Warbird Information Exchange

Not understanding why this topic was locked and refered to another discussion that driffted into the ... "why bother doing them (flyovers) nobody removes their hat anyway ".... and what countries are doing fly overs etc.... This topic; IMHO is a stand alone issue and is important to know what other items/areas will be effected by the political enviroment. Not suggesting a discussion of "is it right or wrong" ... but more of what is coming down the pipe. Has the NAVY made an annoucement for the Blues? These issue effect anumber of souls in the warbird industry, airshows, military etc..... I believe that a heads up topic for those in the know should continue to inform us all. After all this is the Warbird INFORMATION exchange.

just my 2cents

The last thing I want to do is cause trouble on a topic the mods have locked but, one of the things I'm very concerned about with the sequestration measure is not whether or not there will be Military fly-overs but the number of airshows that have or are in danger of being canceled. As you all know it is VERY expensive to fly a Warbird especially one that has two 2800's. The only way we at the Museum can afford to fly the Harpoon and really show her off to the public is being sponsored to attend airshows. What I'm afraid of is that the bigger shows that draw most of their attendance from the Thunderbirds or Blues will cancel due to fears of lack of attendance? Also some of the smaller show due to the lack of FAA air traffic controllers working the tower? I have heard a rumor that our first show of the year may cancel do to that.

I don't think the airshow sky is falling do to sequestration, but I do think we as well as other Warbird operators will be effected. To what extent is still up in the air? But if it continues I can see it limiting the number of shows we otherwise would have attended.

P.S. please move to anouther thread if deemed appropriate.

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Ken Terpstra

Vice-President
Stockton Field Aviation Museum
PV-2D Harpoon 84062

This needs to be made into an opportunity for general aviation. We need to be the go-to guys for aerial history and entertainment, not the military!

I think it is well accepted that the jets (modern military) draw the crowds and the vintage draws the enthusiast .... Without the crowds the vintage crowd may never have a chance to see the aircraft they are there to see. To be honest the general public would then not be able /willing to see the vintage - which is how and why we have the air force we do today. Notwithstanding I personaly believe that the warbird community can backfill the void left by the Armed Services with "Air Show Military Acts" to keep things going. On the Military market we have friends that fly F-5s, and Harriers that are civilian .... just to name a few. Which brings em to a point ..... should we create a site that is the "go to site for aerial history?

ICAS is not all of the acts in the airshow world //// but it is certainly the biggest that we know of.


Hope the Thunder Birds and the Blues make it through the cuts as with the Snowbirds.

I think it is well accepted that the masses come to free airshows at military bases. If those venues no longer exist for vintage aircraft they will migrate to more local shows.

First off, it looks like the Blues, Thunderbirds, and demo flights are effected by whatever you want to call the shills who pretend to "run" our country are doing with the budget. That said, before this happened, there were problems with airshow sustainment due to economic, social, and cultural factors. To be perfectly honest, I don't think the present model for airshows is sustainable due mainly in part to those factors. The sequestration might be the tipping point for some shows which have been on the cutting edge of non-viability, but I doubt it is going to be the "sky is falling" scenario that certain factions have been propagandizing for a while in regards to all airshows. As for individual warbirds, the comment made about the PV-2 is the clearer picture of reality for most individual warbird operators. If they need to do 10 shows a year plus some other fundraising to keep flying, and 2 shows drop out of their schedule, they are either in dire straits or will have to adjust their operating model to the new reality or else seek new venues for their operations.

As for backfilling with warbirds instead of jets, forget it. It is nearly pure fantasy. In 15 years of experience with shows, and running the parking for two years at New Garden (N57) Airshow, I can tell you that way over 100 people asked about our B-2 flyover at the gate versus a single inquiry about a particular warbird act. People want to see what they are paying for- F16's, F22's, and F-35's, F-117's, B-2's, and others and the warbirds are just fluff except for us enthusiasts. The only way to showcase the warbirds is to do something like MAAM WWII weekend, and that show has been in development for over 20 years. You cannot shift the public's attention to such a small percentage of what they are exposed to in popular media. Nearly every night of the week, there is video feed of some type of modern military aircraft on a news program. How often do you see warbirds shown in that same time span? That is why I don't think the current airshow model is sustainable for the future. What we love here is becoming another marginalized, eclectic area of interest. Unless we find a way to co-brand it continually with something which captures the general public's attention, you will continue to see a decline in airshow revenue and therefore operations.

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