2008 Sumner County Aviation Festival

To our community, our sponsors, our fans:

Thanks for a great ride!

The Wellington Noon Lions Club is currently working on a full event line-up for an airshow in 2010. We can't wait to do it again!

So it begins!!!

Well, the P-38 won't be here after all. It had some engine trouble en-route, and so was replaced by a P-51 for the heritage flight with the F-15 Strike Eagle. They practiced this afternoon and impressed all who saw and heard them!

Tonight's event was mostly for the kiddos - a nice steady pace at the carnival rides and Lions Club Grill. I know one little one who really enjoyed the Ferris Wheel! (I really enjoyed it too!)

It was too windy for hot air balloons, and probably will be tomorrow, too. But there's still an amazing line-up to look forward to from about 1 to 5:30 p.m. And if at 9 a.m. you see the Gooney Bird up in the air, give a wave to me and my family!!

50 some plus hours and counting...

I can't believe we will have an aircraft this cool at the event this weekend, so I'm wondering if I don't have it remembered wrong, but I could have sworn that they said the Heritage Flight from the military will be with a P-38 instead of a P-51. According to Lion Rick, there are only FOUR P-38's flying today. How unreal.

The P-38Now, isn't that a cool-looking aircraft!?

Imagine it in flight, earning its nickname as "the fork-tailed devil!"

We had our last Aviation Festival meeting prior to the event this weekend, and I'm so encouraged by everyone's high spirits and togetherness on this event. I couldn't be more proud and happy to be a Lion!

I just booked a flight for six on the C-47 for myself and family! :-) I'm really looking forward to being up in the skies again and for the thrill and the rush! I was told today I didn't make the list of "dignitares" who are taking the Blackhawk Helicopter flight this weekend. Bummer! lol. Here's a tip for anyone in the Wellington area Friday afternoon - The F-15 Strike Eagle will be "practicing" its performance over the Wellington airport around 2:30 p.m. It's an opportunity to shake the windows of every home in town and remind them there's an air show this weekend! It's also a good time for a free sneak peak - and really, can you see the F-15 too often? I didn't think so!

One Week Out!

One Week until the
Sumner County Aviation Festival!?!

Gates open at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10 and at 6 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 11 at the Wellington Municipal Airport. The main show will begin at noon and a full afternoon of air show performances is planned, starting at noon on Saturday. Tickets are $7 in advance and $10 at the gate, and all kids 3 and under get in free.

I cannot emphasize this enough, or say this with a big enough smile, the air show will be better than ever this year! Event-goers should have their eyes on the skies by noon sharp on Saturday to enjoy the full line-up of acts running all afternoon! Best of all, carnival rides will be offered all evening Friday and through the day Saturday, so there should never be a dull moment!

• The Young Eagles will offer free flights to first-time fliers age 8-17, with pilots volunteering their time and aircraft to bring their love of aviation to children. For a flight with the Young Eagles, show up first thing Saturday morning!
• Four hot air balloons from Anthony, Kan. will compliment the event with launches Friday evening and first-thing Saturday morning.
• Carnival Rides will be offered all through the air show at no additional charge once festival-goers are in the gates!
• Food vendors, including the Wellington Noon Lions Club, will offer all the carnival foods and drinks traditionally enjoyed!
• In addition to all the featured air show performances, there will be several featured attractions on the air field! Some of the features will be a military Blackhawk Helicopter, and a VERY UNIQUE collection of brass cars dated 1890-1910. (The things you may never see again aren't limited to airplanes at this year's event!)

For more details on this year's featured performers, keep blogging down the page! I've been excited about this event since last APRIL so there are plenty of air-show peeks and highlights if you keep reading 'older posts'!

Heritage Flight

The F-15 Strike Eagle

The P-51 Mustang

The Sumner County Aviation Festival has landed the military's best air show offering with the F-15 Strike Eagle and P-51 Heritage Flight. The dual-act will impress the crowds as the fighter aircrafts of WWII and today team up for an ear-splitting, ground-shaking act on Saturday afternoon! I can't wait!

Edit: If you didn't read above, the P-51 won't be here this weekend, it's the P-38 instead. But I have to leave the P-51 on here anyways, just because I enjoyed reading about it!

Sons of Legends

The BEST air-show performers in the world are returning to the Sumner County Aviation Festival this year - Matt Younkin and Kyle Franklin. The two are brothers-in-law and sons of legends Jimmy Franklin and Bobby Younkin - both grew up on the air show circuit and are true professionals, not to mention the world's best air show performers!

