The Rolls-Royce Griffin-engined Supermarine Spitfire Mark XVIII owned by flight simulator company Frasca International took pride of place at Warbirds Central. A P-40E (also Frasca’s) and Corsair fighters appear in the background.
A TBM Avenger torpedo bomber faces off a P-38 Lightning fighter. President George W. Bush was shot down in an Avenger during his Navy service in the Pacific theater.
The impressive warbird line-up included the P-38, an AD-1 Skyraider, an OV-1 Mohawk and a B-25 Mitchell.
Yes, this is certainly bad news for the Viet Cong on the receiving end of it. Douglas AD-1 Skyraider ‘Bad News,’ owned by the Warbird Heritage Foundation of Waukegan, Illinois, is the last flying example in the world of this model.
Skyraider ‘Bad News’ is displayed sporting two 7.62 mm Gatling guns, along with a multitude of other cannons, bombs and rockets.
P-51D “Petie 2nd.” Credit: Mo Spuhler
And here is a very convincing “mini-P-51D.” Subscale Mustangs are growing in popularity as the “poor man’s” warbird, although they’re not cheap to build, either. This one is a Thunder Mustang. The kit-built airplane, designed and manufactured by Papa 51, is one of several kit options on the market. Credit: Mo Spuhler
This subscale P-51 was built from a Titan Aircraft kit.
A trio of Titan Aircraft P-51 replicas parked near the Warbirds area. The one on the right, ‘Mustang Mama,’ was built by Barbara Bergstrom, granddaughter of the founder of Weldon Aerospace. “Getting insurance was tough for a 79-year-old pilot flying a kitplane,” she says.
The trainer display in the Warbirds area features many aircraft. In the foreground here is a U.S. Army Consolidated PT-3 Husky, one of only three in existence.
John was editor of Aviation Week's ShowNews for nearly two decades. He retired in 2020. His background in business journalism before joining Aviation Week includes stints at Reuters, the American Banker daily banking newspaper and as business news editor at the Milwaukee Journal and the Cincinnati Enquirer.
