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C-47 Parachute Drop at the Air Force Museum   Spirit of St. Louis Airshow, Chesterfield, MO   Dayton Airshow, Vandalia, OH   Coles County Airport Airshow, Mattoon, IL    Marion, IN Fly-In/Cruise-In   Tri-State Warbird Museum Flying Showcase, Batavia, OH   Bowman Fest, Louisville, KY
2022 Airshows
 
Good Neighbor Airshow Photo Review
  Peachtree DeKalb Airport, Chamblee, GA - May 14, 2022
(The airport is also known as Dekalb Peachtree Airport.  The airport uses both names on its webpage.  Its designator is PDK.  DeKalb is the county it is in.)

I was totally unaware of this show until two months before the event date.  This show has been around for quite a long time and somehow I had missed its existence.  While it has missed several years due to airport construction and the pandemic, the 2022 edition of the event was to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of the Atlanta Naval Air Station, which was originally located at what is now the Peachtree DeKalb Airport.  A large number of World War Two Navy aircraft were booked to come to the event.  While several did not make it due to weather, the show ran just fine without them.  I was most pleased with the collection of warbirds that did arrive and fly the show.

I took a very large number of photos in the six hours I was at the airport.  The few below are a sample to give a flavor of the show.  I have tried to include one photo of each warbird that flew.  With the exception of one civilian act that flew twice, this was a pure warbird show.

This is the story of two locations where I set up during the show.  For the first two-thirds of the show I was located where I could watch the aircraft as they taxied by me and listen to the sounds of large displacement warbird piston engines.  

The first location had me in front of a taxiway where on occasion, when I wasn't paying enough attention, I had my chair blown over. 

For the last third of the show, I relocated to the south parking lot, where I was able to obtain better ground-to-air photos. 

However, I am getting ahead of myself.  Once onto the airshow grounds, I decided to locate here for the show.  To the north of my location were the fighters and bombers.

To the south was the civilian act and the formation aircraft. 

On the second row to the north were multi-engine warbirds and several trainers.

The static display area was on the north end of the field and included two T-28s and a T-34.

The new "Spirit of Freedom" C-54 was on display with two Blackhawks. 

There were two F-18s and five T-45 Goshawks on display.

"The Spirit of Freedom" had a large car show on one side of it and fire apparatus on the other. 

I had made all of my rounds and visited all of the displays both on the ramp and in one of the hangars.  I had settled in to eat lunch when the F6F arrived.  This is the first time I had seen it since the 2013 Chino Airshow.  It came all the way from San Diego, CA for this event.

The show opened with a flag jump with the AeroShell Aerobatic Team flying around the jumper.

I don't think I have ever been at a show where I have had the opportunity to photograph the jumper coming straight at me. 

The show started with some traditional trainer fly-bys.  First was this formation of T-6s. 

While T-6 formation fly-bys at airshows are pretty common, Stearman formations are not.  This was really nice to see.  Interestingly enough, these four aircraft came in from a remote airport and went directly into the airshow pattern.

The Grumman Hellcat did a quick turn-around for fuel and oil.  It was the first fighter of the day in the air. 

The Hellcat and this Kate replica did a dogfight sequence for the spectators.  Here the Kate is taxiing back to its parking place.  

A formation pass of the two Grumman fighters at the event.

This is the first time I have seen the Lima Lima Flight Team in long time.  For this event there were two T-34s and one Yak 52TW as part of the act.

Here the Cavanaugh Flight Museum's EA-1E Skyraider is giving the crowd a nice banana pass.

The P-40 is coming down the taxiway.

The P-51 was next.

The Skyraider folded its wings for the spectators at the south end of the crowd line. 

And once again it taxied by me.

This and the next five photos show the TBM, SB2C, and SBD start-ups and taxiing by me.

While the Navy bombers were starting up and taxiing out, the P-51 and P-40 did individual and formation flybys.

The Lima Lima Flight Team flew next.

There is always lots of engine oil to clean up after a Skyraider flies. 

The TBM on take-off.

The SBD.

The SB2C.

The two T-34s taxied back into their respective parking places in unison.

It was time for the multi-engine Navy aircraft to perform.

World War Two paratrooper re-enactors are getting ready to load up for a demonstration jump.

When the Navy bombers came back in, I decided to move.  While a couple of them would be going back out for the show finale, I wanted a location that gave a better view of the flying aircraft.  My original position was on a north-south crowd line.  However, the active runway was 21L.  At my location, I was 1,270 feet from the center of runway 21L.  By moving south, I would be closer to the active runway.

While I was moving, the AeroShell Team was flying.  This photo was taken near the south end of the crowd line.

I kept on going and went back out to my vehicle in the parking lot.  This location made for better ground-to-air photos along with being able to better hear the engines in take-off power.  There is just a touch of residual smoke left in the air from the AeroShell Team.

The C-45 had to come through some of the smoke left by the AeroShell Team.

Then it was in clear air.

This turned out to be a great location when the warbirds did right-hand patterns. 

The C-47 took off with its load of paratroopers. 

At this point, the flight crew is shutting down engine number one.  During its flight it was "popping."  The C-47 taxied into the main taxiway and shut down.  A tug had to come to take it back to the other end of the field. 

Next off were several aircraft that were departing for home.  The P-40 was one of them.

The AeroShell Team also left.

It was quiet for a few minutes.  Then I could hear the faint sounds of radial engines.  Then over a rise in the runway the B-25 appeared as part of the airshow finale. 

The FM-2, F6F, SBD, and EA-E1 all participated in the finale. 

Some of the passes were left-hand patterns.

Others were right-hand patterns.  There were at least three of each.  There was a lot of flying still left at end of the show.

The SBD and B-25 landed and then the remaining three aircraft did a formation fly-by. 

It was a great show.  Now that I know this show exists, I look forward to coming back again.