Wheels & Warbirds

from Lone Star Magazine - Issue 10

by Lone Star - Official LSRPCA Magazine

KEMAH BOARDWALK CONCOURS 2022

Wheels & Warbirds

Vintage Porsches & Warcrafts

WHEELS &

WARBIRDS

WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY ALEX BESZTERDA

The line of Porsches stretched far into the distance before holding the morning safety debrief at the gates of West Houston Airport, which lead to the hangers of the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) – Houston Wing. This was Warbird Weekend and the Lone Star Region Porsche Club members were eager to see the historic bombers, fighter planes, and combat vehicles on display.

Warbird Weekend, held on April 30th and May 1st this year, is an open house event and mini-airshow presenting some of the finest vintage military aircraft in the world. Several car clubs support the Houston Wing CAF including the Porsche club, which hosted the car show this year alongside the incredible aircraft being showcased. The really cool vintage warplanes parked next to LSRPCA members’ Porsches presented some truly unique photo opportunities.

THE LONE STAR REGION PORSCHE CLUB MEMBERS WERE EAGER TO SEE THE HISTORIC BOMBERS, FIGHTER PLANES, AND COMBAT VEHICLES ON DISPLAY.

[ LONE STAR MAGAZINE : WHEELS & WARBIRDS ]

But why display modern and classic Porsche cars next to vintage airplanes? Interestingly, there is a connection between Porsche and aviation that stretches back before the start of the sports car brand. Ferdinand Porsche, early in his career as a technical director at Daimler-Motoren-Gessellschaft, designed a four-cylinder engine for a gas-balloon airship and even after Porsche started his own company he continued to develop new aircraft engines. Notably after his passing, Porsche designed the Type 678 engine, the first German post-war aircraft engine, based largely on the 356 automobile engines. Porsche aircraft engines were the power plant for several airplanes throughout the 1980’s such as the Cessna 182, and the Porsche PFM 3200 aircraft engine still enjoys cult status among sport pilots today.

For the LSRPCA members, the event started as a parade style procession with car photos taken in front of two World War II bombers (thanks to the photo skills of Porsche club member Zerin Dube and Houston Wing CAF event photographer Kevin Hong). The co-headliner bombers featured were the iconic B-17 Flying Fortress Texas Raiders and the B-25 PBJ-1J Devil Dog.

The B-17 Flying Fortress was a four-engine heavy bomber developed in the 1930’s and used extensively in the daylight strategic bombing campaigns of World War II. First restored by volunteers of the CAF in the 1960’s (as a memorial to Texas aviators who served), Texas Raiders is one of only 5 remaining active flying B-17s out of 12,731 that were made and is one of the most widely recognized and famous Flying Fortresses on the airshow circuit today. Currently the Texas Raiders is cared for by the Gulf Coast Wing of the CAF out at the Conroe/North Houston Regional Airport.

The PBJ, as the B-25 was designated when used by the US Marine Corps, was used for “night-heckling”, anti-shipping missions or

close air support of beachheads and landings during World War II. Based on the B-25 Mitchell medium range bomber the Marine Corps’ PBJs flew mostly low altitude missions, thus the standard glass of the nosecone/bombardier position was unnecessary and replaced with a solid nose armed with up to 8 x .50 caliber machine guns. The Devil Dog is based out of Georgetown, Texas and cared for by Devil Dog Squadron of the CAF.

Apart from the bombers, another crowd favorite was the P-51D Mustang fighter plane Glamorous Glen III. The P-51 Mustang was primarily a long-range escort fighter and also a ground attack fighterbomber, participating in World War II and the Korean War. The fast and sleek fighter plane certainly looked glamorous, especially next to what could be described as a Porsche fighter jet on wheels, the black Porsche 918 Spyder. Though this year’s Warbird Weekend preceded the release of the blockbuster movie Top Gun, Maverick, fans perhaps knew from the trailer that a P-51 and a Porsche 911S make appearances in that movie.

The Warbird Weekend also featured live history re-enactors from the 6th Cavalry dressed in authentic uniforms and driving period ground vehicles while local vocal artist Maria Thorne sang Big Band standards of the 1940s. There was also a stunning commemorative fly-by which included the missing man formation. Though the day was hot, this was truly a fun and unique event for the LSRPCA to be a part of. A BIG thank you goes out to the Houston Wing CAF (www.houstonwing.org) for hosting the Porsche club and to all the volunteers and organizers that made this event possible.

Check out more info on the B17 Texas Raiders at

www.b17texasraiders.org and the B-25 PBJ Devil Dog at www.devildogsquadron.com J