JERRY YAGEN AND THE FIGHTER FACTORY

摘要

THE CROWD ATTENDING THIS AIRSHOW just south of Virginia Beach has, like the early summer heat, largely melted away. The day's last sunlight streaks across acres of grass and concrete as live Big Band music pours from a cavernous hangar. Behind me, World War II combat airplanes—a Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk, P-51D Mustang, F4F Wildcat, PBY Catalina, Focke-Wulf Fw 190, B-25J Mitchell, and one of the world's three flying de Havilland Mosquitos—are lined up as if for inspection. All have flown today at the annual Warbirds Over the Beach airshow. Bill and Sharon Krause, both in the dress white uniforms of Navy officers from the 1940s, are educating me about World War II re-enactors. "All four of our parents served in some way in World War II," says Bill. "When people ask about the uniforms, we tell them our family's experiences. We do it to respect our parents and the veterans who gave their lives."