The Confederate Air Force is proud to be your host on this aerial odyssey as we explore
an important part of our history.
The CAF Flying Museum is much more than an air show attraction, though it's one of the
best.
Its mission is to keep alive the memory of an era in the history of America and the world
that should never be forgotten.
World War II irrevocably altered the course of human events, and the aircraft of that
period played a very crucial role.
The Confederate Air Force started in 1957 when a group of crop-dusters who had flown
in World War II fighters decided that owning what they considered to be the best fighter
of the war would be fun.
They pooled their resources to purchase this P-51 Mustang.
What started as a lark soon developed a more noble purpose as Lloyd Nolan, Lefty Gardner,
and the other enthusiasts learned that an important part of our national heritage was
being systematically destroyed by turning airplanes into scrap metal.
Their original goal of securing a flying example of all 10 American fighters from the war years
was achieved in 1963.
At that point, they broadened their horizons and went after the American bombers, transports,
and trainers.
Then the planes of the British RAF, the German Luftwaffe, and even the Imperial Japanese
Navy.
Today, the goal is to maintain in-flying condition an example of every aircraft that participated
in that remarkable period, 1939 to 1945.
Now let's take a look at some of these ghosts of the sky and how the CAF brings them before
the public in their world-famous Air Power Heritage Program.
We'll begin with the showcase of the aircraft of the United States Navy.
Leading off this year's Navy Warbirds is the F-4F Wildcat.
It deserves the respect of posterity if for no other reason than its front-line readiness
when the U.S. was brutally thrust into the war at Pearl Harbor.
The Grumman Wildcat was developed in 1937, first flown in 1939, and delivered to the
Navy in 1940.
It was the standard Navy fighter on December 7th of 1941 and remained so until the F-6F
Hellcat and F-4U Corsair joined the fleet in 1943.
It remained in combat service to the end of the war.
At the outset of the war, the Grumman facilities were needed to produce the F-6F Hellcat, so
production of the Wildcat was transferred to the Eastern Aircraft Division of General
Motors, which completed and flew its first Wildcat in September of 1942.
The General Motors version was known as the FM-2.
The CAF Wildcat is an FM-2.
Slowest of all American fighters and outperformed by the Zero, the Wildcat managed an impressive
combat record thanks to its rugged construction and the skills and courage of its pilots.
Wildcats fought in every major naval battle in the Pacific to the end of the war, and
for every F-4F shot down, 6.9 enemy planes joined it.
Poised for takeoff with its predecessor is another Navy aircraft in the line of carrier-based
cats from Grumman, the F-8F Bearcat.
It is the last in a long line of Navy propeller-driven fighters.
Able to fly at 450 miles an hour, the Bearcat was designed as a fast-climbing, 2,200 horsepower
interceptor to combat the increasing threat of kamikaze attacks from the Japanese.
The first production models were aboard carriers on the way to the combat zone when the war
ended.
The F-8F Bearcat was designed as a fast-climbing, 2,200 horsepower interceptor to combat the
increasing threat of kamikaze attacks from the Japanese.
Only 1,000 Bearcats were ever built, and a mere handful remain today, including this
one owned and piloted by Howard Pardue.
Any profile of World War II Navy aircraft would be woefully lacking without the mention
of the F-4U Corsair.
From its novel design to its exceptional performance, the Corsair is a standout.
Designed by the Chance Vought Company in 1938, the Corsair was the first fighter with a 2,000
horsepower engine and the first U.S. Navy warplane to exceed 400 miles per hour in level
flight.
The Corsair joined Marine and land-based Navy squadrons in 1943 and first saw combat with
the Marines defending Walla Canal from the combined air, land, and sea assault by waves
of Japanese.
The Corsair's effectiveness and durability were testified to by its war record.
During its service in World War II, Corsairs destroyed 2,140 Japanese aircraft with a loss
of only 189 F-4Us in aerial combat, a victory rate of better than 11 to 1.