I am looking forward to the return of the Twin Beech! It is such an impressive aircraft in its size, so striking in its color. And to think a plane of such size could so gracefully and easily roll across the skies... it's amazing. You will love it.



What's best, the Beech 18 isn't the only air show performance these guys will bring to this event!


Better be at the Sumner County Aviation Festival by noon on Saturday to catch this great act!

The B-25 War Dog

The B-25 "War Dog"

The B-25 War Dog is another of the historic aircraft which will be featured at the Wellington airport for the Sumner County Aviation Festival. The B-25 Bombers are always a hit on the air show circuit because they are powerful, impressive and a thrill to watch. But, at the Sumner County Aviation Festival, you don't have to sit on the ground with a kink in your neck to enjoy the B-25 - you can take an amazing 30-minute flight on the aircraft for just $350. Flights will be offered Friday and Saturday, with the possibility of Sunday flights if enough flights are sold.

There's something to say for flying in a historic bomber. Although there will be calm skies this weekend, you won't be able to help yourself from imagining the very different conditions of a war-time flight as you stand behind the gunners and realize the history the aircraft holds.

It's a powerful machine, and will be a powerful experience for festival-goers who get on board! If you're interested in more history on the B-25, there's plenty out there on WWII's good ol' War Dog!

"The Gooney Bird"

The C-47

Imagine how much space this big bird is going to take up on the landing strip of the Wellington Airport! The historic C-47 Skytrain will be featured at the Sumner County Aviation Festival. Lions Club members are selling flights on this hostoric craft for only $30! The flights for the C47 will be approximately 15 minutes long for the low low price of $30. This plane can carry up to 19 passengers at a time and is available for flights on Friday and Saturday, and if all those sell out, the pilot will stay on Sunday as well. Anyone who is interested in this Once In A Lifetime opportunity, let me know immediately! I am telling you, once you hear it and see it in the skies, you'll be wishing you had signed up for a flight in advance!

The C-47 is widely known for its use during WWII, where for some reason it was affectionately referred to as The Gooney Bird. For more history on this aircraft, check out the Travis Air Museum.

Four Months out...

We're four months out from the Sumner County Aviation Festival and while that might sound like a lot of time, organizers can feel it coming just around the corner!

There are so many things we are nailing down and big announcements about the event and its entertainers will be made soon!

I can say the skies above the Wellington Municipal Airport will probably never have been as busy as they will be on Oct. 10 and 11. We know headliners bring people out for short portions of the afternoons, we saw that with the performance of the Red Baron Squadron. But this year we will have live entertainment from noon till dark, with everything from fly-bys to highly aerobatic routines from some of the best air show entertainers in the nation.

Have you ever heard of the Oshkosh Air Show? It's an annual event in Wisconsin awarding highly prestigious awards to aircraft and entertainers, commonly referred to as the Worlds Greatest Aviation Celebration.

Well, I won't go as far as to call our event another Oshkosh, but I am not extending the truth to say performers who HEADLINE the Oshkosh Air Show are performaing the same quality routine in Wellington, Kansas this October. It truely is exciting to look at what this Club has put together for our community...

Wish us luck as we continue to plan and work through logistics and contracts and details! Here's to blue skies!

Lion Dusti

Mentioning the Air Show to a Veteran...

You mention the P-51 Mustang to a WWII Veteran and he says his friend was shot down in one of those...

You mention the C-47 Skytrain and he says his first flight was in a C-47 Skytrain, but that he had been injured in the war and was being flown to a medical hospital...

But then he says, “You know, I’ve got this watch...”

Roarrr for Rick!

Here's a big Roar for Lion Rick Hamlin who promoted Wellington and the Sumner County Aviation Festival during stops at 26 airports across the state of Kansas during the All Kansas Air Tour. His Super Ryan was a crowd-pleaser as always, and Hamlin was named the event's Pathfinder - leading all the pilots from one stop to the next.

Aside from the Super Ryan, this plane was my favorite, it smiled at me.




Thanks Lion Rick!

It's a GO!

It's so exciting! There are so many headliners of this year's Sumner County Air Show I don't know what to be the most excited about! In so many ways, we are putting together an event unlike we've ever had in the past. Louder and faster jets, more vintage aircraft, headlining military performances, four times as many professional air show performances, more radio-controlled jets, more booths and displays from military and local vendors, plus skydiving, plus the Young Eagles, not to mention all the great food, fun carnival games, and hot air ballooning!! It's just amazing to think of what we've got ahead of us!

