The Aviation Magazine No 49 March-April 2017 | Page 20

Every year , the air show has a stellar warbird lineup . Starting out the warbird routine was Gregory “ Wired ” Colyer in his T‐33 Shooting Star called “ Ace Maker II .” After his flight , a group of vintage Navy aircraft took to the skies including the T‐6 Texan , SBD Dauntless , TBM Avenger , and C‐1 Trader . Rounding out the warbird highlights were the fighter class which included three P‐51 Mustangs , a P‐40 Warhawk , P‐47 Thunderbolt , and F4U Corsair . Aerobatic performers this year were much lighter compared to previous years . The only two aerobatic demonstrations came from Kent Pietsch in his Jelly Belly Interstate Cadet and Vicky Benzing in her Boeing Stearman .
The event got loud when the jets took to the sky . The first fighter jet to perform was the Canadian Forces CF‐18 Hornet piloted by Capt . Ryan “ Roid ” Kean . Every year the CF‐18 has a special paint scheme with a unique theme . This year ’ s theme was the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan ( BCATP ). The specially marked jet featured a black and yellow scheme similar to that of the T‐6 Harvards used back in WWII by the British . Another major jet highlight of the show was the U . S . Navy F / A‐18 Super Hornet TAC Demo flown by VFA‐122 . On Saturday , the team flew the twin seat F model which commemorated the late Blue Angels pilot Capt . Jeff Kuss who was killed earlier in the summer of 2016 . On Sunday , they flew the single seat E model , but had to limit their show routine due to aerial fire fighting operations .