Friday, for the 70th anniversary of VE Day, there was an amazing flyover of the Washington Mall by aircraft that helped win WWII. The planes followed the river from airfields in Virginia, turned east at the Lincoln Memorial and flew down the Mall, eventually turning south and heading back. Their path was carefully set forth in the highly restricted airspace.
There was quite a crowd of office workers and tourists out to see them, some taking video, but most snapping pictures with phones and cameras. There was a lot of camaraderie and at least one expert within my earshot. I am an avid admirer of vintage aircraft, and really could not pass this up. Most of these planes were 70 or more years old and were up in the air through the efforts of piston engines.
By and large they were flying in particular formations used in various battles. Lucky for me, The Washington Post published the order and the formations, so I hope my identifications are correct.
All photos taken by my colleague John Burg, who had my camera, which ran out of memory. Luckily, he also had that outdated email implement, the Blackberry, with him and could keep photographing.  If I have misidentified any planes, please let me know.  This was almost as good as a day at the Rhinebeck Aerodrome!
Once again you astound me with your enthusiasm and knowledge about – things! I loved looking at these photos, knowing where you were, imagining you standing there with your head thrown back conversing with your colleague. Were they noisy these old planes? And glad to see the one who had a bit of trouble made it even if out of formation! You live in a fabulous city!!
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They were surprisingly quiet, except for the flashy little Mustangs, which are apparently the Formula One race cars of the air. But all of them were also flying slow…
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A great event Lisa. Given your avidity, I feel sure you would enjoy this: http://derrickjknight.com/2014/12/31/she-saw-the-r100/
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How cool to have been there to see this! I don’t know anything about these old planes but your excitement is contagious.
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I continue to be amazed that anything with a 100 ft wingspan can get off the ground, physics or not!
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I love airshows like these , it makes me excited like a little girl. But also, WWII played an important part in my family history and the liberation of The Netherlands by Canadian and American troops together with the Marshall plan after the War made the future for my parents ( and therefor myself) possible. I always salut the then so many brave young people! Thanks for sharing, xo Johanna
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Oh, thank you! It really was nice to see these planes flying.
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How exciting! I saw this on the news and wished we had been able to take my father-in-law to see it. He’s a WWII veteran, and I know he would love to have seen this.
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It was really impressive. Maybe you can show him the blog with the video link? Thanks for dropping by!
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I’ll send the links off to my brother-in-law so he can show him (my father-in-law is up in Harrisburg, PA). Thank you for the suggestion. I don’t know why I don’t think of things like that.
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Mostly because you were thinking of him being there physically… 😉
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There is nothing quite so exciting and intoxicating as an American airshow. It’s a parade in the sky. It brings such wonderment to the folks below–truly awe-inspiring feats.
Those are spectacular photos, Lisa. I can almost feel myself at the scene looking up at the sky and saying a million thank yous to those who worked with such effort on behalf of my
future. Thanks for sharing something so important and worthy.
Cheers!
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Thanks, Shelley. It was pretty amazing.
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You live and work in such a cool place! It’s fun learning something else about you, too. I’m so glad your friend could capture these shots.
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Thanks, Alys! It really is nice to take advantage of the things on offer here.
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🙂
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