This was closely followed by a fly-over of a collection of four World War Two era warbirds during the National Anthem. The formation included a newly restored Japanese A6M Zero, P-51A Mustang, F4U Corsair, and a P-38 Lightning (in that order). One thing that stood out to us as a bit strange was that the formation was led by the Zero. I understand it is the most recent of the museum’s restorations and they were probably just anxious to show it off, but it seemed odd to lead the American National Anthem with an aircraft once used by our former enemy… anyway, food for thought, the Zero is beautiful and of course, we’re all friends now.

Next up, a great gaggle of warbirds took to the sky, there were Mustangs, three P-40s, a P-38, a Spitfire, two C-47s, a Swiss Pilatus, a P-63 King Cobra, and more.

This year’s Air Show Special Feature was the inclusion of five F4U Corsairs. Not since the days of the “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” television show have I personally seen this many Corsairs in the same air space. The show first aired in 1976 and the Corsairs used to be kept lined up on the makeshift airfield at Indian Dunes, (near Six Flags in Valencia, CA) where the show was filmed. The flying scenes were primarily shot over the Channel Islands and as a boy, we would often see the formation flying over Ventura County for filming. So seeing these great planes together again was really a special treat.

After the Corsair formation, they split up for individual flybys over the flight line and were joined in the air by a TBM Avenger, F4F Wildcat, two SBD Dauntless, and two Zeros for a “Pacific Theatre” series of passes. The B-25 Mitchell known as “Photo Fanny” and Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer began their flying just as the sun was peeking through the clouds creating some beautiful lighting conditions for the first time and perhaps the only time of the day. So at least for a moment, the lighting was right for some better pictures.