My son and I headed up to New Symnra Beach to visit American Aero Sevices to watch the departure of the Collings Foundation’s B-24 Liberator “Witchcraft” and TF-51 Mustang “Toulouise Nuts” for the Florida leg of the 2020 “Wings of Freedom” tour. Always a great treat to see these planes fly but the amount of work going on at American Aero was surprising and good to see.

Lets start off the departing aircraft, the B-24 Liberator “Witchcraft” and TF-51 Mustang “Toulouise Nuts”. These aircraft just finished their winter maintenance and were heading to Deland, to start doing flights and ground tours. Flights are available across the state and dates can be found here.

      

Another aircraft getting maintenance, is the EAA’s B-17 “Aluminum Overcast”.

A lot of fighter maintenance going on in the hangar, with American Airpower Museum’s FG-1D Corsair and the Collings Foundation’s TP-40 being worked on, along with the rebuild of the Collings Foundation’s P-51C, which is formerly known as “Betty Jane” being redone as P-51B “The Stars Look Down”.

      

   

Trying videos for the first time, so lets see how these walk-arounds come out.

 

Navy bombers were in attendance  on the ramp as well, including the Heritage Flight Foundation’s TBM-3E and Charles Lynch’s TBM 3U “She’s The Boss”

Not sure who’s Fairchild Pt-19 this belongs to, but the wood work details are amazing.

The Collings Foundation’s B-25 “Tondelayo” was parked on the ramp along with a C-54 that homesteads at American Aero.

Lastly, this would look awesome in my office!

Great Day at American Aero Services!

The Liberty Foundation will be touring Florida with the B-17 “Ye Olde Pub” and a P-51 to various sites in Florida in January and February of 2020. The aircraft are part of the Erickson collection and leased to the Liberty Foundation.

Dates are as follows:

Jan 25-26, Jacksonville, FL, B-17 & P-51 RIDES

Feb 01-02, The Villages, FL (Leesburg International), B-17 & P-51 RIDES

Feb 08-09, Tallahassee, FL, B-17 & P-51 RIDES

Feb 15-16, Pensacola, FL B-17 & P-51 RIDES

Ground tours and flight will be available. For flights, call the Tour Coordinator at 678-589-7433.

After a few years of restoration, the Valiant Air Command’s TBM Avenger undertook a major step forward by returning to flight on Saturday. Congratulations to all involved in making this happen.