ARLINGTON – The Cascade Warbirds will bring more planes than ever to celebrate the 50th Annual Arlington Fly-In July 6-8.

The Warbirds will be flying in and exhibiting their aircraft each day. These historic military planes from several countries will be featured with as many as 20 pilot owners of this regional group. They will discuss with Fly-In attendees details of their aircraft and their passion for historic flight.

The Warbirds also will be sponsoring a gathering of World War II veterans who flew combat missions in the B-17 Flying Fortress and are all in their 90s. Aircraft includes:

•T-28 Trojan. The Air Force primary trainer from 1950-64, and a later model with up to 1535 horsepower used to train Navy and Marine pilots until 1984 will be present. The Trojan also saw combat with both the US and South Vietnamese Air Force through 1968.

•T-6 Texan, Harvard. The Texan was used by the military as an advanced trainer to prepare cadets to fly the North American P-51 Mustang. •CJ-6. An improved design of the Russian Yak 18, the Nanchang CJ-6 was used to train pilots of the Peoples Republic of China Air Force. It is popular as an affordable, relatively high performance platform to enable pilots to develop formation flying skills. •IAR-823. Designed and built in Romania for their Air Force, this four place trainer has aerobatic ratings and hard points for mounting weapons. Because it uses many American components, it is attractive to our market and about 50 are owned in the U.S. Two of these in camouflage livery will perform.

•L-3 Grasshopper. The L-3 was ordered by the Army Air Corps prior to WWII. The two place tandem craft served as an observation plane and trainer for later liaison aircraft.

•L-4 Grasshopper. The military version of the famous Piper Cub is distinguished by plexiglass skylight and rear windows for improved visibility. The L-4 began its military career before WWII as a trainer and served as a slow observation plane throughout that war and even saw wide use in the Korean War.

•Scottish Aviation Bulldog. Rarely seen in North America, this little trainer was designed and built by Beagle Aviation and used by the Air Forces of the UK, Sweden and many countries in the Middle East and Africa.

•Seabee. This postwar amphibian with its pusher propeller was popular in the Seattle area and is still seen in small numbers anywhere recreational lakes are numerous.

Airshows, airplane rides, musical entertainment, a runway movie theater and camping highlight every day of the Fly-In. Other features are a beer garden, tank demonstrations, kids activities, drone flying, aviation exhibits, owners and pilots workshops, and forums. Friday will feature an evening airshow and night drone light show. Saturday is being touted as SuperSaturday with a nighttime Hot Air Balloon Glow and night drone light show. Sunday will include a Short Take Off and Landing demonstration, spot landing contest and flour bombing contest.