THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WORLD WAR II AVIATION
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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
March 2022
Next Air Show Is Officially On, Klaers Says
The next Pikes Peak Regional Air Show (PPRAS), at Colorado Springs Airport, is on for September 24th and 25th said Museum President and CEO Bill Klaers!

"The biggest news that we have is that we are on for our 2022 air show," Klaers said March 19th as he introduced a presentation on World War II aircraft carrier raids during a special event at the WestPac hangar.

Plans for the air show "all solidified" the day before, on March 18th, he said. The museum has been preparing for the show for months, but now it's officially on. The last PPRAS was held in 2019; it had been held every two years and the next one was planned for 2021, but work on a runway delayed it until this year.

Klaers also announced that, when the big engines crackle to life and the propellers roar, the PPRAS will take to the sky under a new partnership! The museum has teamed with Colorado Springs Sports Corporation, known as The Sports Corp, which will be "working with us" in a joint venture and which "will take this air show to a new level."

The Sports Corp has "spearheaded the organization and management" of such events as the Rocky Mountain State Games, State Games of America, The Broadmoor Pikes Peak Cycling Hill Climb, Warrior Games, USGA Senior Open, U.S. Women's Open, USA Pro Challenge, USA Boxing National Championships "and many other high-profile events," according to the organization's website.

It is "a 501(c)3 non-profit committed to establishing a strong regional presence through positive economic development and contribution to the quality of life for citizens in the Pikes Peak region," the website says.

With the Sports Corp partnership, Klaers said, "I would suggest that if you're going to get tickets" for the September 24th-25th air show, "get them early because it's probably going to be sold out in the parking areas. So, it's going to be a big deal..."
Kicking off the show with a flourish will be the incredible U.S. Air Force Academy Wings of Blue parachute team, and not only will they be performing for the crowd but they'll be jumping from the WWII B-17G bomber "Texas Raiders" of the Gulf Coast Wing of the Commemorative Air Force! Also representing the USAF Academy and performing for the crowd will be their Glider Aerobatic Demonstration Team.

Headlining will be the USAF F-35 Lightning II Demonstration Team, piloted by Major Kristin "Beo" Wolfe!

Major Wolfe entered the Air Force in 2011 after receiving her commission from the U.S. Air Force Reserve Officer Training Program at the University of Alabama. She is an experienced fighter pilot with more than 800 flying hours in the F-22A Raptor and F-35A Lightning II. She is the Commander, F-35A Lightning II Demonstration Team, 388th Fighter Wing, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and provides operational oversight and direction for the 13-personnel team, to include maintenance, aircrew flight equipment, and public affairs Airmen.

Museum aircraft currently scheduled to fly are:

Brewster F3A Corsair (the only flying example in the world!)
B-25J Mitchell "In the Mood"
Republic P-47D-40-RA Thunderbolt
Grumman F7F-N Tigercat (x2!)
Douglas SBD-4 Dauntless
Grumman TBM Avenger (x2!)
Lockheed P-38 Lightning "White 33"
Douglas A1-E Skyraider
Grumman F3F-2 Flying Barrel
Consolidated Vickers PBY/PBV1A Catalina
 
Other aircraft currently scheduled to fly include:

Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress “Texas Raiders”
North American P-51 Mustang
Grumman FM-2 Wildcat
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
Lockheed F-35A Lightning II
Boeing F/A-18 Hornet
Kyle Franklin’s Ben Whabnoski Super Cub Comedy Act
... and more to come!

Museum aircraft scheduled for static display include:

Beechcraft Model 18
Beechcraft T-34 Mentor
Cessna A-37 Dragonfly
Cessna L-19 Bird Dog
Grumman HU-16 Albatross
Howard DGA-15
North American Aviation T-6 Texan
Stinson L-5 Sentinel

Other aircraft scheduled for static display currently include:

Lockheed C-130 Hercules
C-21 Learjet
Helicopters from Ft Carson (models to be announced at a later date)

Please note, the list of aircraft, performers, and activities is as of this date. There will be additions to the list as arrangements are completed. Further information will be made available at a later date.

