Romance In Fairview
I have been working on Part 3 of my series “That They Might Fly Again“. It is a series documenting Classic/Vintage Airplanes and their pilot owners. As part of all my documentaries I add music video segments to provide a little extra of what I call “The Romance of Aviation”. A good bit of what I use for these segments is shot at Fly-ins where Classic/Vintage Airplanes are expected to show up. Airshows are good to shoot also. Airshows are fairly predictable regarding the planes to be seen as the slate of flyers is set in advance. The unknown in the equation is who and what will show up at a Fly-In. I am never sure what I will find when I go to one. The 61st Annual Fairview Fly-In & Airshow on the 10th of November contained both Airshow and Fly-In elements. The Fairview show is known as the Oldest, Longest Running Free Airshow & Fly-In anywhere. I figured it was worth attending even though the weather forecast was calling for high winds.
Very Windy
They were right about the wind. It was probably one of the 3 windiest days I have tried to shoot camera in my career. It was intense. A couple of times the wind lifted me up on my toes. It was pretty much impossible to get closeups of the aircraft in the air.
I was very impressed with the airshow performers which included, among others, a sailplane, RC Helicopters, a Med Evac Helicopter and a little “pocket jet”. Because of the high wind, my buddy Chuck Powell had to cancel his parachute jump but he attended the show nonetheless. He was slated to open the show by ‘chuting in with the American Flag. Chuck really loves to jump but some days it is just not possible and this was one of those days. Everyone else did their show routines with the wind a steady 20+ mph with gusts to the low 40’s. Knowing the caliber of these guys, I believe their desire to Honor our Veterans was foremost in their thinking to “Let The Show Go On“.
Even though it was not propitious for shooting video I was glad to have witnessed the event. I have posted a few pix below so you could get a small representation of that Saturday in Oklahoma.
The FLS Microjet above was the star of the show. It was flown by Justin Lewis of Lewis & Clark Performance. Most will see this as a Jim Bede BD-5J but the design has been taken over by FLS. They call it “the 4th Generation BD”. It was quite impressive and handled the turbulent air well.
Greg Shelton’s F4F
A Huge T-28 Trainer
A Homebuilt Turbo Prop Called a CompAir 6
A Skybolt Pilot Demonstrates a High Alpha Pass
A Display of AgPlanes
A Well-Kept Navion Flew In…
…as did this brightly, burnished Swift.
Chet Kuhn and His Pitts S-1T
Paul Jennings’ Swift
The glider shown above performed an intricate aerobatics routine. It had a phenomenal roll rate. This was taken after he finished his routine and popped the canopy open.
Fairview, Oklahoma Veterans Day Airshow & Fly-In
I had never heard of this event until a couple of days before I drove down there. It is a 2.5 hour drive from Wichita but well worth the time. If you want to see a premiere airshow with “small town charm”, you need to be there next year.
Blue Skies & Tailwinds!™
Brian FitzGerald