Slaton Airshow 2009 Pictures
Sun Jun 07, 2009 12:34 am
Slaton was a small airshow but still a lot of fun. It was hot and windy...perfect airshow weather. Kristine and I thought it was very much worth the 456 mile round trip. In addition to a good airshow, we got to catch up with my good friend Gary Austin.
I didn't think about it until I was nearly back at the house but the last time I went to an airshow at Slaton was September 6, 1987. It was shortly after Jack Gaulding (long time CAF Wildcat pilot among other planes) and Ned Sanders had been killed in a T-28 crash in New Mexico and they were naming the Slaton airport after Jack. They had also paid tribute to him at the Breckenridge show earlier that May, a couple of weeks after Jack was killed.
At the Slaton show that year, Howard Pardue flew his Wildcat routine in memory of Jack. Bill Arnot was there in the B-25, Jay Cullum in the T-34 as well as a slew of other planes. As I recall it, Jay gave Howard a ride back to Dallas in the T-34 so he could catch an airliner to another airshow in some other part of the country that he was flying that same weekend.
Oddly enough, my Dad and I rode the motorcycle to that airshow also.
The pictures are a little out of order but I'm honestly too tired to arrange them in any way but this!
I didn't think about it until I was nearly back at the house but the last time I went to an airshow at Slaton was September 6, 1987. It was shortly after Jack Gaulding (long time CAF Wildcat pilot among other planes) and Ned Sanders had been killed in a T-28 crash in New Mexico and they were naming the Slaton airport after Jack. They had also paid tribute to him at the Breckenridge show earlier that May, a couple of weeks after Jack was killed.
At the Slaton show that year, Howard Pardue flew his Wildcat routine in memory of Jack. Bill Arnot was there in the B-25, Jay Cullum in the T-34 as well as a slew of other planes. As I recall it, Jay gave Howard a ride back to Dallas in the T-34 so he could catch an airliner to another airshow in some other part of the country that he was flying that same weekend.
Oddly enough, my Dad and I rode the motorcycle to that airshow also.
The pictures are a little out of order but I'm honestly too tired to arrange them in any way but this!
Sun Jun 07, 2009 1:14 am
Looks like it was a great show Brad, thanks for the pics!
I'm very intrigues by those taildragger projects/Japanese replicas....what on earth are they? T-6s? Yaks? They look very very cool.
I'm very intrigues by those taildragger projects/Japanese replicas....what on earth are they? T-6s? Yaks? They look very very cool.
Sun Jun 07, 2009 4:01 am
It was cool to see you and Kristine as well, Brad. I enjoyed watching the show as well. It wasn't the best airshow of all time, but you know, sometimes its these little shows that make the best memories.
Gary
Gary
Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:46 am
Nice pics Brad, thanks for sharing them. Looks like you and Gary had a good time! Wish I would have been in west Texas this weekend so I could have gone too...
The F9F Cougar is looking better than when I saw her last time at the Pate Museum.
-Derek
The F9F Cougar is looking better than when I saw her last time at the Pate Museum.
-Derek
Sun Jun 07, 2009 1:06 pm
K5054NZ wrote:I'm very intrigues by those taildragger projects/Japanese replicas....what on earth are they? T-6s? Yaks? They look very very cool.
I think they started out as Snow S-2A crop dusters.
Sun Jun 07, 2009 2:33 pm
I've got a few pictures from this event also; most of mine are actually from the pre-show media flights and the like on Friday, with just a couple from Saturday. I had a nice view out beyond the crowd; I was the drop zone safety officer for the WWII Airborne Demonstration Team. We were able to do a practice jump on Friday, but the gusts were a bit much (the dust devil that picked up the DZ panel and blew it a few hundred feet was interesting) for us to jump on Saturday.
Regards,
Andy
Regards,
Andy
Sun Jun 07, 2009 2:46 pm
K5054NZ wrote:Looks like it was a great show Brad, thanks for the pics!
I'm very intrigues by those taildragger projects/Japanese replicas....what on earth are they? T-6s? Yaks? They look very very cool.
Malcolm Laing's Ki-51 Sonia replicas.
http://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/K/i/Ki-51_Sonia.htm
Loosely based on the Fairchild PT series using the metalized fuselage frame (note the PT-26 cockpit fit-out with Cornell canopy) gear legs, tail feathers and other various bits from the PT's along with a Shakey Jake for power.
I don't know about Snows, but I do know you will find various Funk and Weatherly bits involved.
Hope that helps....
Steve
Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:30 pm
wow a Dove AND and An-2
what's the story behind those?
what's the story behind those?
Mon Jun 08, 2009 3:24 am
I was about to ask about the weird Japanese replicas - I thought they were Yaks at first!
Nice to see a Bf108/Nord 1002, too.
Nice to see a Bf108/Nord 1002, too.
Mon Jun 08, 2009 5:04 am
coastdef wrote:
It just looks wrong to have a bomb on a Kate, it should be a torpedo.
Mon Jun 08, 2009 5:50 am
It just looks wrong to have a decal in American on a supposedy Japanese plane. On further thought it doesn't look any worse than on an American plane....................bad!
Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:39 am
DZ, when they landed the Kate gear up last year, that particular torpedo took quite a hit. It's intact but needs a lot of work before it flies agin. Sure kept the damage to airplane to a minimum, though !
Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:57 am
skippyscage wrote:wow a Dove AND and An-2
what's the story behind those?
The Dove has been sitting in the same spot for a few years now. They just mow the grass around it...
http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/113548.html
Great pictures!
The Snow S-2's look a bit strange in Japanese markings.
The C-47 drop is great to see! I have not seen that at one of our local Big shows...
Small shows rule!
Mon Jun 08, 2009 9:54 am
skymstr02 wrote:
It just looks wrong to have a bomb on a Kate, it should be a torpedo.
Perhaps it's a good history lesson for any who might have thought the B5N only went to war with torpedoes.