Wiscasset Municipal Airport

Wings Over Wiscasset off to flying start

SUSAN JOHNS, Assistant Editor
Fri, 08/08/2014 - 2:15pm
Nina Ryan, 11, of Woolwich and brother Michael Ryan, 7, check out a warbird Friday, August 8, during Wings Over Wiscasset at Wiscasset Municipal Airport. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
WWII vet Ron O’Neill and daughter Kitty O’Neill, both of Brunswick, look over a 1937 Packard owned by John Harris of South Bristol. Harris is researching if the auto was once FDR’s ride. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Paul Levasseur of Northeast Living History Association demonstrates handling a mortar, at a WWII reenactment encampment, part of Wings Over Wiscasset. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
George Foss, August Moore, Louise Speece, Joyce Spicer, Nita Greenleaf
Serving up fries, onion rings, crab puffs and more at the food wagon Nita’s Lunch at the event are, front, from left, George Foss of Westport Island, August Moore of Wiscasset, Louise Speece of Wiscasset; and back row, from left, Joyce Spicer of West Bath and Nita Greenleaf of Westport Island. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper

When Ron O'Neill was an Army medic serving in the European theater during World War II, he needed to memorize the different looks of warbirds he might see.

On Friday, August 8, the Brunswick man saw some types that looked familiar. The planes were part of Wings Over Wiscasset at Wiscasset Municipal Airport, through Saturday, August 9.

“I think it’s great,” O’Neill said about the event’s honoring of veterans, with a focus on those who served in WWII.

Lorna Ryan of Woolwich brought daughter Nina, 11, and son Ryan, 7. “I really like that it gives them a sense of history and patriotism,” Ryan said at American Legion Post 54’s pancake breakfast that kicked off this year’s Wings.

“It was really yummy,” Nina Ryan said. As for other parts of the event, she said, “I like seeing the planes, and...I like especially seeing the planes that went in the war, and learning about their histories.”

Also attending Friday was Korean War veteran Steve Myers of Franklin, Mass. He served three combat tours, and was part of the Navy’s first destroyer division that got to Korea. Myers has been traveling with a camper this summer and decided to make a trip to Wiscasset for the Wings event.

Wings was also an opportunity to do some business for Westport Island’s Nita Greenleaf, with her food wagon “Nita’s Lunch” making fries, onion rings, clam puffs and more for event-goers. The prior weekend, Greenleaf had her other business, Westport Catering, at the Maine Lobster Festival.

Friday, Greenleaf had help from friends and family members including daughter Joyce Spicer, who was also selling bird feeders she makes from plates and other items she gets around the state.

Dozens of volunteers, led by Standish’s Hilary Tounge, were helping Wings run. Tounge wore a photograph of her mother Lear Tounge, a Women’s Army Corps (WAC) stenographer stationed in Lubbock,Texas in WWII. “This is my way of honoring her,” Tounge said.

 An air show with warbirds from the Texas Flying Legends Museum was set for 3 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free, with donations accepted at the gate.


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