Organizing The Event Took Cooperation, Perseverance

By John Ylinen

May 8, 2015: On that date 70 years ago, Victory in Europe was achieved.  And while our nation to this day honors all who participated in that human endeavor, the World War II generation is at their twilight and their numbers are growing smaller by the day.  It is only fitting that our country recognizes their sacrifices. But how and by whom?

You might expect that this would be a government run and organized event.  You might expect that our nation’s political leaders would be at the front.  But no.  The “Friends of the World War Two Memorial” organization put forth a plan for a modest ceremony at the Washington DC mall to commemorate this event and date.  They felt using VE Day would provide better weather than VJ Day.

In a radio broadcast delivered on December 29, 1940. Roosevelt promised to help the United Kingdom fight Nazi Germany by giving them military supplies while the United States stayed out of the actual fighting.  "The great arsenal of democracy" came to specifically reference America and its industrial machine, as the primary military supplier for the Allied war effort. But at that time, The United States Military had less than 2000 aircraft. By the end of WWII, this nation had produced more than 300,000 aircraft and changed from an agricultural nation to an industrial one.

After the war, the nation began its demobilization.  Aviation was modernizing at a rate not seen every in any technology.  Jet aircraft were now the state of the art.  What do you do with all these old aircraft?  Surely, the government would develop a comprehensive plan to save and care for all these historic aircraft and maintain some of them for history and future generations to enjoy and learn. But no, all most all of them were made surplus and were bought for pennies and mostly for scrap.

After several years, civilians started to step forward and buy and restore some of these aircraft. This is a monumental effort.  As everyone in aviation knows, flying is expensive.  Aircraft require constant care and feeding.  Military Historic aircraft even more.  To try and keep these flying history examples airworthy is an effort of love.  Groups like the Commemorative Air Force, Experimental Aircraft Association and many others started to bring volunteers together to share their knowledge, time, and resources to keep some of these historic aircraft flying to honor and education the generations to follow.

Since 9/11/2001, the airspace over Washington DC has been closed to all aircraft except for military, government, and some commercial aviation. But a small group of these associations came up with a crazy idea: what if they could bring to Washington examples of the aircraft that participated in the “Greatest War” that were produced in the United States? It had never been done.

Would our government allow the civilian aircraft flown by civilians to fly low over the Capital?  How would they pay for all the costs of flying these aircraft from all over the country to DC and conduct the fly over.  With many “NO”, NO WAY”, and "are you crazy?" ...  and after many months of work and discussion, the government in January finally agreed, but with many stipulations. So the hard part was over, right? Well, now they needed dollars to bring those aircraft here.  Would anyone help this project?  Would the organizations and groups that own these aircraft dedicate their time and resources to bring them to DC? 
The response to that appeal was heartfelt.  Corporate sponsors lead by Honeywell and Northrop Grumman and many others.

Funds would only cover the direct cost, fuel, oil, etc. So with government approval and funding, the execution should be a piece of cake, right?  But the planning and execution is as involved as many of the combat missions.  Where would you base these aircraft? What route would you use for this historic flight?  How would all the safety and security requirements be integrated?  The planning and attention to detail was amazing. All the issues and details were addressed.  Taking the work of thousands of people.

In the end, 53 aircraft and their volunteers stepped forward to support this endeavor. They were organized into 15 flight waves commemorating the major events of World War II. The people in the national capital region got to witness the historic coming together of World War II aircraft.  The associations dedicated to the aircraft got to work together for a common purpose. The government learned that they can also work together for the national purpose and to give private aviation organizations access to the capital airspace.  In all it was a great day for the greatest generation that keep teaching the younger generations that there is nothing we cannot achieve if we work together and for a common purpose.

Thanks to all that participated in this event.  Thanks even more to the Generation that sacrificed so much to keep us free.

Flight Formations:

• Trainer Formation “Pass in Review” with Boeing Stearmans, Piper L-Birds, North America T-6s/SNJs, and Cessna/Beech Twin Bomber Trainers
• Pearl Harbor/Flying Tigers with Curtis P-40 Warhawks
• Doolittle Raid with North American B-25 Mitchells
• Guadalcanal Campaign with Bell P-39 Aerocobras and P-63 Kingcobras
• Battle of Midway with Consolidated PBY Catalinas, Grumman F4F/FM-2 Wildcats and Douglas SBD Dauntless
• Yamamoto Shootdown with Lockheed P-38 Lightnings
• Ploesti Raid with Consolidated B-24 Liberators Fighter Escort for the Combined Bomber Offensive with North American P-51 Mustangs
• Big Week with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses
• D-Day with Douglas C-47/R4D Skytrain and B-26/A-26s
• Marianas Turkey Shoot, Battle of Leyte Gulf with Grumman TBM Avengers, Grumman F6F Wildcat, Grumman F8F Bearcats and Curtis SB2C Helldiver
• Battle of the Bulge with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts Iwo Jima with Vought FG-1D Corsairs
• Final Air Offensive to Defeat Japan with Boeing B-29 Superfortress
• Missing Man Formation to TAPS with a TBM Avenger leading a mix of Fighter Aircraft

(Images provided by the Author)

FMI: http://ww2flyover.org/