Warhawk's June Airshow/Heatwave - Warning: Image Heavy!

[QuietOne]

Back at the end of June, the Warhawk had its annual airshow. The "guest" plane was a P-47 from the Planes of Fame collection. As I mentioned elsewhere, the weather that weekend was hot. Not just a little. We went through 1,000 pounds of ice on Saturday alone. And that day started out overcast. Sunday did not.

We also had more photographers than usual. Jim had 3 friends visiting, and they brought a reenactor with them. He came with a suitcase stuffed full of real uniforms and pilot's gear. Combine that with the scissors lift Jim rented, and that meant they were doing lots of posed stuff before the gates opened both mornings. For the days' events, though, that meant 6 photographers. I figured the taxiway was going to be a bit crowded, and besides, I had pictures of all the planes taking off and landing from other times, except for the P-47. So I stayed back, except for 1 session, and concentrated on the crowds, flight lines, volunteers, and so on. I especially wanted to capture some of the stuff that goes on before the public even gets there, and the number of things volunteers do during the show to keep it safe and moving. Here are some of the results, starting with Saturday.

17798
Barriers go up, both ropes and something at ankle level. This is Sander, JC's son, helping out.

17799 Sorry. It's my favorite tug. You'll just have to put up with a picture of it every time there's a show. :D

17800
Popup for the concessions booth.

17801
The guest of honor.

[QuietOne]

17802
I don't know how many runs Brian made for ice before it was even noon. The cafe running the concessions finally called their soft drink distributor and had them send a pallet of it, and more drinks.

17803
It's already melting, and it's only 9:30!

17804

17805
Fueling up one of the planes

17806
Another angle on the P-47

[QuietOne]

17807
Pieces of Dottie Mae, a restoration project. The pilot was hotdogging, and accidentally ran into a lake in Austria. The pilot survived.

17808
Setting up an additional location for gift shop stuff.

17809
The first of the visitors. By this point, I'd taken nearly 100 pictures (though I didn't keep all of them)

17810
The L-19's battery was low, so they basically jumped it every flight.

17811
JC handing out safety vests. Or recruiting for a cult. I'm not sure which...

[QuietOne]

17813
Not a bad crowd, given the heat. The cloud cover helped.

17812
Max taking the L-19 out for the first session of the day.

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Our visiting reenactor, Christopher Miller. He's with Historic Aviation Guild.

17815
Look! Up in the sky!

17816
Chocking one of the N3Ns after its flight.

[QuietOne]

17817xxxx17818
I did work the exhibit space some. All the hangar doors were opened, which helps the light, but on the back wall, it's still difficult without a tripod.

17819
Speedball Alice's pilot

17820
P-47 lights off

17821
There was a talk midday about the P-47 and its role during WW II. We were fortunate to have a P-47 pilot talk and answer questions.

[QuietOne]

17822xxxThis gentleman is Captain Jeff Thompson, retired from the US Navy. He was one of the sponsors of the event, and also flew L-19s during Vietnam. It was used as a spotter plane. Unfortunately, if you were low enough to see the enemy, you were low enough for them to see you. A lot of these pilots didn't make it back home.

17823xxxChris again, talking with a visitor. He's a really nice guy.

17824
By the afternoon, it had gotten hot enough to clear a lot of folks out. This was the point when I started seeing melted sneakers on people who had stood still too long.

17825xxxSue Paul, the museum's director

17826
Captain Richard H. Fleischer, retired from the Army-Airforce. He's the P-47 pilot who spoke during the presentation.

[QuietOne]

17827
Another of Dottie Mae's panels.

17828
Um, yeah. By this time, all of us just wanted to put things away and flop down someplace cool.

17829
Mike really did look that pale. He was sent to sit in the pilot's lounge.

[QuietOne]

Sunday started with something special. Jim Thomas did his first solo in a Mustang, flying Speedball Alice. When I got there, everyone was just coming back from the runway.

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As you can see, there were congratulations all around.

[QuietOne]

17834
And everyone gets ready to do it all again! This time, there's no morning overcast. By the end of the day, there was serious discussion about simply not doing the last set of flights. The controls were too hot to handle without gloves, and the pilots were grateful for the Gatorade, water and wet towels they were greeted with when they landed.

17835
Setting up that photogenic flight line again.

17836
And Chris being posed all over the place. On the nose of the P-47, in this case.

17837
The planes were not only serviced between sessions, they were wiped down and spiffed up so they looked good for the crowd's cameras.

17838
Sorry, another one of my 'artistic photos' that you'll have suffer through. Lady Jo's invasion stripes.

[QuietOne]

17839
A shot of what's referred to as 'the money streak'

17840
JC didn't like some of the responses he was getting with the landing gear, so Parrothead went up on jacks to check the hydraulics. She turned out to be fine, and flew Sunday. But look at the size of the jacks!

17841
Classic shot of prop blur and radial engine on one of the N3Ns

17842
Taking someone for a ride. The pilot is actually in the back seat. You can fly an N3N from either position, but it's done from the back seat most of the time.

17843
One of the P-47's many admirers that weekend.

[QuietOne]

17844
Rick was carefully supervised as he turned the prop to move oil into the top cylinders. :headslap:

17845xxx17846
More crowd shots ("Did you get it?" "Yeah, look".)

[QuietOne]

17847

17848xxx17849
A closer look at some of Dottie Mae's panels

17850xxxx17851
Andrea. She's currently trying to get commercial time in the right seat of a plane, with an eye towards flying for a living. This was her first time in a formation flight.

[QuietOne]

17852
More of that 'artistic' stuff. Let's see, I think this is the Super Cub. She's in Australian military markings.

17853
The flight line

17854
The audience was obviously not composed of mad dogs and Englishmen. At least, not all of them.

[QuietOne]

Um, yeah. See, I have this thing about heights. Jim talked me into getting on the scissors lift. I sat on the deck and hung onto one of the railings. But it did make for a nice alternate viewpoint.

17855

17856

17857

17858

17859

[QuietOne]

17860
The smaller planes are easy to move around. Should have taken a picture of the hand holds on the N3N's wings, too.

17861xxxx17862
Brian refilling Parrothead's water tank for the spray bar. (Additional cooling for the engine) And Andrea wiping down Parrothead's belly

17863
And more people enjoying the museum's exhibits.

[QuietOne]

17864xxxx17865

By Sunday afternoon, Chris was done. And at this point, I think I am, too.

[asnow]

Great variety of shots Q1 and love your commentary on what what was going on. Looks like a fun (and tiring) time was had by all.

[QuietOne]

Tiring, oh, yeah. It took a little distance before anyone could remember the fun, though. Glad you enjoyed the show.

[Hillbillygirl]

Great variety of shots Q1 and love your commentary on what what was going on. Looks like a fun (and tiring) time was had by all.

Agreed, and thank you for sharing this interesting variety, especially the, behind the scenes, also.

[JAS_Photo]

Fascinating set, Q1. Looks like a fun but exhausting time.

[QuietOne]

Thank you, HBG and Jas. Now that it's nearly 3 months later, I'm remembering more of the show.