Great Georgia Airshow Peachtree City, GA October 9-11, 2009

Photography and brief by Chris Buff

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The “Great Georgia Airshow" has established itself as a major event for the North Georgia Area. The 2009 edition set the benchmark high by offering a wide variety of flight demonstrations including the Air Force, Navy, Marines and Army along with excellent civilian acts.

Falcon Field is home to the Dixie wing of the Commemorative Air Force and as a result, examples of fine WWII aircraft can always be found at this event. Static displays included assorted T-6 Texans, a B-25 Mitchell, C-45 Expeditor and SBD Dauntless. Front line military aircraft were represented by the F/A-18F Super Hornet, A-10 Warthog, AV-8B Harrier and T-6A Texan II along with a massive MH-53 helicopter.

Airboss Wayne Boggs kept the activity humming along as The Golden Knights and Red Eagle Air Sports opened the show and delivered the colors. Kent Gorton showed off his skills in his Extra and 2 other aircraft and Greg Koontz and the Alabama boys redefined “short field landing” by landing his bright yellow Piper Cub on the back of a pickup truck.  
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  The 6 ship Red Thunder team put on a graceful demonstration and Neal Darnell’s “Flash Fire” jet truck brought the crowds to the show line for his thundering runs. Red Eagle Air Sports cranked up the excitement with their trademark formation work.

  As noted earlier, this was the first time that four branches of the armed forces performed at Peachtree City and the 20,000 attendees were treated to tremendous demonstrations by the Army Golden Knights, the Navy Super Hornet East Coast Demo Team, and the Air Force A-10 East Demo Team along with a Marines AV-8B Harrier. This was the first-ever Great Georgia Airshow appearance by the Harrier and even after decades of service, the Harrier still amazes the crowd.

  One of the things that make this event so special is the unusually close proximity of the performers and aircraft. Access is outstanding and each day I saw the civilian and military performers talking with the crowds, signing autographs and walking people around their aircraft. This kind of interaction can make a huge impact on people and keep them coming back for more.

  Well done by all involved and I look forward to next years show.