A County Fair in and of itself has all kinds of fun-filled family activities. But what would happen if you were to combine a county fair and an air show? That is what happens at Chesterfield, Missouri. The 2007 St. Louis County Fair and Air Show took place on August 30 to September 2, 2007. The Labor Day weekend airshow and fair had the combination of a laid-back atmosphere of a county fair and also the sounds and sights of cold blue steel, JATO rockets, and afterburners blazing across the sky.

  In fact, the show is listed in a book called The 101 Best Aviation Attractions by

John F. Purner. All four days had perfect weather for an airshow as one of the FAA personnel described the weekend weather as “severe clear”. The announcers, Gregg Maryniak and Mike Young are both veterans announcing at the St. Louis airshow. They kept the crowd chuckling and provided the crowd with interesting tidbits about the performers and history of the acts and aircraft.

  The show line up had many of the top acts of the airshow industry such as Skip Stewart in his Pitts performing his high-energy act. Another top act, the Red Baron Squadron in its distinctly red and white Stearman biplanes also performed. The AV-8 Harrier from the

VMA-311 Tomcats made a visit. It was a homecoming of sort for the AV-8 Harrier.

St. Louis was the birthplace of the Harrier. The Harrier distinctive vertical take off feature and its s extremely loud engines certainly held the attention of the crowds.

  The A-10 West Demo and P-51 “Moonbeam McSwine” were the Air Combat Command representatives. First up was the A-10 West’s Demo Pilot Major Brian “Stitch” Willits giving the crowd the glimpse of this important ageless aircraft. Veteran P-51 Mustang pilot Vlado Lenoch flew Moonbeam and with Stitch to form the Heritage Flight portion of the show, demonstrating the long and rich history of the USAF.  Vlado also flew a P-51 Mustang demonstration.

  The show was headline by none other than world famous Blue Angels demonstration team. The Blues dazzled the crowd with their high show for all four days. St. Louis also happens to be the birthplace of the Blues’ F/A-18 Hornets. The Blues put their Hornets to the test and show proudly their world-famous highly skilled routine and gave the hometown fans the jaw-dropping crossover and delta acrobatic routine.

  All in all the show was a total success.  The show drew in approximately 160,000 fans. Not only is the show providing fun family entertainment, but also for the last 15 years the show is a valuable resource to the Children’s Miracle network. The Show has donated over $1.75 million to the Children’s Miracle network since its inception.