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Purdue Aviation Day
2024 Airshows
TBM Reunion/Salute to
Veterans Airshow Warbird Photo Review
Illinois Valley Regional Airport, Peru, IL - May 17-18, 2024 -
Photos taken Saturday May 18, 2024.
How cool is this? This is the view I had when I pulled into the
parking lot at my hotel on Friday evening. This Peru, IL water
tower is right along I-80, so all nighttime travelers on this road get
an excellent view of a TBM painted on the side. No doubt most
travelers have no idea what a TBM is, and wonder why an aircraft is
painted on the water tower.
The TBM Reunion/Salute to Veterans is the
only event of its type in the United States that is sponsored by a
municipality. Along with the funding that the City of Peru
provides, local businesses donate a matching amount plus some to cover
all the expenses of an event of this type. It is also one of the
very few events that does not charge for parking or admission.
While there are a number of aviation enthusiasts who come in from around
the country to see this warbird event, most of the persons that visit
are from the local area and come out with their families to participate
in the Veteran's event and then watch a good warbird airshow.
The TBM Reunion/Salute to Veterans is one of
the few shows I annually review each year. I do this because it
always has a wide selection of warbirds and because it is unique among
warbirds events. It is always good.
This year I am going to focus only on the
TBM operations that go on during the Saturday event. While there
were many other aircraft I could include in this review, this year I
just wanted to specifically look at what the signature TBMs for the
event do during the day.
I arrived right after 8am on Saturday
morning and set up along the crowd line. Not long afterwards this
TBM was being moved from the active ramp to a non-operating area so it
could be set up as a static display.
There is a pattern to the TBM Reunion that I
have come to recognize over the years. After 9am in the morning
there will be several TBMs that will take veterans out for a ride in the
aircraft. When I arrived at the ramp two TBMs were already taxiing
out towards the active runway.
The rider in the back seat of "Ida Red" was
a World War Two TBM veteran. The last time he rode in a TBM was in
1945.
This was the third of the TBMs that made up
the early morning flight.
"Ida Red" takes off with the TBM veteran
aboard.
When the aircraft return, the TBMs are on
static display until the afternoon airshow begins.
As part of the Salute to Veterans portion of
the event, three TBMs did a missing man formation at noon time.
Mid-afternoon, the Missouri Wing of the CAF
TBM took off and then proceeded to perform a series of low passes for
the crowd.
This is one of several high bank passes the
Missouri Wing TBM gave the crowd.
There were also some straight and level
passes with the white clouds as a background.
The grand finale each year is a simultaneous
start of the TBMs that will fly at the end of the show.
This year six TBMs took part in the grand
finale.
One by one the TBMs get in line and taxi
out.
Once airborne, the TBMs each did several
passes for the crowd.
I hope to return in the future to this one-of-a-kind warbird only event.
While this year's review focused on the TBM operations during the
Saturday event, there were many other warbirds that participated.
All of them made for a great Saturday at the airshow.
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