During the Korean War, Corsairs flew 80 percent of all Navy and Marine close support missions
throughout the first year of fighting, one Corsair even downed a MiG-15 jet fighter.
The Corsair continued in production through 1952 and ended its long career in 1965, the
longest service life of any World War II era fighter.
Fighting in loose formation with the F-4U Corsair is another Navy warbird, the PV-2 Harpoon.
The PV-2 is the last and most sophisticated in a long line of Lockheed bombers that grew
from an airliner.
The twin-engine Lockheed, which saw military service in World War II, all evolved from
the model L-10 Electra, introduced in 1934 to compete with the Douglas DC-2.
This PV-2 is from the CAF Cajun Wing and is painted in the markings of a U.S. Navy patrol
bombing squadron.
The Harpoon was the largest, most powerful, and heavily armed of the series and was responsible
for the destruction of several German submarines.
The Douglas SBD Dauntless was the Navy's standard carrier-based scout plane and dive bomber
at the time of Pearl Harbor.
In the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first major naval battle after Pearl Harbor, Dauntless
pilots were credited with 40 of the 91 enemy aircraft lost.
At Midway, the Dauntless, flying with a small contingent of TBF Avengers, B-26s, and B-17s,
sank the heavier carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soyu, and put the Haryu out of action.
This was the beginning of the end for Japan, its first major naval defeat in 300 years.
Nearly 6,000 of these easy to fly and maintain aircraft were produced, but today only three
SBD Dauntlesss are known to exist.
Next up in our naval showcase is the TBM Avenger built by General Motors but originally developed
by Grumman as the TBF Avenger.
It made its debut in June of 1942 as the Navy's standard carrier and land-based torpedo bomber.
In the Avengers' first combat test, attacking Japanese ships at Midway, they were almost
wiped out by anti-aircraft fire and fighters.
After this murderous baptism by fire, the powerful Avenger went on to prove its excellence
in destroying the Japanese Navy through the remainder of the war by sinking Japan's prized
super battleships.
This year's collection of Navy warbirds contain a special treat, the world's only flying SB2C
Helldiver in the air for the first time in many years.
The plane has been in Breckenridge, Texas undergoing major restoration for the last five years.
The work has been conducted under the expert guidance of Nelson Ezell, who is also piloting
the Helldiver.
When it finally joined the Pacific fleet in 1943, after a prolonged and troubled development,
the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver proved to be a formidable and highly versatile weapon.
It delivered bombs and depth charges with pinpoint accuracy and could strafe with cannon,
rocket and machine gun fire.
The Big Tail Beast, as its not always affectionate crewman called it, was first designed in 1939.
A maddening assortment of problems during development resulted in 880 design changes
and delayed its entry into service long past the original deadline.
Some of the 6,000 Helldivers built flew with the Marine Corps and a few were delivered
to the Royal Navy of Great Britain.
The SB2C continued in service for several years after the war and proved to be the Navy's
last pure dive bomber.
An airplane used not only by the U.S. Navy, but by the U.S. Army Air Force and the Air
Forces of our allies as well, was the North American AT-6 Texan.
The world's most popular warbird with approximately 600 still flying in the United States today.
To the Army Air Force, it was the AT-6.
Naval aviators called it an SNJ and those of Canadian persuasion referred to it as the
Harvard.
Powered by a Pratt & Whitney R1650, the Texan cruises at about 150 miles an hour and is
fully aerobatic as it had to be in order to teach the allied pilots the finer points of
aerial combat.
If you've ever arrived at an air show early in the morning, you may have noticed several
T-6s returning from Dawn Patrol.
The stated purpose of this exercise is to remind the local residents that an air show
is taking place that day.
The actual purpose is to give these fanatical aviators another excuse to fly their lovingly
restored and maintained aircraft.
Point 5 has been lucky enough to go on several of these missions at air shows around the
country and would like to take you along as we go on Dawn Patrol with the T-6s.
