Friday evening was great because some of us undeserving but blessed individuals got to attend the Friday evening mixer for show participants and invited guests. I didn't get any photos that I intend to publish, but I got to eat dinner with Mr. Cole, Bud Anderson, and several other folks like that photo with Spanner that you saw earlier in the thread.
That was worth the trip, BTW. I got to talk "instructor" shop with Mr. Anderson, and that was informative and useful.
Saturday morning I got there just in time for the pilot briefing. I probably shouldn't have gone, since I already knew that airboss Ralph Royce had decided that there would be no liaison aircraft in the airshow, but I decided to go anyway just in case they changed their mind, and had already given all my pilot information, insurance, etc... Of course, they decided not to have the L's and O's and just had a formation of four T-6 Texans planned to represent all trainers, so I just listened in to glean whatever I could about good airshow practices and standards.
I will say that having flown in the "L's and O's" parade in Burnet and a few other times, I can see why they think it is boring, and not good enough for the crowd. My comeback to that is that we could actually put together something a lot more exciting, and make it a much more compelling story line, too. I hate it when I hear some announcer basically do a dis-service to the L-bird pilots.
Saturday morning, after the pilot briefing, I went out to our plane and talked to a number of folks from the crowd that walked through the ramp.
I will say that having a "hot ramp" and having the warbirds actively participate in the show provides a conflict of interest to me. You either need to have the warbirds flying, or static, since you obviously have safety issues with the crowd and moving propellers, etc... That means that the aircraft have to be way down at the end of the ramp, and the access and draw to the crowd is not as good. Honestly, I think a significant portion (80%?) of the crowd probably never went to the warbird ramp. For those of us who did not fly, that meant that we still had to guard our bird to some degree, but had limited access to the audience. Next year if I go, I really want to be in the regular crowd area if we cannot fly.
The Zero was as far as I know the first warbird to fly, and it put on a magnificent show.
I didn't shoot any more film until after 11 when the warbird ramp went hot, and it was now pointless to stay with my bird. The good thing was, I didn't have to worry about it being damaged, either, so I went on the Legends and Heroes Autograph Tent where I like to go anyway!
If you've never been to Wings Over Houston, then you haven't seen one of the best things that an airshow can do. The Autograph tent isn't a big money-maker as far as I can tell, but it puts the human interest side of the "Warbirds" story in a good light, and really draws the tie between the history, and the show. In fact, I would go so far as to say, that I would have never gone to Wings Over Houston if it had not been for Tim Landers inviting me to help out with the tent a few years back, and I would not have made the effort to go back 4 out of the last 5 years if it were not for this tent.
At WOH of course they have your standard official "Airshow Program" for sale, and in the heart of it is a two page spread with a photo of the veteran, and a "blurb" about them with space for an autograph.
Samples of which look like this:
and this:
So I made a beeline for the tent... where men like "One Lung McLung" of the original "Band of Brothers" were talking to the public.
More later!
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but I do appreciate it.
