Double Feature!! FM-2 Wildcat at 11am and Bf-109 at 1pm!!
Experience Warbirds in flight this summer!
From May through September, join the Military Aviation Museum every Saturday at 1 PM for narrated flying demonstrations showcasing historical aircraft and commemorating significant wartime events. Experience the rumble of the engines up close as pilots share what it’s like to fly these incredible machines. Learn about the battles they fought in and the men and women who built, flew, and maintained them during the war! Summer of Flight is included with general admission to the museum and free for members. Events begin at 1:00 PM unless stated otherwise.
The Wildcat was America’s front-line, carrier based, fighter at the start of the war. Although the airplane was outmatched by its adversaries, superior tactics developed by US Navy pilots would allow Wildcat squadrons to hold back the Japanese advance.
11 am: The Grumman F4F would serve in many major WWII battles, including Coral Sea and Midway, where carrier-based Wildcats would provide fighter cover for Dauntlesses and Devastators. Land-based Wildcats would play a major role in the 1942 – 1943 campaign for Guadalcanal.
Derived from the Grumman-built F4F-4, the FM-2 Wildcat was manufactured by General Motors and featured several design improvements including a modified tail, more powerful engine (Wright Cyclone R-1820-56) and reduced number of in-wing guns to allow for the carriage of additional ammunition.
In July 1945, a short time before the end of the war, the airplane was assigned to Naval Auxiliary Air Station Pungo in Virginia Beach, just 4 miles north of the Museum!
Perhaps the most well-known German fighter aircraft of WWII, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the primary adversary which American pilots faced in the skies over Europe. Although more than 33,900 Bf 109s were manufactured between 1935 and the end of WWII, ours is one of just a handful of original examples which remain airworthy. With a number of post-war, license-built Spanish variants of the breed often serving as stand-ins at air shows and in movies, the Museum’s Bf 109 gives visitors a rare opportunity to see a restored, German-built aircraft up close.
1 pm: The Museum’s aircraft is based upon the substantial remains of Bf 109G-4 WkNr 19257, which crashed on May 5, 1943 with Feldwebel Viktor Peterman of JG 52 at the controls. The 109’s coolant system received damage from Russian fighters in combat over the Eastern Front, forcing Peterman to make a belly-landing. Although it took Peterman four days to walk home to his airfield, he had scored his 30th, 31st and 32nd aerial victories in this Messerschmitt before being shot down.
The engine in the Museum’s aircraft, a Daimler-Benz DB 605, carries an interesting story as it comes from a German aircraft which accidentally landed in Switzerland during WWII. While that pilot destroyed his aircraft to prevent its capture, its engine survived, stored in a Swiss warehouse until after the war.
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