Airshow Horror Stories

[shrike]

My horror story goes back to the early days of Creve Coeur when someone thought the tail of Bud Dake's clipped wing Monocoupe -a beautiful airplane with more coats of hand-rubbed black and orange dope than I have patience to apply-would make a perfect diaper changing table. I snagged the 20 pound, muddy bottomed diaper bag just as she was about to sling it up on the horizontal.
In the resulting hue and cry, her husband arrived at the same time as the local police (the whole force was invited out with the lure of relatively easy duty and free food). The looks on their faces were priceless as the cop took in the situation and my 'Staff" shirt and asked ME what I would like him to do. Several other cops happened to wander by as they were being escorted from the property and it only took about 500yds for their protests to run out of steam. Count that one as a win.



330th, I sent that as a PM to save your feelings, not mine. I'll do you the courtesy again by not posting your ever-so-eloquent reply

[the330thbg]

My horror story goes back to the early days of Creve Coeur when someone thought the tail of Bud Dake's clipped wing Monocoupe -a beautiful airplane with more coats of hand-rubbed black and orange dope than I have patience to apply-would make a perfect diaper changing table. I snagged the 20 pound, muddy bottomed diaper bag just as she was about to sling it up on the horizontal.
In the resulting hue and cry, her husband arrived at the same time as the local police (the whole force was invited out with the lure of relatively easy duty and free food). The looks on their faces were priceless as the cop took in the situation and my 'Staff" shirt and asked ME what I would like him to do. Several other cops happened to wander by as they were being escorted from the property and it only took about 500yds for their protests to run out of steam. Count that one as a win.

Maybe it is time the Airshow organizers came up with a standard one page card/handout printed in several languages on Aircraft Do's and Dont's.
This way while the masses are making a b-line for the Fouga next to the Kettle Korn truck they have something to quickly read.
Do: Enjoy the Aircraft
Don't: Touch them
Do: remember a lot of them are made out of fabric with no more thickness than your Fruit of the Looms
Don't: forget that these people spend 100's of thousands and up to purchase, restore and maintain them for your viewing pleasure
Do: Offer to assist in cleaning exhaust deposits and bug parts off the leading edge of the wing
Don't: let you or your children use the pitot tube for a chin-up bar
Do: be prepared to pull out your checkbook if you or your little darlings damage these aircraft...
etc.., I am sure we can come up with some ZINGERS!!!

when the crowd begins to file in through the gate they are handed this quick and LARGE PRINT reference card. Maybe put a picture of a girl in a bikini on the top, just to get their eyes drawn to the card.

[cco23i]

Anyway, I was there with a fan group, all of us in reproduction show uniforms I personally yelled at two of them to get back on their side of the line as they’re meant to be looked at, not climbed upon (or even photographed with flash photography, as that museum is pretty anal about that). Neither said anything back to me, I guess maybe they thought I was part of the exhibit staff, being dressed as I was.

WTF? Really? I say again, W......T........F'in..........F! There is, indeed, plenty of horror in this story.

I'll never understand people that play dress up, be it science fiction or military. But especially science fiction. A twelve year old on Halloween? Yea sure but I just don't know how grown men and women can do that and look at themselves in the mirror and not think "gosh I look like an idiot."

Well Brad after fixing airplanes in the Air Force for 27 years and dealing with fighter jocks most of that time I decided to portray a WW2 crew chief to help educate the public that pilots don't fix airplanes and ground crews do. I don't feel that "I look like an idiot" but am attempting to tell a story of all the 16 plus hours that the fellows in WW2 on the hardstands did to keep the airplanes flying. I actually take STRONG offense to your comment as I am NOT "play acting" but actually DO the job and want the public to see how hard the ground crwews work so YOU can get "the glory"


Tsgt. Scott Dunkirk

[Dave Downs]

So BACK TO AIRSHOW HORROR stories..,

what happened to the little bruiser after he ejected out of the S-3?

Dead at the scene....

He wasn't strapped into the seat and was pitched forward as the seat went up. It must have been rather.... 'messy'... as in this photo you can see water left on the tarmac from the 'clean-up' (by firetruck). I don't mean to be too graphic, but some aspects of aviation are dangerous, and not just while in flight. I never found out the results of the investigation but it was about 20 years until the Blue Angles returned to Willow Grove.

[cco23i]

We never allowed anyone in the seats UNLESS the egress guys had disarmed the seats or capsule.

Scott

[Brad]

Well Brad after fixing airplanes in the Air Force for 27 years and dealing with fighter jocks most of that time I decided to portray a WW2 crew chief to help educate the public that pilots don't fix airplanes and ground crews do. I don't feel that "I look like an idiot" but am attempting to tell a story of all the 16 plus hours that the fellows in WW2 on the hardstands did to keep the airplanes flying. I actually take STRONG offense to your comment as I am NOT "play acting" but actually DO the job and want the public to see how hard the ground crwews work so YOU can get "the glory"


Tsgt. Scott Dunkirk

But here's the deal Scott. You certainly will get no argument from me about your motives, but you are playing dress up, no matter what your motives are. Because you are not a WWII crew chief. You are dressed up like one and doing the stuff they do. I can ride a horse and rob a bank dressed as Jesse James and that still doesn't make me an old west villian.