Scheduled, but not confirmed as the Navy Legacy Flight schedule is only publicized through June, is a Navy/Boeing F/A-18 Hornet. It is planned to fly with either the museum’s Brewster F3A Corsair or one of the museum’s two Grumman F7F Tigercats, Klaers said. There is also the possibility of a USAF Heritage Flight consisting of the museum's Lockheed P-38 Lightning "White 33" and the USAF Demonstration team Lockheed F-35A Lightning II, but that is not yet confirmed and will depend on pilot's schedules.

The museum's bombers and fighters will fly in separate events, and "the rest of the airplanes in the museum will be up for static display, so it's going to be exciting," Klaers said.
"This is our tenth year here in the museum," Klaers said to applause from the crowd. He praised the volunteers for making it all work. And, he said, "We are expecting to break ground on the second half of the [Kaija Raven Shook Aeronautical] Pavilion this year."

“We have a huge fund-raising campaign which we have started to get funded,” Klaers said. “We actually started [ground-breaking] last year” for the import of dirt for the site. But when it was found that “the costs were going to be astronomical, we had to stop. But now we’re realizing that ‘astronomical’ is the new norm.”

He used the cost of steel for the new building as an example. The steel for the existing half of the Pavilion, completed in October of 2019, “was $700,000, a little bit more,” he said. Then “we got a quote for the addition, after we started the fund-raising, for $1.71 million just for the steel.” 

The museum's board moved to "put the brakes on." But "we decided that the brakes aren't going to do us any good because the [cost of] steel isn't going to go down," and the time to get it isn't going to decrease.

Story Credit: Rich Tuttle
Photo Credit: Paul Bowen
WASP Helen Snapp Towed Targets,
Once Flew ‘Memphis Belle’
In honor of Women’s History Month, we present the story of WASP pilot Helen Wyatt Snapp.

Helen Wyatt Snapp served as a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) in World War II. She passed away in 2013 at the age of 95 but recounted many of her experiences in a 2011 interview for the Library of Congress's Veterans History Project. The following includes excerpts from that interview.

Snapp was among WASP sent "to the anti-aircraft bases...to tow targets. We were going to fly...night missions, radar missions and searchlight missions and strafing missions and anything else that they wanted us to do at different bases, which turned out to be practically everything that the men did...."

At some locations, WASP would test new planes. "But because I went to an anti-aircraft base" -- Camp Stewart, the Army's anti-aircraft artillery training center near Savannah, Georgia -- "I did get quite a choice of an assortment of different planes to fly, which I was happy with," Snapp said.

But "the missions were quite dangerous. The searchlight missions were dangerous because they get you in the searchlight at 10,000 feet and you lose your night visibility. It was cold up there" but "quite hot" on the ground, "and we had to wear these heavy lamb's wool leather suits.... And sometimes we had...oxygen and sometimes we didn't. We certainly didn't have air conditioning. But, of course, at 10,000 feet it was much cooler. But all of these different things, different missions I flew, I learned to enjoy...."

She and other women in the WASP detachment flew from Camp Stewart's Liberty Field, and Snapp loved flying two planes in particular. One was the Douglas A-24 Banshee, the Army's version of the Navy SBD Dauntless dive bomber (of which the museum has a flying SBD-4). The other was the Curtiss A-25 Shrike, the Army's version of the Navy's SB2C Helldiver dive bomber. The WestPac hangar, on the museum campus, is currently restoring an SB2C to flying condition!

Snapp also flew the Lockheed B-34 Lexington, the export version of the Ventura twin-engine medium bomber, and the Beech AT-11 Kansan, like the Museum's Model 18 (C-45), and the Cessna UC-78. In addition, she operated two types of remote-controlled drones, the Culver PQ-8 and PQ-14.
In an interesting historical note, Snapp also piloted the famous B-17 "Memphis Belle"! It was one of the first U.S. bombers to complete 25 combat missions and was then flown around the U.S. on a War Bond tour.

Snapp had gone to Tampa, Florida, to visit her mother for a week. The pilot she flew with had returned to Savannah, and she found herself waiting to hitch a ride from MacDill Field back to Savannah. After only a brief time, she got the word that a plane had arrived and was heading north.

"So, I went outside and found out it was a B-17 and it was the 'Memphis Belle,'" Snapp said. "I had heard of it. And I knew, of course, its background to a certain extent, but I knew nothing about the pilots. [They] were two young guys. They had been imbibing and had a hangover from the night before. And [the pilot] asked me if I wanted to fly. I said sure. So, I sat in the pilot's seat... Pretty soon [he] said, ”Do you think you can handle it for a while?”. I said, well -- actually, it was four-engine, but it was similar to the B-34 I flew, except it had two extra engines and a few more instruments. I said Okay. And they said, “Well, just call us if you need us.” They went in the back....

