The Air Zoo - The Original Angry Birds

So I took the shuttle to the Flight Innovation Center which is now the main museum.  The Flight Discovery Center is where you park the plane and is where the original museum was until it expanded, and its where they do restorations - much more on that later.

 After you pay your admission fee, you walk in the Flight Innovation Center.

There as you walk in, you can see the original Angry Birds:

A P-38 Lightning.  Hanging from the roof, this twin engine fork-tailed devil struck fear into its enemies' hearts and had such storied missions as the interception and shoot-down of Admiral Yamamoto,

A Bell P-39Q Airacobra.  

Not having a turbo-charged engine hampered its high-altitude performance and it was not liked by US pilots. But, the Soviets in World War 2 on the other hand loved them for low-level fighting and ground attack missions that were common on the Eastern front, and over 60% of P-39s were sent to the USSR.

A B-25J Mitchell.  Because you can never have enough .50 caliber machine guns. This one, part of the 498th Bomber Squadron  (the "Fighting Falcons") was setup as a strafing attack bomber and has 18 fifty cals mounted, with 14 of them facing forward to fire on strafing runs.  Note the P-40 angry bird to the side as well.

Then there was much more to see in just the first room of the museum.

Rare Warbirds Of A Feather Fly Together

Yes, the P-38, P-51 and P-47 didn't take to the skies alone. They flew in formation together, alongside a B-17, in a sight few now living have beheld before. Click any photo to embiggen and get a taste of the experience.

Here the P-51 and P-47 fly close escort for the B-17.

A view from the front:

And Below:

Simply fantastic.

The P-38 Lightning

A rare sight, the P-38L Lightning "Ruff Stuff" made an appearance at Thunder Over Michigan.

The twin-engine, twin-tailed Lockheed P-38 was one of the more successful fighter designs of World War 2.

With a top speed of 414 mph, and the reliability of twin engines, she made many an American ace, including the top scoring aces Richard Bong, Thomas McGuire, as well as Robin Olds, the last pilot in the ETO flying the P-38 to make ace.

On The ground she was majestic. But in the air, simply awesome....

This is the best shot of the P-38 I took (click to embiggen as they say):

 These ones aren't bad either:

Of the 9,923 P-38s delivered to the US Army Air Force in World War 2, but a handful remain flying today.