Battlefield Europe- WWII Aircraft and Tanks in Action! - Columbus Airshow 2026

You'll also smell that acrid smoke, and if you're like me, you might actually need a new pair of pants when this big gun fires because it's gonna, it's just, it's right here at us, Mikey. I mean, holy smokes. Look at this, ladies and gentlemen. We are there. We are back there now in Europe. And I don't know, but old Eagle Eyes up there in that Sherman tank, he looks like he is zeroed in. Doug Rosenthal now in the Mustang high overhead representing our Tuskegee Airmen. Mikey, I'm not sure what's gonna happen, but I do feel it's gonna get loud. Look at Mikey. What is going to happen next? It's like a half track. I'm telling you what. Look at this. Good thing the airplanes are coming back around here from the left and the right. You can imagine one of these troops, the German half track, soon to spot that American armor in the distance. There we go. Look at this. And the B-25 and the B-51 doing their best to suppress the enemy. Shots fired again. Our B-25 needs to come back in here. Look here, Mikey. There's zeroing in on them now. There we go. A shot fired from the Sherman tank. I don't think the Germans are going to retreat. They're not going to retreat. Look at them, dug in down there, way in the other end of the runway. Absolutely dug in. They even got the M1 Carbines going. They do. You need everything you can get right there. That's Sherman. From Pennsylvania. This particular Sherman tank, the same model tank. Fires right there in your chest. The B-25 now. The machine guns, but also the bombs. It looks like it must have hit something out there. It was a machine gun, or the bombs even hit it. And the Germans are counterattacking. Returning fire. We've got smoke coming off one of the tanks, I think, as a smoke screen. Isn't it, Mikey? Firing away down there. Look at that. The Mustang up in a pinch. The Mustang straight with the Tuskegee Airmen, with the blue-nosed bastards of Botany. Remember them? A valiant group of airmen, who flew just like this Mustang is right now, down to the deck. Don't take my word for it. If you want to talk about strafing, just listen to Punchy Powell. One of the men who was actually there. Most men on the mission were strafing down that field. We lost more pilots strafing down that field than we did. And our combat was strafed at under 50 feet, which is about the height of a telephone pole. Under the height of a telephone pole, you can just imagine at this particular scenario how dangerous that would be. You could get shot by one of your own guns. We did find it normally, as you've been hearing here. We actually did get shot down. Just incredible to hear Punchy Powell. Now as these tanks continue to advance. The P-51 Mustang, flown in honor of our Tuskegee Airmen, is made a group of young men, sent down to Tuskegee, Alabama, to Boonton Field to prove that black men could not fly, but boy, did they prove them wrong. You hear the sound of this Mustang on this pass. In your heart, that that voice. You see, there's so few left. The last one just passed. I believe it was actually in combat, as you heard in here. We'll tell us later. I look back at men like Charles McGee, who we had on Warbird Radio over the years, my escort bombers. Bombers were part of the 461st. B-24s with parade crew members. By request. It's so incredibly lethal, if their Mustangs weren't terribly strong. You see those men, the 461st was their cohesive race. They had the Tuskegee Airmen up there with them. And they knew, in some small part, that those men, who they could not walk into a restaurant with back home, who they could not sit in a movie theater with side by side, they knew that those men had their back because they too were willing to fight and die for a country that, yes, they loved. The Tuskegee Airmen, a group that we owe so much to, who truly rose above the challenges that were presented to them, have gone down in history as one of the greats. And if you want to learn more about them, this airplane, dedicated to them, tells part of that story. But believe me, you have to see the rest of it. You have to go to the trailer, go to the movie theater that is here on the airfield right now, and watch the movie. For you will see Tuskegee Airmen on the screen. You'll see the men like Charles McGee, who later became one of the highest time fighter pilots with more combat missions than so many people. At one point, perhaps the most combat missions. You'll see his story. And do you remember, in the State of the Union address just a few years ago, he stood there, a frail old man, but a proud man. And when the president called his name, he stood up because earlier in that day, the president had promoted him from a Colonel Charles McGee to Brigadier General Charles McGee. And when he stood up and he saluted him, I'm telling you, there wasn't a dry eye in our house. His grandson, the next generation standing there with him. This is what your friends at the commemorative airports want you to remember. They want you to remember