Aerial War Heros to Remember
By sandra. Filed in Florida, History, Museum, United States |
Exit 215: At the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum in Florida, don’t be put off by the first rooms of old-style displays of uniforms, photos and personal artifacts from aerial vets, just go through the magic doors to see the collection of vintage Warbird aircraft. The best part of being here is listening to the war stories re-told by veteran tour guides. We learned from ours that our pilots are treated more importantly than in other countries as the cockpits are built with steel plating to protect them.
In the front section there are amazing stories. Learn about the brave B-25 Mitchell bomber pilots who flew secret missions over Tokyo. The aircraft had fuel for only one way so the trip was a death mission as the pilots had to crash land in China. Read about the WWI pilots who came back and became The Flying Tigers, mercenary pilots for Chiang Kai Shek, and received a $500 bounty for each Japanese plane shot. They got to know Japanese air strategy and helped the US air command in WWII.
During WWII, a couple of paddle wheelers with their tops cut off were floated out into Lake Michigan and were cleverly used as air craft carriers to train pilots to land. An FM-1 Grumman Wildcat fell into lake. Fifty-one years later it was recovered and totally reconstructed. Dixie Howell, the pilot, was19 years old then and at age 82, when saw it again here (out of the drink) he was tearful. He was a fighting ace and had shot down 7 Japanese Zeros.
In the rear are the stars: a B-52 is here, it was the heaviest bomber built with 8 engines. There’s a subsonic plane with a fueling probe, a Mig-15, Navy Skyhawk, F-14ATomcat and even a 1941 Dodge Army staff car which was used in “Cidar House Rules” and “Spidernan”. Notice that the UH-1 Huey Medivac has a patch in its window (with surgical stitches) which was sewn during bombing raids.
As if all that wasn’t exciting enough, go further back from the main hangar to the restoration hangar to see volunteers at work on vintage planes.
Once a month you can take a ride on the 1942 Tico Belle, with its extensive war history, as it was used in the Normandy invasion and the Berlin airlift.
There’s an air show every March where they take these old geezers up. The gift shop has the largest collection of model airplanes and things like aircraft clocks.
Location: 6600 Tico Rd., Titusville, FL
Hours: Daily 9-5
Tel: 321-268-1941
www.vacwarbirds.org