The Grad School Diaries: High Desert Airshow

I’d never seen a Thunderbolt fly before today. There aren’t a lot of examples of the Republic Aircraft P-47 left in flying condition; there aren’t a lot of them left at all, in fact. Unlike the Corsair and the Mustang, which had long careers in the Korean War and various foreign air arms, the T-Bolt’s role was filled by the newer jet-powered types within just a few years, and the huge airplane (the largest single-seat, single-engine type ever built at that time) was rapidly phased out of service…

But today there’s one warming up its engine about 30 feet from where I’m standing…

It’s a perfect fall day in Apple Valley, California, and we’ve come to the community’s tiny (but well-run) general aviation airport for the local airshow. There aren’t that many show-worthy aircraft based here, but fortunately the Planes of Fame Museum is just down the road in Chino, California, and they have flown a few prize specimens up here for the occasion. I’ve seen most of the warbirds before; the Corsair and Hellcat in several museums (including the Air Zoo ); the Mustang and B-25 Mitchell in flight and on the ground; the P-40 Warhawk at least twice; but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a P-47 in person, and I’ve definitely never seen one (or the P-40 or Hellcat, for that matter) actually take off and fly…

The Hellcat and Corsair take flight together, and they make a fascinating contrast; the Corsair is one of the most graceful and agile aircraft of that period, while the Hellcat is a squat, solid, pugnacious product of the company affectionately known as the “Grumman Iron Works” by the pilots who flew their designs. The Corsair was designed to fly rings around much lighter enemy machines (and quite frequently did), while the Hellcat was designed to smash the competition and blast them out of the way, with the structural integrity to make maneuvers that would tear the wings off a lighter airplane (like a Japanese Zero), and the armor to shrug off hits it received in return. But they both fly beautifully, even sixty-five years later…

A few minutes later it was time for the land-based fighters to have their turn; the under-rated P-40 Warhawk, the elegant P-51 Mustang, and the massive P-47 Thunderbolt. The Warhawk lacked the high-altitude performance required for a successful dogfighter, but down on the deck they did just fine, and in the close air-support role they gave invaluable service in all theaters of the war (especially North Africa and China). The Mustang was the superlative fighter and interceptor of the era; the perfect marriage of the famous Rolls-Royce Merlin engine (which also powered the Spitfire) and one of the best airframes ever built in North America (or anywhere else). The Thunderbolt had massive power and even more massive firepower; nearly as good a pure dogfighter as the Mustang, it was also one of the deadliest ground-attack platforms in history. Armed with a combination of heavy machine guns, 5-inch (125mm) tube-launched rockets and gravity bombs of 1,000 pounds or more, it was definitely bad news for any ground forces unlucky enough to be in its path…

We stand near the flight line for a while and watch the different warbirds wheel around in the sky. There are a lot of other interesting aircraft on display here, too, including an excellent example of the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber (the type used by the Doolittle raid on Tokyo) and the Predator drones so extravagantly hated in Afghanistan. I’ve never seen one of the drones in person before; you could walk up and touch this one if you wanted to. But for me it’s the flying demonstrations that will stay with me when everything else fades. These airplanes are 65 years old now, and they won’t last forever anymore than we will. Future generations may never have the chance to see Mustangs, T-Bolts, Warhawks, Corsairs and Hellcats soar and swoop through the brilliant blue of a High Desert sky…

I’m grateful to have seen this show – even if I could wish it came under happier circumstances. But perhaps that’s the point of this whole episode. It is not given to us to choose what we will see, or when things will happen; the world goes on around us and it does not care how we feel about it. All we can do, as we walk down this lonely road, is to remember to stop and watch the Thunderbolts fly when we are given the chance…