WWII Weekend 2025
For decades, the Mid Atlantic Air Museum based at Reading Regional Airport in Eastern Pennsylvania has hosted an annual World War II Weekend. The event, while known for its airshow, goes beyond any typical airshow and recreates life in the 1940s on the airport site, including military encampments for all the war’s protagonists, period entertainment, and even several skirmishes between reenactors. For the aviation-inclined, the airshow remains the primary draw. This year drew special interest due to the first ever appearances at the show by three aircraft in particular. First was the rare and beautiful blue and yellow P-51C “Thunderbird,” a former Bendix Air Race winner in 1949, recording a speed of 470MPH. This Mustang was also once owned by two bona fide legends: Oscar-winner and American icon Jimmie Stewart and pioneering female aviator Jackie Cochran. The second was the Messerschmitt Me 262 A 1 “Schwalb” (Swallow), the first operational jet fighter in history. Since none of the Me 262s that survived World War II remain in flying condition, the one displayed at WWII weekend is a faithful replica produced by the Me 262 Project and flown and maintained by the Military Aviation Museum. The last of the three eagerly anticipated aircraft flying at the WWII Weekend was the Military Air Museum’s Flug Werk FW-190A — really less a replica and more a continuation of the Focke Wulfe Fw-190A-8 production line.
As is often the case with airshows, the weather threatened almost all three days of the show, but after a heavy burst of rain Saturday afternoon, the skies mostly cleared, giving the rare iron at the show the chance to finally take to the skies. While all eyes were on the three newcomers to the show, there was a wide array of other equally impressive vintage flying machines on hand. Amongst those was was one of only two flying Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers in the world, the beautiful “Doc,” two C-47s, an FG-1D Corsair, an F4F Wildcat, an AD-5 Skyraider, an SB2C Helldiver, the B-25J Mitchell “Panchito,” a replica A6M Zero, and the P-51D Mustang “Red Nose.” It was a lovely assemblage of vintage aircraft from a time when technology, aviation or otherwise, seemed to still have a soul.
