Tag Archives: #Air Command

My Colonial States Trip~Part 13

11 Feb

A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

Bill Small Red Plane

 

The U. S. Naval Academy Museum didn’t take long, and I was on my way east to check out the Air Mobility Command Museum in Dover, DE which had a great collection of both hangered and outdoor static aircraft. They had two C-141s on static display and I recorded the tail numbers so I could ask my friend Dick, when I got back home, if he had flown either one of them during his time in the U.S. Air Force. As it turned out, he had flown one of them.

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Next I headed north again to visit the Massey Air Museum in Massey, MD which turned out to be a very small museum with a C-47 sitting in front of one of the hangers and a F4U Corsair mounted on a pedestal next to the rotating beacon tower. The hanger doors were not open and the museum was closed up for the day, (closed at 4:00 pm) so, after a couple photos, I kept moving north.

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I had planned to visit the Henry Francis DuPont Winterthur Museum & Library in Wilmington, DE but “Greta” had a hard time recognizing the address, since it was on a rural road, with nothing but a guard station blocking the entrance to the driveway. By the time I finally found the proper address, it was after 5:00 pm and the guard said they were closed. I believe DiVoran would have liked to visit this museum as the estate is used as the location for lectures by famous decorating, clothing and jewelry designers who have contributed to the making of movie and TV series projects such as Mrs. Henderson Presents, The Young Victoria and Downton Abbey. What do you think DiVoran?   After a long day of driving, I stopped and had dinner at the “Metro Diner” in Brooklawn, NJ before heading to the motel in Gloucester City, NJ for the evening.

           

The next morning I left early, driving thru Camden, NJ and across the Delaware River, in time to arrive at the Independence Visitor Center in Philadelphia, PA for a day of touring that historic city. My first problem was finding the underground parking garage. I had to circle several blocks a couple of times before I spotted the garage entrance, and found my way up the elevator to the information center. I picked up a map of the area and got directions to where I could obtain my free ticket for a tour of Independence Hall. As I was heading across the park for the Hall, I realized I had left my camera lying on the counter at the visitor’s center. I rushed back to the counter and asked if anyone had seen my camera, but they said, “No.” I was really upset, but what could I do? Evidently, someone had picked it up and walked off with it, and there went my camera and some 400-500 photos of my trip so far, never to be seen again. It was hard, but I thanked God for the camera loss and asked Him to help me give the whole thing up to Him.

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The Independence Hall Tour was very interesting and educational from beginning to end. We were reminded that Independence Hall (originally the Philadelphia State House) was completed in 1753 and is primarily known as the building where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were debated and finally adopted by the colonial representatives. As a side note, the Liberty Bell had its first home in the steeple of the Philadelphia State House.

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2014 TICO Airshow~Part 1

26 Mar

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

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Several years ago, my friend Terry gave me a nice 16”x20” print of a Red Tailed P-51Mustang shooting down a German Me-109 somewhere over the Western Front during WWII. If you look close, you’ll see the painting depicts the smoking German airplane with the pilot stepping out on the wing, getting ready to bail out over the side, while the American pilot watches from a distance.  The print hangs on my bedroom wall, surrounded by many other airplane pictures, where I can enjoy them any time I want a thrill.

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“Two down and one to go” By W. S. Phillips

                                   

I had known about the Tuskegee Airmen from my study of WWII aviation history, and the movie “Red Tails” and was always impressed with the many challenges those men had to endure to become fighter pilots during the war.  I had even visited the Tuskegee Airmen Museum in Tuskegee, AL two years ago during a trip to visit my friend Terry. However, I had never imagined that I would ever have the honor to meeting any of them in person.       3  

 As part of my retirement “fun”, I volunteer as a tour guide, one day a week at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum here in Titusville, Florida. This weekend was the museum’s 2014 annual Airshow, and the theme for the show was to “Honoring the Tuskegee Airman.” The VAC museum had invited all of the surviving Tuskegee Airmen to be their guests at the three-day event, to share with the airshow attendees their many WWII experiences.  Well, this was my chance, and I didn’t hesitate for a minute.

I did the research on my print, and discovered it was painted by W. S. Phillips, and actually depicted Lt. Clarence D. “Lucky” Lester in his P-51 (which he named “Miss Pelt”) shooting down his second of three German aircraft on July 18, 1944.  Reportedly, the German Luftwaffe gave these airmen the nickname, “Schwarze Vogelmenschen,” or “Black Birdmen.”

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As many of the Tuskegee Airman as could manage were there, and what a thrill it was to be able to shake hands and talk with several real war heroes!  I took my “Two down and one to go” print and ask each of them to autograph it for me.  A couple of them remembered “Lucky” Lester, and told me how they recognized the different squadron planes, by the color of the trim tabs on the rudder and elevators. There was the 99th, the 100th, the 301st and the 302nd Fighter Squadrons. They each had their own specific color and/or numerical markings.

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—–To Be Continued—–

 

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