Midwesterners got the opportunity to break out of the winter airshow slump early this year with the much anticipated Peoria airshow on April 19th and 20th. Organizers took a gamble with the weather in order to secure the U.S Navy Blue Angels as a headline act. Along with the Blue Angels, the show boosted an incredible lineup featuring the finest civilian pilots in the world.

  Saturday’s show started with a few problems that included rain showers and low ceilings, lower than the FAA minimum. Fat Albert departed the Greater Regional Airport early in the morning in order to go retrieve parts for the #6 Blue Angel jet. Bert did not return in time to perform in the show. Once the ceilings lifted, the sky came alive with Andy Anderson in the beautifully painted BAC-167 Strikemaster known as the Dragon. Jerry Connelly was also on hand in the L-29 “Red Star” to give a solo performance. Both the Golden Knights and Clyde Zellers were unable to perform on Saturday due to the late start, but were able to entertain Sunday’s massive crowd. Two of the premiere monoplane pilots in the world today , Mike Goulian and John Klatt, were on hand to perform a thrilling squirrel cage act on Saturday and their dazzling solo routines on Sunday. Rounding out the civilian acts was Skip Stewart. I had the opportunity to be a pole holder for Skip’s ribbon cut and what an incredible experience it was to see him come screaming by in his modified Pitts S2S “Prometheus”. Skip flies an incredible hard charging routine and is pushing the envelop in the air show industry. Shockwave was also present at the show to perform with Stewart in an incredible performance called “Mary‘s Lamb”.

  For the military fans, the A-10 West Coast Demo Team made an appearance all the way from Davis Monthan AFB in Arizona. Demo Pilot Paul “Harb” Brown flew an aggressive demo in the hog and then joined up with Vlado Lenoch in the P-51 “Excalibur” for a heritage flight. The show concluded with the Blue Angels flying their usual amazing demo. Shortly after landing during Saturday’s show, Blue Angel #2 had a brake problem which resulted in the left wheel igniting in flames. The flame was immediately extinguished and the jet was back ready to fly on Sunday.
Announcing duties for the weekend were handled by Rob Reider, who did a great job especially when the weather wasn’t cooperating. Great job to airboss Wayne Boggs and everyone involved in producing an incredible air show that featured an all star lineup.