See the photos of the 2007 Flyover

Located 32 miles north of San Francisco Ca in Sonoma Valley Wine Country, Petaluma California is a quaint little town with a special appeal for tourists. A historic riverfront town founded in 1852 the city of Petaluma still features an old fashioned downtown sector with blocks of 19th Century buildings. As is often the case with established towns of this nature, patriotism still runs high in Petaluma and the spirit is particularly evident every November 11th when the local American Legion Post 28 hosts it's very colorful Northbay Veterans Day Parade. The parade usually includes up to 80 units and over 800 individual participants.

First celebrated in the United States as Armistice Day on Nov 11,1919 to commemorate the end of World War One, and still observed as armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world. Congress declared November 11th, a legal United States national holiday in 1938, but since world War One didn't turn out to be "the war to end all wars" after all, it was designated as Veterans Day in 1954 to honor the veterans of all the nations wars.

A highlight of this years Petaluma Veterans Day Parade was a warbird fly-over and antique aircraft fly in, organized by Kent Carlomagno (Yak-11 owner/pilot and president of the Yak Fighter Pilots Association) and Steve Kemmerle (American Legion Post 28 Commander), the Experimental Aircraft Association and the Petaluma Veterans American Legion. Although a frequent tradition of past parades, a successful fly over in Northern California in the month of November can be a difficult thing to accomplish. Veterans Day in Petaluma often coincides with rainy weather, with three of the past seven efforts to put on the annual fly-over having been scrubbed because of bad weather. The 2005 fly-over was cancelled because of rain and in 2006 rainy weather once again prevailed in the morning of the Veterans Day Parade, keeping away many of the anticipated participants. Fortunately, some of the 2006 participants did arrive on the day before the parade, and the clouds did part in time for those on hand to put on some impressive flyovers above the downtown parade route and over the airport. This year rain once again blanketed the area on the day before the fly over but the following morning did dawn bright and clear. So while the weather did limit the participation again, some last minute arrivals did join up with a few early arrivals and resident warbirds to still put on a fairly impressive display.

Warbirds taking part in the fly-overs included four North American p-51D Mustang fighters, three North American T-28 Trojan advanced trainers, two Yak 11 fighter trainers, three Nanchang CJ-6 and one Yak 52 basic trainers. Also on the Petaluma Airport ramp and active during the day were a pair of Boeing N2S/PT-17 Kaydet primary trainers, a Rumanian IAR-823, a Yak-18 trainer and an assortment of local classic aircraft. Besides seeing the aircraft in action over the parade route, many Petaluma residents came out to the airport for a close up view of the warbirds and to watch the departures of the visiting aircraft at the end of the day.

In addition to organizing and sponsoring the warbird participation, Carlomagno and Kemmerle also hosted a dinner for the participants at the local American Legion hall on the evening before Veterans Day. Among the honored guests at the dinner were Pearl Harbor survivor Herb Louden, U.S. Navy Hellcat ace Commander Ralph Foltz and retired U.S. Air Force General George A. Eade.

A 3rd Class Pharmacist Mate aboard the hospital ship U.S.S. Solace during the Pearl Harbor attack on Dec 7, 1941, Louden helped to rescue survivors from the waters of Pearl Harbor and treated the injured. He noted that one injured individual was also shot thru the back while being picked up from the water but the bullet which lodged in his heart went unnoticed amongst his other injuries for 138 days before it was discovered and removed. Of the 450 patients treated aboard the Solace Louden reported that the eventual mortality rate was 3 percent. Since 2.5 million units of penicillin were used in treating patients, Louden claimed the hospital ship got off more shots than any of the battleships on that day!

After initially training for combat in the Brewster F2A Buffalo, Foltz went into combat flying the Gruman F6F Hellcats aboard the U.S.S. Essex. He was eventually credired with five aerial victories including two Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters and a Kawasaki Ki 61 Hien on July 2, 1944. He noted "We fired at a lot more, but the bastards wouldn't go down!" Foltz went on to fly jets in the Navy in the post war years, including the McDonnell F3H Demon. On the morning of the 2007 Veterans Day Parade Fly over Foltz flew along in the backseat of Carlomagno’s Yak 11 during a formation practice flight.

During World War Two General Eade flew Douglas C-47 Skytrains operationally and also test flew one of the first U.S. Army Air Force P-51 Mustangs in the European Theatre of Operations.
On the day of the 2007 Petaluma Veterans Day Parade fly-over World War two U.S. Army Airforce ace Colonel James B. Morehead, showed up at Petaluma Airport to see the warbirds in action. Flying Curtiss P-40 Warhawks in the Pacific theatre of operation Morehead scored his first two victories during the battle for Java and added five more victories over Japanese aircraft during the defense of Darwin. Later on Morehead served another tour of combat duty in the Mediterranean, claiming one more victory while flying Lockheed p-38 Lightenings.

Despite having to contend with a great deal of bureaucratic "red tape" in order to put on the fly-overs and a somewhat low warbird turnout at times because of weather, Carlomagno is still determined to continue with the annual Petaluma Veterans Day fly-overs as a tribute to the service personal who have sacrificed so much to preserve the country’s freedom and way of life.

The author is indebted to Kent Carlomagno for his assistance in covering this event and to Stu Eberhardt for the use of his P-51D Mustang as a camera plane for the accompanying air-to-air photography.