F-14 / Pitts Airshow Formation - 1980's

Sun Aug 05, 2007 8:52 pm

Hi everyone,

I am looking to see if anyone here has a photo of an F-14 Tomcat and Pitts Special (not sure if it was an S1 or S2) flying in formation at an airshow. Evidently Cmdr. Dale Snodgrass and Jim Parker (I think) used to do an off-the-cuff routine at some New England Airshows back in the 80's and my room mate has a really tiny shot of this... probably taken from a 110 camera.

I'd love to see this in a bigger photo... and I'd like to get him a bigger photo too... because that formation was one of the things that put him in the direction of wanting to be an airshow pilot... which he is now :-)

Thanks!
Ryan

Mon Aug 06, 2007 12:59 am

The 14 would just dwarf a pitts :lol:

Wish I could have seen that one.

Mon Aug 06, 2007 1:41 am

Reminds me of an act back in the late '80s at the Kalamazoo Airshow. They did a "reanactment" of the Tomcat shootdown of a Sukhoi over the Gulf of Sidra. The F-14 came in slow, with the Bud Light BD-5J tucked in off his wing, blocked from the view of the audience. When the Tomcat "fired," the micro-jet dropped down and shot ahead with smoke on, playing the part of the missle. Pretty cool display. I don't know if Snort was flying the F-14, but it wouldn't surprise me.

SN

Mon Aug 06, 2007 6:23 am

I have a shot saved on another computer at work. It was a head-on shot of a Pitts and an F-14 or F-18. I'll try to find it.

Steve G

Mon Aug 06, 2007 12:55 pm

I saw it in '86 and again in '87 at Quonset. It was Dale Snodgrass in the F-14 and Jim Parker in the Kiehls (Pharmacy) Eagle. (Which makes it a Christen Eagle rather than a Pitts).

I have video from both shows and stills from '87.

Pete

Mon Aug 06, 2007 3:36 pm

Any posts of photos here would be much appreciated!

Ryan

Thu Aug 09, 2007 2:23 pm

Here's a bump... anyone come up with a photo they can post yet? Thanks!

Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:58 pm

Cheers,
Pete

Tue Oct 09, 2007 11:07 pm

Here's my video of that same fly by:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zsn_j0NIVSE

Cheers,
Pete

Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:45 am

Wow!

That's great!

Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:52 am

Our museum has a Christian Eagle!

Website · Wed Oct 10, 2007 7:53 pm

Hmmm,

Your question was interesting, the response was even more interesting.
The videos I watched afterwards were even more interesting.

I had not heard Jim Parkers name in years.
I learned that in 2007 a P-51 is about $1.8m
I learned that in 1995 a P-51 was around $600k
I learned that in 1986 a P-51 was around $390k

I also had no idea that in 1986 there were three P-51s at the Quonset Airshow, two of them being painted in the typical RL Ferguson style.
What a double take that was for me, gotta love youtube!

Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:34 pm

Incredible!

Thu Oct 11, 2007 4:34 pm

In 1965 or 1966, there was a very nice looking P-51D in civilian paint for sale on the ramp at Addison, Tx - asking price was $30,000 and I later was told it sold for $17,000. Just for comparison, the Beech dealer had a new Bonanza on the showroom floor for about $42,000 or so. Just FYI.

Randy