Our Club has successfully requested a huge military air show performance, which will completely SHAKE the community of Wellington it's going to be so fast and so loud and so THRILLING! ... but we're not supposed to say quite yet which aircraft will be performing. ;-)

At the same time, local radio station 107.9 is working very hard to bring in a top-notch Country singer whose American-themed songs would fit perfectly with the show. Once that contract has been negotiated, we can announce the big entertainment for Saturday night. And, really, I mean BIG entertainment. The radio station is taking on the concert and will work in lots and lots of publicity for our event as well... The concert alone will bring in thousands, and of course we're all hoping they get to the Wellington Municipal Airport early and make a day of it!

We will now begin an aggressive fundraising campaign to bring in the air show performances of Matt Younkin and Kyle Franklin. Last year we had the big and beautiful Twin Beech perform, and we didn't hardly get a taste of their complete act. They've got more aircrafts, more aerobatics, more style and air show presence than a tiny little Lions Club Air Show could ever hope for...

The C-47 Skytrain (scroll down for an earlier entry on this) is also coming to the air show. This is the first part of the air show that fits into this year's emphasis on getting more people into the skies. We wanted more than the Young Eagles, skydivers and hot air balloons to offer as rides this year, and the C-47 Skytrain will give festival-goers the opportunity to take a ride in a huge, vintage aircraft that seats almost 20 at a time. It's going to be an amazing flight, and I say that with confidence that I'll be riding in that big beauty when it gets here!

Then there's the P-51 Mustang, a single-seater, the kind of aircraft that has true American history, that demands respect, and that just looks cooler than cool from the pictures I've seen. You can do a You Tube search for the P-51 Heritage Flight and see some of its performances at other air shows... It looks so cool up in the sky. I can't wait to see it flying over Wellington!

And, a favorite in Wellington, the hot air balloons are also part of the event! This year we're working with the balloon meisters who organize the annual hot air balloon event in Anthony, Kan., which I believe is held the first weekend of May. They always make such an impression at the elementary schools, which they visit on Friday morning, prior to the air show. They set up on the school grounds, and in years past have even given tethered rides to some of the principals! The kids love the hot air balloons at the schools, and I love them first thing Saturday morning when they all launch from the air field together and my family then gets on the chase to watch them float across the county. It's an amazing ride, and you can take that to mean either the one in the hot air balloon or the one for the balloon chasers!

And of course, we wouldn't leave out the carnival! For anyone whose never been to the event before, this is a good place to mention the procedure for admission at the gate. Our Lions Club and several businesses in Wellington will be selling wristbands in advance, and at a slightly increased price at the gates. But once inside the festival at the airport, everything else is free entertainment. There is NO additional charge for any of the air show performances, of course, but the carnival rides are also free. The carnival we bring in has a few rides for older festival-goers, and of course the Ferris Wheel is a favorite of everyone's, but they also bring in several rides that are fun for even the youngest toddlers, all the way up to the faster and crazier rides for the older kids. Hours and hours can be spent, and kids can get in line for their favorite rides as many times as they like, and there's NO charge at all! (That said, as a Lions Club we've got some serious fundraising to do!)

So anyways, for those of you who have been wondering what exactly this air show will entail, we've got quite a lot planned! Keep looking here for the big announcements from the military performance and the evening's concert (which will have separate admission from the aviation festival.) And always, more more more!

Dusti
fanslerdusti@gmail.com

*The above photo mosaic was used with my favorite photographs on my Flickr account. Following the link, you can find all those photographs and their orignal photographers, as well as photos of the last three years of Sumner County Aviation Festivals.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fanslerdusti/sets/

Aviation Fest Planning

We've had a pretty good response to the ballot questions we asked at last week's meeting. The responses have been in favor of bringing in the C-47, a new balloonmeister and the carnival, with some hesitation to bring in the Younkin and Franklin team due to the amount of fundraising we would have to accomplish. With the event later in the year this time than ever, there's the added concerns of less light during the day and the greater possibility of cold weather. There is much, much more to be discussed next week, when our Lions will have to come to agreement on many aspects of planning this event!

