Airsho 2009 Midland, TX October 10-11, 2009

Photography and brief by Rich Kolasa

While there are hundreds of airshows across North America each year, the Commemorative Air Force has a unique way to market their signature show. They dropped the “w” from the title. Somewhat ironic for a Texas event (think former President George W. Bush). Yes, “Airsho” in the aviation world means autumn in Midland, Texas and the CAF’s annual airshow at their national headquarters.

Midland, TX itself is easily accessible by air, as the Midland/Odessa International Airport is serviced by numerous airlines. But don’t let the city’s name fool you; it is nowhere near the middle of Texas. Midland is in the western part of Texas, about 40 miles from the New Mexico border.

Although many airshows are held at active commercial airports, this one is kind of unique in the post-9/11 world of fences and high security as the commercial airline tarmac is literally only separated from the airshow static display area by a line of orange cones (and some security persons, of course).

One can fly into Midland, exit the terminal building, bear right and walk 1500’ or so to the CAF hangar and airshow entrance. With a Best Western on site, it’s feasible to fly to this show commercially and never leave the airport property. Of course, it is Texas, so if you do want to leave the airport, you’ll be driving a ways as the airport sits midway between Odessa and Midland just off of Interstate 20. It can be 10-12 miles to reach a restaurant, though there are many motels and conveniences closer to the airport along both state highway 20 and the parallel Interstate 20.

At Midland International you’ll find the headquarters of the CAF as well as the impressive 40,000 sq feet of display buildings and hangars. The airshow display area is pretty widely spread out, with both the main commercial tarmac area and the ramp area by the CAF hangar serving as separate static display areas. These are closed as the airshows starts, since most aircraft on display come to life.

The CAF

All of this started in 1957 when Lloyd Nolen and 4 other ex-servicemen purchased a P-51D Mustang, and then a pair of Grumman F8F Bearcats a short time later. The intent was preserving one or more of each type of WW2 warplanes. This practice then became known as “the warbird movement”, which grew significantly during the 1970s and 1980s.

September 6, 1961 saw the organization become chartered by the state of Texas as a non-profit corporation dedicated to preserving WW2 combat aircraft. The name “Confederate Air Force” had been chosen as a light-hearted gesture, and their first building, occupying 26,000 sq feet opened at Rebel Field in Mercedes, TX in 1965. The CAF members were given the rank of Colonel, all under the command of fictitious Colonel Jethro E. Culpepper. In 1968 the organization moved to its more widely recognized home in Harlingen, TX, which also became known as Rebel Field.

It was during this time period that they began acquiring larger assets; such as the B-25, the LB-30 Liberator (which was in 2007 converted back to its original configuration as a B-24A, a project spearheaded by the late Gary Austin, who passed away shortly after this year’s Airsho), the B-17G and the B-29 Superfortress “Fifi”. “Fifi” was purchased from the Navy’s China Lake test range in 1971 (both the Air Force, the B-29’s owner, and the Navy had to agree to the purchase), and named after the wife of its sponsor, Vic Agather. By the mid 1970s the CAF was recognized as the largest warbird organization in America.

Airshows at Harlingen became world famous, with legendary performers like CAF member #110, the late Lefty Gardner in his P-38 Lightning, aptly-named “White Lightning”(aircraft first acquired by the CAF had been painted all white, with small amounts of red and blue trim), and performances like the “Tora, Tora, Tora” airborne assault sequence which continues today.

In 1991, the CAF moved from Harlingen to its current home at Midland. This facility is officially known as the American Airpower Heritage Museum and includes not only many flyable and non-flyable CAF aircraft (such as the F-14 Tomcat, F-105 Thunderchief, F-100 Super Sabre, and F-111 “Aardvark”), but also interactive displays, the George HW Bush Commemorative Center (which houses the Texas Medal of Honor Memorial), the museum gift shop, and the world’s largest collection of original World War II nose art panels (numbering 33).

In 2001, a vote was held to change the name of the organization to “Commemorative Air Force”, which took effect January 1, 2002. This somewhat controversial change is still today not accepted by many, in keeping with the original “rebel” spirit which gave birth to the CAF.

The CAF has grown to be one of the most celebrated aviation organizations, with over 9,000 members (in each state, and more than 25 foreign countries) and 26 active units (known as “wings”) located throughout the U.S., with 4 more in foreign countries. Their mission has expanded beyond World War 2 assets, and now includes aircraft from conflicts after WW2, including jets like the T-33 and Mig-17.

