Geneseo Air Show 'Greatest Show on Turf'

Location: Geneseo, Airport, Geneseo, New York

Admission: $15.00 day. (Canadian $ accepted at par!)

Parking: Free on the airport grounds.

Value: Very Good

This year's theme: GO NAVY!

The grass field and the flight path for the air show provided excellent viewing and photographic opportunities in general if one got to the show early.

Geneseo Air Show, advertised as “The Greatest Show on Turf” is located just south of Rochester. The nearest major international gateway for Canadian visitors is at Buffalo, NY. From Buffalo, Geneseo is just southeast of Batavia, NY. This year’s theme was “Go Navy”, with several WWII Navy planes in attendance. On July 10th, Friday, the arrival day for the aircraft was sunny, and pleasant, and provided some good opportunity for photography. However, on Saturday, it was dark and overcast with 90% probability of thunderstorms and heavy rain. It started raining very heavily around 11:20 a.m., and the show was stopped. It continued to rain until about 2:15 p.m. and truly soaked the grounds as the weather once again interfered with the show, just like last year. The air show continued with some delays and cancellation of certain events for the remaining few diehards, due to condition of grass field which was very wet and soggy, and to avoid damaging the planes, if they got stuck in the mud. On Sunday the weather was excellent, as long as one was careful about the mud and the well soaked grass.

For this year there were some changes at the 1941 Historical Aircraft Group, which hosts and runs the air show. Changes for the better. The staff were friendly and helpful. The air show with slight adjustments can be improved to fully utilize the charm of Geneseo: the grass turf, out in the country, with no buildings in the background. Under certain conditions with the right aircraft it could be almost like a time-travel, going back to the WWI era, when the replica WWI warbirds take into the air. There were several food vendors, with the best Hamburgers from the 1941 HAG stand. The sanitation facilities were adequate, but some could have been located closer to the flight line.

The Navy theme worked quite well, as there were some rarely seen planes at Geneseo for this year: F6F Hellcat, SB2C Helldiver (the only one still flying), Canso also know as the PVY Catalina, (built in Canada), F4F Wildcat, TBM Avenger, (3) Corsairs, several T-6SNJ and Stearman, trainers all participating and not just static. Another major attraction was the F15E Strike Eagle Demonstration Team, which also flew with the P-51D Mustang in the Heritage Flight on both days, and on Sunday there was a Hercules cargo drop demonstration. Rob Holland dazzled the crowds with his amazing flying skills. All these acts put on a great performance! The Beech C-45, and Cessna T-50 Bobcat, were used as photoplanes for some of the photographers.

Some of the other participants were:

B-17F "Memphis Belle" -- replica static only

Douglas C-54E Skymaster (DC-4) static only

The Canadian Harvard Aerobatic Team -- from Canada

B-25 Mitchell "Miss HAP"

C-47 Skytrain that took part in the Normandy Invasion on June 6 th 1944.

FW-149 Trainer
Hawker Seafury -- static only from Canada

and many others.

Over all, the Geneseo Air Show show provides very good entertainment for the dollar. Being a unique (grass landing field) makes this air show charming and worth attending. Keep up the good work folks!

Rating: 8 out of 10

SB2C Helldiver (the only one still flying).

F15E Strike Eagle Demo Team, with the P-51D Mustang.

Hercules cargo drop demonstration.