"So, I had full control...getting close to Jacksonville...the weather was moving in. I knew I wasn't going to be landing that plane. So, I called them, and they both came and took over and landed the plane.... So now I can say I flew the ‘Memphis Belle.’"

Years later, she met the pilot who had flown the plane on those 25 combat missions, Robert K. Morgan. At the time of Snapp's flight, he was training in the B-29 to fly missions to Japan.
During night missions in which Snapp towed targets for anti-aircraft guns, she kept an eye out for tracer rounds. "[I]f they were ahead of you, you better get the heck out of there fast. But you must remember, these were all young 18-year-olds, some of them just out of high school, and they are shooting those big guns at us. We had to...become familiar with what they were doing and how it worked and everything. So we were quite cautious at times.”

"I would say that the worst of it was that these airplanes that we were flying" were no longer combat-qualified, having been returned from combat theaters. "They were sent back from overseas, war-weary planes to be used for this instead of good, reliable aircraft. They were always cannibalizing one to find parts for another. Almost every one of them had something wrong.... We had the privilege of refusing" to fly.
"Now, I think that the [commanding officer at Camp Stewart] liked us particularly because maybe we were too eager or maybe we were a little bit stupid," Snapp said. "We didn't like to abort a plane. Sometimes there would be a replacement they could find for us, but we did that less often than the men did. I think that went over big with the CO. I think that maybe we were just a little more eager. For instance, if a radio is out, that is important, but not as important as if you were going across country.... If you didn't have a radio, you had to kind of guess at those things. But...they did have some bad accidents on account of those planes. A couple of girls, women, got killed" at Camp Stewart.

Snapp and other WASP flew simulated strafing runs against the gun emplacements. "I liked to fly the A-25" for this job, she said. "The men liked the A-24" which was "more maneuverable."
"We would dive-bomb them and we were told we didn't have to go below 500 feet if we didn't want to," Snapp said. "But we pushed the envelope every time. We went as low as we could. That was fun. And of course, it wasn't, probably wasn't, as much fun for the ground crew because this plane [is] coming right at them, they didn't know what we were going to do. So they would scatter sometimes. That was fun. Then we would take off our helmets. We managed to get helmets at that time. And the helmets let our hair fly out and we let them know it was a woman doing that. If we dared fly back over, then they would moon us."

If you’d like to read Helen Wyatt Snapp’s full interview, it is available at http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.78970/transcript?ID=mv0001

Story Credit: Rich Tuttle
Rep. Lamborn, at Museum, Praises Achievements
of Military Academy Nominees
U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn (R) of Colorado's Fifth Congressional District, speaking at the museum on Saturday, March 5th, recognized achievements of the young men and women who went through the process of applying for his nomination to be members of the 2026 classes of the U.S. service academies. "They all bring something great to the table -- hard work, a lot of talent, demonstrated leadership, academic proficiency, or commitment to causes," he said at a morning gathering of about 130 family members and friends at the museum's Kaija Raven Shook Pavilion.

Ninety-four hopefuls applied for acceptance by West Point, the Naval Academy, the Merchant Marine Academy, and the Air Force Academy. Lamborn nominated forty, ten to each service academy.

He said that fifty-eight of the ninety-four who applied "are members of the National Honor Society; eighty have some kind of defined leadership role, such as student council or class officers or captains of sports teams; twenty-three are involved in Junior ROTC; eleven are Eagle Scouts...and many of them volunteer for community activities such as Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, [Colorado] Springs Rescue Mission, Soup Kitchen [and] search [and rescue] groups."

"I congratulate all those who went through the application and interview process and wish these [forty] young men and women the best as they continue through the final stages of the appointment process," Lamborn said in a prepared statement.

"This is a very competitive part of the country, maybe the most competitive congressional district in the country," he said on Saturday. "Of the ninety-four people who applied, about seventy wanted to get into the U.S. Air Force Academy." But "I can only appoint ten and that means, what about number eleven? That person would be a slam-dunk anywhere else in the country. That's a little frustrating to me."

