Evening star., 1949-01-20
70O-PIane Armada
converges on Capital
;For Inaugural Show
By W. n. Shippen, Jr.

- An estimated 700 aircraft of many
Stypes. ranging from the worlds
biggest bombers to jet fighters, were
seonverging on Washington today
as4or the largest parade of air power
ever witnessed here.
1. The Capitol will be the target"
5@.9or bombers, fighters, flying boats,
.apatrol planes, carrier types and
+ transports of the Air Force, Navy
and Marines from virtually every
Estate east of the Mississippi and
.tas far west as Texas and California
.g.s The aerial review is scheduled to
begin at lis pm, led of by a
ssAight of six-engined B-36s Of the
..5th Bomb Wing from Carswell
Air Force Base, Fort Worth.
The long range giants are expected
: Ito make the round trip without
landing.
T. Gen. Ramey to Lead.
=, With ceiling and visibility un-
.1.Imited, brilliant spectacle is ex-
.pected when the military planes
form their teams for a run over
washington at between $500 and
,o00-feet altitude.
t.. t.. The Air Force show will be led
by Maj. Gen. Roger Ramey, COM
s.mander OF the 9th Air Force, with
:Theadquarters at Fort Worth. He
will be riding in one of seven long
rvsfange B-36s now en- route here.
S--s - The heavy bombers were to
Rendezvous over Chincoteague Is
ssland and form their units for the
t-sweep over Washington by way OF
=. North Beach, Md. The ground
= sscommander for the air parade will
.sbe Col. Dave Schilling, famed ace,
..swho last summer led the first
S-United States jet fighters to cross
the Atlantic. Col. Schilling is now
attached to the plans and opera
tions section of the Air Force at
the Pentagon.
About 178 Air Force planes were
to pass in review during the first
half hour, turning above the Capt.
.tol TO sweep across the District over
the parade route.
Four Waves or Flames.
y Next will come Navy, Marine and |
Naval Air Reserve planes in four
waves, some 215 in all, followed
during the third half-hour interval
by up to 800 Air National Guard
fighters.
= The units of the armada will fol-
low a precision time schedule SINH
iar to those in combat. The show,
scheduled to end at 2:45 pm. will
be directed by Air Force officers
from a control tower erected on the
Standard Oil Co. Building at Sec
ond street and Constitution ave-
hue NV.
A radio beacon and an air-to-
ground radio communication CEN
ter, like those used to control air
transports on the Berlin air lift,
have been installed.
The planes will return to their |
bases after passing over the Capitol.
the White House and parade dis
persal point in the vicinity of Wash
ington Circle.
Two Groups Of superforts.
The Air Force show will include
two groups Of Superfortresses, one
from MacDill base at Tampa, Fla.
and the other from Castle base at
Merced, Calf, totaling about so
bombers.
Other units will be fight of 4S
Twin Mustangs from Kearney,l
Nebr.; about so jet Shooting Stars
sfrom Andrews Air Force Base,
Camp Springs, Md, Selfridge Air
Force Base, Mount Clements, Mich,
and Langley Air Force Base, Hamp-
ton, Va.
Another feature of the air parade
will be several formations of C-82
Flying BoXcar transports from
Smyrna Air Force Base in Tennes-
see. The Air Force also is providing
.television. neWsreel and still pic
ture services.
The Navy contingent will include
20 TBM Avengers, "a F8F Bearcats
and eight Skyraiders from Quonset
Point, r. l.; six four r-engined TB4-
W Privateers, six Neptune B2V pa
troll bombers, six PPM Mariner sea-
planes and Mariner amphibians
sfrom Norfolk, Va, and "a Mauler
dive-borbers and 16 Corsairs from
Jacksonville, Fla.
300 Air Guard Planes.
: The Marines based at Cherry
Point, N. c., are to send 4S Corsairs,
s16 Hellcats, 8 Phantom twin jet
s.hghters and Tigercats, while the
sNaval Air Reserve unit at Anacostia
will have six Corsairs and eight |
storpedo bombers in the parade.
: Some 300 Air National Guard
gplanes from the District and %
Estates are to take part in the re-
sview, it was announced at the Pen
stagon yesterday.
s The following States will be rep
Presented by air National Guard
ssquadrons: Alabama, Connecticut,
) Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana,
sKentucky, Maine, Maryland, Mas
4sachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi,
New Hampshire. New Jersey, North
eCarolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South
sCarolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Vir-
sginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.