Down here in Orange County, Southern California, we have the Lyons air museum at John Wayne Airport. I have had the pleasure of seeing the resident P-38 in flight, lumbering B-17s and B-24s, and for audiophiles out there, the incredible sound of a Merlin driven P-51 at full milpower take off.

I haven't been out to Chino for more than 10 years, but I got my first up-close look at an ME-262, a drive-by of a Lockheed SR-71 sitting out on an apron by the road, and we miss the Santa Monica air museum and its gorgeous Spitfire.

Warbirds, beautiful, deadly air weapons, glorious when mobilized in the service of the protection of freedom.

BTW, today is the 100th anniversary of Marine Corps Aviation.

Semper Fi !!

A whole century of aviation - what a great milestone.

Congrats to the Marine Corps Aviators and all those who support their vital mission...

TAM

What a great thread. WWII era aviation was the best. My dad is a huge history buff. He's especially interested in all things WWII so a lot of that has rubbed off on me. Few years ago he got to take a ride in a B-17. He filmed a video of the flight from the airplane while my mom took some additional video from the ground. I'll have to ask him if he minds me posting it. This is the website of the B-17 he flew in: www.libertyfoundation.org

Linda's father was a radio gunner with the RCAF in WWII...at the age of 17! I'm going to try to find out what plane(s) he flew in, I would hazard a guess it was either a Wellington or Lancaster. Unfortunately he passed away a couple of months ago.

I just learned today that a fire bomber (Tanker 11) from Neptune Aviation based in Misoula, Montana crashed while fighting a fire on the Utah/Nevada state lines, killing both pilots. I only bring this up because back whenever I was fighting fires I flew alongside Tankers 10, 11 and 12 from Neptune Aviation on the Big Cypress Fire in the Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida during the 2001-2002 fire season and crossed paths with them several times during my fire fighting days out west. These were some of the most professional folks I've ever been around and just a great bunch of guys to hang and work with.

Condolences and hoping for no more accidents this busy season.

Sad news.
They were as much heroes as they were pilots.

Resurrected thread.

A pilot friend sent me this link on forest fire fighting using our wonderful Canadair Water Bomber in Spain. This spectacular machine is in use worldwide where it does a fabulous job in this role.

Rough flying with lots of yankin & bankin in this video with no autopilot use in sight - music is great as well:

http://player.vimeo.com/video/48642618

TAM

Awesome video TAM!