But "those who you see standing before you today, they got through with flying colors.... I hope every single one of them gets in, but they all did a great job and they’ll all do us proud, I'm sure."

With "Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine," he said, it's clear that "warfare is tragically still a part of human history. It's still a part of the world that we live in." Addressing the nominees, he said, "you may be asked in the future to put your lives on the line, and your willingness to serve our country means a lot to me and I think to everyone here, so I thank each and every one of you."

Story and Photo Credit: Rich Tuttle
Early U.S. Navy Carrier Raids Boosted Morale,
Honed Skills for Battles to Come
The U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier raids on Japanese Pacific installations in February and March of 1942 aren't generally well known because they have been eclipsed by bigger battles later that year. But the raids honed the skills that allowed the U.S. Navy to fight the Imperial Japanese Navy to a standstill at Coral Sea in May of 1942, and to a decisive defeat at Midway in June, docent John Lynch said during a presentation at the museum.

Lynch, speaking March 19th to an enthusiastic audience of about 350 in the WestPac hangar on the museum campus at the Colorado Springs Airport, described the turbulent period following Japan's December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, and how it led to the raids.

Japan was on a roll in the Pacific after Pearl Harbor. By the end of January 1942, Guam had surrendered; the British battleships Repulse and Prince of Wales had been sunk; Wake Island had fallen, and Hong Kong had surrendered. The next month, Singapore surrendered; Darwin, Australia, was attacked, and Allied forces were defeated in the Battle of the Java Sea.

The pressure from the American public and press to do something was intense. In the midst of the hubbub, from December 22, 1941, to January 14, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and their respective military leaders met in Washington for the Arcadia Conference. They settled on a "Germany First" approach, meaning that the Pacific would be secondary in terms of the allocation of resources, people and attention, said Lynch, a former Navy officer.

In that light, but also sensitive to growing American frustration, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Ernest J. King, who had been at the conference, ordered his Pacific Fleet Commander, Vice Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, to do four things, Lynch said: defend such assets as Pearl Harbor, the U.S. West Coast and the Panama Canal; halt advances by the Japanese navy; secure the lines of communication with Australia, and take limited offensive actions.

King didn't tell Nimitz exactly what he meant by "offensive actions," but this turned out to be the carrier raids. The idea was to be aggressive, but not to the point of losing carriers because only four were available, Lynch said. He said the limited raids would also comply with the Roosevelt-Churchill agreement to focus most resources on Germany. "It was a real tightrope walk."

Thus, planning for the raids began. Battleships were not in the picture as they been either sunk or severely damaged at Pearl Harbor. Cruisers and destroyers would shell Japanese positions, and planes from carriers would attack from over the horizon.
There would be four raids -- the Marshall and Gilbert Islands on February 1st; Rabaul on the island of New Britain on February 20th; Marcus and Wake Islands on February 24th and March 4th; and Lae and Salamaua in New Guinea on March 10th.

The first actions at the Marshalls and Gilberts raid involved task forces of the USS Enterprise (CV-6) under Rear Admiral William F. Halsey, and the USS Yorktown (CV-5) under Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, Lynch said. Results included the sinking of some Japanese cargo ships, others damaged, and some damage to Japanese facilities. For the U.S., 15 Navy planes were lost. Nimitz put out press releases saying something was being done, but he also understood what must be improved, Lynch said.

The plan for the Rabaul raid, to be executed by the USS Lexington (CV-2) under Rear Admiral Wilson Brown, was abandoned when a Japanese plane discovered the Lexington and its accompanying ships. The Lexington was attacked by Japanese land-based Betty bombers and could have been lost if it hadn't been for one pilot, Lieutenant Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare, who shot down five of the enemy planes and severely damaged a sixth before they reached their bomb-release points. For his actions O'Hare was awarded the Medal of Honor, becoming the U.S. Navy’s first aviator recipient. The award was, in part, to tell the American press and elected officials that something was being done, Lynch said.

The Wake and Marcus raids were conducted by the USS Enterprise (CV-6) and its task force under Halsey. The action began with an attack on Wake Island, where there was some minor damage and an aerial battle. But as the raid was underway, Lynch said, Halsey got a message saying that the Imperial Japanese Navy was building a significant presence on Marcus Island. He proceeded there and inflicted some minor damage. But Marcus is relatively close to Japan, about 1,000 miles away, and the raid prompted Japanese commanders to pay particularly close attention, Lynch said. To the American public, it showed once more that momentum against Japan was gathering.

