Unlike this week’s gyrocopter incursion, when waves of World War II aircraft sweep over the Washington Monument at only 1,000 feet next month, they will have security clearance.
The historic flyover of vintage fighters and bombers on May 8 is a salute to the 70th anniversary of Victory-Europe, the day the Allies accepted the surrender of Nazi Germany.
The waves of 30-60 World War II heavy bombers and fighters will come in low so that several hundred of the last living veterans of the war will get to see again the air power that helped deliver the victory. Those waves will form an hour-long air parade of P-51 Mustangs, P-40 Warhawks, B-25 Mitchells, the B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator and B-29 Superfortresses and other trainer and fighter aircraft.
The final wave will arrive in a missing man formation, led by Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., piloting the TBM Avenger.
“The same plane President [George H.W.] Bush was flying when he got shot down” in World War II, Graves said.
The aircraft are flying as part of the “Arsenal of Democracy” celebration — an event that has been more than a year in the making with volunteer commemorative air groups across the U.S. The security questions raised by flying scores of aircraft along the National Mall has required more than a year of meetings with government officials.
The aircraft, which should fly over the Mall at around noon on May 8, will take a path that has been vetted over the last year with the Department of Defense, Federal Aviation Administration, National Park Service, Transportation Security Administration and the Secret Service. They will take off from airports in Virginia, assemble in formation, and come into Washington over the Potomac River. They’ll turn into the National Mall at the Lincoln Memorial, where they’ll fly over hundreds of surviving veterans gathered at the World War II Memorial.
Graves and the other three aircraft flying with him will be in a “finger four” formation — where the lead plane has only one aircraft on his left and two on his right. “Then the number two plane will do the pull [up] with smoke on, and will pull out and fly off toward the sunset. It’s a tradition — to fly to the West. That is our tribute,” Graves said.
“This will be the largest honor flight the city has ever seen,” Graves said. The missing man formation is “for all men and women who have paid the ultimate price,” and for all those who have served “who are missing from us today,” he said.
“Taps” will be playing as the formation flies over, and “Taps 1” is the formation’s call sign.
Graves volunteers at several air museums to keep historic aircraft flying. He has piloted aircraft since he was 16.
The ability to be a part of the flight, in which the aircraft will get rare access to Washington’s tightly restricted airspace, “is something not lost on any of the pilots” participating, he said.
The Avenger was an effective submarine killer and dive bomber in the war. Its folding-wing design allowed it to ride in larger numbers on aircraft carriers. During the war almost 10,000 of the aircraft were built.
It was also the heaviest single-engine aircraft of the war, which made it stable in the air but exhausting on the pilots, Graves said.
In the aircraft, “you think about what the pilots went through — our nation coming together — a force second to none.” The planes in the war would fly long hours in tight formation, which was difficult for the pilots.
“Just two to three hours just wears me out and ringing with sweat,” he said. “It’s just amazing they were able to have this stamina.”
