Wings of Victory Air Show Lancaster, OH August 18-19, 2007

Photography and story by Dave Gore

  The weekend of August 18th and 19th saw the 12th installment of the Wings of Victory Airshow, hosted by the Historical Aircraft Squadron based at Fairfield County Airport in Lancaster, Ohio. With an excellent mix of warbirds, civilian acts, and the most modern military hardware, the show experienced record crowds and beautiful weather that lasted most of the weekend.

  The civilian acts included Billy Werth in his Pitts 2SC, Greg Aldridge in his clipped wing Cub, Otto the Helicopter and Cliff Robinson flying his 500 horsepower Stearman. Will Ward put his Mig-17 through its paces and tore up the sky over Lancaster, with plenty of high speed passes to go along with  his high-G turns and climbs.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

  Not to be outdone were the beautiful warbirds that graced the sky. That list included some great aircraft like the B-25 Mitchell “Killer B”, the newly repainted B-24A known as “OL 927”, the P-51 Mustang “Shangrila” flown by Brad Hood, the BT-13 Valiant “Last Date” flown by Bruce Cook, a couple Stinson L-5's operated by Paul Draper and Historical Aircraft Squadron President Ramiro “Speedy” Gonzalez, Steve Hanshew in his CJ6A / Russian Yak 18A , and the Cessna 0-2 Skymaster flown by Dennis Labbe.

 

  Through out the day, some of the US Air Force's modern jets took to the skies over Lancaster, which included multiple flybys of a KC-135R Stratotanker with the 121st Air Refueling Wing out of nearby Rickenbacker ANGB, and the B-2A Spirit of the 509th Bomb Wing out of Whiteman Air Force Base. Last but definitely not least was the A-10 West Demonstration Team. Major Brian Willits wowed the crowd with the A-10's exceptional maneuverability, including high G turns and climbs. Rounding out the show was the always fan favorite Heritage Flight, with Brad Hood flying “Shangrila” alongside the Maj. Willits in his A-10.