Free Republic

The "Hawaii Mars II", one of two remaining Martin Mars, performs flybys and drops 7,200 gallons of water for the crowd at the 2016 EAA AirVenture airshow in Oshkosh, WI. This massive flying boat is the world's largest warbird, and an exceptionally rare sight. It was delivered to the US Navy in 1946 and later converted for civilian use as a fire fighting aircraft. During AirVenture, the Mars is flying off of Lake Winnebago just a couple miles east of Oshkosh.

Culpeper (United States) (AFP) - There was no mistaking the muscular roar of the big radial engine as the most famous trainer to come out of World War II soared above this rural Virginia town. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the North American T-6 Texan, the big tandem-seat warbird in which countless pilots from dozens of countries honed their flying skills. This weekend, some 30 Texans will set off from Culpeper, 70 miles (115 kilometers) outside Washington, and fly up the Potomac River, over the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery, to mark a unique aeronautical milestone.

A vintage airplane collector said Tuesday that government agents have impounded his rare 1952 military aircraft he imported from France last fall and are threatening to destroy the plane because of a missed step in bringing it into the country. Also see http://www.savetheskyraider.com/site/The_Details.html

March 3, 2009: Israel is now planning to replace its current advanced jet trainer, elderly A-4 light bombers, with its older F-16s. Israel had been shopping for a new trainer, and planned to scrap the remaining A-4s when a replacement was found. But now the plan is to keep the A-4s in use for at least another five years, then phase in the use of older F-16s as trainer aircraft. So now, after four decades of use, Israel is finally getting rid of the last of its U.S. made A-4 Skyhawk light bombers. Israel bought over 200 in the 1960s...

Warbird of the Day: Grumman Mohawk RV-1D Tue, 25 Jul '06 by ANN Correspondent John Dorcey The warbird area is a "must see" for most AirVenture participants. Veterans, history buffs, dads with kids in tow, and the curious all gravitate to the north end of the AirVenture grounds. This area, like most of the facility, has changed over the years. Today, visitors will find a greater variety of aircraft and more displays that are educational. Ed Finnegan, American Wings Air Museum, provided the history on this aircraft. Grumman built serial number 64-14262 in 1964 as an OV-1B. The aircraft was...

WASHINGTON -- Buckling to congressional pressure, the Navy has reversed course and agreed to give the rusting hulk of a demolished World War II-era aircraft to a Princeton, Minn., aviation buff who is restoring the plane. Lex Cralley, a ground services mechanic for an airline, dug up the abandoned Corsair fighter plane in Craven County, N.C., in 1991 and took it home to Minnesota. The airplane had crashed Dec. 19, 1944. With its unique gull-wing design, the Corsair was one of the most recognizable airplanes of World War II. U.S. pilots flew the propeller-powered plane in such storied campaigns as...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The federal government has filed a lawsuit against an airplane collector demanding the return of the wreckage of a World War II Corsair fighter that the Navy abandoned after it crashed in a North Carolina swamp in 1944. Historical airplane enthusiasts say the plane Lex Cralley dug out of the swamp near the North Carolina coast is the only one of its kind known to still exist. Cralley, an airplane mechanic with a passion for preserving World War II aviation history, salvaged the pieces of the single-engine plane in 1990, registered it as a "non-airworthy model"...