Here are some of the responses so far:

A chance to share the wonder of flight

PA016523
Originally uploaded by fanslerdusti

The Wellington Noon Lions Club has some very big decisions ahead! We all know we can’t rely on a handful of people to make this Aviation Festival a success this year - it has to be everyone working together. This year there will be more emphasis on personal commitments of both time and money to the air show from our club members and their businesses and the Wellington community... Oh, I hope this thing is a GO! :-)

Presented to our club were the possibilities of bringing in SEVEN different air show acts this year. That means not a 30 minute air show, not a 45 minute airshow, but a whole afternoon of watching air show performances! Everything from military demonstrations and historic, vintage aircrafts to the most famous acts in the air show circuit with the return of not only Matt Younkin and the Beech 18 but the possibility of four of the Younkin and Franklin performances. I couldn’t have been more impressed with the Beech 18 last year. I loved it’s bright colors and size — this year we could have planes twice as big as the Beech 18 out on the runway! I can’t even imagine!

The emphasis this year will be to give more festival-goers the opportunity to not just watch the skies but to experience flight. If we could bring in the C-47 Skytrain, up to 19 could ride at a time in the historic aircraft. There is talk about the possibility of getting flights in one or even two Stearman Aircraft, including one of the Red Baron bi-planes! I know there would be cost involved, but I’d sign up several members of my family in a heartbeat to give them the chance to experience either! And that’s not even all of the possibilities for this airshow!

We really have the chance to put together a simply incrediable event for this community and this whole region. I would just love to see people lined up at the gate and a full parkinglot!!! I can see it now!

So, the next action of our Club will be to vote on this airshow by silent ballot. I’m in charge of creating the ballot, so if you have any suggested questions, please send them in. I’m asking if the Club supports the financial commitments needed for the performers, hot air balloons, carnival and more. I’m asking for personal commitments on everything from donations to selling wristbands in advance to volunteering time to work as “staff” at the event. If we get a positive response and a commitment from our Club we feel like we can stand on, we will continue our efforts to bring this amazing airshow to our community. It’s a unique event because it combines aviation with hot air balloons, live entertainment and carnival rides and food... It takes a very unique group of people to take care of all aspects of a production like this. We’re lucky to have so many insiders in the air show circuit and with airport management experience, but its up to the rest of us to sell sell sell! :-)

So, here’s to a positive ballot return and a fantastic event!
Fingers crossed!

Anticipating Next Week's Meeting!

IMG_9143
Originally uploaded by Garrette

The program next week at our Lions Club meeting will be all about the air show. Lion Rick Hamlin will be presenting some of our options as far as attractions we could bring in to the air show, including video of some of the performers who could become featured acts of this event. As a club, we'll be committing to fund raising to a certain dollar amount to bring in many of these acts (although some of them would be free.) For instance, world-famous pilot Matt Younkin came last year with one performance, the Twin Beech. This year, he's willing to bring all four aircraft of the Younkin Airshows to our Sumner County Aviation Festival... We'd just have to commit to four times as much fundraising! I'm very encouraged about the way the Air Show is being organized so far this year. Instead of requiring a couple or even just one of our members to be in charge of all aspects of the festival, the event will truely be managed by the club as a whole this year. I know this will require an even bigger commitment from each of us, and from Wellington as a community, but it's something I know our club will embrace with enthusiasm. This year our Aviation Festival should absolutely be bigger and better than its ever been before! Roarrr Lions!

C-47 Skytrain

C-47 Skytrain
Originally uploaded by sean.granier

I'm not saying we will, because it's too early for that, but wouldn't is be amazing if our airshow had something like the C-47 to give rides to festival-goers? It would truely be a historic flight. You could imagine yourself a WWII parachuter getting ready for a mission...

The C-47:
Another famed aircraft of WWII, The C-47 is one of the best known transports of all time. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, termed it one of the most vital pieces of military equipment used in winning World War II. In the mid 1930’s the US military needed a new transport/cargo plane and contracted with Douglas to adapt the Douglas Commercial or DC series of aircraft. The DC series was a new design being built for the airline industry in the early to mid 1930’s. (http://www.cavanaughflightmuseum.com/Aircraft/C-47/Page1.html)

Timeless

P-51 Mustang, before takeoff
Originally uploaded by Terry Foote

Part of the decision to move the date of this year's airshow was the promise of more military aircraft demonstrations at the Sumner County Aviation Festival. This year there is talk of the event hosting the P-51 — and I couldn't be more excited about it!

