Members of Cascade Warbirds will be flying in and exhibiting their aircraft at the Olympic Flight Museum Airshow, Father’s Day weekend, June 15-16. These historic military planes will be featured along with a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Curtiss P-40, Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina, and many noted airshow performers which the Olympic Flight Museum is bringing to make this year’s annual event the most exciting ever.
Cascade Warbirds is a group of military aviation enthusiasts from throughout the Northwest. The pilot owners of this regional group always look forward to this major event at the Olympia Regional Airport located at 7637 Old Highway 99 SE, Building A, in Olympia to kick-off the airshow season.
“The people of the South Sound region are very fortunate to have this Museum which is bringing such a huge variety of significant aviation history right to their own backyard,” says Dave Desmon, the Commanding Officer of Cascade Warbirds. “Our pilot-owners love to fly and display their aircraft. We will there all weekend to fly and discuss the details of our aircraft and our passion for historic flight with everyone.”
Many members of Cascade Warbirds operate a wide variety of former military aircraft. The unofficial roster expected includes the following:
T-6 Texan, Harvard. Built by North American Aviation, the Texan was used by the US military as an advanced trainer to prepare cadets to fly the famous North American P-51 Mustang. Navy versions were identified as SNJ. The Harvard was a nearly identical version built and operated by the British Commonwealth countries.
CJ-6. An improved design of the Russian Yak 18, the Nanchang CJ-6 was used to train pilots of the Peoples Republic of China Air Force. It is popular as an affordable, relatively high performance platform to enable pilots to develop formation flying skills.
FW 149. Designed by Piaggio of Italy and built by the famous German aircraft manufacturer Focke Wulf, the four place trainer is rated for aerobatics and has hard points for mounting a variety of armaments.
IAR-823. Designed and built in Romania for their Air Force, this four place trainer has aerobatic ratings and hard points for mounting weapons. Because it uses many American components, it is attractive to our market and about 50 are owned in the US. Two pilot owners fly this model of airplane.
L-3 Grasshopper. Built by Aeronca, the L-3 was actually ordered by the US Army Air Corps prior to WWII. The two place tandem craft served as an observation plane and trainer for later liaison aircraft.
L-17 Navion. Designed by North American Aviation right after WWII for the civilian market, and manufactured by several different companies, military versions were used in a liaison role.
O-1 Bird Dog. The military version of the Cessna 305 was the first liaison airplane in the modern nomenclature series and this airplane was an award winner at the EAA Airventure at Oshkosh Wisconsin.
Seabee. Built by Republic Aviation, this postwar amphibian with its pusher propeller saw very limited military use, but was very popular with Seattle area pilots and is still seen in small numbers anywhere recreational lakes are numerous.
Scottish Aviation Bulldog. British two-seat side-by-side training aircraft designed by Beagle Aircraft. Used by about a dozen Air Forces around the world. One model was a light attack variant with underwing hard points.
“As much as we enjoy these airshow activities, they are an important part of the Squadron’s educational mission. We also award scholarships to further the aviation interests of young people in a wide variety of futures from flying to aeronautical engineering, and even the military. We encourage students, parents, and even school administrators to investigate our offerings and submit applications,” Desmon added.
SOURCE: Cascade Warbirds press release
Author: Lynnwood Times Staff
