Reading, PA airshow. A gathering of warbirds

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built at the field is a mock french village and several times during the weekend the german and allies would duke it out...

and some pics of the elaborate encampments...

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now to the airplanes. this part was actually a little bit of a let down. they had tons of at-6s, pt-19s, cubs, stinsons, etc. and while i would love to jump in just about anything with fixed wings and go for a spin i am here for the warbirds. i can pretty much see a texan or ryan anytime. spitfires, mustangs, etc. is of more interest to me. there were no german ac at all. there was a griffon spitfire but it didnt land...it must have flown down from hamilton, canada for the show and left.
the one claim to fame is that they are restoring a p61 black widow. hopefully it will fly in the next few years. it was on display and they were taking donations and selling stuff about it.

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the only 2 non us ac that were there were this jap bomber which i am not sure is actually original. it may be a mock up. and this storch looking ac...sorry i guess there was one german plane.

most of the ac were navy .... i am guessing this theme came from the anniversary of the 100 years of naval aviation.

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one of the coolest things was this vintage curtis naval ac which looked like something the wright bros put together. what was the biggest surprise was when it actually flew! now that is something you dont often see!

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some of the planes that i could get close enough to..

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there were 3 b25s, 2 p51s which i could only get close to the one and the navy planes..

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there was one B17 (which i screwed up the pic on ) but the crowning jewel was B29 FIFI. i am wondering if they spent so much on getting FIFI that it put a crimp in the budget for getting other ac. she was a beauty but you couldnt get close which was sad.