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2018 Airshows

Salute to Veterans Airshow Warbird Photo Review
 Columbia, MO Airport -  May 26-27, 2018 - Photos taken Saturday May 26, 2018.

This was the 30th anniversary of this free show, which is always on Memorial Day Weekend as a salute to veterans.  This year, all of the scheduled acts were warbirds or current military jump teams and the A-10 demo.  I was only able to stay for the first half of the event, but during that time I saw two warbird acts I had not previously seen.

Below are a few photos that highlight the flying during the first 2.5 hours of the show, which started at 10:45. 

I always publish my first flag jump of the airshow season.  This year it came a little later in the year than normal.  It was great to once again see the "Black Daggers" bringing down "Old Glory."

The Missouri Air National Guard of St. Joseph, MO provided the jump plane.

This was something I had not seen before.  The A-10 Demo aircraft taxied out first thing in the show.  According to the announcer, it had too much fuel for the demo in the afternoon and needed to burn off some of the excess fuel.  For me this was a fortuitous event, as I knew I was not going to stay late enough to see the demo at the end of the show.

One of the Trojan Phlyers was at the show.  After circling the flag jump, he did a short teaser act. 

The A-10 then gave the crowd seven minutes of low, high-speed flat passes to burn up its excessive fuel.

It was hot and humid on Saturday allowing the A-10 to produce vapor trails.

This is the fastest T-6 in the world.  At least that is what the announcer stated, because last year it won the Gold T-6 race at Reno.  It only did a high-speed race track pattern with low passes as above.  This act was new to me.

He did finish up with the real nice photo pass.

According to a warbird enthusiast at the show, there has been another DeHavilland Vampire at the show the two prior years.  This one was new to both the show and to me.

The Vampire then put on an excellent demonstration with a variety of low passes and some aerobatics.  For me, this was the highlight of the show.

The photo pass was first.  I was in the right position for this photo.  The aircraft is in 90 degree of bank right in front of me for a nice planform photo.

This slow roll shows the bottom of the aircraft. 

I really like this paint job in Canadian colors.  I hope to see this act again this summer.

After the Vampire the T-28 went back up and did another aerobatic routine.  I did not take any more photos of it as I just watched and enjoyed the flying.  Then there was some dead time waiting on a commercial airliner to come in.  After about 2.5 hours of airshow, I decided this was a good time to leave.  It looked like the C-130 was getting ready to go back up with another of the two remaining jump teams at the event.  There was also supposed to be Skyraider and T-33 demos yet to come along with the A-10 Demo and Heritage Flight with a P-40.  I disliked passing them up, but it was time to make the drive home. 

Because the show is veteran oriented it normally features warbirds and military acts.  It is a good show to attend on Memorial Day weekend.  I hope to be back soon.

Side trips on the way to the show.
The airshow was the end cap of a three-day trip into southwestern and western Missouri.  Before arriving at Columbia, MO I had stopped at nine locations, including two museums, one Civil War battleground, three outside aircraft displays, and four outdoor Sherman tank displays.  Here are few a highlights.


The Fort Leonard Wood, MO museum complex has three different museums located inside.  The MPs, Engineers, and Chemical Corps all have their training schools at Fort Leonard Wood.  Each one has a superb historical display in their own area inside the museum.  The museums are open to the public.  To gain entry to Fort Leonard Wood, one must present a driver's license at the Welcome Center. 

One of the displays inside the MP Museum is this WWII era Ford built M20 reconnaissance car. 

The Engineer's Museum displays this diorama of a Caterpillar D4 cleaning up rubble in a bombed-out town.  This D4 was equipped with headlights for night operation so it has a generator for electrical power for the headlight.  Normally WWII Caterpillar tractors did not have headlights or generators.

The generator that is located along the front side of the engine is only needed for the lights, as there is no electrical starter nor other electrical equipment on the D4.  At the rear of the four-cylinder diesel, the white porcelain of a spark plug can be seen on the two-cylinder gasoline donkey engine used to start the diesel.  A pull rope started the gasoline engine, which then engaged the diesel to start it.  This was a long and complicated process.  Once the diesel was started in the morning, the engineers would not turn it off until all of the work was complete.  

In the Chemical Corps Museum this GMC DUKW has a M1 mechanical smoke generator in the cargo hold.  These were used during WWII to provide smoke screens for the landing craft during amphibious landings.

The M1 mechanical smoke detector unit.

Across the street from the museum is an outside display of vehicles used by the Army Engineers, Chemical Corps, and the MPs.

Just southwest of Springfield, MO is the Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, which was the first battle between Union and Confederate forces in Missouri during the Civil War.  It would not be the last.

Missouri had 1,162 battles during the Civil War. Many of them are described at the visitor center besides the battle that took place here.  Wilson's Creek is an excellent place to visit for the Civil War historian wanting to understand the Civil War in Missouri.  There is a lot to learn here.

It is possible to drive around the battle field, and visit the locations where all of the skirmishes and the main battle took place.  In this field next to Gibson's Mill, 12,000 Confederate soldiers camped before the battle on August 10,1861.

This very good looking F-4 is located in the Monett city park.

This is Chrysler built M4A3(76)HVSS was built in July 1944.  Today it is on display at the Missouri National Guard Armory in Pierce City, MO.

My last stop prior to the Columbia Airshow was the WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, MO.  I found it depressing and somber.  No doubt the casualty figures shown above helped set the atmosphere. 

This is one of 50 surviving Renault 6-ton Renault FT-17 tanks of the 3,000 produced during WWI.  It is one of only eight in the U.S.  It is in the condition as it was found by U.S. forces on the battlefield during the war.