My friend Rodney forwarded an email to me that had a lot of interesting information about the air war of WW2. As I read through it I was amazed at what the US and the British did in terms of manufacturing aircraft and training air and ground crews. I went and did a little digging and found some interesting production statistics. It turns out the the B-24 Liberator was the most produced US airplane (18,188). My dad was a Liberator driver in the 15th Air Force in Italy. There were 12,726 B-17 Flying Forts built. What has always irked me is that the B-17 gets all the glory and any documentary or story of the 8th Air Force. Not that it isn't deserved, but let us not forget that the Liberators were operating in strength from England as well. So were the Lancasters and Wellingtons, of course. Now the statistic that really amazed me is that the most produced Allied aircraft of the war was the Spitfire, 33,198 produced. That is just amazing to me. Of course there were many Marks, but the basic shape of the Spitfire is unique and beautiful. So, today's photo is of the flyover at the Trooping the Colors in London in 2009. We spent the day first standing in line to watch the parade then milling about Trafalgar Square to find a nice pub for lunch. Finding a nice pub is not too hard in downtown London. One of the coolest things was the flyover. Lots of airplanes, but this was my favorite, a Lancaster escorted by a Spitfire and a Hurricane. How cool is that?

This trip to the UK was a real lot of fun. We went on a little later for a meet up with John Cooper which is one of the most interesting things we have ever done on a vacation.

I am starting to get excited about our travels this year. Can't wait to hit the road.