The Dallas, Texas based Commemorative Air Force (CAF) is sponsoring an Airpower History Tour that will be landing at Brooksville Regional Airport on Tuesday and Wednesday, February 21st and 22nd. Brooksville is the third stop of an eleven city “Spring Tour” featuring still flying historic World War II aircraft. The aircraft participating in the tour include trainers, fighters, cargo planes and bombers of the World War II era.
At least six of the historic aircraft will be on display at American Aviation, 2495 Broad Street in Brooksville. The regular $20.00 admission price will include the opportunity to tour all of the aircraft as well as a chance to learn about them by talking with the aircrews who fly them today. Persons desiring to take a once in a lifetime ride on participating aircraft can do so for a fee, which will include the regular admission price.
The stars of the show include “Fifi,” a B-29 Superfortress bomber, and “Diamond Lil,” a B-24 Liberator bomber. Other historic aircraft on hand will include World War II era training aircraft such as a Boeing Stearman biplane, the T-6 Texan, the T-34 Mentor, and the RD-45J Expeditor cargo plane.
The B-29 is only one of two left flying in the world. It is best known for it’s role in World War II when the B-29’s Enola Gay and Bockscar dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These historic first and only uses of an atomic bomb effectively ended the war.
The B-24 Liberator is a four-engine bomber that saw widespread use in World War II. It is a homecoming of sorts for the Diamond Lil, as Brooksville Airport (then Brooksville Army Airfield) was used to train aircrews in B-24s beginning in November 1942 until 1945.
Regular admission can be purchased at the gate on the day of the show. Aircraft rides can be purchased in advance online. For show times, flight times, and other information, visit the Air Power Squadron website, https://www.airpowersquadron.org.
The Commemorative Air Force is a 501(c)3 nonprofit with the goal of preserving and restoring a complete collection of combat aircraft, to provide museum buildings to protect them, and to “perpetuate in the memory and in the hearts of all Americans the spirit in which these great planes were flown in the defense of our nation.”
