By Abigail W. Adams
Texas Flying Legends Museum pilots and crew stand in front of the museum’s P-51 Mustang at the Wiscasset Municipal Airport Saturday, Aug. 22. Pictured (from left to right) are Mike Schiffer, Mylo Wolding, Sam Graves, Duncan, Warren Pietsch, Bernie Vasquez, Casey Odegaard, Alan Miller, and Kele Fergerstrom. (Abigail Adams photo) |
The pilots of the Texas Flying Legends Museum congregated at the Wiscasset Municipal Airport for one last ride through the Lincoln County sky Saturday, Aug. 22 before departing for Houston, Texas.
For over three weeks, the airport housed six of the museum’s fleet of a dozen World War II warbirds, many which fought in the war that defined a generation.
The visit was a surprise to Wiscasset. Earlier this year, the Wiscasset Chamber of Commerce canceled Wings Over Wiscasset, an annual air show developed through the support of the museum, in its third year, because the museum did not believe they were going to be able to visit Wiscasset this year.
The crowd that turned out to watch the museum’s P-51 Mustang, B-25 bomber, Japanese Zero, P-40 Warhawk, FG-1D Corsair, and TBF Avenger go airborne was small. In the intimate setting, where the airport’s local pilots and the museum’s pilots tended to their respective aircraft side-by-side and took turns on the runway, the mission of the museum was clear.
The World War II warbirds are carefully maintained and kept operational to serve as a reminder of the sacrifices made by the WWII generation and to honor veterans and their families for their role in protecting the ideals of the United States.
The recently deceased Ret. Captain Donald “Mac” McKibben, a P-51 Mustang fighter pilot and member of one of the most highly decorated fighter groups of WWII was a beloved member of Wiscasset Airport’s base pilot community. Honoring men like McKibben is one of the central purposes of the Texas Flying Legends Museum, the museum’s chief pilot Warren Pietsch said.
By happenstance, McKibben’s son and daughter-in-law were visiting from Colorado and were present at the Wiscasset Municipal Airport to hear the airport and the museum pilots give a joint salute.
Howard Cederlund, of Wiscasset, a gunner’s mate on the USS Menard who survived a Japanese kamikaze attack during the battle of Okinawa in 1945, was also on hand to witness the warbirds take flight. “It’s wonderful and quite a thing to see,” Cederlund said. “They [the museum] have done a lot to honor me.”
“This is one of the guys we look forward to seeing every year,” Pietsch said of Cederlund.
The Wiscasset Municipal Airport has long served as the Texas Flying Legends Museum’s summer home – the museum’s pilots are considered an extension of the airport’s close-knit community.
The museum did not believe they would be able to visit Wiscasset this summer, due to the high-demand for flyovers coming in from across the country to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII. The museum’s plans changed last minute and on July 28, six of the museum’s warbirds landed in Wiscasset.
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Texas Flying Legends Museum cheif Pilot Warren Pietsch readies the museum’s Japanese Zero for take-off at the Wiscasset Municipal Airport Saturday, Aug. 22. The museum’s Zero is one of three in the world that is still operational. (Abigail Adams photo) |
The local pilots of Wiscasset Municipal Airport welcomed them with open arms and with hangar space. “It’s amazing,” Lisa Reece, president of the Maine Aeronautics Association and a base pilot said. “Not only what these warbirds mean historically but that they’re still flying, and the pilots that are flying them are the greatest bunch of guys. They’re here for many different reasons, but they’re a part of our community.”
According to Pietsch, the museum put on two private airshows at the request of one of the museum’s major donors, Ed Bosarge, of Houston, Texas and Southport.
After learning the museum would be making an appearance in Wiscasset, the Texas Flying Legends Museum tried to organize a public event with the American Legion to support the legion’s goal of awarding state certificates and blue star flags to veterans and their families to recognize them for their service.
According to Area Three Commander Stephen Jarrett, the timing did not work out, but the museum and the legion hope to work together to coordinate an event next summer. The American Legion hopes to put on an awards ceremony for area veterans in the fall, Jarrett said.
While largely private and informal, Wiscasset airport’s base pilots and extended community gathered to see the warbirds take flight and organized a lobster bake to celebrate the museum’s warbirds and pilots’ last day in town.
Congressman Sam Graves (R-Missouri) was one of the museum’s pilots Wiscasset base pilots fed and housed. “I love coming up here,” Graves said. Graves has been flying since he was 16 years-old. He joined the Texas Flying Legends Museum as a unique way to honor the nation’s veterans, he said.
“I think everyone here aspired to fly since they were children,” Pietsch said. Pietsch recalled painting pictures of B-51’s on his wall when he was just 10-years-old.
“Really though the planes are about the people who built them and flew them,” he said. “They’re a conduit for us to talk about veterans and the sacrifices they made. That’s the driving force behind the museum.”
