USAAF Reenacting

[MPicciotto]

This topic and various sub-topics have been beaten to death here. I'm posting this not to replace them. But to link together reenactors of the USAAF.

I'm a member of the Capital Wing of the Airmen's Preservation Society or APS. Recently another of our crew just joined here.

I know "Phantomfixer" is around here somewhere. He's what you might call our sister wing the "Delaware APS". But I'll let him introduce himself.

And "cco23i" is another I hope pops his head in this thread. Scott has this amazing ground crew unit...

Matt

 

[Saxswinger]

I too admit being associated with that fine group Matt mentioned. Going on my second season with the Capital Wing and proud to be a part of what this outstanding organization does to help educate the public. Especially the need for honoring and preserving the efforts of our WW2 Airmen.

 

[Phantomfixer]

Hey Matt,

How could I not pop my head into this thread : ) It would be like fries and no salt. I remember going to Reading way back around the 90-91 time period. I used to sleep in the open air in a GI bag. Bob K and I would crash near any place that had an open patch of ground, those days there was alot. We would get up go stow the sleeping bags and grab our flight gear and walk around the airfield sneaking into picture shots. Dave and Don invited us to hang out and the rest is history. This was right after the Brooks split. We did a few shows at Frederick with prior to the split with Brooks. No bad feelings there. I didn't know him well enough to have an opinion either way. Great group of characters. Maybe one day I will hit Reading again. I enjoy Ft Miles now. It is close to home. Very close.
I began collecting USAAF gear in the very early 80's as a teenager. The USAF fueled the passion and gave me an income in which to purchase with.
Looking forward to Ft Miles

 

[cco23i]

POP! Here I am. Thanks for bringing this up Matt and I just wish more would do AAF as seems it's a forgotten area of WW2. We have a display next weekend and then the one after.

Scott

 

[Gray Ghost]

It has been awhile since I have posted on the Fedora Lounge, but I am an old member of the old DC wing and commander of the new NC Wing of the APS. In the building and recruiting stages at this time. I also reenact the civil war and with the 150th of the war this year, I have been real busy on that side of things. I just wanted to say how nice it is that the APS is being represented on the Fedora Lounge.

Maj. Eric L. Russ, Commanding
NC Wing of the APS

 

[MPicciotto]

Maj. Russ,

Will you or any of your wing be coming to the Virginia Beach Airshow in a couple of weeks?

www.vbairshow.com

That place is AMAZING. The owner has way too much money, a good thing for us he spends it on the toys we like. Our encampment is literally ON the crowd line for the show, in fact one year thanks to FAA people mucking something up along the way our encampment was straddling the crowd line and we had to stay out of certain parts of certain tents for the active part of the show. Jerry likes his reenactors in on the action.

Matt

 

[cco23i]

Post some shots this year fellas!

Scott

 

[Gray Ghost]

I was hoping that this would be our grand entrance into the APS, but we are having a few difficulties. Hope to be getting everything straight soon. I hope to be able to go myself for the day but will have to go as a spectator. My uniform is a little tight on me right now due to some of the meds that I am on. I am working to get myself back down again. If it is not one thing, it is another. Is this the same Matt that was in the old DC Wing with Tegler? I was the one that does 13th "Jungle" Air Force that my dad was apart of. I was in the DC Wing temporarily back in 2001-2002.

Eric

 

[Gray Ghost]

I just realized the dates. I am committed to doing a living history at Fort Macon, here in NC. I serve on the civil war artillery there. We just got a 32 pound Navy Gun that fires five pounds of powder. We can set off car alarms with that thing. I hate that I am going to miss the event but hope to do it next year with a decent size group. I am trying to figure out what our little niche will be. I know that Capital does flight breifing and some others do Mess and flight line, but I can not figure out what I want us to do to add to what everyone else is doing. Any suggestions?

 

[cco23i]

I'd do the AAF event, remember the vets of WW2 are not going to be around much longer and they will get a kick out of seeing the AAF stuff.