I'm sorry you take strong offense to my comments but that's ok. I doubt it's any stronger than the offense I take when I see people wearing uniforms they never earned. I don't see what glory you think I'm getting. I actually work on old planes as well, far more than I ever get to fly them. So don't get any splinters while you are crawling down off your cross.

[cco23i]

One thing that makes me do this is 2 years ago a WW2 vet who worked B-25's in North Africa and Italy came by and stayed with us for over 3 hours. When he was leaving I asked him why he stayed so long talking and laughing with us and he said that it felt like he was 19 again and we were acting and looked just like they did and he felt young again and felt better physically. If I can make ONE vet enjoy himself for a few moment remembering his or her past endevors then I have suceeded. Oh, and as I am a crew chief I don't get splinters.

Scott

[michaelharadon]

I think that pictures of warbirds with pilots and crew in period garb look really cool.

[Xrayist]

Brad:
I think you were a bit critical there, but let me ask you a few questions...have you ever seen a war movie? If so, you must have really hated it since most, not all, but most of the actors never earned the uniform they wore in the movie. How about when at some of the big airshows, a crew of a B-17 will dress up in authentic WWII flight uniforms...do you boycott a show like that? Should they be wearing, oh, I don't know, golf shirts, khaki pants and deck shoes?
Do you respect George C. Scott? He portrayed one of the most famous generals in history, but he never earned a general's uniform. How about Gregory Peck? He portrayed another famous general, and like George C. Scott, he never earned a general's uniform either.
The people who dress like they do at shows due it to honor, not pretend to be, the people of the greatest generations this country has ever known. My dad is a WWII veteran. Several years ago I joined a WWII reinactment group. After scrounging all the equipment, I invited him to one of our shows. He was very impressed and honored..didn't seem to mind any of us portraying something we never were.

[ZRX61]

I can ride a horse and rob a bank dressed as Jesse James

I'm in

[the330thbg]

We never allowed anyone in the seats UNLESS the egress guys had disarmed the seats or capsule.
Scott

Well, you would think that this is SOP for any open cockpit at an airshow. Someone got their backside handed to them in a sling for this one.

I have also heard of certain ends of the gene pool pulling on props with way too hot magnetos and away goes the engine. Much more of a crowd clearer than cycling the pumps.

[Warbird Kid]

The people who dress like they do at shows due it to honor, not pretend to be, the people of the greatest generations this country has ever known.

Thats the best line i've heard all day. Cant say Im much of a reenactor but I have played "dress up" at a few of our local shows in these parts. For the Corsairs over Connecticut 05 show I portrayed a Chance Vought Factory worker alongside my father and a few of my friends.

The outfits are merely a way of trying to convey the time period more accurately and vividly to the average visitor to the show. As I was told by a good friend: "You have to make it Hollywood". How I interpreted that saying was that, these airshows we all flock to each year are in direct competition with professional sporting events, theme parks, concerts, car racing, gambling, state or town events, etc. The point is that you must make the attendee at the show as entertained and interested as you possibly can. The planes alone do this and do it well, since there the obvious reason people go to airshows in the first place. But with people in period dress, vintage vehicles, etc. it makes it that much easier for the viewer to understand what there looking at, rather than just watching a movie and seeing it. Now there experiencing it, immersing them in it, etc. Along the same lines there are living history villages that portray the 18th and 19th centuries. Heres an example: http://www.osv.org Are these ridiculous?

Just this past May at the second Corsairs over Connecticut show I had the opportunity to dress as a Marine / Navy Corsair pilot, and I took it.

Photo by Richard Allnut

While I've never been in the service and technically never earned what I wore, I still felt what I was doing something important. Seeing the aircraft alone is great, but to me having someone in an outfit from the same period as the plane is only an added benefit. Sure I felt like a ham at times while having my picture taken but it seemed anyone who was there only enjoyed the idea of seeing re-enactors. I stayed at the Corsair line almost all day answering the same questions as politely and friendly as possible, but more so being as respectful to whoever I was talking to. I was wearing a uniform that men my age wore in the 40's and 50's that fought and died in. I don't take it light hearted, I don't just think its a fun escape from reality. While I may not be a year round re-enactor, involved in a squad or outfit I still feel like an instrument that helps people understand the time period a little better. I have nothing but the utmost respect for those who have and those who are serving for our armed forces and I never impersonate or pretend to be something Im not. I am who I am, I just might wear an outfit that isn't modern during one of these shows to aid the public in understanding the time frame and answer there questions. Is that so ridiculous and childish?

Sorry for hijacking this thread further.

[michaelharadon]

I'd rather see a uniform on a reinactor at an air show than on display in a museum. I like the living history museum aspect of it. No one complains about workers at Williamsburg disrespecting Revolutionary War soldiers because they dress up like them.

Last edited by michaelharadon on Thu Nov 11, 2010 3:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Jerry O'Neill]

Is a nomex flight suit a uniform?
If so, we're all gonna hang, regardless of the safety issues for wearing one.
Jerry

PS: I don't like flying in warbirds with out wearing one.

[robkamm]

I was at a airshow this summer and a little girl was pulling a prop and moving it with all her body weight.(r1340 t-6 texan i believe) i told her stop and she looked at me like i was crazy. she stopped though.