Moses Lake Airshow showcases all things airborne

MOSES LAKE — The weather Saturday, the first day of the Moses Lake Airshow, gave a whole new meaning to the word “barnstorming.”

“We almost didn't get the planes off the ground because it was a side wind,” said the show’s organizer, Terry Quick. “On the big runway, it was strong enough that if they were trying to lift off it would have blown them off the runway. As it worked out, we were able to open up a different runway and they could take off into the wind. One guy got airborne in less than 100 yards, so it was pretty strong winds, to say the least.”

There’s no real way to tell how many people attended the two-day event, Quick said. The number of tickets sold was about 3,000, but a general admission ticket was good for one adult plus as many children as they could fit into their vehicle. 

And there were a lot of children. The event was held on Father’s Day weekend, so the airfield was filled with dads and families. Both the wind and the crowds had decreased Sunday, but there was still an impressive turnout. Last year’s show brought almost 10,000 people, Quick said, and the numbers have been going up by about 20% every year.

This is the fourth year the Moses Lake Airshow has taken place at the Grant County International Airport. The event was a celebration of all things aeronautical. New this year was a short takeoff and landing, or STOL, competition, where pilots could show their skills in tight spaces. This year also saw the World RC Invitational, a show for radio-controlled plane enthusiasts.

“To a person, everybody that watched the RC aircraft, they said when they were watching it in the air they thought it was a regular air show,” Quick said. “They were that big and they were that good.

Military and civilian aircraft of all kinds were arrayed on the airfield for attendees to look over and in some cases explore inside. 

“We’ve been looking at all the static displays,” said Dan Niehenke, who was checking out the show with his children, Wyatt, 11, and Addison, 5. 

“We’ve been looking at all the static displays,” Niehenke said. “We went down and talked to the fighter pilots and had the kids asking all kinds of questions. We looked at the A-10s and then got in the cockpits of the C-17 and the KC-135, crawling through the helicopter.”

Wyatt and Addison agreed that the C-17 was the coolest plane they’d seen that day.

One of the smaller craft was called “Day’s Pay II.” It’s a PT-23 Cornell, a plane formerly used to train pilots in World War II and was displayed by the Commemorative Air Force, an organization that restores planes of that vintage to airworthy condition.

The name is a homage to an event that took place in Washington, Hanoff explained.

“After (the U.S. entered) World War II, the folks working out at the Hanford site started a fundraising campaign that asked everyone to donate a day’s worth of their wages to purchase a B-17 bomber to support the war effort,” Hanoff said. “That B-17 was presented to the community in the Tri-Cities and christened the Day’s Pay.”

The bomber went on to fly 64 missions in Europe, Hanoff said. It survived the war but like so many planes, wasn’t preserved. The CAF in Richland adopted the name “Day’s Pay Squadron” in honor of those workers, and named its plane accordingly.

The Big Bend Community College aviation maintenance program brought its demo plane, a retired Federal Express jet. The plane doesn’t actually fly, explained instructor Chris Dinges, but this year it was able to taxi onto the field under its own power instead of being towed out.

“It’s not legal to fly,” Dinges said. “It’s mostly functional. We are one of the few schools that keep (their planes) as airworthy as possible. But one of the agreements with FedEx was that it’s never going to fly.”

Besides the static displays, the air show featured acrobatic flying acts that made jaws drop across the airfield. Several of the daredevils were familiar to the air show attendees. Tom Larkin returned with his mini-jet, an experimental craft that weighs 500 pounds and goes 300 miles per hour. John Melby performed as FearBOSS, doing swoops and dives and straight-up ascents that made the wildest carnival ride look like a child’s red wagon. Yuichi Takagi’s Pitts S-25 awed the crowd as well.

“He gets up there and it makes my neck hurt, watching what he’s able to do,” Quick said. 

The Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt made its farewell appearance at the Moses Lake Airshow.

“They’re being phased out by the Air Force,” Quick said. “So this was the swan song for the A-10, and we were very fortunate to get it.”

Joel Martin may be reached via email at jmartin@columbiabasinherald.com.

    Stunt pilot Yuichi Takagi dazzles the crowd at the Moses Lake Airshow Saturday.
  

    An Air Force C-17 Globemaster transport plane in flight at the Moses Lake Airshow Saturday.
  

    Jeff Hanoff, of the Commemorative Air Force, talks at the Moses Lake Airshow Sunday with Bonnie Molitor, left, and Aileen Coverdell. The women were representing The 99, an organization of women pilots established in 1929 by Amelia Earhart and 98 other aviatrixes. The 99 now numbers more than 7,500 members all over the world, they said.
  

    Dan Niehenke tours the Moses Lake Airshow Sunday with his children, 5-year-old Addison on his shoulders and 11-year-old Wyatt at this side. Sunday was Father’s Day, and the air show drew a lot of families to check out the aircraft.
  

    An A-10 Thunderbolt, commonly known as the A-10 Warthog, comes in for a landing at the Moses Lake Airshow. The aircraft is known for its roll in providing air support to ground troops and its 30mm cannon that spits an astonishing 3,900 rounds per minute.