Warbird Information Exchange

We're heading home from Columbus today as my son has to be back in school tomorrow.

Just wanted to say "Thank You" to Angela and Lee and the staff of Stallion 51, all the Mustang owners and pilots and ground crew and all the other warbird owners/pilots who brought their planes to the Gathering.

Judging by the amount of sunburn I got, I had a great time. The line to get in was unbelievably long saturday, but thanks to box seats, I was able to miss most of it.

I've posted 3-4 pictures on airshow.buzz, will post some more this week on my website, fairchild24.com.

Have fun today guys and everyone be careful. Let's make this an accident free show.

Don and Sky
fairchild24.com

Don, when you go home don't take all the planes with you. I hear the weather in the west isn't looking good and a lot of them left Saturday night and a bunch more are leaving Sunday morning.

I'd say the show was pretty good. They did a flyby of 20 Saturday in a "51" formation which wasn't bad, but it fell apart as they got within about 2 miles of the airport.

Show has some teething problems. Long lines with untrained people at the gate, a lack of supervisors who know whats going on. There was also a SEVERE lack of garbage cans, especially spread out in the spectator areas. So there was a lot of trash piled up around the overflowing cans. But at least people picked up after themselves.

There were also some serious lulls in the airshow with nothing going on.

Overall it was a pretty darn good show. I think you will see it again in a lot less than 8 years (probably without the WWII Vets though).

But then its their first time, we were not expecting OSH or SunnFun here.

The location was excellent with paved parking for the most part and lots of ramp space. I doubt that could have been improved upon.

Mark H

I think a special recognition should go to the owner(s) of Quick Silver. I was very impressed to see them let countless people climb up and sit in the cockpit of their Mustang. The line was fifty-plus people deep at all times and the guy on the wing greeting the people and getting them into the cockpit made everyone feel special. Watching it was one of the highlights of the show for me.

I'm sure that some wear and tear was evident after the weekend and I'm want the Quick Silver folks to know that what you did was above and beyond the call. Hat's off to you. You made a lot of people very happy.

Greg

I forgot.

My son got to meet several legends and have them sign his logbook/autograph book. He also got to meet Kermit Weeks and talk with him about the HARM and his Dh-4's.

Thanks all for a wonderful weekend. We made it home in just under 7 hours of driving.

don

That was Bill Yoak...and that's the calibur of person he is. Top shelf!

John

That is truly fantastic! I will place a bet that we will be able to attribute more than a few future warbird enthusiasts to that experience... I can't tell you how many kids I have come across in my time in warbirds that start loving them by that very same experience... to sit in a cockpit, especially a fighter like the P-51... it's life-changing!

Mine was a P-40... that did it for me!

Kudos to Bill Yoak!

_________________
Ryan Keough
Stow, MA

Those were caused by 'non-show' arrivals and departures, usually a gulf-stream, lear, challenger, etc... not much an airboss can do about those, when the pre-arrangement is to allow the airport to remain 'open' (well, Prior Request slots)

As the weekend progressed the operators of teh show made a fast run down the learning curve. Everyday, the operations got better. I mean they even got some garbage cans out into the specator areas, the show ran better, etc.

One friend who was in the $350 a day Legends tent told me that he had trouble seeing what was going on because of vehicles running in front of the tent as well as all the AV trucks and screens outside.

Personally I had a great time down at the Thunderbirds end of the flightline, the shots were awesome.

Lee and all, thanks for the show..............

Mark H

Having worked a few airshows, including Oshkosh, the crowd attending the event was generally a friendly and courteous group. Especially important when we had to tow the Mustangs to & fro (Saturday was v-e-r-y crowded). Most people willingly and politely made way for the aircraft. Other than a goodly number of smokers on the ramp, no real crowd problems related to the a/c.
Remember that this venue is a working ANG refueling wing AND a Fedex Hub. Sprinkle in some active General Aviation and then put the GML there - very busy ramp and very busy air space.
We had Great Cooperation from the Airport Maintenance workers - unsung heros. Special Kudos also from the line crew to the gang at Lane Aviation - truly nice people who always helped us when it was needed most.
Most airshows we attend or volunteer at have had many years to evolve and become organized. The GML event was a huge undertaking to produce from scratch and the organizational problems were pretty evident to the public and very evident to the volunteers. Once again, IMHO, the talented volunteers working with the a/c, from pilots/owners to the line crew, made it safe and workable.
My personal thanks to all the Stallion 51 people who conceived of this event and made it happen. All are good people to work with.

