Father's Day Weekend 2012 Part 2 The Airshow

After a breakfast at the hotel we headed to the Gaylord Regional Airport for the Wings over Gaylord Airshow.

We arrived nice and early, got a front row parking place and took the shuttle to the show.

The Yankee Air Force's B-25 Was there, and we made a donation and toured around inside her.

Then the show kicked off as the Canadian Forces CC-130J warmed up on the tarmac.

The props are actually spinning full blast, but the iPhone's camera is actually capturing it so quickly each of the six blades is distinctly shown but appear bent. Very cool.

The CC-130J sprang into the air after a very short takeoff run. Carrying the Canadian Forces Skyhawks parachute demonstration team. After some streamers were dropped so the ground crew could judge the lower altitude winds, as they were acting up, the performance began.

A classy way to open the show, with the narration by the Canadian Forces captain and the formation jump was done to both the Canadian and US National Anthems while carrying both nation's flags.

The jumpers landed at the ending of the anthems right on the center of the drop zone even with the shifting winds, and made it look easy.

Then to keep up the Canadian stereotypes and Canadian content, they went to the Tim Horton's tent for some coffee and doughnuts:

Both the B-25 and the C-47 did some flights around the field, as did an SNJ.

There was some amazing aerobatics by Susan Dacy in her modified Stearman "Big Red":

After a stunning aerobatic display, she parked the aircraft, got out and chatted with the crowd and signed autographs for the kids.

The kids were thrilled to actually get to talk with a real stunt pilot, and a female one at that.

Susan Dacy isn't just one helluva talented pilot, she's also a class act all the way.

And then there was formation aerobatics by Team Aerostar in their YAK-52s:

Now I want a pilot's license and a Yak-52. Oh bother.

In addition to planes, there were informational exhibits by the Air Force and National Guard and quite a number of military vehicles both historic and current to be seen.

They also demonstrated some very cool forward air controller video-interlink gear. Suffice to say, they can seriously rock the battlefield.

Sadly, they wouldn't let me take any of the toys home.

The kids got to look at the Army Firefighting vehicles and saw a demonstration on some of the Army firefighter rescue techniques:

The firefighters let them try on the helmets and other gear and climb in the trucks.

The airshow portion of the show then closed with another jump by the Skyhawks. After that there was a chance for helicopter, B-25, and C-47 rides but the kids were completely fried so it was time to go.

It was a fantastic day indeed and we headed home very happy after what was the best Father's Day.