Old Warbirds

Yesterday Don and I made the trek to Redding, PA to the Mid Atlantic Air Museum's 29th anniversary WWII weekend.  Between wheels on the highway at 0530 and the obligatory BBQ on return there wasn't any time to put up any posts.

My first thought was "how could I have never heard of this before".  After all, I lived in Maryland 29 years ago and would have gone to this in a flash.  If you're in the Mid Atlantic area then you should put this on your calendar for next year, because it was awesome.

I'll do a quick summary here and then hide the rest (including almost all the pics) under the jump.  There are really four things that make this stand out from your typical regional air show:

1. There were not only a bunch of old warbirds, but there were a bunch of rare old warbirds.  They had a B-29, a PBY Catalina, a Japanese Val dive bomber, a Japanese Kate torpedo bomber, and one of the only 2 or 3 flying Zero fighters in the world.  All of the planes flew - there were no Hanger Queens here.  
2. Land forces were well represented as well, with tanks, half tracks, and more Jeeps than you could count.  I'd never seen a German StuG III before, and got to not only see it but talk to its owner about where he got it and how he restored it.  I'd guess that there was perhaps $10M just in restored army equipment on display, not counting the planes (some of which, like the B-29 and the Zero are basically priceless).  There were reenactments of an American assault on a French village held by the Germans, and a Flame Thrower demonstration.
3. The place was swarming with re-enactors, who loved to answer questions about what they were doing.  It was sort of like a World War II themed Renaissance Faire, except at a Ren Faire pretty much everything is made up.  Here the emphasis was detail-correct.  I learned a bunch of stuff I'd never known before.  There were a bunch of female re-enactors (pics below the jump)
4. A bunch of the visitors dressed in period clothes.  We saw a bunch women dressed as Rosie the Riveter although I doubt that real factory workers went to work with cherry red lipstick.

I'll hide the rest of this post under the jump because of all the pictures, but here's one as a teaser:

Photo credit: Borepatch, 2019

The PzKpfw IV was one of only 4 or 5 tanks on offer.  Click to embiggen.

There are a lot more pictures and descriptions after the jump.

Photo credit: Borepatch, 2019

One question I asked several reenactors who were portraying Germans was "How'd you end up as a Wehrmacht reenactor?"  This guy, as it turns out, was German.  I thought his boot was fascinating, having never seen an actual hobnailed boot before.  A group of German soldiers marched by singing a Wehrmacht marching song, and the tramp of their hobnailed boots really did make that distinctive sound on the pavement.

Photo credit: Borepatch, 2019

As mentioned the StuG III was cool.  Germany built over 10,000 of these during the war, and despite the Allies' best efforts there were a bunch after the war (although most were in very bad shape).  The owner bought this in the Czech Republic.  Replacement parts being unavailable, there was a lot of custom machining needed to get it to this condition.  He also owned a German Half Track, which he used in the reenactment of an American assault on a French village.  I asked him how he ended up with the krauts.  His brother is a Civil War reenactor, but he wasn't interested in that period of history.  His brother told him that he had heard of a group that was doing the Großdeutschland division, and that was all it took.

The Japanese Kate torpedo bomber flew in the air show.

Photo credit: Borepatch, 2019

It flew with the Val Dive bomber.  The guys here didn't own the plane - as one of them joked, "We're props."  But their uniforms were impressively detailed.

Photo credit: Borepatch, 2019

Pride of place with the Japanese planes was the Zero fighter.  There are a few of these, spread over the world but this one was in the film Tora Tora Tora and the Black Sheep Squadron TV show.

Photo credit: Borepatch, 2019

This was another paid reenactor (most seemed to do this as a hobby) like the guys with the Val.  She seemed to be having a lot of fun, though.

Don took this photo

This guy did it as a hobby.  He explained a lot about the Pathfinders, which he was dressed as.  They suffered 80% casualties, which is why so many paratroopers missed their jump zones.

Photo credit: Borepatch, 2019

The girls in this Jeep were having a ball.  You'd think that red lipstick was a critical munition ...

Don took this photo, too

There was a vendor there, Warbird Pinups.  They had calendars like this.  A couple of the models were there signing the calendars (and ending by kissing the picture leaving a great big red lipstick smooch mark).  I know that some of you will like this, so click through to order the calendar.

Copyright (c) Warbird Pinups

It was a long day, but well worth it.  I expect that a bunch of you would have a blast at this as well, so mark your calendars for next year.