WASHINGTON – Dozens of fighter jets are set to ring in the nation’s capital on Friday in honor of the generation that courageously rallied to fight during one of the most perilous periods in world history
Over 60 vintage WWII planes will take part in the Arsenal of Democracy flyby to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII
Although the scope of the event, originally scheduled for May, has been reduced somewhat due to the coronavirus pandemic, a few WWII veterans are planning to attend.
Retired Marine Sgt Paul Hilliard, who flew 45 missions including the Battle of Midway, as a radioman and gunner in an SBD Dauntless dive bomber, will fly aboard a B-29 Superfortress known as the name of « Fifi »
During a presentation Thursday in northern Virginia, Hilliard, 94, shared his lifelong passion for airplanes
“When I was a kid on the farm, if a plane passed and we heard that, everyone was running outside,” he recalls.
When he joined the Marines in 1943 at the age of 17, Hilliard was still very grateful when his superiors assigned him to a job in aviation. Hovering over targets and dropping 500-pound bombs was much better than crawling through mud as an infantryman, he said
As he watched the plane on Thursday preparing for Friday’s flight, Hilliard expressed his joy. « It’s always a great thing to me … I think it’s a wonderful tribute to the endless and endless ingenuity of the humanity that makes us put these things into circulation «
Also flying is Connie Palacioz, one of the famous « Rosie the Riveters », who was 18 when she got a job at a Boeing factory in Wichita, Kansas. On Friday, she will be aboard a B-29 called « Doc »
Palacioz, 95, noted with pride that she was part of a team that built « Doc, » and that only seven of the original rivets she helped place in the front of the plane when she was 18, needed to be replaced when the plane underwent a restoration And that, she said, was after « Doc » had spent decades in a desert cemetery where he was stored after decommissioning
Friday’s flyby will include training, combat, bomber and transport aircraft They will include P-40 Warhawks, P-39 Airacobras, P-51Mustangs, F4U Corsairs, B-25 Mitchells, B -17 Flying Fortresses and the B-29s The plane will fly in formation The first wave is expected to fly over the Lincoln Memorial around 11:30 am
Coordinating such an event is no easy task, noted Hank Coates, Chairman of the Memorial Air Force and member of the Arsenal of Democracy executive committee. It takes a long time to launch so many aircraft, he said.Once in flight, the aircraft must meet in a predetermined holding area, turning until all the planes are in good shape training, then leave just at the right time
Retired Air Force Lt Col Bob Vaucher is somewhat familiar with the difficulty of such coordinated flights Vaucher, who will be aboard a C-45 Expeditor known as the « Texas Dolls » on Friday, a recalled how he played a major role in a symbolic show of force over Tokyo Bay in 1945 at the end of World War II
« I never thought I would talk about it again at that age, » Vaucher said Thursday. « I’m only 101 »
Because the Japanese surrender ceremony was to take place aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Gen Douglas MacArthur had a problem, recalled Vaucher MacArthur, a renowned war specialist, knew that, historically, the defeated forces often did some sort of victory tower before their vanquished enemies
Simple, send a mass formation of every B-29 available in the area to fly over the Missouri at the precise moment the signing was to take place Vaucher was chosen to be the « major domo », as he put it, to lead a formation of 525 B-29
MacArthur and his Japanese counterparts were to sign the surrender document on September 2 at 9:04 am precisely on board the Missouri in Tokyo Bay
“We were to meet hundreds of miles outside of the target area which was Battleship Missouri… and we arrived over Missouri at 9:04 amm and it was a feat in my life to get there « , said Vaucher » I have wondered about this all my life, because it was quite an event «
Veteran Paul Hilliard, who served as a radioman and gunner in the SBD Dauntless dive bombers in the Pacific Theater during WWII and who is now Chairman of the Board of the National WWII Museum , listen at a media event Thursday for the Arsenal on Friday Washington Democracy Overview, DCJOE GROMELSKI / STARS AND STRIPES
Connie Palacioz of Newton, Kansas, poses with a section of the B-29 Superfortress « Doc » where she did the riveting during the construction of the aircraft during WWII « Doc and another B-29, » Fifi, « will join dozens of other vintage planes in Friday’s Democracy Arsenal flyby in Washington, DC Palacioz proudly noted during a media event Thursday that when the plane was restored years after WWII, only seven of its rivets had to be replaced JOE GROMELSKI / STARS AND STRIPES
Robert Vaucher, who flew 117 combat patrol, bombing, mining and photography missions during WWII, listens at a media event Thursday for the flight over the Arsenal of Democracy in Washington, DC Vaucher was the primary pilot for Gen Douglas MacArthur’s « Show of Force » flyby, when 525 B-29 Superfortresses flew over the Japanese surrender ceremony aboard the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945 JOE GROMELSKI / STARS AND STRIPES
Passageway, WWII, Boeing B-29 Superfortress, antique planes
World news – United States – Vintage plane set to fly over DC on Friday to mark anniversary from the end of World War II
