Date: 21-22, 2007
Location: Barksdale AFB
Photography by: Todd Holder
Story by: Todd Holder

Approximately 215,000 spectators found their way to the Defenders of Freedom Airshow on April 21 & 22. Located in Northwest Louisiana, Barksdale Air Force Base is home to the 2nd Bomb Wing and the Eighth Air Force. Also located in the Shreveport/Bosier City area is Dr. Wyche T. Coleman III and few things motivate a performer and ignite airshow fans as much as having a home town celebrity perform for them. Coleman lit up the show line and the audience this weekend along with the headliners - USAF Reserve Pitts featuring Ed “Hamster” Hamill, Bill Stein in his Edge 540, Gene Soucy and Teresa Stokes, and Dave Leedom’s Pitts S2B. Dave is also a B-52 Air Force Reserve pilot based at Barksdale. The uSAF Thunderbirds closed the show each day.The rest of the line-up included the usual suspects such as USAF Heritage Flights, sky diving demonstrations from the Army’s Black Daggers, B-2 and F-117 fly-bys, and simulated B-52 and A-10 attacks complete with pyrotechnics.

After Ed Hamill’s sharp left departure turn on take off from a short taxi strip, he immediately ripped through the air with absolute ownership of the aerobatic box. Ed, by the way, is also an award winning photographer – keep an eye out for some of his award winning photography in the future.

Shockwave was sporting a new paint job thanks to their new sponsor, Nexplore Corporation.

From it’s base in nearby Tyler, Texas, Randy Ball’s MiG 17F turned JP4 into flames and fury during high speed maneuvers.

The Thunderbirds were sharp and crisp as usual along with the F-15 Strike Eagle demo team. Considering that it has a maximum takeoff weight of 585,000 pounds, watching the March AFRC based C-17 perform a high performance take off and short field landing demonstration was also very impressive.

Also available for web-savy airshow fans – this year’s Barksdale show offered the opportunity to watch a live video feed over the internet. To watch the show go to www.barksdaleafbairshow.com.


Photo captions left to right: (1) through (5) Wyche Coleman. (6) Through (8) Ed Hamill. (9) Bill Stein.