the sacrifices made by those. They want you not only to remember their sacrifices, but those of all the greatest generations. Those stories are being told right now behind us at the Rise Above exhibit in the trailer right behind us here. It's an air-conditioned theater where you can go learn the story of not only the Tuskegee Airmen, but the over 8,000 members of the commemorative air force who keep these airplanes flying, lest we forget. What a remarkable machine, the mighty P-51 Mustang, by request. Written on the nose right there. Watch now as Rosenthal brings it back in here for another high-speed pass. Just listen to this thing. P-40 sporting the Allison engine. The Merlin of the Mustang. By request answers your request. Love the Mustang. I love this ecstatic box, but he's only going to need a few feet right above the ground. Watch him now. The man who came here and has stayed here and has made a name for himself in the P-40, ladies and gentlemen, Tom Richard. One of the greatest things about Tom is his exuberance for life. This man just loves this country, loves this airplane. Sporting that big Allison. 12-cylinder engine, about 1,150 horses. Tom's going to need every one of them in this demonstration. Watch it now from the left. I love the Tiger Shark, and so do you. That big shark nose on the P-40, an icon. The airfoil on this thing, also an icon. I'm telling you what, they nailed it. The 22-15, I believe, on this one. Almost as iconic as the airplane itself. The third most produced American fighter right out of the Mustang, the P-47. I'll tell you, it's one of his favorites, if not the favorite, but whichever one he's flying at the time, that's the one he loves the best. If you want to go down to fly with Tom Richard, you can go on down to his home down there in South Carolinia, where he will take you not only for a flight, but he'll teach you in the T-6. It's also got a C-47 Skytrain that he can teach you in. Watch him now as he just dances with this P-40. He wears this airplane like a great pair of dancing shoes. Tom Richard flew the American Dream, the P-40. You watch Tom Richard fly this thing, and you start thinking back, back to men who not only flew the P-40, but the Mustang, and he just puts it all into perspective. A very generous man who was here earlier today, donated to him. The love for Bud Anderson and all of these incredible warriors, past, present, and future, are rolled up into the sound of this Allison engine here. Listen to this thing, and know that we stand on the shoulders of these giants. I'll tell you what, if I could go out for dinner, and sit there and sit at a table across from some of these guys again, I'd just soak it up. But you know, I think back to something that Bud Anderson was talking about, and I wanted to play this before Tom lands. Well, you know, if I close up underneath him, he can drop down on us. So I set my second element, and he starts on his landing, and I say, you chase him, and I'll go after the three. He did, and he shot him down, and then we join up later. Now we are three and eight and nine, and three is two. The last guy, I simply drive up behind him. This is a classic way you get a kill, following him, no angle off. When I'm not doing anything, I drive up behind him, get in close range, give him a good burst, got hips all over. Then he did something incredible. He rolled it over and pushed up, flying upside down. And I thought, what the hell is he doing this for? You know, maybe he thought I'd roll over and fall out. But I'm sitting there, right side up, very comfortably, and I say, too bad, I can give him another good burst of shell. Got really good hips. And then he started smoking very badly, and then fell out. I could tell, you know, he was just out of control. Nobody had the control. He goes on down. Serious business warfighting puts it all in perspective. These airplanes, ladies and gentlemen, they are just props today. They are just props telling the story. Tom Richard at the helm of the P-40. One of our first front-line fighters. Of course, made famous by men like Claire Chenault, John Allison, men who flew right at the very beginning of the war with the Flying Tigers. You're watching how Tom Richard makes his way back around here for the photo finish pass. I'll tell you, when you get a second to see this one come by here, you'll know what we're talking about. This is the Mustang, you heard it earlier. Now the Allison. Pilots, Mikey, what did you think of Tom Richard there, flying that P-40 up there? Just a work of art, really. Both the plane and the pilot. I agree. You hear the words like Bud Anderson, who flew the mighty Mustang. I'm sure Bud had his chance at a P-42 at some point. These fellas, the same people who you could walk around at an air show with, like Bunchy Powell that we heard from earlier. These men want you to know their story. You take part in this continued experiment that we call America. And keep it going. Now that whole sick age will climb with the Allison engine on board, the mighty P-40. You can just imagine.