Royal Air Force Centenary Celebration, Washington DC

[tdracer]

Just saw this in an email from the Historic Flight Foundation (one of three nice aircraft museums at Paine Field in Everett, WA.
Figure some of you would find it of interest:

Update: Royal Air Force Centenary Celebration
April 12-19, Washington, D.C.
At the request of the British Embassy, B-25 "Grumpy" will depart Paine Field for Manassas, Virginia on April 12th to participate in American recognition of the RAF Centenary. A large assemblage of airworthy RAF-flown aircraft will base there for formation practice on April 14th. These include the Stearman, Bulldog, Chipmunk, piston Provost, Spitfire, Mustang, Hurricane, jet Provost, Mitchell and Lancaster. The Udvar Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum will host these aircraft during an all-day RAF 100 program on April 15th. Joining the RAF fleet at Dulles will be an F-35 and P-8 representing the modern era. On the 16th, the RAF 100 fleet will divide into four formations for passes over the U.S. Air Force Memorial, that day dedicated to the RAF for its ceremonies. Finally, on April 17th, the grand finale will be staged at the National Air and Space Museum on the Capitol Mall. Interested? Join us for an informational meeting at HFF on Tuesday, March 13th at 7 p.m. Please RSVP with Vanessa Dunn at 425.348.3200.

[PEI_3721]

‘... assemblage of airworthy RAF-flown aircraft ...’

Harrier ?

[Timelord]

That is very gracious of the United States. Thank you.

[jolihokistix]

Agreed. That sounds wonderful.

[GlassCollector]

If you google "Great British Fly In at Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum" or words to that effect, you'll find some more info. I'm not allowed to post URLs yet!

[oldmansquipper]

Wonderful gesture. Thank you to 'the colonies' 😊

[morton]

Deleted as not relevant. Thanks Lonewolf 50.

[Lonewolf_50]

Please be advised that it is at the Udvar-Hazy center in Chantilly (out near Dulles Airport) and not in the A&S museum in Washington DC proper.

For Glass Collector, here is the link (https://airandspace.si.edu/events/great-british-fly-in).

While you are at the Udvar-Hazy center, take a look at the space shuttle they have on display.

[NutLoose]

Enjoy performances from the RAF Band and drill displays from the Queens Colour Squadron.

Looks like we will have a presence

Pull up a sandbag time too

Listen to talks by RAF officers about the history of the Royal Air Force and RAF aircraft.

[ORAC]

Listen to talks by RAF officers about the history of the Royal Air Force and RAF aircraft.

https://youtu.be/8UlaAHdcRMg

[dragartist]

Please be advised that it is at the Udvar-Hazy center in Chantilly (out near Dulles Airport) and not in the A&S museum in Washington DC proper.

For Glass Collector, here is the link (https://airandspace.si.edu/events/great-british-fly-in).

While you are at the Udvar-Hazy center, take a look at the space shuttle they have on display.

Yes Lonewolf I was not impressed by the cardboard space shuttle. Have they got a proper one yet? I wanted to see the Horton but it was in restoration. Lots of other interesting things to see. Bit like Duxford only Bigley.

[Innominate]

Presumably "Cardboard" in the sense that Enterprise didn't go into orbit?

[Airbubba]

Please be advised that it is at the Udvar-Hazy center in Chantilly (out near Dulles Airport) and not in the A&S museum in Washington DC proper.

It appears that a flyby of the National Mall was planned for April 17:

Finally, on April 17th, the grand finale will be staged at the National Air and Space Museum on the Capitol Mall.

On April 15th the Udvar-Hazy facility of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum will feature airworthy examples of twenty types at one time flown by the RAF including the B-25, Spitfires, Mustangs, Hurricanes and a Lancaster bomber from Canada. On the 16th, these aircraft will fly in formation over the memorial of the U.S. Air Force, that day adapted for use by the Royal Air Force. The following day (permissions pending), the formations will fly down the Potomac, abeam the White House and along the Smithsonian Mall toward the Capitol.

Historic Flight (http://historicflight.org/hf/)

Since the Mall is in P-56A, approval has to go through the Secret Service as well as the FAA.

A memorable warbird flyover of the National Mall occurred in 2015, hope the Brits can do it again. :ok:

Contrary to 9-11 conspiracy theory, the Pentagon is not in P-56A as you can see from this DCA web page:

DCA Reagan National - Aircraft Procedures | Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (http://www.flyreagan.com/dca/dca-reagan-national-aircraft-procedures)

[tdracer]

Yes Lonewolf I was not impressed by the cardboard space shuttle. Have they got a proper one yet?
I wanted to see the Horton but it was in restoration. Lots of other interesting things to see. Bit like Duxford only Bigley.

The "Enterprise" was far from cardboard - although not flight worthy it was used for the glider return testing (where it was released from the specially modified 747 shuttle carrier and allowed to glide back). Further, during the investigation of the Columbia re-entry disaster they robbed parts from the Enterprise for ballistic testing of the carbon leading edge pieces.

But more to your question, Udvar-Hazy now has the Discovery Shuttle - the Enterprise has been re-located to the Intrepid museum in NYC.
FWIW, I've visited a huge number of aviation museums, and I'd rate Udvar-Hazy as the best. The USAF Museum in Dayton would be a close second, with a large gap to the rest (the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in downtown Washington DC would probably be next best...)

[Davef68]

‘... assemblage of airworthy RAF-flown aircraft ...’

Harrier ?

No airworthy RAF flown Harriers

[chopper2004]

No airworthy RAF flown Harriers

There are two airworthy Brit Harriers in the USA sadly ex FAA FA/2 and T8 owned by ex USMC AV-8B driver - Art Nalls

Nalls Aviation ? The World's ONLY Civilian Harrier! (http://artnalls.com/)

cheers

[India Four Two]

A friend of mine is planning to fly 800 nm in his Chipmunk to participate. That’s nine hours each way! Dedication or what?