"Wings Over Wine Country" Air Show Draws Thousands to Sonoma County

Despite a rather gloomy summer on the north coast of California, mother nature did set aside a few days of excellent weather for the annual "Wings Over Wine Country" Air Show, held on August 21st and 22nd in Santa Rosa, CA.  Nine P-51 Mustangs were in attendance, as well as three P-40 Warhawks and a variety of many other vintage warbirds.  An F-15 Strike Eagle and an F/A-18 Super Hornet tore up the skies in a dramatic display of water vapor forming off each aircraft during tight turns and high speed passes.  A T-33 Shooting Star, flown by Greg Colyer even produced a cloud covering the wings as he approached from behind and put the aircraft in a steep climb.  A U-2 "Spy" plane from Beale Air Force Base was scheduled to make a couple of passes earlier in the day, but due to low clouds, could not fly low enough for the spectators to see.  Instead, the "Dragon Lady" flew over the field above the low cloud deck and departed with full power. This gave the public a chance to encounter the first "stealth" U-2, according to Lt. Col. Jon "Huggy" Huggins, a U-2 and T-38 instructor pilot from Beale AFB, CA..

Not to be left out were five world class aerobatic performances, including Spencer Suderman, Bill Cornick, Vicky Benzing, Doug Jardine and Kent Pietsch.  Spencer, Bill, Vicky and Doug all flew high energy aerobatic performances, while Kent performed a comedy act which included "losing" an aileron and a tire from his 1946 Interstate Cadet and his famous "dead stick" routine and landing.  Local performances included the Sonoma County Sheriff "Henry One" 407 helicopter and Special Weapons and Tactical (S.W.A.T.) Unit demonstration with some great pyrotechnic explosions.  Annoucing the entire event was famed air show announcer, Danny Clisham,the voice of the Reno Air Races and EAA Air Venture Oshkosh.. With many hours in various aircraft, including the Boeing 747 SuperTanker and his fantastic knowledge of aviation, Danny kept the audience very well entertained.  Willie Turner was the Air Boss and his assistant Jimmy Lichtenstein kept things moving smoothly on the ground. "This was our best Air Show to date" said Dave Pinsky, Air Show and Pacific Coast Air Museum Executive Director. "We had our best attendance ever and set a one day attendance record on Sunday."  Pinsky praised the volunteers who donated their time and hard work. "Without the volunteers, this show would have never gotten off the ground", said Pinsky.  And he added, "we plan an even better "Wings Over Wine Country" Air Show on August 20-21, 2011."