"idiots at airshows" threads

[tom d. friedman]

the corsair gathering mt. comfort indiana....... multiple stupidity & greed too. sweltering hot, the corsair veterans are in a tent for autograph signings. the line is at least 2 hours long snaking out of the tent. it was twice as hot in the tent, & here are these old vets, signing everything in sight while hotter than balls. people couldn't bring just 1 item, they stood their with posters, pics, models, everything they could hold on to, & wanted them all signed by the gracious guests of honor. the line really backed up, tempers flared into the sun, & finally a show coordinator said enough & cancelled the signing session, for the over wrought pilots. that took guts on the show coordinator's part, & i respected it, but i thought a riot was going to take place from many pigs who had to have all their doo dads signed. it was an ugly scene!!

[tom d. friedman]

oh cripes!!!! sorry gang!!! the slow snafu again, i'll try to erase the multiple posts!!

[Tinker51]

I recall one time I flew with a friend in his P-51D to a show. We parked and were standing on the wing talking when a young lad of maybe 15 wearing a CAP uniform adorned with more ribbons than Audie Murphy directed us to get down from the a/c immediately. Somewhat intrigued by this we jumped down and faced off with our assialant who ordered us away from the aircraft and out of the area post haste. "Mustang Jim" just snickered at him then just started putting the plugs on the exhaust stacks. At this point our young Gestapo whatabee put hands on Jim and forcefully tried to move him. To this day I truly believe I stopped a killing
Only the airboss's well timed arrival withy a bag of cookies prevented our departure

I have been cornered by the mini-gestapo so many times I have lost count. I am sure there are some good people involved in the organization but none of them ever seem to make it to an airshow. Do they seem to go out of their way to find performers and annoy them with stupid requests?

[warbirdcrew]

At the Arlington airshow we usually camp with the throngs of other campers. One year we decided it would be fun (and a bit quieter) if we just camped inside the Albatross. Because of its size, the airplane was always parked at the end of the warbird ramp on the taxiway, not in any of the designated "camp by your airplane" spots. The interior is plenty big enough and was pretty comfortable. Forward to Saturday night, and we leave the airplane to go watch the nightly movie at the "runway theater". One of the divine, all powerful air show security nazis saw us climb out of the airplane after hours and thought that he had finally caught the big one, he finally had some real drama going down. Well no sooner did he see us, he was on the radio to his security buddies and on the phone to the sheriff. It took about 30 minutes and lots of identification and documents to prove to him that we were actually legit.

[ripcord]

I was one of those mini-gestapo back in the mid to late 70's at Dobbins AFB/ NAS Atlanta; and loved every second of being inside the ropes around Intruders, A-7's, Phantoms, VIGGIES, B-57's, and ANG F-100's, 105's and 106's. Back then there was true variety on the ramp. And I don't know how many times I was asked if I was the pilot- all of 15-17 years old and in the CAP uniform?! I overheard one guy telling his girlfriend that the intake on an RF-8G was where the flame thrower was located to shoot down other jets! I was happy to embarass him with the correct information which the GF took very seriously as I did after all have on a uniform.

[Nathan]

Well last year at Geneseo I was standing with Jeff Hunt and noticed a few ground crew smoking by the aircraft!!!! A few people in the croud yelled at them only to have someone behind us lighting up a cig too.


Nothing bad about CAP but some kids make it a joke. One CAP kid maybe 8 or 9 was "trying" directing traffic for us to park. He had everyone going the wrong way!!

[DoraNineFan]

I recall one time I flew with a friend in his P-51D to a show. We parked and were standing on the wing talking when a young lad of maybe 15 wearing a CAP uniform adorned with more ribbons than Audie Murphy directed us to get down from the a/c immediately. Somewhat intrigued by this we jumped down and faced off with our assialant who ordered us away from the aircraft and out of the area post haste. "Mustang Jim" just snickered at him then just started putting the plugs on the exhaust stacks. At this point our young Gestapo whatabee put hands on Jim and forcefully tried to move him. To this day I truly believe I stopped a killing
Only the airboss's well timed arrival withy a bag of cookies prevented our departure

I must say that I stopped going to my favorite show because of the behavior of the local CAP marshals. I've also seen the ribbon-wearing type and I found the marshals to be more militant than polite. Mind you, nobody was yelling at me, but I listened to this uptight kid bark orders at other attendees and fellow cadets nearly all morning. As this kid was all of 12 or 13 years old, I was tempted to walk up to him and offer some worldly advice to help him avoid being made fun of for the rest of his teenage years, but in the end I concluded that he deserved it. This was a "small town" type air show, where they really didn't need para-military types running around screaming at people. Only 5 or six aircraft were going to display and a few adult marshals could easily control and move the spectators, as they did in the first few years of the show.

