With a good mix of the old and the new, the annual Wings Over Houston Air show in the State of Texas has something for everyone. This year’s show took place on Saturday 27th October and Sunday 28th October and thrilled an estimated 100,000 people over the weekend. Jason Grant and Mark Forest went along for AeroResource to see some of the attractions the air show has on offer for families as well as the more serious enthusiast.
This show really does offer something extra for the photographer – AeroResource’s day started with a guided walk around the static displays at 06:00am, before sunrise and before the gates opened to the public. Credit must be given to the organizers of the air show because this is the busiest time of the day for many of the staff and vendors, and finding time to walk enthusiasts and photographers around the aircraft can’t be too high on the organizers’ list or things to do but they understand that this is the kind of access a photographer wants before the exhibits become swamped with people (as is the case with many US airshows, WOH has a more laid back approach with regards to crowd barriers than most British shows). The Sunrise Photo Tour is limited to 25 people per day and early registration is recommended because the popularity of the tour grows every year, with more and more photographers signing up for it. The tour does come at a cost (a mere $30) but is a good way for the air show to make a little extra money and perhaps secure a stronger relationship with visiting photographers, and bring them back to the next event – don’t forget your tripod!
Daybreak and the seated areas and hospitality areas look across the airfield, out towards the sun. This offers its own challenges for the photographer but with clear skies, from lunchtime onwards the sun will be moving behind the crowdline, allowing for near perfect photography light. Wings Over Houston air show has joined many air shows across the USA by charging spectators an admission fee when the gates are opened to the public at 8AM. Discount tickets can be bought in advance, but on the day $25 per adult and $5 per child is the admission fee, with children under 6 being allowed in for free.
Wings Over Houston is a non-profit community event produced by a volunteer effort of the Gulf Coast Wing and Houston Wing of the Commemorative Air Force, with support from the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston, Texas Flying Legends Museum, Vietnam War Flight Museum, Lewis Air Legends and Collings Foundation West. The 2012 air show benefits the Wings Over Houston Air show Scholarship Program, Aviation Career Education Academy, Exchange Club of Sugar Land, Westchase Rotary Club and the Commemorative Air Force aircraft restoration and flying historical programs, in addition to numerous non-profit organizations.
The public have two hours to enjoy the static displays and the vendors selling their souvenirs before the flying display begins. During this time, the Warbird ramp is open to the public. Dozens of historic World War II, Korean and Vietnam era aircraft are on display for the public to walk around and get up close and personal with. Pilots and aircrew are available to chat with, as well as historians who give guided walks around the aircraft. The Warbird ramp closes to the public during the day whilst the aircraft take part in the flying display but opens again once the flying has finished.
The air show announcer for the weekend was the one and only Rob Reider. Rob was a recipient of the International Council of Air Shows’ “Sword of Excellence” back in 2007, and 2012 is his 34th year as an air show announcer. Rob is still the most sought-after announcer on the air show circuit in North America, and It is his job to compere the air show, informing the audience of facts and figures, as well as interviewing military spokespeople about the types of aircraft displaying. Rob works very closely with the Air Boss for the display. The Air Boss for Wings Over Houston was Ralph Royce, who has been an Air Boss for 25 years, and whose job it is to choreograph the flying displays throughout the day. Ralph became a recipient of the International Council of Air Shows’ “Sword of Excellence” in 2008.
As is customary at American air shows, the main flying element of the day began with a skydiving team jumping to earth – on this occasion it was the RE/MAX skydiving team, spiralling down and trailing smoke. As the team neared the landing point, the State flag and the Star Spangled Banner were unfurled and draped below a skydiver, the National Anthem played aloud and the crowd stood still and faced the front. This start to the show is always well received and respected by the patriotic crowd who stand silent, with the silence broken by loud applause and cheers as the National Anthem finishes. In the background the sound of an MV-22B Osprey taxiing could be heard, which was to be the first flying item of the display.
The MV-22B is designed for expeditionary assault, raid operations, cargo lift and special warfare. Built with composite materials by Bell-Boeing, the Osprey boast fly-by-wire flight controls and a digital cockpit as well as being a highly manoeuvrable airframe with vertical take-off and landing as well as short take-off and landing thanks to its tilt rotor configuration. This also gives the Osprey the range of a turboprop with twice the speed of a helicopter and five times the range. The Osprey can also carry out air-to-air refuelling giving even greater range.
The next part of the flying programme was one that many of the crowd had come to see. Wings Over Houston is centred around the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) and their impressive collection of Warbirds. With more than 150 vintage aircraft in the collection, the CAF is the USA’s Premiere Warbird organization. The Houston Wing and the Gulf Coast Wing of the CAF are the primary producers of Wing Over Houston air show and join forces with other warbird operators to complete the show. Also taking part in static displays as well as the flying element of the Warbird demonstration was the Lone Star Flight Museum, Texas Flying Legends Museum, Lewis Air Legends and a selection of privately owned Warbirds.
