By Eric Dumigan | March 10, 2020 Estimated reading time 3 minutes, 53 seconds.
On May 8, over 100 Second World War aircraft will fly over the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The event, known as the Arsenal of Democracy Flyover, will see aircraft as small as L-4 Grasshoppers and L-5 Sentinels, to heavy bombers such as the Lancaster and B-29 Superfortress. Formations of aircraft will pay tribute to major events of the Second World War such as Pearl Harbour, the Battle of Britain, the Dambuster raids, D-Day and the final offensive against Japan. Iconic Second World War aircraft like the P-51 Mustang, Spitfire, Catalina, B-25 and C-47 will all participate.
From Canada, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum’s Avro Lancaster bomber is scheduled to take part and represent Operation Chastise, commonly known as the Dambuster raids. On the night of May 16, 1943 the Royal Air Force carried out raids in the Ruhr Valley and breached the dams at Mohne and Edersee causing major damage to factories and mines in the region. The CWHM operate the only flying Lancaster in North America and is only one of two Lancasters flying in the world.
Dave Hewitt, from the Canadian Harvard Aerobatic Team, and Alfred Beam, a Fort Erie based warbird collector and pilot, have been invited to take part with their North American Aviation Harvard Mk.IIs that flew in the RCAF during the Second World War. Hewitt’s Harvard is RCAF 3039, built in Montreal by the Noorduyn Aircraft Company. Beam’s Harvard is RCAF 2591 built in 1940 and served in the RCAF until 1960. Both Harvards served in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, training pilots for the Second World War. They will be flying in a formation of 12 T-6/Harvards in a salute to all the men and women who learned to fly for the war effort.
Aircraft will launch from Culpeper Regional and Manassas Regional Airports and fly down the Potomac River at 1,000 AGL. With a two minute separation between formations the aircraft will turn over the Lincoln Memorial and fly down Independence Ave. past the White House, over the Second World War Memorial, past the Washington Memorial then over the recently built Dwight D. Eisenhower National Memorial. The flypast will then fly south of the Capitol Building and exit the airspace following the Anacostia River back to the Potomac River.
On Thursday May 7, a Victory Gala will take place at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport’s Historic Hangar 7. Tuskegee Airman BGen Charles McGee, Second World War figher ace Col Bud Anderson and Lt. Col. Robert Vaucher, who led a 500 ship formation of B-29s over Tokyo Bay during the signing of the Japanese surrender will be interviewed by broadcast journalist David Hartman.
More information on the Arsenal of Democracy Flyover can be found at ww2flyover.org.
Didn’t you guys in Hamilton, used to have a gull winged Corsair?
Flt Sargent Bob Middleton RCAF who flew 11 missions in Halifax and 20 missions in Lancasters
33 total ops as Navigator as part of RCAF No 6 Bomber Group in Bomber Command will also be part of the European Veteran panel interviewed but David Hartman and they only Canadian vet to participate.
David Rohrer
Chairman
Canadian Warplane Heritage
If you catch the March issue of Flightlines magazine you can read an article on Bob Middleton the RCAF Veteran who will be speaking at the event and riding in the Lancaster over Washington DC.