What is the P-51?
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range single-seat fighter aircraft that entered service with Allied air forces in the middle years of World War II. The P-51 became one of the conflict's most successful and recognizable aircraft. Some have argued that it was a "war-winning" weapon. It certainly was a decisive factor in the aerial Battle of Germany. After World War Two, the Mustang continued to serve with the USAF and other Western air forces, including distinguished service in the Korean War.
As well as being economical to produce — over 15,000 P-51 Mustangs of all types were built from 1940-1945 — the Mustang was a fast, well-made and highly durable aircraft. The definitive version of the single-seat fighter was powered by the Packard V-1650-3, a two-stage two-speed supercharged 12-cylinder Packard-built version of the legendary Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, and armed with six of the aircraft version of the .50 caliber (12.7 mm) Browning machine guns.
The P-51 Mustang and the men that flew them saved lives in the skies and on the ground. (http://www.cavanaughflightmuseum.com/Aircraft/C-47/Page1.html)

Red Baron Squadron retired

This isn't breaking news, unless you just heard it yesterday, like I did.

Marshall, Minn. – December 3, 2007 - After 28 years of outstanding formation aerobatic air show performances, The Schwan Food Company announces the retirement of the Red Baron® Pizza Squadron.
“The Red Baron Squadron has been an incredible asset to our company and we are very proud of its long successful history,” said Bill McCormack, executive vice president. “The retail grocery industry has experienced considerable change over the past few years. And, as a result, we have decided to refocus our Red Baron marketing program and to discontinue the Red Baron Squadron.”
“We are very proud to have been a part of such a legendary program,” said Jayson Wilson, director of flight operations and left wing pilot - speaking on behalf of the Red Baron Squadron pilots, technicians and administrative staff. “We can all say we were a part of something really special. The air show community and our fans have been great. We’ll miss all of them.”

So, I guess that says it. For anyone wondering if the Sumner County Aviation Festival would ever bring back the Red Barons... no. We were sure lucky to have them perform when we did!
Still, it makes me sad that I won't be able to go to an airshow in the future, here or anywhere, and watch their performance while I remember what it was like to be flying in that open cockpit watching the ground, sky, ground, sky as we rolled around up there. What an experience the Red Barons shared with us! I'm so glad its an experience myself, my dad, and several other Lions and community members got to experience in Wellington. In addition to the airshow, the Red Barons signed autographs and merchandise, then stayed another night in Wellington to give a limited number of public flights the next morning. They were impressive in many respects, including their willingness to share their passion for their planes and what they do with our community. The Red Baron airshow itself has long been a favorite across the world. I know it is a favorite for Wellington.

Luckily, Wellington is home of the Super Ryan and Lion Rick Hamlin, who can pilot the vintage aircraft to bring the nostalgia and graceful flight of the open-cockpit bi-plane to our airshows.

Facts about the Red Baron Squadron
• More than 2,000 formation aerobatic air show performances
• Flown more than 80,000 passengers
• Traveled more than six million miles
• Red Baron pilots fly in formation less than a wingspan apart while performing aerobatic maneuvers such as loops, clover leafs, hammerheads and barrel rolls.
• The Red Baron Squadron® aircraft are fully-restored historic Boeing Stearman biplanes built between 1941 and 1943.
• The Boeing Stearman was the primary training aircraft in the United States, Canada and Europe during World War II. More pilots have trained in a Stearman than any other plane.
• 42 pilots have been members of the Red Baron Pizza Squadron’s 28 year history.
• The Red Baron Pizza Squadron won the Art Scholl Award in 1995 and the Bill Barber Award in 1993

A family Air-fair

Every year, I invite my family and friends down to the Sumner County Aviation Festival. Everyone who knows me knows I get super-excited about the event. I always know it's going to be fun for me. Working at the newspaper, I've taken media hot air balloon flights and even flown with the Red Baron Squadron, barrell rolls and all! I've interviewed famous pilots and made lots of airshow friends in the past few years. But, I bring in my friends and family because I know there's so much for them to enjoy too. My brother has been in a hot air balloon, my niece and nephew took their first flights with the Young Eagles, and everyone loves tailgating while we watch the air show performances. Those who I can get to meet at 6 a.m. on Saturday morning, volunteer with me as part of the chase crew for the hot air balloons, which means we're out on the field helping our pilot get their balloon launched, then chasing after it across the county. No, we don't have a clue what road we're on or where it's going to land! Great fun. So, it's an event we not only watch, but participate in too. And the great thing is, it can be the same for anyone else out there who would like to volunteer - they always love adding people to the chase crews and not too many people can say they've worked so closely with hot air balloons. It's fascinating. I take a lot of pride in seeing everyone having a great weekend. There's so much to look forward to each year — and from the whisperings I've heard around the Club, many new events to make this year's Aviation Festival the best yet! I couldn't be more excited to share all the details with you as I learn them. Hopefully I'll get you (nearly) as excited as I am for this event!

I'll be posting pictures soon and sharing experiences and memories of past events while I let you know what to anticipate for 2008!