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The upcoming Innovations in Flight Family Day and Aviation Display at the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum, a trip report from an aviation tour of the Pacific Northwest, Micah’s update of his piece on flight simulators, observations from the D-Day Squadron gathering in Connecticut, Launchpad Marzari’s personal connection to the Normandy invasion, and the smoke oil used by airshow performers.
This is a Bits & Pieces episode with recorded segments from the hosts and contributors. The segments that make up this episode:
Innovations in Flight
Max and Micah talk about the Innovations in Flight Family Day and Aviation Display at the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum coming up June 15, 2019. The museum is located next to Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia, just west of Washington, D.C.
Max’s Pacific Northwest AvGeek Adventure 2019
Max and Isaac give a trip report on their adventure visiting aviation-related and other destinations in Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia, and around Seattle, Washington. They toured the Viking Air factory and stopped in at the BC Aviation Museum, the NAV Canada Victoria Harbor Tower, the Vancouver Flight Center, the Canadian Museum of Flight, the Historic Flight Foundation, the Museum of Flight, and several other attractions.

Victoria Harbor

Viking Air Tour Group

BC Aviation Museum

NAV Canada Victoria Harbor Tower View

Canadian Museum of Flight

Historic Flight Foundation

Museum of Flight
See the photo album for more images.
The Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission exhibit is open through September 2, 2019, at the Museum of Flight. Be sure to listen to the Flight Deck Podcast, produced by the museum.
Music of Modern Flight – Redux
Our Main(e) Man Micah refreshes his piece on flight simulation that we played in Episode 277.
D-Day Squadron
This year is the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Normandy. Commemoration activities are planned in Europe, including Daks over Normandy, where C-47’s and other aircraft will recreate paratrooper drops. The North American contingent of these WW airplanes is called the D-Day Squadron. Many of those aircraft assembled at the Waterbury-Oxford Airport in Connecticut before beginning their journey to Europe. Max Flight attended and was fortunate enough to take a press ride in Placid Lassie, a beautiful C-47 that was originally delivered to the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1943. See Max’s photo album of the event.

That’s All — Brother inflight from Placid Lassie.

D Day Doll at Sunrise

Miss Virginia

Virginia Ann Departing for Europe
Video: D-Day Squadron’s Departure Prep For Normandy
Launchpad Marzari and his Personal Connection to D-Day
Our Airplane Geeks reporter-at-large Launchpad Marzari has a personal connection to the D-Day invasion, and he tells us the story.

Normandy Invasion Map in Launchpad’s Office. Click for hi-resolution image of the map itself (20 MB).
Smoke Oil
A few episodes ago, we wondered what smoke oil was all about. We got some good listener feedback that helps explain what it is and how it is generated.
AeroShell Smoke Oil Data Sheet (PDF).
Smoke oil – the essence of every air show from Warter Aviation.
Credit
Photographs by Max Flight, unless noted otherwise. Normandy Invasion map by Launchpad Marzari. Outtro by Bruno Misonne.