Wendover Air Show
All the planning has come to an end and as the cool September morning breaks over the airfield, I can’t help but think about the thousands of men and a few women who called this place home for a brief time. The fiery rays of the sun glint off the parked aircraft and remind me of a time more than 60 years ago when the sun was rising over shining off of the aluminum skin of the 509th Composite Group’s B-29s.
This morning it is T-28s, T-33s, composite skin performance planes and automobiles from almost every decade since World War II. Today is the Wendover Wings and Wheels air show!
Having developed a solid local following with Utah air show fans, Wendover is able to keep a “fly-in” feeling with many of the spectators arriving in their own aircraft and setting up tables and taking out coolers in the shade of their own wings. The eighth year of this show has brought out one of the best static displays along with a first time performer, first appearance of the VAW-112 “Golden Hawks” and the first appearance of the “Trojan Phylers” team in Utah.
As guests enter the show they are greeted by olive green “M.A.S.H” styles sign posts directing them to the static displays, vendors and free airfield tour stops. A large display of vintage military vehicles and members of the Utah Military vehicle club awaits guests as they walk toward the static display area of the ramp. Anchoring the static displays is the crowd favorite Utah ANG KC-135 and her awesome crew. A rare Lockheed P2V, Boeing PT-12, MIG-15, F4U Corsair, a three ship line up of Grumman aircraft (Hawkeye, TBM and Greyhound) and the Life Flight King Air leave the guests with plenty to see before the acrobats take to the skies.
Perhaps one of the perennial favorites of this show is the free tours of the old airbase in the back of a vintage 6x6 truck. Tours include the original flight line and squadron builds including the “Enola Gay” hangar recently placed on the “11 Most Endangered Historic Places” list. Wrapping up the tour is a visit to the atomic bomb loading pit used by the 509th Composite Group while they were testing ballistics during 1944-1945.
New to the show is a car show – with more than 100 cars including the Toyo Tire girls, the Miller Motorsports Park display, 427 Cobra, and the Utah Corvette club. And they all got to park with, and under, a fire fighting DC-5!
While the 10:30 tour rumbles off to view the flight line three gleaming jets thunder into the sky – the Shooting Stars are off! As home to an Air Force, Blue Angel and Golden Hawk themed trio of Shooting stars Wendover can field a great flight of the old jets. After several passes the jets swing around and make way for one of the most recognizable fighters of World War II – The Vought Corsair. Hailing from Montana this Corsair makes a number of high speed swings wowing the crowd with every pass.
On the ground two groups of armored vehicles are moving toward each other – what’s this? An armored encounter?! YES – and suddenly an air attack – Chinese CJ-6s make diving attacks while the guns on the ground blaze away! The Nanchangs take hits and trailing smoke they withdraw.
Turning to high performance flight, Dave Erickson and his super chipmunk act really throw smoke around the sky. As a return performer at Wendover, Dave is able to show off this new routine to the “home” crowd and they respond with appreciative “Ooos” and “Ahhs”. Brad Wurston takes his Extra 300 up next and ramps the crowd up with his energetic acrobatic style – and guess what? This is Brad’s first air show! His put the Extra through a great routine and is right at home with many of the more complex maneuvers in his quiver.
Finally, the Trojan Phylers, short one plane, put their trademark T-28s on the runway and made a perfect section takeoff with smoke on. Growling that unique T-28 sound, the Phylers performed flawlessly demonstrating the trainer’s capabilities. On the ground you could not ask to meet nicer guys and the crowd appreciated the chance to talk with the pilots about the performance and airplane.
Finally, hailing from Hill AFB, Viper West closed the show in high style. Performing the precision launch drill the ground crew sent Major David Graham off into a picture perfect sky to wring the jet out. With precision that makes the extraordinary maneuvers look simple, Maj. Graham demonstrated the performance that makes the F-16 such a great asset to our troops on the ground in contingency areas around the globe. After landing to be greeted by family, Maj. Graham, TSgt Clark and other members of the team signed autographs for an appreciative crowd.
One last touch on the show, the 151st Squadron made a couple of passes over the crowd with their KC-135 – it is impressive to see such a big plane really moving along and no one can put on a tanker fly-by like the Utah Air Guard!
As the sun moves west into the Nevada hills the crowd slowly heads out to catch one of the great casino buffets and a relaxing dip in the pools or to head home to Salt Lake City – quite a drive for an air show. But then this is no regular air show, this is WENDOVER!
By Tom Peterson
