Geneseo's Warbirds And Warhawks

摘要

This year's Geneseo Airshow, listed among North America's top 10 airshows, commemorated the Curtiss P-40's 70th anniversary and hosted the largest gathering of Warhawks to fly together since WW II. This 29th consecutive Geneseo Airshow was once again hosted by the 1941 Historical Aircraft Group Museum and titled, "Flying Tigers Reunion." Its goal was to bring together, for one definitive event, the many surviving P-40s with the pilots who flew them, mechanics and crew chiefs who kept them flying and Curtiss Factory workers who built them. Since October 14, 1938, when the XP-40 rolled off the line, until November 1944, the Curtiss factory in Buffalo, New York, produced 13,738 P-40s of various models that served in every theater of operations during WW II. When the 1941 HA Group's airshow coordinator began research for this event almost 18 months before the show, it was discovered that only about two dozen airworthy models or airframes being restored to flying condition existed in the U.S. and Canada. Contacts were made with every private owner and museum director representing these aircraft, and the interest to participate in this event was exceptional. Unfortunately, by the July 11, 12 and 13 airshow dates, the combination of some incomplete restorations, the expense and logistics of cross-country flights from the West Coast and conflicts in scheduling or available aircrew, resulted in only half a dozen P-40s actually making the trip. Geneseo Airshow organizers already announced plans for its 2009 30th anniversary show that will be devoted mainly to the U.S. Navy/Marines and Pacific theater aircraft, featuring the Corsair.