Arsenal of Democracy 2020

[kalamazookid]

Not sure if anyone else had seen this, but it appears that there is a major flyover in the works for the 75th Anniversary of the end of WWII in Washington D.C. next year. It is obviously a long ways off, but the announcement was earlier today.

From the Arsenal of Democracy Flyover Facebook page:

In 2015, warbird operators throughout the United States gathered in Washington, DC on May 8 to recognize the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) day with a flyover at the National World War II Memorial.

The groups that worked to plan and conduct the 2015 Arsenal of Democracy Flyover have begun organizing the 75th anniversary event for 2020.

Here's a link to the video of today's press conference announcing the event and with further details: https://www.facebook.com/ww2flyover/vid ... 002531304/

Some cliff notes for those who can't watch:

Approximately 100 aircraft are expected to participate in 24 formations. The route will be the same as the flyover in 2015. This flyover also coincides with the planned unveiling of the Eisenhower Memorial.

Aircraft will stage from Manassas and Culpeper in Virginia. Most of the bombers will fly out of Manassas with fighters, liaisons, dive bombers, etc. flying out of Culpeper. Specifically mentioned during the course of the press conference were both B-29s, B-17s, B-24, Lancaster, PB4Y Privateer, C-47s, B-25s, PBY and P-51s. It sounds like there will be public access to the aircraft at both airports leading up to the event.

Also mentioned was the expected participation of the Constellation "Columbine II" since it was used by Eisenhower. I don't know what the current status of its restoration is, but it's obviously encouraging news that the aircraft could possibly only be a year away from a return to flight.

Like I said, it's a long way off. I just posted it due to the timing of the announcement. It will be interesting to follow this and see how special it turns out to be.

[kalamazookid]

Here's the press release with more details:

https://gama.aero/wp-content/uploads/AO ... se-Jan.pdf

[phil65]

Will the Government be back open by than ?

[Yak50]

The picture being used to promote this event and leading the formation shows B-17G Sally B (in mirror image).
Sally B is still in her hangar at Duxford in the UK.

http://ww2flyover.org

[Iclo]

The picture being used to promote this event and leading the formation shows B-17G Sally B (in mirror image).
Sally B is still in her hangar at Duxford in the UK.

http://ww2flyover.org

Basically, the only B17 flying outside of the US who will never attending this Event. A bit funny

[emarkay]

Will someone "PLEASE" make a HD quality Surround Sound video of the flyover, and maybe more?
I have found nothing available since, of the original event, except for some handheld videos, complete with crowd noises of the takeoffs/landings and some cell phone shots of teeny-tiny airplanes flying overhead. These are once in a lifetime events...

Thanks!
MRK