Hotel Sierra! That's my kind of air show.
It was quite a moving experience to see the B17 and B29 start up, take off, fly over, and land. Wow. They were offering paid rides on both. I wish I had gone. The B29 is the only one left that is flying. I had my Nautilus cap on and a sub vet came over and we talked. The B17 had just taken off and he said "If it weren't for the guys who flew those things we'd probably be speaking another language." A very profound statement and spot on.
I had the honor to meet a B17 pilot and squadron leader from WWII a few years ago. He flew a surprising number of missions and always made it back. He had the mechanics put a second panel of plexiglass on the inside of the windshield. A few days later a piece of shrapnel hit the windshield in front of his face. He said he stared at it for three days. If the extra plexiglass hadn't been there he wouldn't be here.
I saw the F4U Corsair at another airshow. In WWII, the Japanese gave it the name "whistling death". When it flew over the field at the show you could hear the whistle, a very distinctive sound.
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