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A Real Wingding
‘Flying Proms’ combines passions for vintage airplanes and music
By Jim Ducibella
[Editor’s note: Boomer’s Wheels story takes a departure into the air for a Wings story this issue. A more grounded Wheels returns next issue.]
The two of you have seen every movie since Cleopatra. You’ve sampled every ethnic cuisine except that new Siberian restaurant featuring blubber bisque. Your partner adores the symphony. You’ve got this thing for aviation and World War II fighter planes.
If only there was some event that combined your passions.
There is.
 FIRST “PROMS” OUTSIDE THE U.K. OR NEW ZEALAND
It’s called a “Flying Proms,” and the first one ever staged outside of Britain and New Zealand will be held on Saturday, May 7, at the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach as part of the 15th annual Virginia Arts Festival. Short for the “Promenade Concerts,” the proms are a series of classical music concerts that have taken place every summer in London since 1895.
Starting at 3 p.m., visitors can enter the 120-acre rural complex in Virgina Beach and tour a 65,000-square-foot museum that houses one of the world’s largest collections of Navy and Army Air Corps (now Air Force) flying planes from the first half of the 20th century.
Near dusk, patrons can spread out over a grassy area, enjoy food and drink, and watch a six-to-nine-plane aerial show accompanied by a 45-minute, Boston Pops-type performance by the Virginia Symphony. After sunset and the planes have been parked, the symphony will perform a second 45-minute set of well-known patriotic tunes.
BRITISH TRADITION, AMERICAN STYLE
“For someone who likes airplanes and loves music, it’s unbelievable,” said Gerald Yagen, pilot and owner of the Military Aviation Museum. “It’s basically an air show and an outdoor concert put together. They hold one of these a year in New Zealand and maybe three or four in the U.K. That’s it.”
Eighteen months ago, Yagen and his wife, Elaine, traveled to the northern countryside of London to see the Shuttleworth collection of planes and its show, a beloved British tradition. Spectators arrived early, looked over the planes, staked out spots in front of the grandstand, and were captivated by both the air show and the London Symphony’s performance, which concluded with fireworks.
“We’ve stolen all of the good ideas,” Yagen said, laughing, “and there were no bad ideas.”
Yagen has submitted a list of suggested songs to the Arts Festival. The symphony will make the final selections, after which pilots and performers will rehearse to synchronize their efforts.
 YAGEN’S WWII AIRCRAFT ADD TO THE UNIQUENESS
Yagen began collecting WWII aircraft about 15 years ago and now owns dozens. He’s even built entire WWII-era planes from parts exhumed from other crashed aircraft.
“All of these planes are extremely valuable and very rare,” he said.
That antiquity only adds to the uniqueness of the show, and Yagen is convinced that Virginia Beach is the ideal venue.
“In May, the temperatures are starting to warm,” he said. “It’s shoulder season, so Virginia Beach hotel rates are low. If it works this year, we’d like to do it again next year, and then start to put it on at a regular date.”IB
Jim Ducibella is a former sports writer for The [Norfolk] Virginian-Pilot newspaper and a media member of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. Ducibella, who now writes Internet articles for the College of William & Mary’s communications office, has written recent Boomer feature stories on Virginia Tech assistant football coach Bud Foster, Secretariat and Colonial Williamsburg Christmases.
Remarkable Journeys
This Mark IX Spitfire has belonged to the Brits, who gave it to the Italians, who sold it to the Israelis, but it ended up on a playground, then it went to FedEx but then …
Gerald Yagan’s favorite World War II aircraft to fly?
The Mark IX Spitfire.
Yagen’s has a fascinating, if convoluted, history.
It was flown by the British off the coast of Sicily and up the Anzio beachhead during WWII. It was given to Italy after its surrender as part of the Allied effort to rebuild the Italian air force. The Italians sold it to a new nation called Israel, which used it in its air force until it could obtain jets, then relegated the Spitfire to a technical school for mechanic training. Somehow, it wound up in a kibbutz in northern Israel, where children used it as a playground toy.
It was purchased by a Brit who subsequently sold it to Fred Smith, a pilot and founder of Federal Express. Smith paid to have the plane restored but ordered it to be sold before he ever took it airborne when his entire board of directors convinced him it could be bad for business if he were killed in a plane crash.
Yagen bought it about 10 years ago.
He calls it exceedingly maneuverable. “It is the most fun airplane and the most satisfying airplane to fly for a pilot,” he said. “It is a living piece of history.”
– Jim Ducibella
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