I noticed the 2022 Gathering of Warbirds Reunion on an airshow events calendar. I decided to take a drive and check it out.
The name did seem somewhat redundant though. Isn’t a reunion a gathering of sorts?
In 1972 a warbird fly-in, The Gathering of Warbirds, was organized in Fresno, California, where it would be held for the next five years. In 1977 the event moved to Madera Municipal Airport (KMAE) where it was held for 14 years. Unfortunately, circumstances forced the show to end. In 2016 an idea for a reunion event was proposed, named the Gathering of the Warbirds Reunion, with the first reunion the following year.
The reunion is not promoted as an airshow. Instead there were airplane rides and a car show. There were close to two dozen aircraft present and around 60 cars on display for the attendees to wander among.
The big draw of the event was the Erickson Air Collection’s B-17G Flying Fortress, which dominated the tarmac. The EAC also brought its North American P-51 Mustang. Revenue flights for both aircraft kept them active throughout the day.
The Erickson Mustang flies in a generic Tuskegee Airmen scheme, while the B-17 wears the livery of “Ye Olde Pub,” an aircraft involved in one of the most famous stories from World War II.
In December 1943, Ye Olde Pub was attacked by more than a dozen enemy fighters and severely damaged while returning from a bombing mission. The crippled B-17 was met by a Luftwaffe ace who, after surveying the amount of damage and seeing the wounded crew through the torn fuselage, decided instead to escort the bomber to open water. Ye Olde Pub made it back to England safely and the two pilots would reunite 50 years later.
Impressively, there were five other P-51 Mustangs on the ramp to keep the Erickson Mustang company.
A Royal Navy Hawker Sea Fury lent an international feel to the display, while a colorful General Motors TBM-3 Avenger rounded out the combat aircraft.
Besides the frontline warbirds, training aircraft were represented by a trio of T-6/SNJ-4 Texans, a PT-17 Stearman Kaydet, and an N3N-3 “Yellow Bird.”
An unexpected surprise was seeing airshow legend Julie Clark with her polished T-34 Mentor. Julie retired from performing in airshows in 2019 after 40 years, but the smoke generators mounted on her wingtips hinted at more to come.
At the close of the reunion, the aircraft began to rumble to life for the homeward flight. Most of the warbirds performed a fly-by or two before departing, the Sea Fury doing so with smoke on.
The Gathering of Warbirds Reunion had a small town intimacy to it with friendly folks happy to chat about planes or cars or both. The setting was just the right size in that you were never too far away from anything, including taxiing aircraft.
More Photos From the Gathering
Looks like it was a great show just wish I could have been there! Keep up the good work guys because those WW2 machines are truly a beautiful sight!
Thank you.. Being the Field Announcer for the event keeps me busy but your story and photos brought me all the activities I talk about but rarely see. I am also the Executive Producer / Director of an aviation series, PILOTS, PROPS and PLANES airing locally on Valley Public Television in Fresno, Ca. ( covering the San Joaquin Valley – Bakersfield to Merced. ) We soon will be streaming nationwide and hope to have national PBS distribution by late Fall.