On November 17, 2009, the teachers in the TAHG will go to Craig Municipal Airport in Arlington to attend the event entitled “Aviation Day”.  We will be treated to “living history” in the form of an actual working fighter aircraft from World War II, a P-51 Mustang. 

The owner and pilot, David Marco, will give us an extremely informative and interesting history of the plane and its effect on the outcome of World War II.  During his presentation to the teachers, Mr. Marco will talk about how the aircraft’s designers incorporated technology that is being touted as “new” technology today: laminar flow wings, double overhead cam-shafts, and the reduction of “cooling drag”, which prevented the plane from having any cooling drag whatsoever up to 300 miles per hour due to a “jet propulsion effect”.   Also, during his talk, Mr. Marco will detail the history of the aircraft's effect on the outcome of World War II: before the introduction of the Mustang, the Americans had no fighter that could escort the bombers and their crews all the way to Germany and back, therefore, with the bombers being on their own with no protection, the Germans shot down so many B-17 and B-24 bombers that the Americans seriously thought about discontinuing daylight bombing as losses were becoming too high to sustain.  The Germans had previously stopped the British from using more accurate daylight bombing, due to the heavy losses the British suffered.  After the P-51’s arrival and benefitting from the protection the fighter afforded, the bomber losses fell drastically.  It was not until the advent of the P-51 Mustang that the Allies were able to achieve air superiority and eventually air supremacy over the Germans during World War II.  When Reichsmarschall Herman Goering, the head of the Luftwaffe, saw B-17s flying over Berlin in early 1944 escorted by P-51 Mustangs, he said out loud, “The war is lost!”  This was the impact of the P-51 Mustang.

David Marco will also treat our group to a fly-by.  This will be very exciting and give all of us a window into what it must have been like to pilot a Mustang.  The plane is absolutely beautiful and performs like the horse it is named after; it is quite fast at 440 miles per hour, and has a sound that is incredibly unique due to its Packard Merlin engine putting out between 1650 and 3550 horse power, depending on altitude and engine settings.

Following are several comments from this event that were shared by teachers from this event last year: 

• “Absolutely awesome program!!”
• “Awesome local/global history! Thank you! I loved the WWII and aviation history”
• “Great authenticity and opportunity to see real history and how it impacts real lives.  My students will love this!  Thanks for a great outing.  Looking forward to more.”
• “Thanks for sharing your time and a timeless aircraft with us Saturday.  It didn’t occur to me at the time that the last time I had been so close to a P-51 was around the summer of ’66. This was an exciting day that I will cherish dearly.  I didn’t think back in ’66 it would be 42 years before I would feel this way again.”

I hope all of you will make the next event!!!!!!!!
Phil