Wings Over Wine Country Air Show 2009 - Fun Displays

Wings Over Wine Country Air Show on its second day - see previous blog - was also about highly skilled and entertaining displays of a different genre - see previous blog

The crowd held their breath as a 'very diminutive young lady' performed a headstand and kicked her legs - on top of a bright red and yellow plane in the air and with not even a lapbelt to hold her in place.

Teresa Stokes, a top wingwalker, flew with 'no safety wires, no ropes, no chains, no nothing!' She started with a lap belt, but removed it for the last few stunts, leaving her to hang on to a pole known as 'the javelin' as the plane turned upside down.

Acrobatic pilot, Gene Soucy, in his Showcat teamed with her for a stunning wingwalking act and also in the show gave a solo display.

Teresa, when she's not climbing onto the top of planes, is an aviation artist who has had two of her paintings exhibited in space on the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Another great acrobatics pilot was Greg Poe. He likens one of his stunts where he stands his plane on end and lets it slide downwards, to 'balancing a chair on one leg on one finger!'

Canadians Team Rocket performed as a duo, flipping their wings as they passed and looping over and around each other, leaving smoke patterns in the sky. They also did a routine with 'intruder' hang glider pilot, Dan Buchanan, cutting the ribbons from his glider. Dan, who entertained with live commentary during the mock contretemps, is a paraplegic hang glider from Nevada.

And model aircraft at the hands of experienced fliers added their own spin to acrobatics.

Drama arrived with 'Henry 1', the Sonoma County Sheriff's search and rescue helicopter. First, with one member of the SWAT team dangling on the end of a 100 ft rope, they demonstrated a precision rescue in an inaccessible place, harnessing and lifting someone off the top of a fire ladder. This done with just the pilot at the controls and no second person in the chopper to help guide.

Helicopters like this are used in the commercial world for logging or lifting heavy things onto buildings.

Next, Henry 1 returned with six members of the SWAT team hanging onto the rope. Their mission: to rescue a hostage on a school bus. Amid thick plumes of black smoke, they succeeded!



A timely demonstration, given the wildfire at Santa Cruz, was given by two firefighting planes. They showed how the planes work in pairs, the first one laying down a smoke trail to show the one following where to release the fire retardent.

It was a great show with a lot of variety and opportunity to see many old planes, including helicopters and Coast Guard seaplanes, and the chance to sit in quite a few cockpits. And you could also buy a luxury seven-seater jet or sit in an Indy car from the Infineon Raceway.

Not only were there veteran planes, however. One visitor for whom the show brought back memories was former paratrooper, 83-year-old Don Clouston.

Don jumped into Normandy on D-Day with the 101st Airborne Division. When the division was disbanded after the war, he saw later service in Korea with the 187th Airborne Division. His plane, a C-47, wasn't there, but an earlier DC-3 civilian version was.

Then 'I was young, dumb and gung-ho! I'd have to think a lot before I did it again,' he said. 'When you're young, you don't think you're going to die. I lost a lot of my buddies, but somehow I survived, I don't know how.'

pics by Chris

Wings over Wine Country Air Show 2009

The 'Big Dog' took mastery over the Sonoma skies this afternoon bringing a thunderous end to the Wings Over Wine Country Air Show.

America's newest and biggest lifter, the C-17 Globemaster 111, rolled to the end of the runway, creating airwaves that blew hats off in its wake.

Hang onto your children and your toupes, turn down your hearing aids, had advised the air force commentator who took over the 'mic.'

And then, 'who do they think they're dealing with?!!!' he roared of Big Dog's enemies as the beast shook the skies in a maximum angle climb.

With a wing span half the length of a football field and over 20 world records, Big Dog soared, dipped and turned with a power that could shake the grapes off the vines across Wine Country.

Thousands of people were gathered for the annual celebration of aviation history presented by the Pacific Coast Air Museum. The two-day show exhibited planes from World War 11 to supersonic fighters, with plenty of entertainment flying and imaginative demonstrations in between.

Veteran aircraft with 'open cockpits' for people to climb into lined part of the grounds at the Charles M Schulz - Sonoma County Airport, and Big Dog earlier in the day was open to visitors to not only roam inside its cavernous body but view the flight deck.

Among its duties, the cargo plane powers its way to the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan to rescue seriously injured service men and women and ferry them to hospital in Germany and performs humanitarian airlifts.

It has a speed of 450 knots at 28,000 ft, a short landing capability of 1,200 ft and to fill up with gas would take four days of pumping 24 hours a day.

Warbirds from World War 11 had a special and protected showcasing. For the first hour only there was opportunity to get close-up to them.

During the air display itself, warbirds from both World War 11 and after were an evocative showpiece: three bomber escorts, silver P-51 D Mustangs, with Rolls Royce Merlin engines, that became the 'cadillac of the skies.' These later versions flew with disposable fuel tanks enabling them to escort bombers all the way to Germany and back, rather than having to return to Britain halfway; a US Navy trainer, a black T-28 Trojan of which production began in 1950; and a British-designed fighter-bomber, the Hawker Sea Fury, that flew with the Royal Canadian Navy.

While the grandees paraded, the show music was turned down for the distinctive throb of their engines to be heard. The Mustangs especially are a preserved remnant. Of 15,000 that were built, only 150 remain across the world. At the end, the Warbirds flew in the Missing Men formation, as all at the show stood to honour those who had lost their lives in war, and their families.

Half-way through the show, four sleek black supersonic T-38 fighter jets from the Beale Air Force Base, California, made a handsome fly-past at 500 ft. It was a fleeting appearance and announcer Rob Reider said it had been hoped that they would fly at 300ft, but it was not to be.

However, an A-10 Thunderbolt 11, the 'workhorse of power and manoeuvrability,' roared and rolled with power and agility for some minutes around the runway. Known as 'the warthog,' it is used today for ground attack and close air support of ground forces.

Also putting in an appearance that afternoon were a WW 11 fighter, a P-38 Lightning; trainers from Red China, the CJ-6s, appreciated as 'Cold War Trophies' and still in service in Developing Countries; and North American T-6 Texans, known as 'the pilot makers' for their crucial role in training.


pics by Chris: Big Dog; the Mustangs, Trojan and Hawker Sea Fury; A-10 Thunderbolt

more to follow....