Warbirds, the 2025 Fall Commemorative Fly in at Rockport, Texas

For the past three years, the Commemorative Air Force has held a fall fly in at the Rockport, Texas Airport.

Several days before the start date, old war planes begin to fly overhead of our Rv Park. Being near the airport it’s fun to see the old biplanes.

While we have seen many of the planes before there were three warbirds that I was especially interested in seeing. These were the F4F Wildcat, the F6F Hellcat, and the SBD Dauntless Dive Bomber.

The F4F Wildcat had borne the brunt of aerial combat during the first part of the Pacific battles during World War Two. It was inferior to the Japanese Zero, especially if it tried to turn inside the Japanese Fighter. The development of the F6F Hellcat changed things as that plane had a kill ratio of 19:1.

A Parachute jump was supposed to take place, but it didn’t happen while we were there. The wind was gusting thirty miles per hour, and it wasn’t safe for the jumpers. However, inside the hanger a display was set up showing the gear carried by the Paratroopers. My Uncle Manly was a Paratrooper during World War Two and fought at Bastogne.

Another display inside the hanger was of the women who delivered the warbirds. The military didn’t allow women to fly combat missions until 1993 over Bosnia. The first three women were not identified until much later.

In the picture of the equipment table, you can see a foldable M1 Garand that was hated by the Paratroopers. There was a display table loaded with gear including a mess tin, (the mess tin of a paratrooper consisted of one large spoon). It was a fun but hot day under the sun, something that we just aren’t used to, (we live in Wyoming). Renita and I had no interest in flying in planes older than we are, (you may purchase a ride in many of them). Thank you to all who worked to make the fly-in a success. It’s great to be able to see examples of living history, Clear skies