I had to work until 10:00pm Friday night, I then went straight home caught 4 hrs sleep, woke up at 3:00am left at 4:00am for the 8 hr drive to Columbus, got there around 12:00 noon Sat, watched the show until around 7:00pm then drove back home arriving at 3:00am Sunday.
It was a demanding trip but worth every bit of effort.

Line-ups and traffic getting in were brutal and frustrating, didn't undestand why they used the runway furthest away from the show line to recover the P-51's after the finally.

I was glad to see most of the non die-hards (you know, the ones that don't know which end of the plane points into the wind) leave after the T-Birds demo freeing up the static area for better pictures and movement.

Todd

I was in that area Friday and Saturday, was a great spot. Friday there was only maybe 40 people down there at any one time.





Mike

I thought it was one of the best airshows I have ever attended. It seemed like everyone was courteous or even friendly, great attendance, and really a lot of fun. I have never been to an airshow at an airport with so many thousands of acres of concrete. They could make the event a premier warbird show every year if they wanted. They certainly have plenty of parking space and there seemeed to be a lot of volunteers.
And the "short" runway is over 11,000' !

Wow, what a great event! I could not have asked for more (well, that is not really true I can always find something else I would have wanted). The P-51 flight Sunday was great even though it was not 51 Mustangs. That sound will forever be stuck in my head, it was music!

I thought it was pretty funny watching the feeding Frenzy over the free programs at the end of Sundays show (which was shtopped after everyone had there fill).

The trash cans did over flow a bit... but the grounds seemed very clean for that many people.

A very special and large thanks to Brian (Bryan?) for stopping me from falling down the Grandstands (long story but it had to do with the 100 minutes sleep I got the night before due to the wedding I wne to in PA Saturday night).

Tim

_________________
www.tailhookstudio.com

How can I sum up my GML experience? The warbird event of the decade? I'll borrow the words of Airboss Wayne Boggs that he used frequently over the air to the mustang pilots......

(after I obtained the Airboss Freq by scanning and finding it in a roundabout way....hehe)

"GENTLEMEN OUTSTANDING!"

I'm really glad I found the freq toward the end of the show because I have a new appreciation of what it took to orchestrate that final formation. The 20 Mustangs were broken down into flights (red, white, gray, blue.....) and were all given assignments according to the color. When those 20 Mustangs lined up for takeoff I couldn't help but imagine an old UK airfield control tower and Ops on the roof shooting off a flare to launch the flight. Toward the end when the individual flights returned for their overhead breaks and landing, one could just imagine themselves back in England 63 years ago. Actually it became even more realistic....Lee Lauderback called that he had an unsafe left gear indication. This is why you may have noticed Crazy Horse make that pass with the gear down right past show center as the flights were landing. It looked ok and at that point a mustang straggler called and offered to look over him. Lee recycled the gear, and came and landed on 5L as the equipment was standing by. He landed on the right wheel first and then settled on the left. No problems.

On Saturday we got there at 845 and got in 30 min later after standing on the long line. We headed down to the west end and parked ourselves right at the fence there for the show from 0930 to 1730. On Friday we just walked around from 10 to about 2 and I got shots of all the Mustangs and a few of the practice flights. I must say that LCK reminded me of Nellis AFB ramp, HUGE! It was the perfect place for this venue. On Friday with 60k people I had no problem getting clean shots of the aircraft because there was so much room to spread out. Friday was the best day to take my static shots. I've heard that Saturday the ramp was packed but we were comfortable down on the grass just sitting watching the show and I shot mostly video. We were not packed in, there were only a few people behind me. There was NO line for food or for the porta john! A very relaxing day. IMHO because of this there was no reason to go for the box seat or grandstand. I had a front row seat all day with only the jumbotron obstructing my photog. "Grrrrr..."

I'm very happy that for once the T-Birds didn't close the show! That left 2 more hours of warbird action, and most of the local families who showed up to see whats going on and just see the jets, left afterward. We left at 6 when they kicked everyone out and really had no problem leaving the grounds. I was pleasantly surprised that they flew the Lanc, 17, 25's and the other fighters! Some have mentioned the lulls in the action? I really didn't notice, and they were actually appreciated as you can only hold off natures calling for so long!

Thank you to all at GML. Great job!

I'll post some pics tonight and some video on Youtube when I can.

Cheers,
Pete

Bill Yoak is my new hero!
We spoke several times over the weekend. That is a special Mustang and special man, and they have a mission to honor and educate.
Bill gave me a personal tour around the aircraft, and for those of you who don't know, it has parts from over 1,200 P-51's in it! Parts from aircraft that operated in every theater of the war!
A real tribute and a great American!
Jerry

_________________
"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."