Anybody go to the WWII festival at Lakefront Airport?

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They had a 103 year old veteran of the Doolittle Raid.

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Damn it!

I would have loved to have met him.

I've been the last two years, but decided to sit it out this year. Serves me right.

I went Saturday. It was cool. Those guys with the "commemorative air force" are definitely a little on the goofy reenactor side, but they maintain those planes. They were selling rides in a few of them. A couple grand for a 30 min ride in a P51 Mustang. They had seats available in the B29. The nose gunner seat looked like it would be awesome to ride in. That was a few grand. But they were selling. People were into it.

I only wish they had a few more land vehicles. It's definitely primarily an air show. They have a little routine where they stage a mock dog fight while an mc narrates. They would play machine gun sounds over the PA system when they made a pass. Oh and they played the theme music from the rock as the backdrop to all of this

Logistically, parking was ample and free. Zero traffic getting in and out of the lakefront airport. Plenty of bathrooms. There was only one concession stand, but it was pretty large and staffed by around 25 people. So they moved the line reasonably fast. Good prices too imo. There was a large hangar rented out. They had a makeshift gift shop and a bunch of tables to get out of the sun.

This was the first time i've ever been, but for $25 I thought it was pretty great. I would go again. There were easily a few thousand people out there when I was.

TLDR: it was cool.

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They had a 103 year old veteran of the Doolittle Raid.

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I saw him there Friday. He’s the only member of the entire raid still living. He was General Doolittle’s co- pilot. His mind is surprisingly sharp for 103 years old.
God Bless this man.

Legend.

“Cole was the only American serviceman out of 16 million who served in World War II to have been a Doolittle Raider, Hump pilot, and an Air Commando.”

P-51 is powered by a liquid cooled inline v12 copy of the Rolls Royce Merlin made by Packard

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. The sound of the P-51's huge radial engine is unmistakable

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Ummmmmmmm...

Went Friday afternoon with my 13 year old little girl and her big brother. I thought she'd be bored, but she really enjoyed herself. She spoke to one of the crew from the B-17 guys. He gave here a commemorative coin which was really nice. We spent the money on VIP passes. Probably not worth it, but the open bar and food and shade under the tents was nice. We'll definitely go back next year.