Appreciation in the Air : 120-Plane Flight Across Country Is One Man’s Salute to the Veterans of World War II

Somewhere in the heavens above Long Beach, Morey Darznieks’ message will be sent and, he prays, received loud and clear this weekend.

A refugee who fled Latvia in 1944 as fighting stretched across Europe, Darznieks has organized a special mission for 260 World War II aircraft enthusiasts. He has asked them to fly vintage warplanes from Long Beach to New York to honor the soldiers, sailors and airmen who beat back the forces of fascism. The celebration, called Freedom Flight America, is Darznieks’ attempt to say thank you to the men and women who secured his safety.

With its climax set for Aug. 15, the 50th anniversary of V-J Day, Darznieks’ aerial tribute aims to fill the skies with the thunder of piston engines and the machines that established the United States as a world air power. A three-day celebration in Long Beach begins today.

Monday, 120 antique planes, many piloted by war veterans or their sons or daughters, will begin their journey to New York. After stopovers in Arizona, Texas, Illinois and other states, the commemorative fleet will fly by the Statue of Liberty in a symbolic salute.

Freedom Flight America also will include World War II exhibits, a flyover above the Queen Mary during which pilots will drop roses to remember the fallen, and USO-style shows, including one at Long Beach Municipal Airport today to honor women pilots who ferried newly built military planes from factories in Southern California to airfields throughout the nation during the height of the war.

“I’ve always had a burning desire to say thanks to the vets for what I have today,” said Darznieks, speaking with a thick Texas drawl. Now 51, Darznieks fled Europe with his family and later set up an aircraft parts company in Dallas, where he said he has been “living the American dream.” He built a new AT-6 Texan training plane, emblazoned with an American eagle, for the 3,000-mile homage.

Spit-polished and fueled to the brim, about 120 warplanes, from P-51 Mustang fighters to Constellation cargo aircraft, will be on display this weekend. Most of the pilots are flying enthusiasts who own and painstakingly preserve the planes. Many have relatives who fought in Europe or Asia during the war.

A few are veterans themselves. Retired Col. Robert K. Morgan, who piloted the famous B-17 “Memphis Belle,” will fly an antique plane for the Chicago-to-New York leg of the trip, Darznieks said.

Other veterans will celebrate on the ground. Barbara London, the only woman awarded the Air Medal during the war, is one of 60 women to be honored at a USO dinner and dance in the airport’s main hangar tonight. The commander of a squadron of women ferrying new planes to airfields nationwide, she won the medal after making four transcontinental flights in five days. She plans to wave off the fleet on Monday, but doesn’t plan to fly.

“It’d be kind of fun if I could sit back and relax and have a stewardess,” said London, 75, whose grandson Justin flew his first solo trip last Sunday, his 16th birthday. “It’s a good thing to say goodby.”

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For many of the participants, Freedom Flight America represents their last and best chance to commemorate the end of the WWII. And to some, it is a reminder of an era when Americans were unified in their support for the military.

“We had a time in our lives when the country pulled together in a way we’ll probably never see again,” London said.

“That’s when this place bonded together,” said Michael Walsh, who will pilot a 1943 Stearman biplane, the same type of aircraft his father flew, at a cruising speed of 95 m.p.h. “Aviation technology came further in five years than it had in the previous 40. Air power is what won World War II.”

Although the Pentagon’s World War II Commemoration Committee recognized Freedom Flight America as an official anniversary event, Darznieks said he received no money from the federal government. He also bemoaned the lack of corporate sponsorship of the celebration--only a handful of companies have agreed to support it. Darznieks said he has invested $250,000 in the project and is selling T-shirts and commemorative certificates, which will be carried aboard the aircraft as they hop from city to city. The pilots are volunteering their time and planes, and in most cases paying for such expenses as fuel on their own.

Freedom Flight America has set up headquarters at Queen Mary Seaport, where participants will also pay homage to the Queen Mary’s wartime service as a troop carrier dubbed the “Grey Ghost.” The vintage warplanes will start their journey by flying over the ship and the aircraft carrier Intrepid, and end it with the Statue of Liberty flyover.

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Many of the planes will be on display at the Long Beach airport.

Darzniek said he began organizing the flight with a few dozen clients of his aircraft parts business, and never expected it to blossom to 260 pilots. Judging from the response, however, he has decided “other people are just as patriotic as I am.”

One big draw, he said, is the fact that, in a year marked by countless war anniversary events, Freedom Flight America remembers “the day people quit dying.”

Veterans like London agree.

“This is the last time we can celebrate,” she said. “The end of it is the end of it.”

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FREEDOM FLIGHT AMERICA

A three-day celebration will culminate with the takeoff of 120 vintage World War II aircraft on a cross-country journey designed to pay tribute to U.S. veterans.

At Long Beach Municipal Airport, the festival will include formation flyovers, up-close viewings of the planes and meetings with the pilots.

Times:

Today, noon to 7 p.m.

Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Sunday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

A USO-style fund-raising dinner and dance will be held at the main hangar today at 6:30 p.m. to honor women aviators. Aeroplex Aviation at 3333 E. Spring St. Admission: $35 per person.

At Queen Mary Seaport, exhibits and activities celebrating the ship and its role as a troop carrier.

Times:

Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Monday, 9 a.m. to noon.

The send-off for the planes will be held Monday, from 9 a.m. to noon.

Planes will take off from the airport and fly over the Queen Mary.

Admission:

Tickets to one of the sites are $10 (general), $8 (seniors or U.S. military), $6 (children 4-11). For both sites, tickets are $16 (general), $12 (seniors or U.S. military), $9 (children 4-11).

More on World War II

* “From D-Day to V-J Day,” a compilation of 32 8 1/2-by-11-inch front-page reproductions from 50 years ago, is available from Times on Demand. For credit card orders, call (800) 440-3441, or send a written request to Times on Demand, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, P.O. Box 60395, Los Angeles 90060. Order No. 6200. $10 plus $1 for delivery.

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