Cool video shows Warbirds arriving at Joint Base Pearl Harbor aboard USS Essex for the 75th Commemoration of the End of WWII

“Salute Their Service, Honor Their Hope” is the theme of the commemoration in Hawaii in recognition of the WWII veterans and civilians who contributed to the end of the war.

The cool footage in this post shows USS Essex (LHD 2) conducting a lift of opportunity of vintage military aircraft.

According to the video description, “Salute Their Service, Honor Their Hope” is the theme of the commemoration in Hawaii in recognition of the WWII veterans and civilians who contributed to the end of the war.

The 75th Commemoration of the End of WWII will include three Legacy of Peace Aerial Parades and will culminate with the official ceremony on USS Missouri (BB 63) on Sep. 2, 2020. Flyovers of the warbirds will include: Around Oahu (Aug. 29), Connecting the Military Bases (Aug. 30) and Fly Over the Battleship Missouri Memorial, Pearl Harbor to Waikiki (Sep. 2).

As tol by Stars and Stripes, among the warbirds arriving were:

• Several SNJ/AT- 6 Texans, a training plane widely used during World War II.
• A B-25 Mitchell bomber, the kind used in the daring Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in April 1942.
• A Grumman FM2 Wildcat, a carrier fighter that was used by the Navy and Marine Corps in battles at Guadalcanal, the Coral Sea, Midway and the Solomon Islands.
• A Grumman F8F Bearcat, which was Grumman’s last piston-engine fighter that was introduced late in the war.
• A Boeing-Stearman Model 75, one of more than 10,000 training plane of this type produced during the war.
• A Grumman TBM Avenger, a Navy torpedo bomber that the Navy first used in the Battle of Midway.
• A P-51 Mustang, which served as a long-range, high-altitude bomber escort.

The Essex is the second ship in the Wasp-class of multipurpose amphibious assault ships and is designed to carry a full range of Navy and Marine Corps helicopters, F-35B Lightning II stealth fighters, AV-8B Harrier II Jump Jets, Air Cushion Landing Craft (LCAC), and many other landing craft and amphibious vehicles. 

She is the 5th ship to bear the name dating back to the frigate which was launched in Salem, Mass. on September 30, 1799.

Photo credit: JESSICA BLACKWELL / U.S. NAVY