Warbird Roundup punctuates Idaho summer

Warhawk Air Museum at the Nampa, Idaho, airport puts on an annual summer Warbird Roundup that people have come to count on for their needed dose of high-powered classic military aircraft from earlier eras.

This year’s event moved to the weekend of Aug. 12-13 to accommodate a Boise air show with the Thunderbirds scheduled on Warbird Roundup’s traditional last weekend of August. More than 3,100 people came to see — and hear — the warbirds in action.

I counted 14 warbirds flying during the two-day event, including Warhawk Air Museum’s own pair of P-40s, its P-51C Mustang, and a bright yellow AT-6 Texan.

Strong collaboration from the Planes of Fame Air Museum in California included flights by that museum’s B-25J Mitchell, F4U-1A Corsair, and P-38J Lightning.

Pilots from around the west brought other fighters, trainers, and liaison aircraft of World War II vintage.

During the noon lunch break, show visitors filled seats in one of the museum hangars to hear Bob Cardin talk about recovering a P-38 Lightning buried deep in the snows of Greenland, a daunting project that ultimately yielded a restored aircraft, known as Glacier Girl, that has flown to air shows around the U.S.

While vendors sold lunch, local vintage military vehicle owners drove a parade of their machines along the crowd line for viewing.

And then it was back for another series of warbird flights in the afternoon, with pattern altitudes and paths optimized to give the crowd the opportunity to see and hear a variety of World War II warbirds in action.

Mornings began with a pilot briefing in which details of the day’s operations, always couched with safety foremost, were presented. From the briefing one could get a sense of the professionalism and camaraderie this group of warbird pilots brings to the table.

John and Sue Paul, founders of Warhawk Air Museum, are longtime warbird operators who understand that community and provide a first-class venue for Warbird Roundup. Sue proudly says, with reasonable evidence to back her up, that Warbird Roundup “is the pilots’ and crews’ favorite show to attend.”

The same sense of friendliness and Idaho-nice welcoming extends to all who visit the show, and is a key ingredient in the museum’s success.

This year during Warbird Roundup, the museum received donations for its next expansion, which will emphasize the Post 9/11 era and the Global War on Terror in a new wing of the facility, according to Sue. That reflects Warhawk Air Museum’s mission to honor veterans of all eras, and to acknowledge the most recent groups of military members serving the United States.

For more information: WarhawkAirMuseum.