Warbird Information Exchange

That's great news she is flying again and lovely to see her gracefully stretching her wings so to speak. Thanks for the great photos in your albums Liza!

I was trying to add some url links to vids of her last flights at an Airshow in NZ but I guess as a first time poster I am not allowed to for say 10 posts or so - I had best get posting... Oh - That is now approved in above post!!

OK - now I see Scott has to approve our early posts... and I also figured out about posting my own images. No Problems

Graeme
NZ

Great news troops ...It's supposed to rain the 17th, 18th, and 19th in Virginia beach. I'd give odds that the Mossie ain't gonna' fly.

Mudge the pessimistic and, I'm sure, soon to be disappointed!

ps. Rain is also predicted for the entire weekend at the MAAM WWII weekend in Reading. Has there EVER been a MAAM show that didn't take place in a mudhole?
Yeah...I know that's three weeks away and the weather people can't accurately predict tomorrow's weather...but still.

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Land of the free because of the brave

I've been watching this like a hawk, Mudge, since I live here. Here's what the NWS has to say about it:

Friday Partly sunny, with a high near 80. North wind 7 to 10 mph becoming northeast in the afternoon.
Friday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60. East wind 5 to 8 mph.
Saturday A slight chance of showers, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 76. Southeast wind 6 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Saturday Night A chance of showers. Cloudy, with a low around 65. South wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Sunday A chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 76. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=36.668969678723805&lon=-76.03912353515625

Not perfect, but not bad odds, we'll see what happens.

Lynn

Yeah...like I said...Rain!!!

Mudge the STILL pessimistic

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Land of the free because of the brave

Well the mossie flew today and will go again tomorrow, lanc came in today as well and did a wonderful pass.

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http://www.fighterfactory.com/
http://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org/



Jon

Gavin Conroy (the NZer who took the Mossie Air-to-Airs seen on the covers of British magazines late last year) is there, and will be putting more photos on his Classic Aircraft Photography Facebook page (as well as his own website I assume in due course) - only statics so far.

Any idea what time tomorrow the Mossie will fly? We arrived in the area this evening and are planning on stopping by the museum tomorrow. We will look for the door as well.

The gates open at 9am, with PT-19, a SNJ, and the SB2C Helldiver rides beginning as soon as they get customers. Around Noon the Airborne Demonstration Team goes up for a few parachute drops out of Tinker Belle and possible the JU-52. Then at 1pm the Normal airshow begins. If the hold to the same type of flight order as other years it will be liaison aircraft, fighters then bombers and then mixed flights( ie. bombers with escorts). This will run til 3pm the the airspace opens back up for rides. It will be nice to see a Mossie, Spitfire, Hurricane, and Lancaster fly.

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Military Aviation Museum Volunteer Photographer

I was able to see the Mosquito and the Lancaster fly today. Also saw an FW-190, C-46, PBY, Dragon Rapide, P-51, and a few others fly. Had dinner with airshow friends. It has been a good day.

Just got back from the Saturday show. Main grass runway was too soggy for anything heavy. They flew light trainers, Rapide, SNJ and Wildcat, but no heavy fighters, no heavies and no Mosquito. The Mosquito looked awesome in her hanger! They tested the runway with the Helldiver but I heard Mr. Yagen say the tailwheel was digging in, so they scratched the fighter and heavy flights. They did a few fighter engine starts on the main flight line. Announcer said folks could get a validation for a free return sunday and for the next 10 days to the museum. If we get more rain tonight, Sunday flying may be tough. Weather friday was perfect- if only it could have held off for the weekend! Had really hoped to see the Lanc and Mosquito fly, but appreciate the efforts. Safety first. Well run event.

Ju 52 flew yesterday as well and the Lancaster made a couple passes before relocating to Norfolk for the evening. The DC-3 also took off and made a loose fly-by and we got a couple passes from the Me 262 as well. The Mossie did a run-up on the concrete pad in front of the Fighter Factory hangar at the end of the show too. I was very disappointed that the aircraft didn't fly down the crowd line and chose instead to fly a perpendicular pattern that placed them at the far end away from the main museum hangars. Other than that, I tip my hat to the folks at MAM for putting a few aircraft in the air and for doing to the engine runs to at least give us a little action in tough conditions.

Forecast looks much more promising for today, so I'm heading back- I had initially planned on just going to Saturday's show and skipping town today. Going to be a late night driving seven hours home after the show but I drove all this way and if the Mossie might fly, I might as well be here. I'm at a McDonald's right now in Virginia Beach and the sun is even poking through. Hoping for a good show today!

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Matt

Not sure what the exact reason for the heavies to fly the pattern that they do but since the first year of the show the heavies and high performance aircraft have flown the cross wind pattern. Might have something to do with crossing Princess Anne Road at the east end. Will have to ask.
My hat is off to the operations folks, the pilots and the ground crews for putting on a great show considering the condition of the runway. The encampment continues to grow and adds a lot to atomsphere. Saw a lot of friends and that is always nice. The Me-262 was a first for me as well as the 'Mossie'.
I will be back before next year as the Hangar Talk series are great. Keep up the great work.
Bob

The reason for the pattern flown by the large aircraft and fighters is, that is the airspace that the FAA wants them flown in during the air shows out of the airport. if the fly the runway it has to be a take off or landing pass, or an aborted landing. it kinda sucks but we still get a great show from the good people of Jerry Yagen's Fighter Factory/Military Aviation Museum. and to add on to what everyone else has said. the guys put on a great show and safety first is the upmost important thing to the FF and MAM people. I'm lucky enough to live fairly close and get to enjoy their flying more than most. And its always with safety of the pilots and ground crews first. Hope fully the Flying Prom's will not get rained out like last year . The flying Prom's is another good way to see MAM birds fly and you get to listen to the Virginia Symphony Orchestra as an added bonus.

Travis

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/74595482@N04/

The main reason for this, from all the airshows there that I have volunteered at, is that there is a required 500 foot safety zone required from the show center flight line. If the main runway was used everyone would have had to move to the field where the parking was vacating the buildings and the reenactor encampment. This only happens when they get wavier airspace for this and the WWI airshows. Other events they dont do waviered airspace so the fly down the main runway.

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Military Aviation Museum Volunteer Photographer

I figured it had something to do with the FAA. Leave it to them to screw up something potentially awesome. I'll have to keep that in mind for when I come back to a future show so I can set my chair up as close to that flight line as possible.

Hats off to everyone at MAM for doing their best with the conditions. Everything that I would consider negative was completely out of control of the museum. Everything the staff, volunteers and pilots were able to do was top notch. It was a little frustrating to drive seven hours and spend two days at the show only to not see much fly, but it was beyond anyone's control. The museum staff, pilots and volunteers did a great job keeping everyone informed and trying to keep some level of activity happening. All the engine runs by the fighter aircraft Saturday was a nice touch even though they weren't able to fly.

Not sure if anything ended up flying after the rainstorm this afternoon. I left about 2:00 when it started pouring the second time. Figured that was going to be it for runway conditions and any potential flying.

This was my first trip to MAM. While I'm disappointed that the weather didn't allow for much flying, I was glad for the opportunity to see the museum's collection and I'm definitely planning on attending next year's show.

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Matt