Favorite Oshkosh Air show routine?

[danielfindling]

This is one of mine. Delmar Benjamin . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCKZsQlBsnE


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCKZsQlBsnE

#2 was the Masters of Disasters

Daniel

[FlyingRon]

Who was the guy who had the landing gear mounted on top of the plane so he could land inverted?

[Jim Hann]

Who was the guy who had the landing gear mounted on top of the plane so he could land inverted?
Craig Hosking was one of them, but there was at least one other!

[jjhoneck]

Mr. Bob Hoover...of course!
:D

[Jim Hann]

For pure pilot skill it has to be Bob Hoover, although guys like John Mohr do a great job on "little" power too.
For pure holy s#!t factor, the Jet Waco and the late Jimmy Franklin. Kyle has jet mount hardpoints on the Demon 1 (a/k/a Dracula).:cool:

[I_FLY_LOW]

This is one of mine. Delmar Benjamin . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCKZsQlBsnE


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCKZsQlBsnE

#2 was the Masters of Disasters

Daniel

I was there that year.
That thing was amazing to watch!
I was wondering the other day what ever happened to him and his plane.

This made me chuckle, though...
http://www.warbird.com/gbvsfaa.html

[jjhoneck]

Delmar Benjamin "retired" the Gee Bee after several years.

[Gingerdawg]

Gotta mention Leo Loudenslager, too.

[MEdwards]

Gotta mention Leo Loudenslager, too.Agree, he's got my vote. Actually I never saw him at Oshkosh, but I saw him years ago at an airshow in Roswell, NM, and that was the most memorable airshow performance I've ever seen anywhere.

[Bill Greenwood]

John Mohr. What Patty or Bob of the others do is great, but in many cases it is a lot the airplane. John does his in a STOCK !!!!! 220 hp Stearman. It is 75% pilot and only 25% airplane. I have noticed some of the top acro pilots stopping to watch him in awe, as he goes down the flight line on knife edge at about 100 feet off the runway. Delmar was great too, and a nice guy. He took me for a ride in his Buecker one time at no charge. That is quite a plane!

[jjhoneck]

John Mohr. What Patty or Bob of the others do is great, but in many cases it is a lot the airplane. John does his in a STOCK !!!!! 220 hp Stearman. It is 75% pilot and only 25% airplane. I have noticed some of the top acro pilots stopping to watch him in awe, as he goes down the flight line on knife edge at about 100 feet off the runway. Delmar was great too, and a nice guy. He took me for a ride in his Buecker one time at no charge. That is quite a plane!

John Mohr IS amazing.

The first time I saw him perform was in Galesburg, IL, at the National Stearman fly-in. The runway there has a high crown, with a deep drainage ditch along the far side that he used to HIDE IN on one of his runs.

He dove down -- and didn't come up as expected. From our vantage point, we all thought he had crashed! The crowd stood up and gasped as one, holding our collective breath -- only to see him zoom climb up straight into inverted flight.

Well, "zoom" is relative, of course. The Stearman has a pretty sedate zoom -- which makes the maneuver all the better, IMHO.

Great pilot.

[Mike M]

Duane Cole. 85hp. If you did not stand in awe, you never flew acro yourself. Plus, he flew to airshows VFR. How many did he get wx'd out? Awesome.

[flibmeister]

If you want to count just the first ten seconds, then it's Kirby Chambliss. I've been the air boss at several of his shows, and the reaction on the hot ramp is always the same-- when he applies the power for takeoff, all conversation stops, everybody stops whatever they're doing and watches. Once he pushes the nose over, it's back to whatever they were doing before.

For pure entertainment, I have a hard time picking between Bob Hoover (in the Shrike) and Jimmy Franklin in the jet Waco-- with Kyle riding the wing. Watching that jet-powered Waco was like watching an old Japanese sci-fi flick, poorly dubbed into English-- what you were seeing with your eyes, and what you were hearing with your ears, just didn't seem to compute.

[jbandstr]

Who was the guy who had the landing gear mounted on top of the plane so he could land inverted?I remember thar airplane also and I wonder the same thing.

[Bill Greenwood]

Rick Hosking in the late 80s, but I am told that there was one long ago in Europe, perhaps part of a German circus act back in the 30s.

[JimRice85]

Red Devils.

[jbandstr]

I like Sean D. Tucker, but, in the past, I liked the Northern Lights Team.

[Tom Steber]

Having been going to airshow for over 40 years, I've seen many acts. Ed Mollor(?) back in the 70's, the Red Devils/Eagles aerobatic team, Bob Hoover, the French Connection, Jim Franklin. Then in the late 80's early 90's when guys like Wayne Handley, Sean Tucker and Jim LeRoy changed everything. Now there are so many really good pilots out there. Still John Mohr is one of the best. But, for sheer jaw dropping, laughing out loud, I can't believe their doing this factor, nothing has topped Masters of Disaster. Watching video of one of their shows will never do it justice. You really had to be sitting there. If you could stay seated.

[FlyingRon]

Really? I thought the masters of disaster was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen at an airshow.

[jjhoneck]

Really? I thought the masters of disaster was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen at an airshow.

I thought it was fun. It certainly brought some freshness to a moribund industry.

I've been watching airshows for 4+ decades now. I can count the number of fresh and truly innovative performers/routines on one hand.

1. Bob Hoover, Shrike Commander.
2. John Mohr, Stearman.
3. The Jet-powered Waco.
4. Matt Younkin, Twin Beech
5. Masters of Disaster.

