It’s going to be a T-34 kind of weekend at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, weather permitting.
The T-34 Association has scheduled its T-34 Mentor fly-in and flyovers at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base museum beginning Friday afternoon, June 9, the museum has announced.
The fun will be on the ground and in the air. More than four dozen T-34s will arrive at the museum Friday for display throughout the weekend.
Visitors are invited to watch Saturday as the planes take to the skies for formation flyovers showing off the capabilities of this much-loved military training aircraft.
Residents may watch the aircraft arrival, flyovers and departures from the end of Memorial Park along the fence line.
The museum is offering the full schedule below.
Friday 2 — 3 p.m. First wave of arrivals on Wright Field (located behind the museum). About 25 aircraft are expected to arrive, with a second wave of about 25 aircraft scheduled to arrive from 5 to 6 p.m., also behind the museum.
Saturday All aircraft will be on the ground, on static display, behind the museum’s Memorial Park 10:45 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. A formation flyover window is scheduled from 2:45 to 3:30 p.m.
Sunday Departures begin at about 9 a.m.
As always, the fight schedule for all events is weather-dependent.
The Navy used the T-34 Mentor for years, accumulating almost 100,000 flight hours per year, according to the National Naval Aviation Museum.
During World War II the U.S. Navy and Army Air Forces operated common training aircraft, and the practice continued into the 1950s when the sea service and the newly created U.S. Air Force both chose the Beech Model 45 as a primary trainer, the Navy Museum said.
In April 1975 the Navy ordered an improved version of the aircraft that featured a 400 horsepower Pratt & Whitney PT6A-25 turboprop, the museum said. In 2002 the Navy began a gradual phasing out of the T-34, replacing it with the T-6A Texan II, a joint primary trainer for use by both the Navy and Air Force.
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