I have pretty thick skin, but this news hit me pretty hard this morning. It would probably honor Jimmy to recall some memories of a special airshow.
Fairview Oklahoma used to host what was is billed as the world's oldest "free" fly-in. Jimmy performed there since it isn't to far from his home base and had likely flown there for many, many years. I show his act twice there in the early 90's. There were four things about his show (and his performance) that really stood out.
1) His energy management - not to take anything away from Bob Hoover, but from a pilot's perspective his energy management without the jet was impressive, and I found this show more jaw-dropping. Most performers have much higher power to weight ratios than than the Waco had, and Jimmy would always find ways out of very nose high, low energy, low altitude positions in a very impressive way...
2) His rolling circle - He would do a rolling circle at such a low altitude, he would appear to go behind trees on the far side of the circle. While this may have been an illusion, it would have been an impressive turn without the rolls!
3) The "closeness" to the crowd - I don't know the legal regs for distance from the crowd to the showline, but it felt like about 300'. This combined with an estimated 60 airplanes in attendance and maybe only 2000 people there made the show feel very special. Jimmy flew as if he had 100,000 people watching at Oshkosh, and held nothing back. It was an intimate, memorable show...
4) His travel methods - It was not commonly known that his plane was trailered from show to show. This first time a buddy told me this, I was skeptical and replied he didn't know about the finer details of rigging a biplane, let alone doing it on a regular basis. Watching him take the airplane apart in an almost coreographed sequence was impressive as well.
I am saddened by the loss of two of the greatest airshow performers out there. It's a shame future enthusiasts won't have the chance to see them perform.
RIP
Lilah
Fairview Oklahoma used to host what was is billed as the world's oldest "free" fly-in. Jimmy performed there since it isn't to far from his home base and had likely flown there for many, many years. I show his act twice there in the early 90's. There were four things about his show (and his performance) that really stood out.
1) His energy management - not to take anything away from Bob Hoover, but from a pilot's perspective his energy management without the jet was impressive, and I found this show more jaw-dropping. Most performers have much higher power to weight ratios than than the Waco had, and Jimmy would always find ways out of very nose high, low energy, low altitude positions in a very impressive way...
2) His rolling circle - He would do a rolling circle at such a low altitude, he would appear to go behind trees on the far side of the circle. While this may have been an illusion, it would have been an impressive turn without the rolls!
3) The "closeness" to the crowd - I don't know the legal regs for distance from the crowd to the showline, but it felt like about 300'. This combined with an estimated 60 airplanes in attendance and maybe only 2000 people there made the show feel very special. Jimmy flew as if he had 100,000 people watching at Oshkosh, and held nothing back. It was an intimate, memorable show...
4) His travel methods - It was not commonly known that his plane was trailered from show to show. This first time a buddy told me this, I was skeptical and replied he didn't know about the finer details of rigging a biplane, let alone doing it on a regular basis. Watching him take the airplane apart in an almost coreographed sequence was impressive as well.
I am saddened by the loss of two of the greatest airshow performers out there. It's a shame future enthusiasts won't have the chance to see them perform.
RIP
Lilah
Last edited:
