Steve Nelson wrote:
Unfortunately Texas Raiders didn't fly. I'm not sure why..possibly due to time. The warbird action had to be cut to the bone so the T-birds could fly (the T-birds pushed their start time to 3:15, but the announcer said that was the best they could do.)
Texas Raiders was ready to fly the show and do a few formation passes with Yankee Lady on Sunday afternoon, but... several glitches happened that kept us (TR crew) on deck. As y'all know, the weather was cruddy, damp and everything got a late start; but methinks the big problem was that the tug crews were overwhelmed. With the B-29 gear problem and air return, the E-2 Hawkeye being stuck in the mud, plus the assorted departing B-25s, P-47, P-63, etc, there were not enough tugs to move the planes to a hot ramp. Also, there were 3 Navy T-45s plus 2 F-15s that were towed out to the hot ramp during the show. So, at our engine start time, we were still on the crowded spectator ramp with no tug/towbar in sight. By the time we begged for a tug and were towed into start position, Yankee Lady was done with her passes and was taxiing in... and that was that.
The one thing that I just don't understand is why 5 military jets that weren't even flying in the show were towed to the hot ramp while a B-17 on the show schedule was completely forgotten...