The T-6s.
According to the World War II era, we want to highlight the incalculable contribution
of Great Britain.
We are fortunate to have two examples of the British Spitfire to show you.
This aircraft is owned by the Confederate Air Force.
It is sponsored and flown by Howard Pardue.
Our second Spitfire is owned and piloted by Bill Greenwood of Aspen, Colorado.
You'll notice this airplane was modified with the addition of a second cockpit to serve
as a trainer.
The British also flew the American built Curtiss P-40 Warhawk.
The star of this show and virtually any air show where it makes an appearance is the extremely
rare and historically significant De Havilland Mosquito B Mark 35.
Conceived in the late 1930s with the prototype first flying in November of 1940, this versatile
aircraft played an extraordinary number of roles during and even after World War II.
It excelled as a high and low level day and night bomber, a long range day and night fighter
bomber, long range photo reconnaissance plane, mine layer, coastal patrol aircraft, anti-shipping
and anti-submarine plane, pathfinder for heavy bombers and a high speed courier for both
the RAF and BOAC due to its impressive top speed of 425 miles an hour.
Of the nearly 8,000 mosquitoes that were built, only two remain in flying condition.
This one owned and piloted by Kermit Weeks of Miami, Florida is the only example in the
western hemisphere.
If you saw either of the movies 633 Squadron or Mosquito Squadron, you have seen this airplane
in action.
What came to be known as the Battle of Britain was fought in the closing months of 1940 over
the skies of the island nation.
By the time it was over, the Germans lost 2,375 aircraft against 900 British airplanes destroyed.
By mid-September, it was obvious that Gehring's Luftwaffe had failed to drive the RAF from
the skies and Hitler was forced to postpone Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of England.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill, himself symbolizing the bulldog stubbornness of the British people,
paid magnificent tribute to the handful of intrepid Royal Air Force pilots with these
immortal words.
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
Aircrafty
The American Army Air Corps, later known as the U.S. Army Air Force, was in charge of
bombers, transport, and land-based fighters when the war erupted.
On December 7, 1941, the standard Army fighter was the Curtis P-40 Warhawk, a tough, versatile
aircraft that earned everlasting fame through the exploits of Claire Chennault's American
volunteer group, better known as the Flying Tigers.
Before their disbanding in 1942, the Tigers had shot down 286 Japanese planes while losing
only eight P-40s in aerial combat.
The P-40 logged a long, distinguished service record and fought in the colors of 28 allied
nations in every operational theater of the war.
No fighter, friend or foe, saw wider service.
The P-40 was our first line fighter at the beginning of World War II, but later in the
war, the P-51 Mustang made its debut and is one of the most successful stories in aviation.
The Royal Air Force designed the P-51 and gave the plans to North American Aviation
Corporation with an incredible deadline of only 120 days to produce the first airplane.
North American achieved the impossible and delivered the first Mustang in just 117 days.
Pete McManus puts on an impressive flight demonstration of the Mustang and he does an
aerobatic maneuver that heavy fighters aren't supposed to be able to perform.
Here's Pete McManus in his P-51 Mustang performing a hammerhead turnaround, a most unusual maneuver
for this type of aircraft.
While the best all-around fighter in World War II, it was faster, more maneuverable and,
most important, had a greater cruising range than any other fighter in the U.S. Army Air
Force.
It was this cruising range, further extended by belly tanks, that gave it a fantastic range
in excess of 2,000 miles and an endurance time of over eight hours.
The Mustang's ability to escort was to prove the answer to successful U.S. daylight bombing
by B-24s and B-17s.
If a single airplane were to be selected to symbolize the spirit of the American people
during World War II, it would have to be the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, the most celebrated
of all the great American planes of the war years.
Called the Communist Back Airplane of the War, the B-17s were known to return to base after
being hammered so hard by anti-aircraft fire that three engines and sections of wing and
tail were destroyed.