The Lae and Salamaua raids, by the task force under Brown aboard Lexington, were intended to disrupt Japanese plans to take Port Moresby, also in New Guinea. Brown had been turned away from the Rabaul raid, which would have been launched from near the Solomon Islands. The Lae and Salamaua raids were instead conducted from the other side of New Guinea. The plan was for Brown's aircraft to strike their two targets from the rear; it worked. The Japanese defenders were completely surprised and some serious damage was inflicted, Lynch said.

But getting to the targets meant flying over the Owen Stanley Range of mountains, which forms the spine of New Guinea and tops out at about 13,000 feet. Such an altitude was "a serious challenge for the planes and the pilots of the task force," Lynch said. The fighters and dive-bombers (like the museum's Douglas SBD Dauntless) "got over pretty well. The torpedo bombers struggled pretty seriously."

The raid caught the Japanese by surprise. While several cargo ships were sunk or damaged, again there was no significant effect on the logistics systems of the Japanese navy and army. But the U.S. Navy benefited greatly in terms of morale, leadership and lessons learned, Lynch said.
One lesson from Lae-Salamaua was that planes must be equipped with non-fogging windscreens and gun/bomb sights. As the SBDs, for instance, dropped steeply from the cold air of high altitude to the warm air of sea level, their view of targets was partially obscured due to glass fogging. Pilots needed heated elements to solve the problem, Lynch said.

Another lesson was the need for Identification-Friend-or-Foe (IFF) equipment. Butch O'Hare was not amused when he was fired upon by his own carrier as he returned from his tangle with the Betty bombers, Lynch said.

The raids also showed the need for self-sealing fuel tanks, armored pilot seats, more fighters and fighter pilots, drop-tanks for fighters, and incendiary bullets, Lynch said. Also brought to the forefront was the need for a fix for the Mk. 13 torpedo, which failed in many instances. It took years to fix the Mk. 13 problem and is "one of the saddest stories of World War II and a real blot on the reputation of elements of the Navy," Lynch said.

Overall, he said, the raids improved the morale of both the American public and the U.S. Navy; prompted Japanese navy leaders to consider repositioning some of their forces; changed their attitude about offensive-versus-defensive activities; helped the U.S. Navy to understand more about fighter-support for a task force, and stressed the need to practice, practice, practice. Many valuable lessons were learned that would serve the Navy well in the great carrier battles to come.

Nimitz's orders from King were generally met, Lynch said. Pearl Harbor, the West Coast and the Panama Canal were protected; Japanese advances were affected; lines of communication to Australia were kept open, and some offensive action was taken.

And, Lynch said, many of those who honed their skills in the raids were heroes of the battles of the Coral Sea in May and Midway a month after that.
The raids were "a pretty significant portion of the early part of the war," Lynch said. "It's not one that is understood terribly well," and after Coral Sea and Midway, "they kind of fade into the background and we no longer understand them very much."

But, Lynch said, Halsey remembered them when Japan surrendered three years later. Standing on the deck of his flagship, the USS Missouri, off the coast of Japan, he spoke movingly to the men of his crew and his fleet.

Lynch quoted Halsey as saying that "With nothing but indomitable courage and hope to support us, we left our mark on a cruel and treacherous enemy. We paved the way -- we blazed the trail -- to the overwhelming victories that have followed."

Halsey told his men, "You shall always occupy a special and honored space in my mind and heart. We've been through this trying time together. We have shared the good, we have shared the bad. We are brothers, bloodied by our active participation in combat operations in an unprecedented naval war."

Story Credit: Rich Tuttle. Museum Curator Gene Pfeffer also contributed to this article.
She Will Fly Again!
Built in 1942, this P-47D “Razorback” Thunderbolt, Serial #42-8089, flew with the 348th Fighter Group in New Guinea starting in 1943.

Following an accident, she was stripped for parts and buried in a pit with other aircraft, only to be recovered some 60 years later, eventually making her way to the museum!

The many holes in the fuselage make for a unique opportunity to peer inside (careful, don’t touch!) and see some of her internal construction, including the turbocharger; she even still has her original insignia painted on the side!

