Sun 'n Fun Lakeland, FL April 8-13, 2008

Story and photography by Rich Kolasa

     Each year in early April, central Florida plays host to what is often termed “mini-Oshkosh”. The reference is to the “little brother” of the world’s largest aviation event; “AirVenture” in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Sun ‘n Fun is a much smaller version, but it does embody the essence of “AirVenture” (or Oshkosh to those old school airshow people like me).

 

     The event is held at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport, just off Interstate 4, less than an hour drive southwest of Disney World. Driving in and out is rather easy, parking convenient to the entrance, and walking the grounds is much less daunting than at the vast Wittman Field in Oshkosh. The static displays, forums, and concessions are spread out, while the crowd line is quite long allowing spectators to spread out and enjoy.

 

     This year’s week-long event (April 8-13) kicked off rather auspiciously, with drenching rains that caused grief to both fly-in and drive-in visitors. By the weekend, though, the skies had cleared, the ground dried, and the performances had everyone staring skyward.

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      For the first time, the Air Force Thunderbirds headlined the show on Saturday and Sunday. Other performers in the star-studded weekend lineup included Patty Wagstaff, Skip Stewart, Kyle Franklin, the Navy Hornet demo and Legacy Flight, Lee Lauderback, Matt Chapman, Matt Younkin, the Aeroshell Team, John Mohr, warbirds flights, Jim “Fang” Maroney, Nikolai Timofeev, Greg Koontz, Greg Poe, Bill Stein, Ed Hamill, and Brett Hunter.

 

     Static displays included three F-15 Eagles, an FA-18 Super Hornet, three Navy F-5 aggressors, a TAV-8B Harrier, an F-16, T-45, T-34C, KC-135, SB2C and SBD from the CAF, C-54 from the Berlin Airlift Historical Society, numerous P-51s and T-28s, an EA-1 Skyraider, and many other warbirds, antiques, homebuilts, classics, and light aircraft.

  

    Along with the Fly-in and Airshow goes the Splash-In, held on Thursday and Friday. This year it was held 20 minutes away at Kermit Weeks’ Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Florida. Also at Sun ‘n Fun, among the trees at Lakeland Regional sits the Florida Air Museum, which provided some static displays. These included the rare Convair SeaDart, the more rare Lockheed XFV-1 Vertical Riser, an F-14 (parked on grass, not something Tomcats were accustomed to), Hawker Tempest, Westland Lysander, and P-63 King Cobra (the latter three being Kermit Weeks’ aircraft).

 

     After some nice weather through Saturday’s show, Sunday’s weather deteriorated significantly, and sadly saw two general aviation accidents in late morning, one being a fatal crash of a Lancair on takeoff. The show did go on, with the Thunderbirds flying a low show after a bit of down time during passing showers. This year’s appearance by the Thunderbirds was expected to boost attendance over last year’s 160,000.