Air Force Memorial dedicated today in Washington

I'm not sure how many Air Force vets there are among us, but there was a ceremony for you guys and gals today on the hill in front of the Navy Annex. The memorial itself is a giant affiar, and I'm sure you'll see it on the news:
http://www.af.mil/photos/index.asp?galleryID=253&page=2
But they also had several flyovers in conjunction with the ceremony.
I thought I'd snap a few shots from the front porch of the firehouse and post 'em for you.
If I'm not mistaken, the Air Force just turned 60 and its precursor, the U.S. Army Air Corps, would be about 102.
Happy birthday, guys!

These were taken by Chris Robbins, the guy looking into the Year One Camaro. He's got a better angle here than I did, 'cuz he was at the memorial (and he thought y'all might want to see his images, too).

USAF vet checking in. The B-17 looks like the EAA's "Aluminum Overcast." Was it?

I'll be a retired AF veteran in about 17 days. The Air Force was actually 59 yrs old last month. Sounds like they put on a pretty good showing. Thanks for posting the pictures. Hard to believe you actually had time to take pictures of anything with all the progress going on with the hoopty. By the way, the hoopty is looking awesome.
Jim

Hoss, I don't know the name of the bomber, and I've been looking to see if there's a mention of it in the program on the Web. No joy, but I'll find out. Meanwhile, you've got mail containing five or so shots from the flyover -- maybe you'll be able to tell.
I'm a huge fan of the old B-17, but I've only seen the inside of Sentimental Journey. I'm going probably to pay for a flight at Reading in 2007 in whatever one shows up for the airshow.

Jim, congratulations on the retirement. Anybody who does 20 or more these days earns it for sure. And thanks for tracking on the jalopy, too!

Thanks for the great pix Cory. I love that shot of the B2. I stilll think it looks like a kindergardener designed it....and I like it that way. Retro-futuristic!

Funny you should mention her, Cory. I have my "Sentimental Journey" T-shirt on today. Toured her at Capital City Airport(Hbg) a few years back. Space is really tight inside.I could see why some never made it out. Another 17 passed thru this summer but didn't get over to see her.
When I toured the S/J, they also had a Heinkel He-111 fly in. I tried to get a pic with Blackie parked in front but couldn't swing it.

BD

No problem at all, Luke.

Bill, I like the nose art on S/J. :

Another Air Force retiree checking in. Spent 20 great years, some good and some not so good but would love to do it again. Didn't see any nose art while in Nam other than the Tiger teeth on our F-4Es but during another tour in Thailand saw some beautiful art work done in grease pencil on F-4s and on 500 lb bombs. Especially liked the 500 pounder addressed to Jane Fonda. I was there when Capt Richie returned from getting his 5th Mig and watch him do a victory roll low over the runway. I still admire the airmen that flew B-17s and B-24s, imagine a crew of 10 stuffed into those tin cans; it had to be more chlostrophobic (Esther, please check my spelling on this)than those old submarines.

Hey Cory -

After a tour in SEA, I spent my last few months of active duty (1971) at Mather AFB just east of Sacramento, CA. I couldn't even pretend to be able to discern one plane from another, still can't.

Thanks for sharing those pics of the fly-overs - very Cool!

BTW - when you eventually make your way to the West Coast for some R&R, I might be able to schmooze my neighbor, who is the Director of Operations for the coolest air museum around (mostly WWII stuff) for a ride in a B-25J Mitchell bomber! How cool would THAT be?! Checkout this link;

http://www.planesoffame.com/menu.php

I salute my brethren USAF brethren, as well as all our other brave men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces!

Peace - Out!

Always liked the F-4. Especially with the tiger teeth painted on 'em. Damn, but they're noisy. And the exhaust trail points to them for more than a mile!
Jim, your museum-running neighbor can't be a bad guy; he's offering a Carrera (or $25K) as a random prize for donations in support of operations! Maybe you should hook him up with Thunder Ranch (right down the street!).

This is a link to the EAA's B-17 "Aluminum Overcast"
http://www.b17.org/
It looks like it might be the same aircraft. After all, there are only about a half dozen B-17's flying and I think this is the only one in the natural aluminum finish; the rest, I believe, are all painted in Army O.D.

There's a chain of restaurants here in Florida called the 94th Aero Squadron (some changed over to the 94th Bomber Group). Each one stands on it's own next to a minor airfield and look like French farm houses. The interiors are done up like a WWI or WWII flight center with old photos of period aircraft and aircrews over each booth. There's a part of a wing from a German plane on the wall as well as the old standby propeller over the fireplace. The waitress's all wear French peasant dresses and aprons and the daily sortie schedule is posted as you enter pass the sandbaged doorway. There's usually an old Biplane, Spitfire or Mustang parked outside along with an old olive drab ambulance. The final touch are the headphones in the booths that listen in on the tower and aircraft using the airfield outside.If anyone gets the chance to get down this way, see if there's one nearby, you'll love the decour and the food is pretty good as well.

Nolan, there's a 94th Aero Squadron in St. Louis ENE of the main runway, and there's another one here in Maryland in College Park. The APS have their annual banquet at the one here every January. Very nice places.
Hoss, the Sentimental Journey is natural aluminum also, with a powder blue fin flash and a matching blue dress on the nose art. Beautiful bird (pardon the pun -- the nose art is Betty Grable).
http://www.air-and-space.com/20050506%20Fox.htm
BTW - A link on the same site indicates the B-17 that flew over the memorial dedication might have been the Collings Foundation's Nine-oh-Nine. Lots of B-17 art there, especially through that 'more photos' link. Aluminum Overcast is there, too.

Beautiful shots of SJ, it reminded me of the first time I went TDY (temporary duty) to Moron Air Base in Spain. As we descended over the airfield there was a full squadron of Messerschmidt 109s parked off to one side of the taxi strip. I found out later that Gen. Franco had been licensed to build the ME109 from Germany; what a weird sight to see, it almost like an episode of the Twilight Zone. I understand these planes were used in the film Battle of Britain made a few years ago.