Without the B-17, said General Karl Spatz, 1st Air Force Chief of Staff, we might have
lost the war.
The 8th Air Force first flew its B-17s on European combat missions in August of 1942,
but the British RAF had been flying a few since July of the previous year.
Throughout the war, the B-17 was the Army's mainstay, long-range heavy bomber in Europe
and served with distinction everywhere in the vast Pacific Theater.
Another famous bomber of the U.S. Army Air Force that glows with the aura of legend is
the North American B-25 Billy Mitchell.
B-25s were immortalized in the movie Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, which chronicled the true
life exploits of Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle and the 16 B-25s he led on the first
American raids of the Japanese homeland, a scant four months after the Pearl Harbor attack.
The B-25 was designed in 1934 as a light, fast-attack bomber.
By 1940, it had grown into a medium bomber and was produced in that configuration, which
included a large bomb capacity and heavy armament.
Very popular with its crews, the Mitchell adapted to many combat roles in every theater
of the war.
The CAF is proud to maintain several aircraft that are the only flying examples of their
type.
The most significant case in point is the Martin B-26 Marauder.
Despite misgivings about the B-26 flying characteristics, the Army began flying it on combat missions
in 1942 in the Southwest Pacific and later in Europe.
Once in service, the Marauder was one of the great ones.
In addition to the U.S. Army Air Force bomb groups, it saw service with the British, Free
French, Australian, South African, Canadian, and Greek Air Forces.
Its versatility, speed, and power were legendary, and it was tough.
The B-26 suffered less than 1 percent combat losses, the lowest loss ratio of any of the
major U.S. AAF bombers.
Originally designed in 1938 as an attack bomber, the Douglas A-20 Havoc proved to be a jack
of all trades with the Army Air Force, the RAF, the Free French, and the Russians.
While generally employed as a low-level attack bomber, the A-20 also flew as the Boston Night
Fighter over England.
It is probably remembered best for its role in the North African campaign to defeat the
Desert Fox, German General Erwin Rommel, and his tank corps.
Flying with the A-20 are a couple of fighters from the Bell Aircraft Corporation, the P-39
and the P-63.
Developed in 1937 as an aerial platform for a heavy caliber cannon, Bell's P-39 Aerocobra
incorporated a number of design innovations.
With the cannon installed in the nose, the engine had to be located midships behind the
cockpit.
A drive shaft that spun the prop had to run between the pilot's legs.
The cannon, which was supplemented with wing-mounted machine guns, fired through the propeller
hub.
Frequently mistaken for its close relative, the P-39, Bell's P-63 was a 1941 development
based on the P-39 fuselage modified with redesigned wing and tail surface and a more powerful
engine.
The P-63, like its predecessor, never performed well as a fighter.
Of the 3,300 produced, the vast majority went to the Russians under our Lend-Lease program.
Its heavy armor and excellent diving characteristics were welcomed by Soviet fliers who were especially
fond of tank busting with the King Cobra.
No victory would have been possible for the Allies in World War II had it not been for
the gallant efforts of the transports.
Such as the C-46 Commando, which gained enduring fame flying precious supplies from bases in
India to the beleaguered Chinese over the Himalayan hump, the world's highest and most
treacherous mountain range.
The immortal C-47 was truly a workhorse for the Allies.
The USAAF designation of this legendary plane was the C-47 Skytrain and served with the
US Navy as the R-4D.
The British called it the Dakota.
American GIs knew it as the Goony Bird in World War II and Pup the Magic Dragon in Vietnam.
By any name, it is likely the most famous aircraft in aviation history, for no other
reason than its versatility and reliability during the war when it was the standard air
transport for all Allied forces.
That about wraps up our air show, but the CAF would like to take this time to pay tribute
to all the brave aviators who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of our country as
we fly the missing man formation.
A single plane pulls out of the formation leaving a gap which represents those who will
not ever return.