No Rant Today

Mustangs over DC

I was all fired up and prepared to rant and rave today. Can you tell that I have been interacting with some of the denizens of DC? Our trip to the zoo on Monday was "special" in some respects. But I'm having too much fun to "sweat the small stuff." Hence the title of today's post.

(For those who might be wondering, thinking up post titles is hard. Almost as hard as writing the post itself. Ask Skip.)

So with that out of the way, let's get to it.

I received a new camera for my birthday. Did I get it before the Flyover on VE Day? Nope, got it that evening.

Of course, had I received it that morning, odds are my pictures would not have turned out any better. I'm still learning how to use the new camera. So far it has proven itself to be faster and more versatile than my old camera, which I used for the Flyover.

Going through my photos I was very disappointed to see that I had no good photos of the P-38 nor any of the B-24. Just some blurry shapes that if you squint real hard, look kind of like a P-38 or the B-24.

Bummer.

But I did get to actually see and hear those magnificent aircraft as they swept in over the Department of Agriculture and down Independence Avenue.

Sextet of Stearman Biplanes

The Flying Fortresses were particularly awesome

A pair of P-40s

A whole passel of T-6s and SNJs. (The SNJ is a favorite, I've flown in one.)

B-25s, I can almost picture these three headed outbound from HORNET.

The PBY is a little fuzzy, but I can picture this bird searching for the Japanese fleet near Midway.

Dauntless and Wildcat, perhaps following up on that PBY's report?

Helldiver and Avenger. The Avenger eventually replaced the Helldiver in the Fleet.*

Dakota (C-47) with Invasion Stripes. D-Day!

Fifi, one of the few B-29s remaining. The only flying example!

The finale. Missing Man formation with (l to r) a P-40, an Avenger, a P-51 and the magnificent Corsair.

It was a good day!

*Error - to be explained soon. (Hopefully in the next post.)