2013 Airshows
Titusville (Tico), FL   NAS Key West, FL   Chino, CA   Indy 500 Fly-Over   Reading, PA WWII Weekend   CWH Show, Hamilton, ONT   Dayton, OH   Muncie, IN   Topeka, KS   Purdue University, IN   Thunder over Michigan, Belleville, MI   Hillsdale, MI   Marion, IN   Waukegan, IL   Glendale Airport, Kokomo, IN   Rome, GA   Peachtree City, GA   Houston, TX   Urbana, OH B-25 Gathering   B-25 Doolittle Memorial Fly-over at Dayton, OH

Muncie Warbird Display Photo Review
Warbirds at Muncie, IN - July 22-28, 2013 - Photos taken Sunday July 28. 

  The Commemorative Air Force was at Muncie the week of June 22 with the B-25J "Maid in the Shade" giving rides.  Later in the week the SBD and P-51 arrived.  I was able to get out to the even twice on Sunday, coming back late in the afternoon as the B-25 was gone earlier in the day to do the opening fly-over for the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis.  Actually if one has the time and is patient they can get in some good warbird time at an event like this.

I arrived just in time to see and hear the Mustang take off on a flight, but too late to get any photos.  However, as I watched I could see it was going to come back around for the first of many low passes the P-51 did that day.  Here he makes that first pass with the SBD in the foreground.

After the Mustang left the area spectators went out to look at the Dauntless.

Upon return each time the Mustang would give us another low pass before the break to land.  Here the pilot is trading most of his altitude for speed.

Most of the photos on this page are of the P-51, as it did most of the flying when I was there.  The SBD never left the ground.

This was the next take-off, which as can be seen was with a crosswind due to the dipped wing.  The wind was an issue all day.




Another high speed, low pass.


Usually one can get pretty close to the aircraft, within reason and safety limits, that some airshows do not provide.  Lots of intimacy at these type events.

In reading a book recently about the naval battles off of Guadalcanal in November of 1942 I noted that one particular rear gunner in an SBD had been credited with five kills.  While one might think the twin .30 caliber machine guns would not be that effective compared the the .50 caliber machine guns that became standard later in the war, they were apparently good enough against the un-armored Zero.  SBD rear gunners got many of their kills while the aircraft were in a dive and the Zeros were chasing them down towards the water.  Also the rear guns could rotate 90 degrees to protect from a side attack.  The rear gunners had to have been a rare breed.  

I had never noticed the mechanism inside the dive brakes that operated them.  It is a rotating shaft that actuates the flaps.

One more Mustang low pass.  On this one I aimed at the SBD and waited for the P-51 to fly through the photo as I held the auto advance down.  This is the only frame of the series with the Mustang in it.

At 5:23 the B-25 returned.

I was unaware until reading this that "Maid in the Shade" is a true combat veteran of the Italian campaign. Luckily this American aircraft was not one of the American aircraft that attacked my father during his service with the US Army 88th Infantry Division in Italy during WWII, as he had already rotated home before "Maid in the Shade" arrived.  A lot of his buddies were killed by strafing American aircraft.  That and American artillery.  It was his contention that more of his buddies and members of his unit were killed by American aircraft and artillery than by the Germans.

Firing up for the one ride of the day.

Titusville (Tico), FL   NAS Key West, FL   Chino, CA   Indy 500 Fly-Over   Reading, PA WWII Weekend   CWH Show, Hamilton, ONT   Dayton, OH   Muncie, IN   Topeka, KS   Purdue University, IN   Thunder over Michigan, Belleville, MI   Hillsdale, MI   Marion, IN   Waukegan, IL   Glendale Airport, Kokomo, IN   Rome, GA   Peachtree City, GA   Houston, TX   Urbana, OH B-25 Gathering   B-25 Doolittle Memorial Fly-over at Dayton, OH