Vintage aircraft touch down in St. George for The Flying Legends of Victory Tour

ST. GEORGE — A rare display that preserves and commemorates World War II aircraft and the men who flew them is at the Western Sky Aviation Museum through Sunday.

Visitors learn about rare World War II aircraft at the Western Sky Aviation Museum during the The Flying Legends of Victory Tour, St. George, Utah, May 19, 2022 | Photo by Stephanie DeGraw, St. George News

The Flying Legends of Victory Tour is on display, adjacent to the St. George Airport at the Western Sky Aviation Museum, 4196 S. Airport Parkway.

Vintage fighter jets, military displays, food, vendors and warbird airplane rides are available to the public for the third year in a row. Saturday night features a Hangar Dance in the style of the 1940s, accompanied by a live orchestra.

“It’s surprising; they have many people come here that don’t understand what the Korean and Vietnam wars were,” Col. Jack Hunter (ret.), president of the Western Sky Aviation Museum, said. “They especially don’t know about the airplanes. And we have some very special and rare aircraft here on display.”

Tour organizers hope to educate all generations about the role of aviation in combat history, something about which Hunter said many young people are not aware.

The B-17 Sentimental Journey bomber and other vintage planes from the Commemorative Air Force Museum’s collection is on display at the Western Sky Aviation Museum, St. George, Utah, May 19, 2022 | Photo by Stephanie DeGraw, St. George News

The planes visiting St. George include a C-47/DC-3 Combat Legend Old Number 30, B-25 Maid in the Shade,= and B-17 Sentimental Journey.” These planes came from the Commemorative Air Force Museum’s Commemorative Air Force collection of historical military planes in Mesa, Arizona.

Keeping the history alive is an important role of the Flying Legends of Victory Tour, Hunter said. Stationed at each plane is a veteran who explains the history and missions of the aircraft.

One of the veterans on-site is Jim Ritchie, a flight engineer on the B 17 Sentimental Journey. He explained the plane has Betty Grable painted on its nose, and she was the No. 1 pin-up girl of the World War II era. The B 17 is also known as the B-17 G Flying Fortress bomber.

“The history about this plane is it was built in November of 1944,” Ritchie said. “It wasn’t accepted into the military inventory until April of ’45. So it wasn’t needed in Europe at that time.

“They sent this aircraft to the Asian theater. It ended up in the Philippines where they installed some high-tech cameras for the day in it. It did photography and mapping all over the Pacific, to the end of hostilities between Japan and the US.”

After that, Sentimental Journey, also the title of an iconic Big Band-era song, was an air-sea rescue plane for a while. And then when the government started to perform atomic tests in the Pacific, they made a mothership out of it that controlled drone aircraft. Ritchie explained the plane would fly through the atomic clouds and gather information for the scientific community.

When the military was finished with this plane and other B 17s, a company in California purchased the plane and converted it into a fire tanker aircraft, Ritchie said. The plane served in this capacity for 18 years in California and other areas in the United States. Afterward, a man bought the plane and donated it to the museum in Arizona.

“We’ve traveled around the country since 1982,” Ritchie said. “We have a beautiful museum complex with a large maintenance facility.”

Ritchie has been with the organization for about 18 years.

“This is my last cruise by giving up during the summer,” Ritchie said. “I’m actually two years older in this airplane; that makes me a few weeks ago. So my wife says it’s time to sit easy chair.”

Although Ritchie won’t be touring and flying the Sentimental Journey anymore, he plans to continue to donate his time by working on her maintenance throughout the year.

Ritchie said it is “especially humbling” to be associated with this aircraft since he was 2 years old when his father flew in combat missions.

“So it’s especially rewarding that I get to do something very similar to what my father did,” Richie said. “And it’s also a memorial to the thousands of young men who never got the chance to come home and be fathers and grandfathers.”

Another veteran of the Air Force, Jerry Washburn, gave tours of a B-25 bomber, one of the most famous airplanes of World War II. The plane was flown in the Doolittle Raid of April 18, 1942, which caused the Japanese to recall combat forces for home defense. It boosted morale among Americans and its Allies.

“The Commemorative Air Force is a nonprofit organization that we all volunteer with to inspire, educate, and remember,” Washburn said. “By inspiring new generations into aviation and educate people about this aircraft and the other aircraft during the war. And to remember those who served.”

The Commemorative Air Force members attend ground school in Mesa in the spring. They donate weeks of their time during the summer and fall during the aircraft tour, according to their website.

The Flying Legends of Victory Tour begins in June and ends in October. Three flying warbirds travel to approximately 50 cities.

Photo gallery

A rare display of World War II aircraft is at the Western Sky Aviation Museum through Sunday, St. George, Utah, May 19, 2022 | Photo provided by Gerard Dauphinais, St. George News
A rare display of World War II aircraft is at the Western Sky Aviation Museum through Sunday, St. George, Utah, May 19, 2022 | Photo provided by Gerard Dauphinais, St. George News

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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