Part of the process for participating in air shows is attending the air show briefing. During this briefing, the person in charge, or air boss, will cover ground rules, emergency procedures, area familiarization, and the actual flight program that will be used. Any special or noteworthy aircraft information will be passed to the announcer, and the FAA may have a few comments for the performers. A weather briefing is standard procedure, as is a small amount of good-natured editorializing. Handouts are provided to all the participants and include a schedule for engine start, taxi, launch, performance, and recovery, as well as an area familiarization map and the various frequencies to be used during the performance. Some form of commemorative trinket is also usually provided to the participants. Credentials are checked and forms filled out. Once all questions are answered, the meeting breaks up and people start heading back to their planes. The aircraft themselves, as well as their paperwork, are inspected, but that is typically conducted separately and on an individual and unscheduled basis.

Back on the flight line, the airplanes are preflighted and prepped for the show. Engine start, taxi, and takeoff are orchestrated by the air boss with a minimum of radio chatter. Once airborne the aircraft will orbit in their assigned holding areas, frequently in an in-trail "daisy chain" and several miles from the airport. Different aircraft with different airspeed capabilities will often be assigned different altitudes to further deconflict the traffic. At the appropriate time, the air boss will call in the various aircraft or groups of aircraft, which then leave their holding area and join the air show traffic pattern. This pattern is well defined and generally described by prominent landmarks and limiting distances. Of course, the whole point here is to ensure that should anything at all happen with an aircraft, the spectators won't be, ahh, impacted in any way. The markers at either end of the air show line itself are usually pretty hard to miss, such as bright yellow snow plows sitting out by themselves in the green grass on a July afternoon. Cutting one of these corners during your portion of the performance will guarantee you a frosty chat with an authority figure.

The format of our participation is generally similar at most shows, in that all the various larger aircraft typically make several passes down the flight line. One is made clean and another is made in a different configuration, if available. In the case of a bomber, this generally means with the bomb bay doors open. A third pass is made in a long, graceful arc. This last pass is a photo pass and shows the plane to good effect in a banked attitude. These passes can be flown all in the same direction similar to a normal airport traffic pattern, or they might be flown back and forth in more of a dog bone pattern. The choice of pattern to be used is the air boss's, and seems to be primarily driven by the number of aircraft participating. If there are enough planes to keep the pattern full and the pace brisk, a rectangular pattern seems to be more common. If there are fewer planes involved, flying a dog bone pattern will tend to keep the pace up at air show center. Whichever the case, due vigilance for traffic as well as the condition of the aircraft and its systems are mandatory.

At the Terre Haute air show, we launched number three behind a B-25 and a B-17. We had specific instructions for the gap between us and the preceding aircraft, so that they would be able to do their fly by and allow the spectators to shift their focus to us just prior to starting our run in. We basically joined the final for the show runway and dove to the specified minimum altitude, gaining a hundred knots or so. At the far end of the flight line, we pulled up and continued playing "follow the leader" with the preceding aircraft. This can take a little thought and interpretation on the part of the flying pilot as we are quite a bit faster than a B-17 and somewhat faster than a B-25, but need to maintain the timing interval with the other planes. While the flying pilot is focused on what is happening outside the plane, the non-flying pilot is primarily monitoring aircraft parameters. This not only includes ensuring that we don't cut any corners or violate the minimum altitude, but also means keeping a close eye on the engines and adjusting the throttles to maintain maximum continuous power. This is not at all difficult, but the manifold pressure does change significantly with both the descent and acceleration, and then again during the ensuing climb and deceleration, adding one more item to track and control during a very busy time. The whole while the crew chief is looking over our shoulders, making sure we don't embarrass ourselves, as well as watching for traffic and show line markers.

Having completed our three passes, we pull up and depart the pattern to the north. Once released by the air boss, we contact Terre Haute departure control and activate our VFR flight plan to Oshkosh. Although we are relatively efficient at lower altitudes, we climb our winged Dutch oven and green house to 6,000 feet to escape the oppressive July heat and find a little cooler air. Bottles of water are passed out, and we settle in for the trip north. Our course will take us to the west of O'Hare's airspace and to a skydiving center where we are scheduled to do a fly by. This comes off without a hitch, and we receive the traditional greeting given by skydivers to low flying aircraft all around the world. It was quite the celestial event!

Having completed our task we continued generally northward toward our ultimate destination. Once again established at cruise, our crew chief transferred fuel and oil from various storage tanks to their respective feed tanks. After about two hours of watching the countryside scroll by, we flew the warbird arrival at Oshkosh. This involves overflying a particular island in Lake Winnebago, checking in with the tower, and being sequenced to land. Surprisingly, we seemed to be about the only traffic out there at that particular time, even though it was the evening before opening day. We lined up on runway 36 Left, enjoyed a pretty wheel landing, and turned off right at the AeroShell Square entrance. After a very short taxi onto the square, we shut down and were towed to our parking spot. Very fortunately for us, chapter member Dave Clark stopped by and was able to help transport several of us and our camping gear out to the far frontiers of Camp Scholler. Thanks, Dave! All in all, it was quite a memorable day.

During the ensuing week, we took turns staffing our display and wandering the grounds. I had the opportunity to meet a half dozen men who had crewed Venturas and Harpoons during the war, as well as getting to explain the role of the Harpoon to a group of elderly Japanese who were attending the convention. We didn't fly during the air shows, which actually benefited us to an extent. Spending the extra time on the square enabled us to move more merchandise and generate some additional and needed cash flow. This did present a bit of a good news, bad news situation, though. We had the distinct pleasure of sharing the square with Devil Dog, a Marine PBJ variant of a B-25, the LB-30 (B-24) Diamond Lil, a B-17, a DC-3, the P-38 Glacier Girl, Global Flyer, as well as White Knight and Space Ship One. To say we had competition for attention would be a gross understatement!

As we had to leave the convention before the Harpoon would, Robin (who had driven up separately) and I drove back to Indy. I did get to crew the Harpoon for another show, this time at the fiftieth anniversary air show at Little Rock AFB. Robin was available to fly out on this trip and had a great time. The show itself was structured very much the same as the others, but this time we had accommodations in town as well as several receptions to attend. They were kind of interesting, especially the one at the Clinton Library. The only down side was some group of kerosene burning also-rans that call themselves the Thunderbirds were hogging up all the attention!

Another interesting aspect was getting reconnected with a former co-worker that happened to have brought the last flying example of an original version Wildcat to the show. One thing led to another, and next thing you know, Robin is sitting in the cockpit with a big grin. Before it was all over, we also got invited to tour Diamond Lil and get a description of flying that aircraft.

All in all, being associated with the Harpoon has been a rewarding and educational experience that has also opened a few other doors. If you like the smell of old paint, avgas, and hydraulic fluid, and think that getting radial engine crud up to your elbows sounds like fun, come check it out!

Photos by by Unk, Terri Hacker and Glen Matejcek

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