistling Dealth "Kathleen" - FG-1D
Last Samurai - A6M2 Zero


That's right, A REAL ZERO!!!!!!! Extremely rare... I don't think I saw my first real zero up until a few years ago!


Which makes me wonder.........where the HECK are we going t put all these planes????????

-witt
 
Great news, Witt! Funny-enough, all of those Texas Flying Legends aircraft, with the exception of the Corsair (being a recent restoration as of 2010), used to live around my neck of the woods, in North Dakota and Minnesota, up until around 2010. I got to see that A6M2 in 2010, and watching it fly, I don't think I have ever seen an aircraft look more at home in the air - taking all of the wartime-related aspects away from it, it is a wonderfully designed aircraft to admire when flying.
 
When I saw the A6M5 from Chino fly @ Thunder one year, it was a very very different flying airplane that I imagined. I guess it looked smaller and much more agile than you'd think. I just remember thinking it moved through the air differently than anything else. Kinda like you said.
 
Yeah, the best I could compare it to was something like watching one of the pre-war racers fly, or the Hughes H-1 - it just looks as if it were to be able to pass through the air more easily than other designs - amazingly slick looking in-flight, in-person.

To help keep the thread on the topic of B-25's, here's a photo from yesterday of Miss Mitchell undergoing engine runs - sounds like everything went great. This is one of the few examples that has both a fully functioning top turret and a fully functioning tail turret, both with working gun sights as well. With the exception of the required CAF logo decals, the markings are fully authentic and historical - the nose art on this aircraft was painted by Jack Kowalik, who also painted the same original nose art in WWII, and he used the same paints that he used during WWII to do it with. Note the 'iProps'. ; )

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Heard through the rumormill that Major Ray Fowler Liberty Foundation's Chief Pilot, Alabama Guard F-16 pilot, Mustang & B-25 Pilot... ok, the list goes on and on... but heard he might be flying in one of Roush's Mustangs.
 
Yeah, I was listening to Warbird Radio for a little bit this morning, and it mentioned that in addition to the Mustang being brought up by Texas Flying Legends, that there will be three more, maybe even four more, Mustangs coming as well, for which I assume two of which are Jack's P-51B 'Old Crow' and P-51D 'Gentleman Jim', and another being Jim Hagedorn's P-51D 'Old Crow'. Ray flew Jack's P-51B at Oshkosh last summer, so he may be flying the same mount at the event.
 
Yeah, he told me it was hands down the most accurately restored and best flying Mustang he's ever flown. I think I remember him saying he was afraid to touch anything in the cockpit!!!
 
I was at the airport all night... Nothing in yet. A lot of setting up was going on though... They pushed two C-45 project we have out of a hangar to make room for the possible Mustangs that may show up. This bird is parked in there as well... The newest addition to the warbird scene in Urbana. Artwork is still wet, dad finished it up later in the night.

 
Drove by on the way home, couldn't stop because we have some dinner plans. There were 3 B-25's out already and a good share of people walking around already... Pacific Princess, Yankee Warrior, and Champaing Gal .

Weather does not look great for next 2-3 days. But as we say in Ohio, don't like the weather? Don't worry, it'll change.... So, Rain %'s are so far 50% or less for Sat. & Sunday. Was a beautiful day out today, so I'm told as I don't get to see the outdoors till 4 p.m. It is overcast now.

Will be out there tomorrow.
 
Just got home... Spent most of the day at an auction and then hit the airport this afternoon. The rain was really making it dreary... There were STILL a surprising amount of people that showed up though, even in the pouring rain. If the weather was exceptional, I think the tournout would have been pretty amazing for just the first day. I didn't grab any pictures, will definitely tomorrow... As of right now we are looking at 80 degrees with 10% of rain...BUT, heavy winds.... so... not much will probably be flying depending on the wind direction...


-witt
 
Spent about 10 hours out there today... Beautiful weather... Very windy, gusting to about 30 mph, but fortunately it was blowing straight down the runwaly. As I predicted, there was an unbelievable amount of people there today. Thousands and thousands... There were lots of rides being given as well. Therefore there were B-25's flying all day! At one point in time they went up for some formation practice.

Please remember I am no photographer... I am there to enjoy not photograph so don't expect anything specatuclar.

-witt


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Thank you for the coverage, Witt! I read the current count is 13. I know a number of B-25's have been held up by weather, and should be arriving tomorrow.

Remember, more photos the better! ; )
Thanks again, Witt!
 
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