20 Pilots Flew Vintage Planes over The Bay for Memorial Day
By Tony Hicks, Bay City News Foundation
Northern California aviation fans were treated Sunday to Memorial Day weekend flyovers by the Memorial Squadron USA, a nonprofit group of about 20 pilots flying vintage aircraft used for events commemorating members of the U.S. military, living and deceased.
Taking off from the Livermore Municipal Airport around 12:30 p.m., the pilots flew 1,000 feet over Concord’s Buchanan Field, 500 feet over the runway at Travis Air Force Base in Solano County, 500 feet over the Sacramento Valley National Veteran’s Cemetery, 500 feet over the U.S.S. Hornet in Alameda, 1,000 feet over Alameda’s Coast Guard Island, then 1,000 feet over the Lafayette Hillside Veteran’s Memorial in Lafayette.
On Monday, the U.S.S. Hornet Sea, Air and Space Museum host a Memorial Day event from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be a socially distanced ceremony and wreath toss at 11 a.m. The Swingin’ Blue Stars will perform on the pier near the museum with vendors nearby, including the California Historical Radio Society, which will have vintage radios for sale. The Walking Ghosts of Black History will host a small exhibition in the hangar bay that spotlights aviation pioneer Jesse Brown.
The Memorial Squadron flies over then USS Hornet in Alameda, Calif. on Sunday May 30, 2021. Memorial Squadron primary mission is supporting US Military Veterans, living and deceased. We perform flybys for Veteran’s and Veteran’s charities. (Ray Saint Germain/Bay City News)
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