Prose: Ryan Tykosh
Photography: Ryan Kelly, Richard Souza, Christian Gross, James Woodard

The sun slowly begins to sink on the horizon following a blisteringly hot day in the field. The sky burns with crimson hues of reds and orange blending and giving way to dark blues and violet tints, adorned with twinkling stars. In the distant mountains, a red light appears from a Japanese pagoda as it illuminates the darkness. The greenhouse glass nose cone of a nearby B-25 bomber glows with a golden aura as it catches the last rays of sunlight, while the sound of Big Band music softly echoes through the encampment. 

If this sounds reminiscent of a scene in the Pacific during the mid 1940s, then the Mid Atlantic Air Museum has done its job. Each year on the first full weekend of June, tying into the anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the museum hosts its annual World War II Weekend event. The event itself is a collection of passionate reenactors, authentic encampments, armor, and majestic warbirds combined to pay homage to the brave souls who fought in World War II as well as illustrate to the current generation some of the sights and sounds of the 1940s war and home fronts.

Normally the activity on Saturday evening would consist of a dinner followed by a dance in the museum’s main hangar, complete with period accurate music. This night, however, would include something new to the event, as anyone looking across the field could surmise, noting the gathering of photographers, complete with tripods, spread out in front of three iconic warbirds. Thanks to the efforts of this year’s new media coordinators Tina and David F. Brown, this would be the event's inaugural night engine-run photoshoot. 

For those unfamiliar, a night runup shoot involves an aircraft illuminated by strategically placed lighting running its engine(s) up allowing photographers to capture timed exposures of the aircraft with their props spinning and, in some cases, blue flame from the exhaust stacks. If you’ve seen our work before here at Full Disc Aviation, you’d know we're big fans of these shoots. While seeing and shooting these birds in the day has its own charm, seeing them in the night setting with lighting and a watered down ramp for reflection brings on a beauty and allure all its own.

The subjects for this first night shoot belonged to the Yankee Air Museum which provided their newly painted B-25 Mitchell “Rosie’s Reply” which happens to now share a sister scheme to the MAAM’s own B-25 “Briefing Time”, and the Commemorative Air Force Dixie Wing which provided its SBD-5 Dauntless and P-51D Mustang “Old Red Nose”. As the start time for the session began, the B-25 crew encountered a hydraulic issue which would prevent the iconic bomber from safely running up its engines as planned. Luckily, this was the first subject for the shoot and with some subdued golden light glistening over the bomber’s features, photographers were more than delighted to capture some stationary images in this last bit of daylight, along with help from some incandescent lighting provided by Pete Lerro.

Next up was the iconic carrier-based dive bomber of Pacific Theater fame, the SBD-5 Dauntless. The Slow But Deadly single engine warplane is known for delivering fatal blows to Japanese Carriers during the Battle of Midway, and was a welcomed sight for guests. As the spotlights cast their glow to the Dauntless, the big radial engine chugged to life in a cloud of smoke and the classic radial rumble sounds commanded the attention of all in the immediate area. As the ground vibrated under the power of the SBD’s 1200hp engine, the prop spun catching the light beautifully, and magnificent blue and purple flame spat out of the twin exhaust stacks. Watching this beast up close, one can imagine what it must have been like with an entire squadron of SBDs readying to launch from a carrier.

Finally, the climax of the shoot was the fighter of WWII legend, the P-51D Mustang. “Old Red Nose” as this Mustang is affectionately known, is the workhorse of the CAF Dixie Wing. Throughout the weekend at any given time, one could look skyward and see Red Nose soaring above, taking a lucky passenger on the ride of their life. After the last flight of the day, Red Nose was towed into position as the ramp was wet down to provide some extra reflective properties and lighting adjusted. It was time for the powerful Rolls Royce/Packard Merlin engine to come to life; and come to life it did! After a few turns of the prop, some incredible flames spewed from the Stang’s exhaust stacks creating a spectacle in itself. A few seconds and checks later, the classic growl of the Merlin engine bellowed throughout the ramp. The Mustang is truly a thing of beauty to see up close at night. With small blue flames popping from its stacks, a gorgeous reflection in the wet ramp coupled with the silver fuselage and bright red nose paint, at some point you just have to look out from behind the camera and admire the living, breathing, work of art in front of you, in all its glory.

As the P-51 engine shut down and the propeller came to a final stop, the gathering of photographers erupted in applause at the completion of the very first night runup at World War II Weekend. The culmination of months and months of planning and preparation by the media coordinators and museum team to bring this unique experience to the Mid Atlantic Air Museum grounds had proven well worth the effort and very much a success. As I drifted back to my hotel room to relax and reflect on the night’s events, I couldn’t help but smile knowing the excitement the night would generate along with some incredible content from all of the talented photographers in attendance. The 2021 runup may have been the first of its kind for MAAM's Reading, PA show, but it most certainly will not be the last.