Madison, IN Airshow
2020 Airshows

Tri-State Warbird Museum Warbird Flying Showcase Photo Review
Warbirds at the Clermont County Airport, Batavia, OH Flying Showcase 2020 - September 18, 2020 - Photos taken Friday, September 18, 2020. 

I found out about this warbird flying event totally by accident when the Tri-State Warbird Museum historian contacted me the week before the event.  He had  information for me for my research on the "Arsenal of Democracy," which resulted in my looking at the museum's website.  To my surprise, the museum was doing a warbird flying event for the benefit of its sponsors.  Tickets were available for the public and I did not hesitate to purchase one.  While the ticket price was considerably more than a normal airshow, it was also a way to help the museum get through the pandemic.  The cost of the guest pass included valet parking and food and drink on the field.

With all of the airshow cancellations due to the pandemic in 2020, being able to visit an air event and watch and hear warbirds fly had been put out of my mind as a possibility.  The Warbird Flying Showcase, as the museum labeled it, was for all intents and purposes an airshow.  This was a Friday afternoon event, with the flying scheduled between 4-7pm.
 

According to the volunteer at the entrance to the event, I was the first person to arrive.  It may have been over a year since I have been to an airshow, but I still know to arrive as early as possible to get a good location on the field.  This photo shows where I was located, which put me as close as I could get to the front line and air show center.  The white marks on the grass were the socially distant locations for each family group to sit.  The front line was reserved for the high value sponsors of the museum.

Boy, did these warbirds look good to me!!  A year is a long time to go without any warbirds.

This location provided a good spot to watch the C-45, F8F, TBM, B-25, P-51, and FW-190 start up in front of me.  There was also a C-47 farther down the taxiway to the right in this photo.  Three T-6/SNJs and an L-17 were staged across the runway.

This photo and the one below shows the crowd at 6:30 pm.  While several airshows this year have gone to a drive-in concept, this is the only one I am aware of that has done an assigned location for chairs.  This allowed for the guests to visit the displays inside the hangar and visit the food trucks.

This worked out well.  We kept our spacing and got to watch several warbirds fly.  Unfortunately, the pandemic may well be with us for the 2021 airshow season.  While most of the shows that cancelled this year plan to be back next year, it may still not be business as usual.  Drive-in shows may become more prevalent, and other shows may want to consider something like this.  It just depends on how much a show can simplify the event, and keep costs down, while providing a good flying venue at an increased but hopefully reasonable cost for enough persons to purchase tickets. 

B-29 "Doc" was not staged at the Clermont County Airport but opened the show.  It flew in from nearby Lunken field and gave us two passes.  This photo was taken after the first pass down the runway.  "Doc" is setting up for a head-on pass.

What a great way to start out my first airshow in over a year!  While the museum did not promote this as an airshow, as a "Thank You" event for its sponsors, the flying event smelled like an airshow, sounded like an airshow, and looked like an airshow.  It was an airshow.  Normally the museum has an inside event earlier in the year to thank its sponsors.  This year that did not happen due to the pandemic.  So, it decided to do the safer outside flying event.  This is the only thing I can think of that is a positive event due to the pandemic.

After the B-29 left, the museum's SNJ was first off.

The SNJ teamed up with two other Texans and a Navion for multiple formation passes.  The Navion was a last minute substitute for a T-6 that could not fly due to mechanical issues.  What became obvious very early in the event, is that the pilots came to fly, and the museum wanted its sponsors to see a lot of fly-bys.  They kept it simple.  They put the warbirds in the air, and then flew the heck out of them.  No jet trucks.  No civilian aerobatics.  No Piper Cubs landing on trucks.  Just goo old-fashioned warbird passes.  As it should be. 

I took over 1,100 photos in the four hours I was at the event.  I have included just a few of then in this report, to give the flavor of the flying.

Jordan Brown from Terre Haute, IN takes off in his C-47.

He was followed by the museum's C-45.

The C-47 and C-45 gave the guests multiple passes before doing several formation passes.

I have never seen this formation before.  The C-47 leading the C-45, L-17, and SNJ/T-6s in formation.

Not only did they do it once, but they went around, came back, and did it again.

I think I did a pretty good job of locating myself at airshow center.

This is just one of three or four low passes each of the T-6s and L-17 did. 

The show was divided into three flying segments.  After the trainers and transports landed, there was a fifteen minute break.  Then the Grummans flew.

Tom McCord, in the Tom Wood Aviation F8F, shows why the Bearcat was built.  During World War Two, aircraft carriers needed to get their fighters off the deck and to altitude to meet incoming air attacks.  The F8f was too late in the war to put its high climb capability to use.

As with previous aircraft, the Bearcat and Avenger did multiple single passes before getting together for some formation work.

While the TBM and F8F were flying, the museum's P-51 was being moved towards airshow center.

After many passes by the two Grumman warbirds, there was another fifteen minute break until the final flying segment.

The last segment had the museum's B-25, P-51, and Flugwerk FW-190 fly. 

This event was the first time the public would see the FW-190 fly.

The livery of the FW-190 in which the plane arrived in from the previous owner was incorrect.  The museum did a considerable amount of research and then painted it in this authentic World War Two paint scheme.

This was a great warbird event with more flying after this as the P-51 and FW-190 chased each other around the field in simulated dog fight.  For me, it was time to go, and this was my last photo of the day. 

In case you hadn't noticed, the weather could not have been better.  A nice late summer afternoon with lots of sun and just cool enough for a light jacket or sweater.