It’s been World War II warbirds meet present-day Pearl Harbor with efforts ongoing to offload 14 vintage aircraft from the amphibious assault ship USS Essex for the 75th commemoration of end-of-war events Aug. 29 to Sept. 2 on Oahu.

Not since 1995 and the 50th anniversary of V-J Day has there been a gathering of warbirds in Hawaii like this one — which is also taking place under COVID-19 restrictions.

Three quarters of a century of military hardware juxtaposed made for some interesting scenes Tuesday at the Navy’s Kilo piers.

At one point, a handful of Air Force personnel wearing 21st century camouflage were pushing a propeller-driven AT-6 Texan — the advanced trainer for most of the Allied pilots who flew in World War II — and gaining a hands-on appreciation for the linkages of history.

“That thing is so cool. I mean, it’s just something I’ve never seen in person,” Senior Airman Joseph Advey, 22, with the 15th Maintenance Squadron, said of the aircraft.

“It’s way different,” he said. “You can tell from our aircraft — we work on C-17 (cargo jets) — how modern that is compared to this. It’s all mechanical. You can see all the lines and everything that move the aircraft.”

>> PHOTOS: World War II warbirds unloaded at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam

Instead of F-35B short-takeoff stealth jets, the 844-foot Essex, which arrived here Monday for abbreviated Rim of the Pacific exercises, ferried over a small museum’s worth of historic planes.

Three aerial parade flyovers are planned for Aug. 29 and 30 and on Sept. 2 — the day of Japan’s surrender in 1945 aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

The aircraft list includes a B-25 bomber, two PBY Catalina flying boats, an SNJ/AT-6 Texan, four AT-6 Texans, an FM2 Wildcat, F8F Bearcat, Stearman biplane, TBM Avenger, P-51 Mustang and a T-28 Trojan.

The planes were carefully hoisted off the big-deck ship Monday and Tuesday and were barged over to the Alpha docks on the Hickam side of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for the short move to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.

That, too, is a throwback to wartime aircraft replenishment methods for Oahu, historians say.

The final offload is expected to be even more dramatic with the two PBY flying boats planned to be lowered into the harbor for a water takeoff.

“Can you imagine? You know, 33 PBYs were destroyed on Oahu” on Dec. 7, 1941, said Elissa Lines, executive director of the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum, who was on the pier Tuesday.

“So pretty incredible that we now have two that are going to fly here and one of the veterans who is coming — we hope he’s still going to make it — had to bail from his burning PBY in Kaneohe Bay,” Lines said.

“If he comes they are going to do a landing at Kaneohe Bay, we hope. So that’s a pretty spectacular story,” Lines said.

Scaled-back events are still scheduled to include a former battleship Missouri crew member luncheon; a commemoration dinner; film premiere of “1st to Fight: Pacific War Marines” and three “Legacy of Peace” aerial parades.

At least 52 World War II veterans plan to attend, organizers said last week.

The 75th WWII Commemoration Committee in Hawaii co-chairman, retired Maj. Gen. Darryll Wong, said coordinating to get the warbirds to Hawaii was a Herculean task including working with the pilots “and you know, they all have different oil and fuel that they have to also bring over because you couldn’t find it on-island.”

“And then COVID got thrown into this thing, which made it even more difficult,” he said. “But in the end, the enthusiasm of these pilots, bringing their warbirds here this far” and the efforts of the Defense Department and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command made the commemoration possible.

“The amount of people that are involved in bringing these warbirds here is phenomenal, and hats off to all of them,” Wong said.

The “Lady Alice,” a P-51 Mustang, is making a return to Hawaii from Chino, Calif. Manufactured in 1945, the Mustang in the 1970s flew out of Honolulu before being moved to the mainland.

Pilot Robert Pinksten, 24, will be flying a TBM Avenger owned by Bruce Graham.

Pinksten said the plane “is huge. It’s way bigger than you think until you walk up to it.”

The role the airplane played “is awesome, especially considering being here in Hawaii” and given its history in the Pacific as a torpedo bomber, he said.

The planes will all fly out to Wheeler Army Airfield prior to the series of island flyovers. A planned open house for the public was canceled due to the coronavirus.

Even before the aerial parades, the public may catch a glimpse of some of the warbirds flying out of Honolulu airport.

Andres Morales, a 24-year-old crew chief on the B-25 Mitchell “Old Glory,” said the bomber made waves wherever it landed on the way from Florida to San Diego to be loaded aboard the USS Essex.

But being with the plane in Pearl Harbor was a whole new vibe.

“We were on the barge (Monday) with the B-25 going over to Hickam and I could just feel the energy … and I just couldn’t believe it all,” Morales said.

“I can’t wait to start doing some flying out here,” he said, adding that “hopefully, we can get a flight going this Friday.”