Are Airshows better now?

[TimAPNY]

I get the impression that others also feel that late 80's early 90's were much better for airshows then now. Shows seem fewer in number and a lot less aircraft at them. And a lot less poeple seem to go also.

[mjanovec]

I first started attending local CAF airshows (in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area) in the mid 80s as a teenager. I seem to recall the shows then were better attended, but then I think the CAF show was the only local warbird airshow at that time (although I may be wrong). Now there are 2-3 shows in the area each year, with smaller numbers of aircraft and seemingly smaller attendance. Perhaps there was market saturation...or the aspect of seeing warbirds lost it's "unique" flavor with the general population due to shows running yearly for the past couple of decades. I can see the average person saying to themself, "Do I really need to see another P-51, B-17, and assorted AT-6s this year?" For us warbirds nuts, the obvious answer is "yes!!" but to the general public, it might not be.

Then again, you have a show like Thunder Over Michigan which seems to grow each year...I went last year for my first airshow experience more than 500+ miles from home and couldn't have been happier with the experience. Plus, I notice that airshows in my area (including tomorrow's Wings of the North airshow in Eden Prairie, MN) are really concentrating on bringing in more famous flyers than aircraft. I find that pretty exciting, considering that our opportunity to meets these guys is rapidly diminishing. Just last year, I met Col. Robert Morgan, which was a great experience. Sadly, he recently passed away, so nobody else will get to enjoy meeting him and shaking his hand.

Of course, my perspective on this is based from my own experiences...other people's perceptions of airshows over the years may be different.

Mark

[AIRIC]

Hey Tim,

I often dream about the old CWH shows at Hamilton and the relaxed atmosphere. Man, I wish I could go back and shoot them over with the gear and experience I have now. Geneseo is the most relaxed airshow still going and has not changed with the times and I think that is a good thing. Living in the Great Lakes region I have been blessed with almost non-stop excellent warbird mega shows. From the mid 70s to mid 80s the CWH hosted some awesome warbird shows. Right when the CWH stopped hosting the show at Hamilton the National Warplane Museum came along with the killer Wings of Eagles shows at Geneseo, Batavia and Elmira. As soon as the Wings of Eagles started to die off a young guy by the name of Mike Luther kick started the Yankee Air Force shows at Willow Run. It has been a great run for the region and with the 1941 Historical Aircraft Group at Geneseo slowly expanding the show each year I predict the next big warbird shows in the region will once again take place at Geneseo in about two or three years. I do have to say that back in the late 70s I never dreamed of seeing the aircraft that we see now. Although I feel the shows have changed for me over the years the excitement and anticipation is still there and I hope warbird shows and industry, as a whole will survive for decades to come. I could not pick any of the shows or decades being better or worse than each other as they have all offered something different.

Eric

A trip down memory lane,

As far as I'm concerned, yesteryear will never be allowed to be seen again!
Darn FAA regs. just would never allow the "freedom" to experience what I saw as a kid.
I remember Bob Love in the Jolly Roger mustang doing low passes to "intentionally" kick up dust off the whole length of the runway!
And THEN go around and get as low as possible inverted!
I remember being at Madera one year and walked out to the end of the runway "while" Bob was flying his act in the stang (and no one stopped us!
after all, we were just kids!)and as he flew to the end of the runway "inverted" as he did his negative pushout to climb, he looked up right at us! we were in awe!
Ah the old days.
And what about Art Scholl and the Chipmunk!
Who else would get out on the canopy rail, while doing a low and slow pass, to wave at the crowd?!!!!!!!!!!
And the Blue Angels in the A4's?!!!!!
Forget about it.
Hell they were so loud when they'd fly right on the deck right over the crowd!
And I couldn't get enough!
What about Chino back then.
I remember when the Zero would do Take off contests with every fighter there!
To see which one would get off the deck quicker, and yes, that meant landing and then taking off each and every time!
Then the B-17 and all the fighters would take turns buzzing the field practically right over the crowd, and had virtually no altitude restrictions.
Well, I'm getting mad just remembering that it ain'y like it used to be.
BUT I can certainly tell my son about all of it!

[Lynn Allen]

When you saw that name, you knew what kind of show it was going to be, sitting on the runway marker lights taking pictures of P-51, P-38's and Corsairs, etc going right by you......The sounds and sights I will never forget. And the Saturday night party, whew, a certain P-51 making a really low and fast pass over the party, those were the days.........

Thank you Nelson, Howard,and the whole BKD crew.....


Blue Skies,

Lynn

[bdk]

As far as I'm concerned, yesteryear will never be allowed to be seen again! What about Chino back then. Then the B-17 and all the fighters would take turns buzzing the field practically right over the crowd, and had virtually no altitude restrictions.

Some of the Chino shows in the 80's were fantastic! They would start with the trainers and WW1 aircraft, and work their way up to the Reno Air Racers and jets. The Super Corsair, Dreadnought, Dago Red, and others would make blistering passes in knife-edged flight banking around the tower. Ross Diehl at over 500 kts in Sandberg's F-86 pulling vapor off the wings... It was amazing with the numbers of aircraft in the air that the shows essentially went off without a hitch. Literally every aircraft from Planes of Fame that could fly would be put into annual just for the show (like the P-26 and P-12). The Bakersfield bunch, and virtually every Mustang within 200 miles would be there, as well as the CAF B-17 (at a minimum).

No question, as a spectator the shows were fun- but as a volunteer it was even more fun! Museum volunteers even ran the hot dog and beer concessions. Let's see if the ATF and health department would allow that now!

I think they still sell videos in the gift shop from this era. Well worth the money!

[dj51d]

While todays shows are certainly still geat, and in terms of variety sometimes even better, I miss the days of the CAF shows at Downtown St. Paul. The longer runway afforded us some nice aircraft like the Super Connie and the jets. I remember one year Mike Keenum came in the F-86 and literally blew the trim off a utility building when running up the engine prior to shutdown. I also miss the collections of Bob Pond's Planes of Fame East, and of course, the short lived but excellent Polar Aviation Musem.

[TimAPNY]

I miss the Geneseo show like 88 and 91 BUT I very excited to see what happening there again. I look forward to more and more each year. After I was reassured about the Yankee Air show I do hope to make it to more of those.
But I do miss aircraft like the B-52's, FB-111's, F-4's.

I love Warhawks pictures of some of the shows he was at. And yes I could look at the same warbird year after year and be a happy man.

[yakdriver]

The airshows in the 80s were a lot more fun to fly in before all the tighter regs. We had a TBM, SNJ and N3N we'd take to airshows around the northwest and had a blast. You could take a passenger with you in the flybys and we loaded the TBM up with skydivers on more than one occasion. We flew formation with whoever was there and didn't need a FAST card. I can't remember any formation accidents during any airshows in that time period. The Salt Lake City warbird show would keep pumping gas as long as you had one of thier people flying with you. I'd give 30-40 N3N rides on a three day show down there and several T-6 and TBM rides. Now it's strickly forbiden to have a passenger in waivered airspace and no FAST card no formation. Also with insurance and operating costs its tough for airshows to bring in the amount of planes as before. Oh Well, the good old days.