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2014 Airshows
Titusville (Tico), FL
Spirit of St. Louis, MO
Youngstown Air Reserve
Station, OH
Central
Indiana Warbird Event Trilogy
Evansville Normandy Re-Enactment, IN
Dayton Airshow, OH
Thunder over Michigan, Belleville,
MI
Warsaw, IN
Richmond, IN
WWI Dawn Patrol
Rendezvous, Dayton, OH
Dayton
Airshow Warbird
Photo Review
Warbirds at the Dayton Airshow,
Vandalia, OH - June 28-29, 2014 - Photos taken Sunday June
29.
I had mixed feelings about returning to Dayton where two airshow
performers, one of which I had passing acquaintance, died in an accident
at airshow center in 2013. However, due to the line up of warbirds
for both static and flying and the return of several military demos, I
decided to come back. Warbirds used to be an afterthought and not
really welcome in years past as the show used its local connections at
Wright-Patterson to acquire aircraft from the US Air Force. Then
sequester changed that and to fill the ramp with statics the show has
turned to warbirds. This year's excellent warbird static included
AC-47, A-1, B-24A, (2) B-25s, C-1A, AC-47, C-54, F4U, JN-4(replica),
P-51, T-2, T-28, and T-34.
Weather for the day would not include any rain but low dark clouds would
come and go during the entire day. While the show does not have
some of the enthusiasm that I have seen at other shows, the event does
showcase some great warbirds. It appears that all of the aircraft
are flying the high speed 1,500 foot line which just puts the smaller
and slower aircraft too far away to really enjoy.
The Dayton Airshow is one of a few that has permanent ticket booths set
up for use one weekend out of the year. While there is not much
activity this photograph was taken right after the gates opened on
Sunday. Based on how long it took me to walk from the parking lot
across the street behind me, it was about a mile to the location I set
up at just west of show center.
The state of Ohio has three flyable B-25s located at museums within the
state. "Champaign Gal" is owned by the Champaign Air Museum in
Urbana, OH. I was rather surprised to see her at the event as the
museum does not operate her very much at events like this. Note
the sign concerning the B-17 restoration project which the museum is
undertaking, which is known as "Champaign Lady". The B-17 is
viewable at the museum which is open five days a week. If one is
in the area it is a good warbird stop.
"Axis Nightmare" is from the
Tri-State Warbird Museum in Batavia, OH. Yes, the ramp is painted
green.
This is the first time I have seen "Diamond Lil" since she collapsed her
nose gear on landing two years ago.
This head-on shot shows the Sperry Gyroscope Company's S-1 bombsight
located in the nose of the B-24A. This is the "other" bombsight
used by the US military during WWII and the non famous one. The
Sperry was first ordered by the USAAF on June 17, 1941 but production
was halted two years later due to politics within the military.
From the excellent article that I have linked to at the bottom of this
page, it would appear that due to politics the the USAAF went with the
less capable of bombsights. Going with the less capable bombsight
would have put the air crews in increased danger.
Other information I have found indicates for those two years the Sperry
went on B-24s until the J model and was used on some B-17s until
production was stopped in 1943. Having the Sperry on the B-24A is
historically accurate.
This is the first time for the C-1A Trader "Miss Belle" at the Dayton
Airshow. She came all the way from Topeka, KS for the event.
This is the first time I have seen this replica Jenny. It is based
out of Bowling Green, KY and is touring many shows this summer.
A regular feature of the Dayton Airshow and many others is the presence of
the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation (AAHF) of Hampton, GA, which gives
rides on not only Hueys but its Cobras. I have been associated
with them for over ten years as I was the co-coordinator for their
appearances at the former Indianapolis Airshow. Here UH-1
"Comanche" comes in from trip.
One thing I have never done is to document the loading and safety
procedures that the AAHF or Sky Soldiers use to load up the passengers.
I thought this would be a good time to do that. As soon as a Huey
lands the current passengers are off loaded and those that want can get
their photos in front of the aircraft. As soon as they are out of
the helicopter the next group is being loaded into aircraft. That is the
responsibility of the airshow volunteers with the green safety vests.
Note the Sky Soldier in the flight suit standing to the right watching,
but at this point not participating.
The volunteers are done loading the passengers in and walking away.
For their efforts they will a get Huey ride at the end of day. Now
the Sky Soldier that was observing does his task of putting everyone in
their safety belts and making sure they are secure. He does all of
the passengers in this manner. Note there is a new Sky Soldier
with the cavalry slouch hat standing next to the Huey.
Securing the safety harnesses.
His job complete, the first Sky Soldier walks away. But the Huey
can not leave yet.
