Arsenal of Democracy Flyover

wsuffa

wsuffa

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Bill S.
Today was quite the day in DC. The Arsenal of Democracy flyover brought a series of WW II Warplanes into town, where they did a flyover of the Mall for VE day. There was also a ceremony at the WW II Memorial.

Quite a lot of planning - they got airspace waivers to fly at 1000' AGL or so down the river, turned left at the Lincoln Memorial, then proceeded up the mall and made a right turn to exit. Not only was the FRZ authorized, so was P-56.

http://ww2flyover.org/

One TBM Avenger made an emergency landing at DCA (hydraulic issue).

I stationed myself by the Memorial Bridge..... turned out to be a good spot. Fifi sounded FABULOUS!

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Great pictures, Hamish. I haven't finished with all of mine yet.
 
Pleasure to share. That's just the tip of the iceberg so to speak, but I wanted to put a few up. The rest will take some time to go through.
 
No, this is really the entire WWII event. They just used V-E day as an appropriate date. They feared that if they used V-J day the weather in DC would be too hot for the WWII vets in attendance (not that yesterday was likely any better).

23 of the planes are supposed to be at Hazy today, but right now the weather is 800 OVC and it's unclear how many are IFR capable.

A few shots on my facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10204165895538630.1073741835.1563591473&type=3
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10204159750425006.1073741834.1563591473&type=3
 
Jay Honeck said:
Anyone know if they are planning anything similar for V-J Day?
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I asked the same question to someone that was involved with the planning. Apparently it was decided to not do it in September due to the expected heat. They were worried that the aging veterans would not be able to take it.

Of course, yesterday was hot enough out there.
 
Anymouse said:
I asked the same question to someone that was involved with the planning. Apparently it was decided to not do it in September due to the expected heat. They were worried that the aging veterans would not be able to take it.
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I wonder if it also had to do with the fact that POTUS was scheduled to be out of town this week. While the show was going on he was here in Portland, so we were TFR'd on a beautiful VFR day.

:mad:
 
Anymouse said:
I asked the same question to someone that was involved with the planning. Apparently it was decided to not do it in September due to the expected heat. They were worried that the aging veterans would not be able to take it.

Of course, yesterday was hot enough out there.
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So there will be no flyover celebrating the end of WWII? Seems odd.

It certainly seems like our current Air Force might be tasked with some sort of a celebratory flyover?
 
Awesome flyovers. Am I the only one that thinks "Arsenal of Democracy" is a pretty interesting/intimidating/strange name for an event like this?
 
overdrive148 said:
Awesome flyovers. Am I the only one that thinks "Arsenal of Democracy" is a pretty interesting/intimidating/strange name for an event like this?
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Someone else commented. Apparently you all were asleep during US History class. Prior to the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor, the US was officially neutral in the war. There was strong opposition for us entering the war. Roosevelt decided if we weren't going to fight, we would at least support the allied effort with materiel. The term was used in the speech he gave on December 29, 1940.

Here's the entire speech: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrarsenalofdemocracy.html
 
flyingron said:
Someone else commented. Apparently you all were asleep during US History class. Prior to the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor, the US was officially neutral in the war. There was strong opposition for us entering the war. Roosevelt decided if we weren't going to fight, we would at least support the allied effort with materiel. The term was used in the speech he gave on December 29, 1940.

Here's the entire speech: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrarsenalofdemocracy.html
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The speech wasn't part of my history class :dunno: dunno who to blame for that
 
overdrive148 said:
The speech wasn't part of my history class :dunno: dunno who to blame for that
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Don't feel bad. I own an aviation themed hotel, with each room named after a significant person or plane in aviation history. If I had a nickel for the people who stare blankly at the names "Charles Lindbergh", "Flying Tigers", and (most shockingly, to me) "Amelia Earhart", I would be a wealthy man.

That "Arsenal of Democracy" speech is as far removed from today as the Spanish-American War speeches were to me. It is rapidly fading away.
 
Well if you're going to be interested in WWII, I don't see how you can omit the Arsenal of Democracy / Lend Lease and other pre-Pearl Harbor US actions in the war.

Again, this is not a COMMEMORATION of VE day. It's just a WWII airpower, they just thought that VE day was a convenient time to schedule it.
 
flyingron said:
Well if you're going to be interested in WWII, I don't see how you can omit the Arsenal of Democracy / Lend Lease and other pre-Pearl Harbor US actions in the war.
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Have you heard of a ship called the good Reuben James
Manned by hard fighting men both of honor and fame?
She flew the Stars and Stripes o' the land of the free
But tonight she's in her grave at the bottom of the sea.

What were their names, tell me what were their names
Did you lose a friend on the good Reuben James....

Ron "Don't forget the 'Premature Anti-Facists' too" Wanttaja
 
wanttaja said:
Have you heard of a ship called the good Reuben James
Manned by hard fighting men both of honor and fame?
She flew the Stars and Stripes o' the land of the free
But tonight she's in her grave at the bottom of the sea.

What were their names, tell me what were their names
Did you lose a friend on the good Reuben James....

Ron "Don't forget the 'Premature Anti-Facists' too" Wanttaja
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I play that song frequently (the chorus kind of indicates the difference between the Reuben James theme and the song The Wildwood Flower that Woody took to use as the basis for his. Woody's orignal version was to list all names of the men who perished (hence the "what were their names?" in the chorus), but people prevailed that it would be a better song without all that trivia.

Here's the omitted verses:

There’s Harold Hammer Beasley, a first rate man at sea
From Hinton, West Virginia, he had his first degree.
There’s Jim Franklin Benson, a good machinist’s mate
Come up from North Carolina, to sail the Reuben James.
Dennis Howard Daniel, Glen Jones and Howard Vore
Hartwell Byrd and Raymond Cook, Ed Musselwhite and more
Remember Leonard Keever, Gene Evans and Donald Kapp
Who gave their all to fight about this famous fighting ship​
 
flyingron said:
Again, this is not a COMMEMORATION of VE day. It's just a WWII airpower, they just thought that VE day was a convenient time to schedule it.
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For the record, prior to the fly over there were ceremonies and speeches commemorating VE day, including a wreath laying ceremony. The flyover was pretty much the capstone of the entire deal.
 
Anymouse said:
For the record, prior to the fly over there were ceremonies and speeches commemorating VE day, including a wreath laying ceremony. The flyover was pretty much the capstone of the entire deal.
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Correct, but that was because it was VE day. The flyover was an independent operation.

While I really like the concept of a WWII memorial, the one built is horrendous. Frankly, to me it looks like something the Germans would have designed round about 1939.
 
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