Lump-In-Throat Airshow Moments

Steve T · **Posted:** Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:49 pm

As threatened :roll:

...

Still not fully back "down" from the Gennie 07 experience (and I was only there the one day, too); am now thinking back on previous events and some of the sights, sounds and memories that have the power to choke me up a bit even years afterward. Figured there must be a ton of these various WIXers have experienced over the years. The "1967 Canadian Mustang story" posted recently would be a fine example. My own top Lump-In-Throat moment was, and is, the seven-plane of heavies, five Forts/Lib/Lanc, plus four Mustangs flying top cover, that unforgettably climaxed the 1991 Geneseo show. Others??

S.

vg-photo · **Posted:** Tue Jul 24, 2007 10:17 pm

One that gets me every time is when they fly the missing man and either play Taps, or Amazing Grace.

I think it was at the Cable Airshow this year when a group of Pearl Harbor survivors provided the honor guard for the 21 gun salute. That one really hit me in the gut.

The toughest one for me this year though was the Memorial Day service in Westlake Village California. There are always moments during that for me, but there was one that really, really got to me. I was paying my respects to a local boy that was killed in Iraq, standing in a silent vigil. A Korean War veteran came up and stood next to me, stood for a few moments, then snapped to attention and popped a salute. That was powerful. It still gets to me just to write about it.

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Tue Jul 24, 2007 10:53 pm

In the lead flight of 14 B-25s and watching flight after flight
behind us go over Gen Doolittle's house the down to the Golden
Gate up the bay and over Alameda NAS and the USS Hornet

Another biggie was at our T-6 buddy Lars's funeral watches his
friends from Texan Flight mount up and do the missing man for him in their T-6s. :cry:

Jerry O'Neill · **Posted:** Tue Jul 24, 2007 11:09 pm

Missing Man formation for Cole Palen at old Rhinebeck.
His triplane pops the smoke and climbs away while Amazing Grace plays on the Bag Pipes. :cry:

It was a very emotional event.
Jerry

Elroy13 · **Posted:** Tue Jul 24, 2007 11:11 pm

For me it has to be Thunder 05. Being part of the crew of Thundebird when we had 8 B-17s!

The 2nd has to be with "Special Delivery" @ Thunder this year with all the B-25's!

There is really just to many to list for me!!

ZuluEcho · **Joined:** Mon Aug 28, 2006 6:03 am **Posts:** 115

The Flying Prom at Duxford is truly a sight to see.. A few years back there were at least 40 odd planes in the air.. the fly past must have taken about 15 mins to fly over us..

Michel C-GNCJ · **Posted:** Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:24 am

Some local boys here in Quebec gather in their mismatched general aviation aircraft and overfly the cemetery in a missing man formation when local pilots go west.

Quite emotional too and an awesome salute to the departed...

Dan K · **Posted:** Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:30 am

I'm guessing there are a few here who remember the weekend show at OSH '95 (50th victory anniversary). Using staggered formations, they managed to put around 170 piston-powered warbirds over airshow center at the same moment. Fifi, B-17's, B-24, weaving formations of escorting Mustangs, Spitfires, Hurricane, Navy birds. This left a throat lump for me, knowing that all present would never witness such a spectacle again.

Bill Greenwood · **Posted:** Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:45 am

Dan, I do remember the 95 show, one of the msot fun I.ve had at Osh. This year some of the moments have not been so good, there have been several men in their early 20's, missing one or more limbs. One never knows for sure, but with modern war we may be seeing more of this and its is sad.

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:53 am

Even though it wasn’t a big airshow it was still noteworthy to me.

First airshow, and still, even today I think of that show, being the typical little airshow. I must have been 10 or 12 and if I remember, I think it was at the Oxford airport in Connecticut. Not exactly sure of that.

The show had all the various aircraft. Military flew in a few aircraft. Civilian and acrobatic aircraft were out. And a couple of warbirds were on the ramp. Naked Fanny, which if I remember correctly, didn’t fly that day, Sky Boss, Miss-Hap, Frenesi, and I think Big Beautiful Doll.

The culmination at the end of the show was a missing man formation with the 4 birds and the Corsair pulling up and out of the formation with Amazing Grace playing. Choked me up!

Jerry might be able to shed a little more light on this particular show.

K5DH · **Posted:** Wed Jul 25, 2007 8:13 am

My fondest air show moments are mostly from Breckenridge. I had some great moments at "Beercanridge" over the years: Sixteen P-51s doing a simulated fighter sweep over the field; eight B-25s in the air at the same time; a USAF "Bone" doing a touch and go on that really short runway in full AB (that's special because the crowd line was REALLY close to the runway at Breckenridge); over 200 restored warplanes of all types at one li'l ol' country airport. I met "Pappy" Boyington and Masao Kawato (I hope I spelled that right!) there. Those were the days, my friends. . . :cry:

Cheers!

Jerry O'Neill · **Posted:** Wed Jul 25, 2007 8:17 am

Chris (Warbird Kid);
That was New Haven in 1995. I produced that show and it was the biggest one I had done up to that time. It was special to me in that my first P-51 ride took place on Sunday morning with Jeff Ethell. I recounted it in another thread on WIX, but the show was very special on many levels.

That New Haven show also got the ball rolling big time for my air show ground operations group. We were asked to do the Pratt & Whitney show a few weeks later and then we did 7 shows the very next year because of what people saw at New Haven.

Unfortunately, they haven't had a show since.
Blue skies,
Jerry

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Wed Jul 25, 2007 8:31 am

Right, a real shame too. Who exactly paid for the show? Was there a real reason why there hasn’t been a show since?

The other question I had was, was I right with the line up I mentioned of warbirds? Or did I miss a few. I’m sure you probably have a better memory of that time than I do, since I was so small. I think we were only there for one day, and I remember it being awfully cloudy with overcast and gray all around, but the weather didn’t put the show down!

And yes I remember the P&W show! It was my first and last time there. A real shame that the field was closed after that show! :cry:

What happened? 10 years ago it seems there were more than a couple of airshows in Connecticut, now there's none. We gotta do something! :wink:

Ztex · **Posted:** Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:00 am

1985
Pampa, TX
I was there with my uncle at a training field reunion. There were WWII vets everywhere. There was a pair B-25, a TBM, some of the Tora Tora guys, an FM-2, a P-40 a bunch of trainers...6's, 22's, 13's, 17's
My uncle was in great form that weekend, in fact he paid 60% of my first warbird ride...in the B-17 Chuckie!
WOOT what a day!

The real lump in the throat moment came in Beaumont, TX @ 1994.
I was at that show with a Huey crew (I got to play crew chief all weekend...man was I well vibrated) During the show a man came over and was talking to me about the aircraft when he sat down on the deck and started crying...he told me that the last time he had been this close to a Huey it had saved his life...a slick took him out of the jungle and into a new life...he spent many months in hospitals from VN to Hawaii to San Antonio...and he wouldn't have made it if it weren't for the brave men and their Huey...

Pat Carry · **Posted:** Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:46 am

Oshkosh '95 did it for me also. All those warbirds in the air at one time was truly a site to see.

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