Scott

 

[MPicciotto]

Is this the same Matt that was in the old DC Wing with Tegler? I was the one that does 13th "Jungle" Air Force that my dad was apart of. I was in the DC Wing temporarily back in 2001-2002.

Eric

Not quite, but almost. That would be Mat Curtis (one T). He's still around. So is Donnie Parlett and Mike Hall, Charlie Dixon. A host of new people. Dave Dannager comes by once in a while, he's sort of in and out with buying a house and all right now. 2001-2002 I was doing Civil Defense reenacting but you might have seen me come around and hang out in 'The Silk Purse' some.

Matt

 

[Gray Ghost]

You do look familiar. I miss hanging out with the old group. Good bunch of guys. Charlie taught me a little about weather observation. He is a card. Dave always looked very dapper in his uniform and believe it was Donnie taking a shower in the rain at the Manassas Airport event back in 2001 or 2002. You do what you have to do. We were doing Guadalcanal and the weather was perfect for Cactus. We did the Yamamoto Kill Mission briefing. That was fun since my father was HQ Squadron, XIII Fighter Command and it was Squadrons from this command that did the shoot down. I also remember sitting around the old radio listening to Bob Hope and Bing Crosby and chating with the guys. I kept thinking back to my Dad's time in the service and thinking that he was doing the same exact thing. I am looking forward to getting back into the full swing of things again.

 

[MPicciotto]

So I chatted tonight with our wing's CO Mike Hall. And he suggested that a weak spot in the AAF reenacting right now is Operations. As you said Capital Wing is strong on mission briefings and many of the members make a point of collecting flight gear to do air crew impressions. Myself I'm the Squadron Chaplain. The ground crew and mess impressions you are thinking of are mainly the Pittsburgh/Ohio wing with Dan Hamilton. I'm not really sure if the Georgia/South Carolina "Peach Fuzz" Wing has a focused impression, I haven't talked to any of those guys in a few years now.

Matt

 

[cco23i]

What needs to happen is all must come together to cover both air and ground ops. Hell, I wish we were closer I'd head up the ground side of the house. Heck, we marshall aircraft, load bombs (concrete) AND some of us do maintenance. It needs to get a good kick in the butt and get it all in line. I'll help where I can.

Scott

 

[Gray Ghost]

Operations sounds like a good idea. I think we may go that route. I have also been thinking alot on the ground crew unit out in Arizona. It would be nice to do that in our area as well. Gives me something to think about. I am also a Chaplain. I have a reenactors ministry for Civil War and thinking about broadening it for WWII. I was also the Chaplain for my Dad's WWII Reunion Group for awhile.

Eric

 

[Sgt Brown]

Ohio/PA Wing is alive and well. Dan Hamilton co-ordinates PA and I co-ordinate OH as best I can. (medical issues) A bunch of our guys will be coming to Reading this year. Unfortunately, I won't be one of them. I first did Reading in 1992 and then for the next fifteen years. Miss the hell out of it.

Tom

 

[cco23i]

Hey if you all need any help drop me a line. More than happy to help.

Scott

 

[Gray Ghost]

I am very impressed with the arizona groundcrew and the bomber camp. Looks like I need to save up my money. I would love to get a good ground crew group started. It is something that I have thought about alot. It is good to see a group that actually does some groundcrew duties at events. It adds to the realism when you are marshalling aircraft or doing light maintenance on the aircraft.

 

[cco23i]

Thanks Eric,
We do have a blast with the ground crew vets we meet. We had one little fellow who was stationed in North Africa and Sicily on B-25's, well he stayed with us for over 4 hours, harrassing and basically having a good time with us, I asked him why he stuck around so lond and he said "I feel like I was 18 again and in Sicily with my buddies". Yup, THAT'S why I do it. Keep in touch, email I can also send my number so I can help if needed. CHEERS!

Scott

 

[Phantomfixer]

There was a ground crew that did Reading for years. I do not know what unit they were with but they always hung out next to our guys (CAP). The group leader was an AD crew chief at Andrews. hmmmmm