Memorial Day Flyover
Many of you saw it on the news across the country. And many of you saw it in person. Sixteen World War II aircraft traversed Southern California over Memorial locations, hospitals and landmarks honoring Memorial Day and those people on the front-line of the pandemic.
I was honored to be on the crew with the Palm Springs Air Museum flying in the World War II C-47 “What’s Up Doc?”. Starting out the day we flew over the Coachella Valley with the C-47, the P-51 Mustang Red Tail “Bunny”, the P-63 Kingcobra “Pretty Polly”, a Vietnam War era T-28 Trojan, and a T-33 Shooting Star.
Along with the C-47 we broke off with the P-51 Mustang to join the other aircraft flyover twenty locations in the Inland Empire, out to Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona Del Mar, up the coast past the USS Iowa to National Cemetery in Westwood, east over USC Medical Center, finally landing at Chino Airport.
A huge Thank You to Threshold Aviation for hosting us and providing lunch and relaxation. Your hospitality was very appreciated by all.
Departing Chino, it was back to Palm Springs going up with the three other Air Museum aircraft for a flyover again of more locations in the Coachella Valley, out to the Patton Museum, back up through Twentynine Palms, over High Desert Medical Center, Yucca Valley, Desert Hot Springs and finally back to land at Palm Springs and back to the Air Museum.
Thank You to everyone for being so very supportive, those who cheered us on the ground, and to those to whom we owe so very much. Here are a few photographs of the journey.
Photographed on Fujifilm cameras, X-T3, X-H1, 50-140 and 16-55 f2.8 lenses. Thanks!
Memorial Day Fly-Over
Join the Palm Springs Air Museum to salute all those who serve and have served our country in a momentous air display throughout the Coachella Valley and Southern California.
On Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, 2020, starting at 10:45am, the Palm Springs Air Museum’s webcam will stream live the staging of pilots and vintage warbirds as they prepare for a Memorial Day ceremony with Pipe Band, burial flag presentations to pilots and take off of five vintage warbirds into the sky.
Uniformed members of Civil Air Patrol Squadron 11 will present one burial flag to each of the five pilots while the Palm Springs Pipe Band plays. The aircraft and honorees:
– P-63 Kingcobra: Cpl. Joseph LaSalle, WWI USMC
– P-51 Mustang: Lt. Col. Robert Friend, WWII USAAF (Tuskegee Airman)
– T-33 Shooting Star: Col. Robert Gilliland, USAF Korean War
– C-47 Skytrain: Maj Gen. Kenneth Miles, USAF Vietnam War
– T-28 Trojan: Col. Ross Miles, USAF Lost Current Service Members
The five aircraft will start-up and depart to fly over the Coachella Valley in honor of those who serve and served our country. The aircraft will then meet up with other warbirds over San Bernardino and fly over parts of Los Angeles and Orange Counties.
The Coachella Valley route goes from Palm Springs International Airport to Desert Hot Springs City Hall, SunLine Transit Center, Sun City / Shadow Hills, Indio City Hall, John F. Kennedy Medical Center, Coachella City Hall, Coachella Valley Water District, Cochran Regional Airport, La Quinta City Hall, Indian Wells City Hall, Palm Desert City Hall, Eisenhower Medical Center, Rancho Mirage City Hall, Cathedral City’s City Hall, Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians’ Tribal Offices, Palm Springs City Hall, Desert Regional Hospital, Desert Memorial Park, and the General Patton Museum.
The aircraft will then join other aircraft from the Inland Empire Wing of the CAF, Flabob Aviation Associates, and the Condor Squadron Threshold Technologies, Inc, over San Bernardino.
All aircraft will then fly over the following locations in Southern California: Loma Linda VA Medical Center, Riverside National Cemetery, CHOC Children’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St. Joseph’s Hospital (Orange), John Wayne Airport, Pacific View Memorial Park (Tuskegee Airman Lt. Col. Bob Friend’s grave), Newport Beach, Long Beach VA Hospital, The Queen Mary, USS Iowa, Green Hills Memorial Park, Torrance Airport, LAX, Santa Monica Airport, LA National Cemetery, UCLA Medical Center, USC Medical Center, City of Hope, and finally Chino Airport.
Please join us along the way for this historic flyover. Thank You!
Map of the additional Southern California route below.
Memorial Day 2019
Just some of what I did (shoot some video) on Memorial Day at the Palm Springs Air Museum…
Aircraft start up for the flyover and flower drop, Memorial Day 2019 at the Palm Springs Air Museum. A World War II Mitchell B-25 bomber, F4U Corsair, P-63 Kingcobra “Pretty Polly”, Red Tail P-51 Mustang “Bunny”, PB4Y-2 Privateer and T-33 jet “Shooting Star”.
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