The Show

While not strictly a warbird event, Airsho is still one of the largest warbird airshows in America, as it should be since the CAF has one of the largest fleets of warbirds in the world, numbering nearly 160.

This year’s show suffered from some aircraft participation deficiencies due to weather, deployment and maintenance issues. Of note, the B-24A “Ol’ 927” was unable to attend due to a landing gear issue that developed; a number of expected aircraft were “weathered in” elsewhere as a strong storm system moved through Texas mid-week and lingered, plus operational deployment issues kept the B-52 and the Texas Military Forces Jump team from attending. From a timing standpoint, Airsho ’09 lost out on the return of CAF’s famous B-17 “Texas Raiders” by less than a week, as the aircraft returned to the skies at Houston’s Hobby Airport after a 7-year restoration just days after this event.

The airshow itself is a nice mix of current military, civilian aerobatic, and warbird performances. Weather hampered this year’s show, which was shortened by a low overcast and fog on Saturday morning (canceling the “L-birds” and trainers flights) and nearly totally washed out on Sunday as drizzle and 800’ ceilings lingered all day. Once the skies cleared around 10:30am on Saturday though, the show was stellar.

The flying began with a fly-over of 2 Texas ANG F-16s during the National Anthem, and progressed steadily with only a few breaks for commercial airline ops. Civilian performers Jan Collmer (Extra 300), Corky Fornof (LoPresti Fury), and Mike Gallaway (Wolf Pitts) were inter-twined with warbird segments and military demonstration teams.

From the Air Force were the C-17 Globemaster III demo from Altus, NM, and the always superb F-16 “Viper West” team from Hill AFB. Maj. David “Booster” Graham flew the F-16, though no Heritage Flight would take place with either the Viper or the C-17. The C-17 Heritage Flight with the AC-47 was cancelled as the “Spooky” was unable to get to the show due to weather, and the “replacement” C-47 scheduled for Sunday’s Heritage Flight was rained out.

The Navy’s F-18 Hornet demonstration flew a super routine, and operated from the shorter runway 10 directly in front of the crowd, but the scheduled Legacy Flight did not occur on Saturday. Larger aircraft operate from the longer runway 16R during the show.

The highlight from a military standpoint would have to have been the B-1B fly-bys. Three passes including a head-on approach to the crowd for a swept-wing bottomside pass and culminating with a burner climb out.

The warbirds portions of the show were superb also, being separated into segments such as the Pacific Theatre, European Theatre, Bomber and Transport Flight, and Vietnam Flight. There were also individual warbird acro demonstrations involving single fighters, ground-based re-enactors, the return to CAF HQ of the returned-to-the-air “Tuskegee Airmen” P-51C Mustang, and the afore-mentioned “Tora Tora Tora” act (with 5 aircraft as 3 other scheduled could not get past weather to attend).

Many of the rarest CAF aircraft flew at Airsho, including their original Zero (though the aircraft is R-1820 powered), the SB2C, the P-39 Airacobra, and the Camarillo CA wing F6F Hellcat. The sun’s orientation in October at Midland makes this event very popular with aviation photographers from all over the world, and the CAF staff at Midland is very accommodating.

Besides bringing their well-known Flying Fortress “Sentimental Journey”, the Arizona Wing brought their newly-restored B-25 “Maid in the Shade”. Unfortunately, a magneto issue forced the Mitchell to return to the ramp after taxiing out for the bomber portion of the show. Ironically, another CAF Mitchell, “Devil Dog” was not present for Airsho after an engine problem grounded the aircraft at Oshkosh following Airventure ‘09. Fund-raising to get “Devil Dog” home was going strong at Airsho, while “Maid in the Shade”s problem was not major.

A missing man formation of SNJ/AT-6s closed the show around 4pm. After the official airshow flying ended on Saturday, numerous CAF aircraft took to the skies for paid rides and photo-flights, including Brad Lang (the son of the late Tuskegee Airman Donald W. Lang and himself a Delta Airlines Pilot) taking up the Red Tail P-51C.

On the ground, static displays included all of the military aircraft that flew in the show, which somewhat unusually were not separated from the crowd on a “hot ramp”, as well as a number of other warbirds which did not fly.

While 2009 was a very good show, 2010’s event may well be the best Midland Airsho ever, with the expected return to the skies of the CAF’s B-29 “Fifi”, and the return to this event of both the B-24A Liberator and “Texas Raiders” B-17G. Admission to the airshow does include all CAF exhibits during those three days. The dates for that are October 8-10, 2010.