Vintage plane flyover celebrates the 70th Victory in Europe Day

May 9, 2015

To celebrate the 70th Victory in Europe Day, 56 World War II planes representing 19 aircraft types flew over the Mall in Washington, DC, in 15 flyover formations as part of the Arsenal of Democracy Flyover. The Washington Post has descriptions of each plane and vintage photographs. Politico has a slideshow from the flyover yesterday.

The planes included the Boeing Stearman PT-17/N2S, used to train more military pilots, including George H.W. Bush, than any other basic trainer of the time; the North American B-25 Mitchell, used by Col. Jimmy Doolittle in the Tokyo Raid in 1942; and the Lockheed P-38 Lightning twin-engine fighter, which the Germans called “the fork-tailed devil.”

Describing the flyover, Michael E. Ruane and Martin Weil of the Washington Post write, “The airplanes flew in from the northwest, fighters in tight formations, bombers alone or with one or two others, filling the hazy sky over Washington with the sound of a bygone war.

“It was an aged fleet, almost as old as the men in wheelchairs who watched from the ground as they passed—rugged machines with big piston engines that were built for war, then junked when it was over.”

About the Author

Rick Nelson | Contributing Editor

Rick is currently Contributing Technical Editor. He was Executive Editor for EE in 2011-2018. Previously he served on several publications, including EDN and Vision Systems Design, and has received awards for signed editorials from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. He began as a design engineer at General Electric and Litton Industries and earned a BSEE degree from Penn State.

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