Thunder in the Valley Airshow Columbus Ga.
What is that sound? No! Could it finally be that time again? Yes it is. It is airshow time in the south and what a great show to start it off with. The Thunder in the Valley Airshow is always a crowd pleaser and comes just in time before all of us airshow nuts go crazy from the laps of seeing those beautiful flying machines doing their thing in the sky. This show is in its 11th year and what a great show it was.
Sunday was the day I attended and the weather could not have been any better. Light winds, temps in the upper 70’s and no rain in sight. This show started out great with an early morning surprise of a Flying Gators F-18 doing high-speed passes and simulated touch-and-goes. As the morning wore on I took in the great statics and other wonderful displays.
Some of the statics were several choppers from the U.S. Army Fort Benning base that is located just south of Columbus. FedEx had one of their 727s open for all to walk through. Cessna was showcasing many of their latest birds including the new merger of Columbia aircraft. Also, several owners were proudly displaying many civilian aircraft including a Beech Staggerwing with its beautiful bi-wing design. Another exciting display was from Iron Mike’s Military which is made up of all types of past war ground troop transports and tanks. This year the show included Classic cars from the past, which drew quite a few onlookers.
This show started a little differently than others. The Boy Scouts of the Columbus chapter showed the proper way to discard a worn American Flag. This is something I have never seen and I was well educated and proud to be a witness to the event. The airshow performers were also a very impressive list that WOWED the spectators. Many of my favorites who were there included Greg Koontz and the Alabama Boys, doing the Super Decathlon solo and the comedy act that makes everyone laugh with the craziness of Clem. The U.S. Army Silver Wings parachuting team out of Fort Benning, Ga. brought in the colors for the show. Greg Poe in his powerful Ethanol burning MX-2 was very impressive as he and Tim Weber in his Extra 300 did a dueling challenge flight where they tried to outdo each other with tricky aerobatics. There were many Warbirds flying, including a P-51, P-47, T-38 and a TBM Avenge Also there were two different B-25s, Pacific Prowler and Panchito. Several jets flew during the show that included Fowler “Big Dog” Carey in his Thunderbirds paint schemed T-33 and a rare Casa jet tore up the sky with its super loud twin-engine design. Team Aerostar with their three Yak 52s were poetry in motion and we all kept our eyes glued to the sky as they pulled off some close wing tip to canopy aerobatics. A B-52 did several fly-bys during the show and really got the crowds going.
One of the other highlights of this show was Neal Darnell and his Flash Fire jet truck. Man, talking about a fire-belching beast. Neal put on an awesome show with several 300+ MPH runs down the runway. ackbone of any airshow, which would never happen if they were not there. I am talking about “The Great Airboss”, George Cline and “The Big Man” himself, Announcer Hugh Oldman. Both of these guys are tops in their field and always do the best job to make it all come together. One final Big Thanks to Phaedra Childers for all your help and hats off to all who made this year’s show a complete success.
By Terry Woods