Warhawk's June Airshow/Heatwave - Warning: Image Heavy!

[QuietOne]

Back at the end of June, the Warhawk had its annual airshow. The "guest" plane was a P-47 from the Planes of Fame collection. As I mentioned elsewhere, the weather that weekend was hot. Not just a little. We went through 1,000 pounds of ice on Saturday alone. And that day started out overcast. Sunday did not.

We also had more photographers than usual. Jim had 3 friends visiting, and they brought a reenactor with them. He came with a suitcase stuffed full of real uniforms and pilot's gear. Combine that with the scissors lift Jim rented, and that meant they were doing lots of posed stuff before the gates opened both mornings. For the days' events, though, that meant 6 photographers. I figured the taxiway was going to be a bit crowded, and besides, I had pictures of all the planes taking off and landing from other times, except for the P-47. So I stayed back, except for 1 session, and concentrated on the crowds, flight lines, volunteers, and so on. I especially wanted to capture some of the stuff that goes on before the public even gets there, and the number of things volunteers do during the show to keep it safe and moving. Here are some of the results, starting with Saturday.


Barriers go up, both ropes and something at ankle level. This is Sander, JC's son, helping out.

Sorry. It's my favorite tug. You'll just have to put up with a picture of it every time there's a show.


Popup for the concessions booth.


The guest of honor.

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I don't know how many runs Brian made for ice before it was even noon. The cafe running the concessions finally called their soft drink distributor and had them send a pallet of it, and more drinks.


It's already melting, and it's only 9:30!




Fueling up one of the planes


Another angle on the P-47

[QuietOne]

Pieces of Dottie Mae, a restoration project. The pilot was hotdogging, and accidentally ran into a lake in Austria. The pilot survived.


Setting up an additional location for gift shop stuff.


The first of the visitors. By this point, I'd taken nearly 100 pictures (though I didn't keep all of them)


The L-19's battery was low, so they basically jumped it every flight.


JC handing out safety vests. Or recruiting for a cult. I'm not sure which...

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Not a bad crowd, given the heat. The cloud cover helped.


Max taking the L-19 out for the first session of the day.


Our visiting reenactor, Christopher Miller. He's with Historic Aviation Guild.


Look! Up in the sky!


Chocking one of the N3Ns after its flight.

[QuietOne]

xxxx
I did work the exhibit space some. All the hangar doors were opened, which helps the light, but on the back wall, it's still difficult without a tripod.


Speedball Alice's pilot


P-47 lights off


There was a talk midday about the P-47 and its role during WW II. We were fortunate to have a P-47 pilot talk and answer questions.

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xxxThis gentleman is Captain Jeff Thompson, retired from the US Navy. He was one of the sponsors of the event, and also flew L-19s during Vietnam. It was used as a spotter plane. Unfortunately, if you were low enough to see the enemy, you were low enough for them to see you. A lot of these pilots didn't make it back home.

xxxChris again, talking with a visitor. He's a really nice guy.


By the afternoon, it had gotten hot enough to clear a lot of folks out. This was the point when I started seeing melted sneakers on people who had stood still too long.

xxxSue Paul, the museum's director


Captain Richard H. Fleischer, retired from the Army-Airforce. He's the P-47 pilot who spoke during the presentation.

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Another of Dottie Mae's panels.


Um, yeah. By this time, all of us just wanted to put things away and flop down someplace cool.


Mike really did look that pale. He was sent to sit in the pilot's lounge.

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Sunday started with something special. Jim Thomas did his first solo in a Mustang, flying Speedball Alice. When I got there, everyone was just coming back from the runway.








As you can see, there were congratulations all around.

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And everyone gets ready to do it all again! This time, there's no morning overcast. By the end of the day, there was serious discussion about simply not doing the last set of flights. The controls were too hot to handle without gloves, and the pilots were grateful for the Gatorade, water and wet towels they were greeted with when they landed.


Setting up that photogenic flight line again.


And Chris being posed all over the place. On the nose of the P-47, in this case.


The planes were not only serviced between sessions, they were wiped down and spiffed up so they looked good for the crowd's cameras.


Sorry, another one of my 'artistic photos' that you'll have suffer through. Lady Jo's invasion stripes.

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A shot of what's referred to as 'the money streak'


JC didn't like some of the responses he was getting with the landing gear, so Parrothead went up on jacks to check the hydraulics. She turned out to be fine, and flew Sunday. But look at the size of the jacks!


Classic shot of prop blur and radial engine on one of the N3Ns


Taking someone for a ride. The pilot is actually in the back seat. You can fly an N3N from either position, but it's done from the back seat most of the time.


One of the P-47's many admirers that weekend.