There are many displays and best of all, wartime vets usually attend. A few years ago, several surviving Tuskeegee Airmen were at the show, and they were absolutely mobbed by autograph seekers and people just looking to talk with them.
The museum itself owns several different vintage and more modern aircraft, but the bulk of the ground vehicles and aircraft are visiting for the
weekend. The prize of the MAAM is a very rare P-61 nightfighter which was found wrecked overseas. It's been undergoing a mulit-year restoration and as of last year, the bulk of the fuselage had been restored. This year, a Lancaster is scheduled to attend. Last year the Commemorative Air Force's B-29 "Fifi" was present. There are many, many other vehicles and I just ran out of memory cards.
Various encampments are set up around the airfield, including American, Canadian, British, Russian and German. There's a vehicle parade and a simulated skirmish in a small French village with German and American soldiers supported by French partisans. Many people also walk around the airfield in civilian garb of the era.
That said, here are some pictures from 2003, the first time I was able to use a digital camera. I apologize for any awkwardly framed pictures, but I was stil getting the hang of the camera, and fighting the mobs at the same time.
Still, if it works out, I plan to attend again next month.I have about 290 pictures uploaded from 2003 in glorious 1024 X 768. The photos from 2004 and 2005 are higher resolution and there are a lot more of them, but it took awhile just to get 2003's images up, so if there's interest I will link those in the future as I find time to upload them. The photos are rather randomly grouped at the Flickr site, but I was walking round for several hours, grabbing shots when I could.
This year, the public show will be on June 2 to June 4. I have no affiliation with the MAAM, but I definitely recommend a visit!
N3N-3 primary trainer.
Prop polished to a mirror shine.
Stearman D75N1/PT-27.
Anyone know what kind of aircraft this is?
The museum's B-25J "Briefing Time."
Close-up on "Briefing Time."
These guys were good enough to pose for a picture for me. However, I'm not sure the shorter guy on the left should have his weapon pointed at his buddy...
Grumman TBM-3.
Immaculate wing-fold details of the TMB-3.
TBM-3 nose art.
TMB-3 upper fuselage turret with 1 .50 caliber defensive gun.
Some of the German small arms on display. MP-40 I believe?
German MG-34 or -42. Anyone know?
I believe this is a Dodge 1/2 ton WC-13 weapons carrier...
...mounting a water-cooled .30 caliber machine gun.
.50 cal emplacement outside...
..and in.
Naval jeep.
Some kind of airborne (?) motorcycle towing a water-cooled machine gun. Anyone know what kind of bike this is?
Some kind of Rolls-Royce. Later in the day "FDR" was driven around the airfield.
Anti-aircraft weapon. Anyone know what type?
Barrel art!
Ryan ST3KR/PT-22
M-8 Armored car. Main gun is 37 mm with .30 cal coaxial. The weapon on the top ring is a .50 cal.
Driver's position in the M-8. The bar is used to pull the hinged armor plate closed.
Super tryke!
Water-cooled .50 cal.
Some kind of Hudson.
Supermarine Spitfire Mark IX. Apparently, this particular Spitfire served with the Italian and Israeli Air Forces in the 40's and 50's, respectively. It is currently based in Suffolk, Virginia.
It carries a single .50 cal inboard and a 20 mm cannon outboard.
Percival Provost Mk. I. This was a trainer used by the RAF. The sign near the main landing gear says it is the only one flying in North America. It's based in New Jersey.
British encampment.
Anyone know what kind of weapon this is?
Anyone know what types of rifles these are?
One of the 2 B-17's at the show. Both eventually took off.
British Universal Carriers (or Canadian-built equivalents. I'm not sure).
Pair of German BMW motorcycles with sidecars.
Kubelwagen.
Aside from the tires (the field was very muddy after awhile), this Ford is in immaculate condition.
Muddy Kubelwagen...
...with MG-34 or -42, anyone know?
Die deutschen Soldaten!
M4A1 18 Ton High Speed Artillery Tractor (or some similar variant) towing...
...a 155mm "Long Tom" artillery piece.
M-19 Gun Motor Carriage with twin 40mm anti-aircraft weapons. Note the spare barrels on the hull, in front of the guns.
Seabees' Caterpillar bulldozer.
Got a bit muddy, as you can see.
M-3 Halftrack.
M-36 Gun Motor Carriage tank destroyer with 90 mm main gun.
Business end of "Sugar Puss" M-36.
M-18 Gun Motor Carriage tank destroyer with 76mm main gun.
M-29 Weasel.
M-7 self-propelled 105mm howitzer.
B-17G "Yankee Lady" taxiing for takeoff.
Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer tank destroyer with 75mm main gun. I am not sure, but this may have been an essentially-identical Swiss G-13 that was modified to look like the original German vehicle.
Note the false driver's vision blocks painted above, below and next to the actual vision block opening. This was an attempt to decoy enemy gunners from hitting the real ones. A remotely-controlled defensive gun is mounted on top of the hull.
Vought F4U Corsair. 6 .50 cal in the wings (3 each).
Grumman F6F Hellcat with 6 .50 cal in the wings.
This is a modified Vultee BT-13B that was evidently used in the film Tora! Tora! Tora! to represent a Japanese D3A1 Val torpedo bomber.
built themselves one out of whatever they could get.