Participants
Fighters
North American P-51 “Mustang”
The Mustang was considered by many to be the finest fighter that that the U.S. produced and flew in WWII. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, it had the ability to escort B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers all the way to their German targets, which greatly reduced the losses the bombers were suffering from German fighter defenses. Many high German military officers realized the war was lost when they first saw P-51s in the skies over Berlin. Although it excelled as a long range escort, which it also did for the B-29s on their trips to Japan, the P-51 also turned out to be an excellent ground attack aircraft, destroying many enemy aircraft on the ground. During the Korean War, Mustangs were used extensively in the fighter bomber role and also served with the Indiana Air National Guard in the 1950’s.
Above, Nathan Davis from Tipton, IN takes off and initiates the gear retraction process in his immaculately restored and maintained P-51D.
Vought F4U “Corsair”
One of the most famous and well recognized fighters of WWII
The F4U is one the most famous and recognizable fighters from WWII, and was the first U.S. fighter to exceed 400 MPH in level flight. The trademark gull wings are the result of having to place the main landing at the lowest point in the wings to prevent the huge 13 foot diameter propeller from hitting the ground or flight deck on takeoffs and landings. Many, especially former Naval and Marine aviators, consider the Corsair to be the best American fighter of WWII. It continued to be produced into the early 1950’s allowing it to have the longest production run of any fighter that served in the Second World War. It also served with the Marines and Navy in Korea and was last flown by the Marines in 1965.
Pictured above is the pristine and highly restored Corsair of The Indiana Aviation Museum of Valparaiso, IN. All of the warbirds have their own distinctive sounds, and the Corsair was known to the Japanese on the ground as “The Whistling Death”, because of the unique sound generated by the air flowing over the oil coolers in a dive. See if you can hear it when flies on Saturday and Sunday at the show.
