FLYING HIGH FOR AMERICA
Story and photography
by Margaret & Eric Anderson
Data courtesy Flying Leatherneck Museum
Once those planes were powerful war machines, gutsy defenders of America, but now their glory lies in the past. They've done their duty and have surely earned their rest even if they stand somewhat forlornly in the San Diego sun. However, the forty-one airplanes in the MCAS Miramar Flying Leatherneck Museum (which range from World War II to present-day jet aircraft) don't need your concern. They constitute America's only Marine Corps Aviation museum - and like Marines themselves - are proud to have been part of our country's history.
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 | San Diego, in turn, is proud to have the Marines amongst us even as we grumble sometimes about the noise of aircraft overhead. After September 11, we stopped bitchin' and searched the skies for the F/A-18 Hornets and the Sea Knights and Super Stallions with a more paternal eye. "Those guys up there are our guys," we thought and prayed for their safety. |
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 | They are our guys; the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar supports the 3d Marine Aircraft Wing, the aviation spearhead of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force triad. "The world of Marine Corps aviation is an endless story of courage and sacrifice and achievement," says Tom O'Hara, the Flying Leatherneck Museum director/curator "There's no better place than our aviation museum to see the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat more vividly depicted." |
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| The museum building is worth a quick look but the attractions lie beyond scattered in a loosely-configured circle. The FM-2 Wildcat is first up. The Grumman Wildcat along with the Brewster Buffalo was the first line fighter of the USMC at the beginning of WW II. It was flown by Marine pilots at Wake Island, Midway, and Guadalcanal. Wildcat pilots were awarded eight Medals of Honor -- more than any earned in any other single engine fighter. (Marine Wildcat squadrons are credited with shooting down 562 enemy aircraft.) With a Pratt & Whitney 1200 horsepower engine it was quite a performer: the Wildcat had a top speed of 320 mph, a service ceiling of 35,600 feet and a range of 925 nautical miles. |
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Alongside is the TBM-3E Avenger built, like the museum's Wildcat, by the same gang that gave us our 1960 Impala -- General Motors. GM took over construction of the Avenger and Wildcat when Grumman moved on to develop the F6F Hellcat. In all 9,836 Avengers were built. The Avenger took a beating when first used at the Battle of Midway; only one in six made it to the end of the day. The Avenger saw its most useful service as a torpedo bomber and in antisubmarine surveillance. Its Wright 1900 hp engine gave it a maximum speed of 276 mph but it could range 1,010 nautical miles. One of its best known pilots was former president George Bush, father of George W.
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