Now the final safety checks by "slouch hat". No one is going
anywhere until he has checked all the safety harnesses' and is satisfied
it is safe to go.
Each time that the operation got to this point I could hear the rpms
increase as the pilot awaited the "go" signal to take off.
There it is. The "Thumbs up". It is now safe to go.
As I watched several iterations of this, Slouch Hat never gave the
"thumbs up" in the quite the same manner. Here is walking away while doing
it. Note both pilots are looking him to verify it is safe to go.
Typical cycle time on the ground is about 3-4 minutes. They have
this down to a science but safety rules.
The Huey rides were a busy place.
The opening to the show had the traditional flag jump, done here by one
of the members of the Air Force Academy's Wings of Blue. Made up
of twelve members, I found them to be more interesting to watch than some
of the other parachute teams available.
The Wings of Blue generate their excitement in by putting a lot of
parachutists in the air at one time. Nothing fancy, just good
precision jumping.
The Wright B Flyer replica over-flies the Warbird Heritage Foundation's
F-86. The fire truck, a grass rig, is new to the show, and the
result of last year's fatal accident at the show. This rig
has been added to give a more rapid response than what was available in
2013. It is located at airshow center.
Paul Wood gives us low pass in the F-86. Three out of the first four
acts were North American aircraft.
It was good to see the USCG HH-65 put on the basket rescue
demonstration.
Although I had seen the Warbird Heritage Foundation's P-51D "Baby Duck"
at other airshows, it had always been on static display. Vlado Lenoch gives us one of this trademark low, high speed passes.
Last of three North American acts was the incomparable Team AeroShell in
their T-6s.
Dave Folk does a wing fold demonstration for the crowd.
The current inventory USMC AV-8B taxies behind Dave in his 1948 Vought
F4U-5 Corsair as one of the members of the Wings of Blue gathers his or
her chute. The group jumped twice for the crowd's pleasure at the
show.
It was good to see the Marine AV-8B back doing demos. This was one
of the key acts that brought me back to Dayton for the second year in a
row.
With the tower in background for a reference, it is easy to see the
Harrier's capability to hover and land with all vertical motion.
As usual Dave Folk gave his usual great demonstration in the Corsair.
The Dayton Airshow needs to clean up its act in reference to letting the
narrators, air boss, FAA rep and sound team members park their rental
cars out in front of the narration stand. While it is unusual to
have the narration stand itself in front of the crowd blocking the view
of those behind it, letting this group park their cars out in front
adds insult to injury and detracts from the spectators' view. If is too far
for the above group to walk from a behind the crowd lines parking place,
the show needs to provide alternate means for them to get there.
Having the fire truck out there is fine.
Rental cars take away from the customer's satisfaction.
One item I did not see and usually do not at
shows, is a large four wheel drive crane capable of picking up an
inverted aircraft. At Indianapolis we always had one at show center,
always manned, ready to go out pick up an aircraft that had landed
inverted to be able to get the trapped pilot out. Luckily we never
had to use it.
Patty Wagstaff is buzzing shockwave, challenging it to a race.
.
Who won? Depends on where one defines the finish line. And by
design one is never defined.
Blue Angel time with Fat Albert.
The St. Louis Airshow was not a fluke when I saw Narrator Blue Angel
Number 7, Lt. Ryan Chamberlain narrating as he walked in front of the
crowd. On Sunday he had to do a little "tap dancing" as there was
a delay in the startup of jet Number One. Listening in on the UHF
radio Number One had a dead battery and there was a delay while the
start cart got pulled in and hooked up.
Several years ago at the Indianapolis show I
watched as another Number 7 did the narration. He stood at attention
facing the crowd on the narrator's stand. Standing directly behind
him and facing away from the crowd was BA Number 8. Number eight
would read the narration off of note cards, and then Numbers 7 would
repeat what he had just hear to the crowd. The Blue Angel Narrator
wasn't able to memorize the narration and had to have a prompt. In
the mode above it would appear Lt. Chamberlain has memorized the script
and has his "stuff" together. Or does he? What is he
listening to on his ear piece?
The sun was out for this last photograph.
The link
to information on the Sperry S-1 Bombsight.
Titusville (Tico), FL
Spirit of St. Louis, MO
Youngstown Air Reserve
Station, OH
Central
Indiana Warbird Event Trilogy
Evansville Normandy Re-Enactment, IN
Dayton Airshow, OH
Thunder over Michigan, Belleville,
MI
Warsaw, IN
Richmond, IN
WWI Dawn Patrol
Rendezvous, Dayton, OH |