Bringing out the big guns
High Country Warbirds Fly-in returns Saturday
VALLE, Ariz. - This year's High Country Warbirds Fly-in at the Planes of Fame Museum in Valle promises to have a little something for everyone. Fans of history, in particular, will get an up close and personal taste of the past as members of the P-38 Association plan to hold a public meeting and forum during the 2010 fly-in. A P-38 fly-over is also planned for the popular Valle event.
Bob Reed, director of the Planes of Fame Museum in Valle, said P-38s are hard to come by these days.
"There's only, I think, six P-38s in the world that are still flying," Reed said. "We're going to have a seminar with the P-38 pilots. It's going to be a question and answer where people can sit around and talk to them, ask them questions. It's going to be the P-38 versus the P-51. Each year we try to do something a little bit different. There will probably be some P-38 aces that will be here."
P-38s, he added, were well known for their revolutionary guns, fixed within the body of the plane itself rather than on the aircraft's wings.
"With aircraft with the guns on the wings, you had to converge on the target. If you fired too soon, too late, you missed your target," Reed said.
Reed said the opportunities to listen to stories and meet those who fought in the Second World War are becoming rarer and rarer.
"In my lifetime I've kind of gone through two different eras where the last of the Civil War vets back in the 40s and 50s were dying off. Now we're looking at the Second World War vets. The First World War vets are gone, now it's the Second World War. They're like my dad, they're in their 90s. My dad is 93. You figure in another four to five years, they're going to be pushing 100, so (they) are going to be extremely hard to find, rare to find," Reed said.
The Planes of Fame Museum in Valle has also recently become the national headquarters for the National P-38 Association.
A display can also be found at the museum celebrating some of the P-38 ace pilots, such as Gilmore Jackson and Colonel Gerald Brown.
"(Brown's) daughter donated his flight suit," Reed said. "He flew in all three wars. He flew in the Second World War, he was an ace. In North Korea his P-38 was shot down and he was a POW (prisoner of war). In Vietnam he flew Phantoms."
Other planes that will be on display include a P-40, a P-51, a B-25 and more. The P-38 will also be performing fly-overs during the event, Reed said.
"That's pretty rare there, where people will actually be able to see a P-38 flying," Reed said. "That will be something special. In general we hope it will be fun for everyone. We'll have some vendors inside setting up. The EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) will be setting up food. It's the chapter in Flagstaff."
The fly-in is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. and run to 5 p.m., according to organizers. Besides Saturday's all day fly-in, member-supported warbird orientation flights will also be offered to the public on June 25-27. Saturday's fly-in is $8. Children under 12 cost $2. For more information on the fly-in, call (928) 635-1000 or visit Planes of Fame online at
www.planesoffame.org. Parking the event is free.
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