All the rest are skillful and daring, but pretty much variations on a theme.

[FlyingRon]

Maybe they can have a day devoted to turbine-powered tractor pulling.

[I_FLY_LOW]

Maybe they can have a day devoted to turbine-powered tractor pulling.
LMAO
Or jet drag races, with a B-52 and a C-5...

[Jim Rosenow]

Red Devils.

Which ones, Jim?.....the red 450 Stearmans at RFD (Bob Heuer, Marion Cole, and Gene Soucy) or the 2nd generation (Gene Soucy, Tom Poberezny, and Charlie Hillard) in the Pitts' at OSH pre-Eagles? :-)

[JimRice85]

Gene, Tom, Charlie.

[captaindenim]

Bob Hoover's Shrike show was always amazing to watch. For the old timers out there, I always enjoyed Duane Cole too. Anyone out there remember Duane?

[Jim Rosenow]

Bob Hoover's Shrike show was always amazing to watch. For the old timers out there, I always enjoyed Duane Cole too. Anyone out there remember Duane?

I marveled at Duane for years...completely my aerobatic idol. Even have sort of a link to him. The mechanic who taught me rag and dope while we rebuilt my first (out of a barn) airplane had the distinction of welding up the first Cole Brothers Air Circus wingwalker stand. He had some stories...

[Mike Berg]

While I can appreciate the skills of aerobatics I seldom spend much time watching them. I did like Hoover and really liked the GB with Delmar. Most of the others seem pretty routine and I've been going to Oshkosh since the first one. What I do like is the flybys with vintage aircraft but "different things for different folks".

[Jim Hann]

What I do like is the flybys with vintage aircraft but "different things for different folks".
And that is why airshows need variety! I enjoy all of it but I don't want to see three acts in a row do the "same" thing! Sean Tucker followed by John Mohr followed by Fifi flying by is what I'm thinking!

[jjhoneck]

While I can appreciate the skills of aerobatics I seldom spend much time watching them. I did like Hoover and really liked the GB with Delmar. Most of the others seem pretty routine and I've been going to Oshkosh since the first one. What I do like is the flybys with vintage aircraft but "different things for different folks".

The older I get, it seems the less I enjoy the "whiz-bang!" aerobatics stuff, and the more I enjoy the simple "Homebuilts on Parade" -- which seem to be in decline in recent years, dang it.

(Although this year will be the first airshow season since Mary and I started doing gentlemen's aerobatics in the RV, so it will be interesting to better understand the control inputs for their maneuvers.)

[Bill Greenwood]

As for Bob Hoover, back in 1982 or 83 when I first started going to airshows I saw Bob fly in California, probably at Madera, but could have been Shafter. He came in on a long final for the north runway, and rolled inverted in his yellow P-51 and while inverted he lowered ( raised?) the gear, so that he was gear out, and ready to land at about a half mile final, but inverted. So he rolled upright and landed. I don't recall seeing him do this again, but he sure did that day.

I enjoy seeing the Oshkosh feature where the do a fly by starting with the oldest airplane and working to later rare ones, I think it is called Parade of Flight, and am not sure if they still do it.

[captaindenim]

Jim, that's awesome. I bet he did have some stories. I remember seeing Duane perform at Dayton (when I was a kid), and then he exhibited at my show in Phoenix in 1996 and sold his book and signed autographs. It was a thrill to have him there.

[GeorgeP]

I'll echo the previous respondents' choice of Bob Hoover. I saw him perform here in Melbourne, Australia, a few years ago (we Aussies re-issued his licence) and he was brilliant.


.... Anyone out there remember Duane?Yeah, I do. Unfortunately, I never saw any of his airshow performances but read (and re-read) every article he wrote for Flying magazine.

[stummers]

Watching Steve Hinton put the F7F Tiger Cat through it's paces was pretty inspiring.

[crusty old aviator]

I loved the Snowbirds in the 70's, until Frecce Tricolore came through. They blew me away.

However, Bill Barber was the smoothest aerobatic pilot ever, and so graceful in his black Pitts.

For showmanship though, Big Ed Mahler and his Mennen Special (modified PJ-260) was over the top for his time, and his SkinBracer Aftershave scented corvus oil has never been topped.

[Bell47pilot]

Gotta mention Leo Loudenslager, too.

I have the magnetic sign for Leo they used to slap on the VW he'd ride in after the show. I call it my Leo Loudenslager memorial tool box.3802
He was a great performer!

Another of my favorites (from the BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE): John (http://youtu.be/4FpUEEYeGdQ)

[Bell47pilot]

I loved the Snowbirds in the 70's, until Frecce Tricolore came through. They blew me away.

However, Bill Barber was the smoothest aerobatic pilot ever, and so graceful in his black Pitts.

For showmanship though, Big Ed Mahler and his Mennen Special (modified PJ-260) was over the top for his time, and his SkinBracer Aftershave scented corvus oil has never been topped.

I was at the Ramstein airshow in 87 and 88 and would've been literally blown away by the Frecce Tricolore had my wife not complained about being tired and me actually listening to her. We were front and center, close to the Blackhawk not thirty minutes before the crash. Took me several years to go to another airshow, but now I'm all healed up and fly every day at AirVenture :-)

[Bell47pilot]

I was on the PYRO team for MOD's first AirVenture show. It was as exciting as I've ever seen with three planes and a jet truck all belching smoke and fire :-) Sitting right under them rated as one of my aviation religious moments!

[RickFE]

The WW II reenactments hands down.