Try searching on Vespa crabro, the Latin name for what is also known as the giant hornet. The females grow to about 1 1/2 inches long.

You may have noticed that they are excellent fliers, able hover and dart around quickly and their wings make a loud buzzing sound that's startling when they fly close to you.

I saw a dead one once on the grill of my car with its enormous stinger sticking out. I suppose that would give you an extremely painful sting. Fortunatley, these huge, loud, and scary hornets are not aggressive unless defending their nest.

They generally live in remote, wooded areas. They are not common in heavily populated areas, which is why they are not too well known by most people.

Are you sure that the thorax was striped, and not the abdomen?

rhizo-the mid section was striped, the rear end rust. anglo-I'll look up that giant hornet and get back to you.

Definitely not unless this is a mutant and the colors are all reversed. No pattern I saw on the abdomen, just the orangy-rust color. And it was the thorax (mid) section that was striped. The abdomen was very elongated.
And no buzzing noise. It was early morning and was very quiet outside.

I used to live in Florida, and there are several large species of the genus Sphex there that might fit your description, although I have no idea whether they might be found as far north as Virginia. Check Sphex habenus in Bugguide.net as an example.
Tucker

Here is a link that might be useful: Sphex image

That looks to be about it altho the abdomen seemed to be fuzzy, but then again I didn't get that close.
That's one ugly bee!