Last edited by DoraNineFan on Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:02 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[DiggerWW2]

This happened at the Reading WW2 Weekend a few years ago. Check this out:

Some Jerk-Off was hanging around a fully restored Skyraider.
He rubs His hand on one of the Landing Gear & gets BLACK GREASE all over it...
Then the Owner see's this Jerk SNEAK around to the other side of the aircarft. When this Turd thought nobody was looking, He WIPES HIS HAND ON THE SIDE OF THE PLANE like an idiot to get all the Grease off.
Needless to say, the Owner FLIPPED OUT on this Guy. I saw the whole thing & was in complete shock...

I don't think that Skyraider has been back since...
Probably due to this one incident & I don't blame Him one bit. People Suck... Digger

[Tinker51]

One of the divine, all powerful air show security nazis saw us climb out of the airplane after hours and thought that he had finally caught the big one, he finally had some real drama going down.

Maybe it was this guy?
Very long thread. You don't have to read the whole thing to get the idea. I laughed so hard I had tears and my stomach muscles hurt for two days.

http://lonelymachines.org/mall-ninjas/

[ripcord]

Down here we called those types 'kudzu commandos'. The kids in my CAP squadron were never that bad; we mostly said not to smoke around the aircraft and that we were not the pilots. We did no marshalling, either. Still, I wouldn't trade anything for being able to see the airshow aircraft on the approach to Dobbins from our squadron building.

[Eric Friedebach]

At the NMUSAF the signs were put up for the B-2, but it was still over in paint, so there was a big open space with a sign for the B-2. When people would ask where it was, we would say "It's right there"

That reminds me of one of my favorite lines from hangar parties back in the day. Invariably some young lady would ask me what aircraft I was with, which I would reply with a straight face, “The stealth fighter.”

“Oh, really? I didn’t see a stealth fighter at the show today.” she would reply

To which I would simply nod and say “Yes ma’am, that’s correct.”

[ZRX61]

Duxford, '89 or '90. Pilot was about to fire up the P47 when I notice some gal dressed completely in white leaning on the fence directly behind it fiddling with her camera. I was about 20ft to the side of the P47 on the live side...







Yeah, I really should have warned her, but I was curious about how much oil the Jug would throw out....

[warbirdcrew]

Yeah, I really should have warned her, but I was curious about how much oil the Jug would throw out.... Cool

good call

[warbird51]

My Dad was an FAA inspector and I would go with him to the Watsonville Airshow in the early 80's. He would check out the paperwork on the airshow acts. I would get credentials identifying me and an FAA GADO official. The airshow was getting ready to do the flying part and they had the CAP kids moving the crowd back to the safety distance from the runway. A CAP kid was trying to get this one guy to move back and the guy would not move. He didn't have any press credentials and was just being a jerk to the kid. I walked over and asked the boy if there was a problem. After he explained, I told the guy he had 2 choices, take his pictures from behind the crowd line, or he could watch from outside the gates. After he looked at my badge, he moved.

Fast forward to the Reno Races. I'm a crew chief for a FM2 Wildcat. We have gun gas residue painted on the wing gun ports. People will ask if we fire the guns. I tell them yes, They then ask how is that possible. I say we have a permit from the ATF. They then ask where we do this and where we get the ammo. I say there is a range in the desert to do the shooting and that we reload the spent cartridges.

The good part, last year at Reno, we had a guy stop by who ditched 2 Wildcats off Okinawa during the invasion. he was an absolute gem to talk to and we had him in the a/c for about 30 minutes.

Last edited by warbird51 on Fri Jan 18, 2008 4:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Jet Mech]

While attending a Open House at my local AFB (now closed, England AFB, LA) I was chatting with the pilots of a T-37 sitting next to an A-37, and the discussion about how they liked the nickname of Tweet, well the T-37 pilot said it was the best 30,000 dog whistle ever made. The A-37 pilot said no it not, after a short discussion the difference ended up being the A-37 pilot agreed it was the best 32,000 dog whistle ever made, guns and all....... I am not sure these two qualified at "Fighter Pilots" though.

Old Crew Chief.....