It’s hard to imagine, but 42-8089 is slated for a full restoration to flying condition. See 42-8089, and the rest of our amazing collection, during your visit to the museum!

Story and Photo Credit: George White
Have You Ever Seen a Half-Track Up Close?
Armored with ¼ to ½ steel plate designed to protect the troops inside, the M2A1 Personnel Half-Track Carrier, also called the Half-Track Car, was twenty feet long (with winch), more than seven feet wide, stood over eight and a half feet tall (at the .50 Cal), and weighed close to 20,000 pounds.

Powered by a 147 horsepower, 386 cubic inch White 160AX inline six-cylinder engine, they were capable of 28 MPH off road, 45 MPH on road, and had a range of between 175 and 200 miles. With a 60-gallon gas tank, that means they would have maxed out at a whopping 3.33 miles per gallon!
 
For defense and offense, armament included a Browning .50 Caliber M2HB Machine Gun on an M49 ring mount which was located above the passenger’s (“Assistant Driver”) seat, and up to three .30 caliber M1919A4 Machine Guns which could be located on pintle mounts.
700 rounds of .50 Cal ammunition were carried, while 7750 rounds of .30 Cal were available.  Ammunition was stored in compartments located behind the drivers. In the photos you can also see where an individual ammo can would be hung from the left side of the .50 Cal to provide its feed. With a full 360 degrees of movement on each weapon, the M2A1 could be a very dangerous and effective platform.

The M2A1 was used for armored reconnaissance, movement of infantry (she could carry up to 13 personnel), and as both tow-vehicle for the 105mm howitzer and transport of its ammunition.
With available weaponry and armoring, they were also used for Air Base Defense and were effective in both anti-personnel and anti-aircraft roles. “Some of the early airfields in Normandy were less than a mile from the FEBA. (Forward Edge of the Battlefield)", stated Gene Pfeffer, museum Curator and Historian. The M2A1 was widely used by the US Army in the Philippines, North Africa, and Europe, as well as by US Marines in the Pacific.
 
The museum’s M2A1 was built in 1941 and started life as an M2, becoming one of 1266 that were later converted. Starting in October 1943, M2A1’s were manufactured at the factories, with 1643 eventually being produced.
The solid triangular pieces on the rear bumper, shown directly above the top right of the track in the above photo, indicate that she was built by the Autocar Company; if the triangles were open, it would mean she was made by the White Motor Company.

See our M2A1, and the rest of our amazing collection (including other vehicles) when you visit the museum!
 
Story and Photo Credit: George White
Oh, That Wonderful Smell of Airworthy Aircraft!
One thing we really love about the National Museum of World War II Aviation is the smell!

When you walk in, your nose isn't soothed by the sterile environment of an art gallery, but rather it's bombarded with the greases, oils, hydraulics, and fuels of a working aircraft hangar.

Walk around and you'll see drip pans positioned under every aircraft to catch fluids, such as oil and hydraulics, for environmental control and so they don't stain the floors and make a mess. That's AWESOME because it shows that the museum and its aircraft are ALIVE! Any one of them could be fueled up, rolled out the hangar doors, and take to the Colorado skies at any given moment ... as they often do at events like our monthly special presentations and the Pikes Peak Regional Air Show.

Our T-6 Texan is shown here complete with not one, not two, but three drip pans AND a hose running to a fuel container; that's the way all museums should be! 

Check out the drip pans under all the amazing airworthy aircraft in our collection during your visit to the museum!
 
Story and Photo Credit: George White
Upcoming Events
Join us Saturday, April 23rd, for a special presentation and aircraft event on Operation Vengeance - The mission to get Yamamoto: broken codes, the power of US Army P-38 Lightnings, and the end of Japan's architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The event is planned to include our P-38 Lightning "White 33", shown here, conducting an engine run and taxi. P-38s like ours executed the extraordinary mission to get the Japanese Navy's most important leader. There will also be a special P-38 cockpit photo opportunity that you won't want to miss!

Check the museum events calendar at https://www.worldwariiaviation.org/events/ for updated event information!

Photo Credit: Paul Bowen
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This Month's Newsletter Contributors



Gene Pfeffer
Historian & Curator
Rich Tuttle



Rich Tuttle
Docent, Newsletter Writer, Social Media Writer, Photographer




George White
Newsletter Editor, Social Media Writer, Photographer