Date: March 17-18, 2007
Location: Columbus, Georgia
Story By: Terry Wood, Jr.
Photography by: Terry Wood, Jr.

It is airshow season again and not a day to soon. The Columbus Ga. Thunder in the Valley airshow was on March 17 and 18. I was at the show on Sunday and the weather was beautiful with blue skies and 65 degrees temp.

The statics were made of many warbirds and modern military choppers. One big surprise was the two V-22 Ospreys. This show is the first civilian public showing of these birds. Early in the show one of them did a take-off and fly-by before heading for home. The Osprey is a very unique tilt rotor aircraft and I am sure we will all see more of them this year at the shows. Cessna had several of their new planes on display including the latest in personal jets, The Mustang. Get you one of these jewels and you will seriously be flying in style.

The show had many performers we all know and love. An F-18 did some touch and goes before the show started to get every one pumped up. The Aeroshell team wowed us all with their precition 4 ship aerobatics in their beautiful T-6s. The smoke they produced left the field in IMC conditions many times during their performance. Those 600 HP Pratt & Whitney engines sure sound great and fill the skies with the sound we all want to hear.

Gary Ward with his newly painted MX-2 makes us all wonder how he does those amazing maneuvers. The inverted spin and power out level recovery is not the norm when we pilots are learning how to recover from spins. The recover technique is a maneuver most aerobatic performers will tell you is impossible but Gary has shown us it can be done with enough HP.

The Silver Wings parachuting demo team from Ft Benning Ga. did a great job. The beautiful American Flag jump was heart felt as it waved in the wind on its way down. The heritage flight was also great to see with a P-51 called Crazy Horse and the A-10 demo team from Pope AFB.

Bob Essell Airshows was another great act with Jenny Forsyth wing walking atop her dad’s ultra light. Bob and Jenny have a very unique act and is defiantly one of a kind. Fowler “Big Dog” Carey had his beautifully painted up Thunderbird T-33 making high-speed passes. It is always a crowd pleaser and looks good against the cool blue sky at Columbus.

The Coast Guard had a HH-65 Dolphin chopper doing their recover demo drill that simulates a downed pilot or swimmer in distress. Elaine Larsen with her jet dragster got every body running to the crowd lines. The smoke and burner pops are music to my ears. That girl can haul with speeds close to 300 mph.

Charlie Culp “The Flying Farmer” dazzled us with his funny and entertaining run-a-way J-3 cub. He always makes every one laugh at his crazy flying. His precizion control may look easy but is a skill that takes years to perfect. Fred Cabanas was also there with his bright yellow and black Pitts. He did a solo act and later did a duo act with Gary Ward. This is a team to watch in coming months.

The greatest airboss ever, George Cline, took care of the flying part of the show and the best announcer in the business, Hugh Oldham, did all the PA work. Big thanks to these two guys for a great job. My hat's off to everyone what put this show together. I can’t wait till next year.

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