I’ve always heard about the Collings Foundation Wings of Freedom Tour since I was living in Boston. I never had a real opportunity to see it. It was one of those things that come into town and you tend to forget that it’s in town. I remember Greater Boston Vintage Society mentioning it a few times on the Facebook group. When I learned that Orange County was a stop on the tour, I knew I finally had to go. I took the Classy Cats team out to Santa Ana’s Lyon Air Museum on Saturday, May 14, 2017 for a few hours to see historical planes and other craft from World War II.
The Coord
The dresses are from Pinup Girl Clothing. As far as I know, they’ve been discontinued. However, I have seen them on the second hand market and they do mysteriously appear on the website from time to time. My sister and I are also wearing the victory pin from Besame Cosmetics. We are also wearing the 1941 Victory Red lipstick – great on any skintone. My sister has a paler complexion. I have a much more yellow complexion. We’re both carrying purses from Innocent World. It was pretty easy to spot us.
OMG! Matching purses!
And Jared took the liberty to Disneybound as Cassian Andor from Rogue One because he felt like Disneybounding something aviation related. If you look closely, he’s wearing a May the Fourth rebel themed pin on his lapel. The whole time we were there, he went on long rants on how he would probably be placed as a bombardier at the front.
And more photos of us being all pinup-ish.
While I’ve done a few in-studio World War II themed shoots, I’m never quite sure how to pose with the real deal. Eh, we’ll figure this one out.
Best place to get individuals of us were by the B-24J Witchcraft.
The Displays
There was a mix of cars, motorcycles, bikes, etc used during World War II at the museum.
B-17G Nine ‘o Nine. This the the one with the longest line to get into. You can fly in it for about $400.
Stan and his British paraphernalia.
B-17. One of my friends spotted this over Huntington Beach the previous day. They were also offering tours and flights.
B-25J Tondelayo – mostly seen on the tarmac.
T-6 Texan. As Jared would describe it, “She’s a sexy piece of precision and machinery.” This version is a training aircraft.
Inside of the B-24J. Very cramped spaces. Even I was regretting wearing black high heels.
And this is how you get into B-24J. Stan is just as surprised.
Another one of the B-25J as she just landed and ready for refueling.
Various Merchants, etc
Deb right by the B-25J Guardian of Freedom with an autographed copy of Nancy Robinson’s book.
Deb and a Japanese Type 99. Super light and made for short people…like Deb.
Jared and his M1 Garand. Can shoot up to 500 ft.
Another one with Deb and the Japanese Type 99.
Trying out the A1 Thompson. So heavy.
WASP uniform on display.
Overall
After having one bad experience at another World War 2 themed event, this surpassed my expectations. I came in with zero expectation. The last time I’ve seen aviation displays was when I was in 9th grade when we had some time to kill in Dayton. This was well worth the price of admission ($12) and we did spend a good part of the afternoon just looking at everything down to the details. Everyone we talked to was nice. I was also quite surprised a photographer wanted photos of Deb and I; this is the second time we’ve been approached for photos at a mid-20th century themed event. I wished my hair looked nice – quite disappointed that my curlers failed me in the morning. However, it was nice looking at all of the displays and getting my friends into learning more about history. Hope to do this again!
Many thanks to Lyon Air Museum and Collings Foundation for hosting this stop on the tour!
Written by A Miss Called Vicky (IG: @afelineofspectre)