Starting with “Tora, Tora, Tora” which is a re-enactment of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the sky very quickly filled up with aircraft to simulate the attack. Of particular note was a flyable Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero (coded AH-129), which took part in the display alongside many replicas. This is one of only a handful of flyable Zeros anywhere in the World. To add realism to the re-enactment, the CAF has it very own “Explosive Ordinance Detachment”. This detachment was formed way back in 1981 as a way of making sure that a safe, well trained and approved team was always available for the CAF air power demonstrations. During the Tora, Tora, Tora re-enactment, 1,000lbs of high explosives and 1,000 gallons of gasoline were used.
Re-enactors of the 6th Cavalry were defending on the ground against the aggressors which achieved a “realistic” feel to the demonstration. The Tora, Tora, Tora demonstration seamlessly gave way to the WWII air force demonstration and finished with the CAF air power demonstration featuring aircraft of the CAF and Galveston’s Lone Star Flight Museum. These demonstrations showed off many flying examples of rare WWII trainer, fighter and bomber aircraft.
Commemorative Air Force
Type |
Registration |
Marked As |
Notes |
| Lockheed C-60A Lodestar | N60JT | 42-56005 | “Goodtime Gal” |
| North American Harvard Mk.11B | N9790Z | 3048 | |
| North American B-25J Mitchell | N9643C | 44-86758 | “Devil Dog” |
| Vultee BT-13A Valiant | N27003 | 41-21178 | |
| Bell P-63F Kingcobra | N6763 | 43-11719 | |
| Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress | N7277C | PV-X 44-83872 | “Texas Raiders” |
| Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver | N92879 | 32 (83589) | |
| North American P-51C Mustang | NX61429 | ZA-4 | “Tuskegee Airmen” |
| North American Harvard Mk.IV | N4447 | AI-111 | Marked as A6M Zero |
| North American Harvard Mk.IV | NX9097 | AI-112 | Marked as A6M Zero |
| North American Harvard Mk.IV | NX15799 | AI-113 | Marked as A6M Zero |
| North American Harvard Mk.IV | N15797 | AI-114 | Marked as A6M Zero |
| North American SNJ-6 Harvard | N9820C | AI-118 | Marked as A6M Zero |
| North American SNJ-5 Harvard | N3242G | AI-313 | Marked as B5N Kate |
| North American SNJ-5 Harvard | N3725G | AII-356 | Marked as B5N Kate |
| Vultee BT-13A Valiant | N56478 | BI-78 | Marked as D3 Val |
Texas Flying Legends Museum
Type |
Registration |
Marked As |
Notes |
| North American B-25J Mitchell | N5672V | 0934 (45-8835″ | “Betty’s Dream” |
| North American P-51D Mustang | N151HR | 414711 | “Long Island Kid” |
| North American P-51D Mustang | N51PE | 413551 | “Little Horse” |
| Mistubishi A6M2 Model 21 Zero | N8280K | AII-129 | “Last Samurai” |
| Curtiss P-40K Warhawk | N401WH | 42-10256 | |
| Goodyear FG-1D Corsair | NX209TW | 92489 | |
| Grumman FM-2P Wildcat | NL5HP | 86777/5 |
Lone Star Flight Museum
Type |
Registration |
Marked As |
Notes |
| North American P-51D Mustang | N4151D | 44-73458/CS-F | “Galveston Gal” |
| Republic P-47D Thunderbolt | N4747P | 433240/IA-N | “Tarheel Hal” |
| Vought F4U-5NL Corsair | NX43RW | 121881/RW-21 | “Annie-Mo” |
| Douglas A-24B Banshee | N93RW | 42-54682/S9 | |
| North American TB-25N Mitchell | N333RW | 02344 | “Doolittle Raider’s Special Delivery” |
| North American AT-6D Harvard | N566TX | 04566 | “Texans Since 1917” |
| Boeing Stearman PT-17 | N75272 | 75-8111 | |
| Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress | N900RW | 238050 | “Thunderbird” |
Lewis Air Legends
Type |
Registration |
Marked As |
Notes |
| Grumman F-7F-3P Tigercat | NX700F | 80390/D3 | “Here Kitty Kitty” |
| Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat | NX14WB | 122619/P-14 | |
| Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat | NX747NF | 122614/747 | |
| Grumman F8F-1 Bearcat | N58204 | 95255/S-204 |
Private – Other
Type |
Registration |
Marked As |
Notes |
| Douglas A-1D Skyraider | NX91945 | 126882/TT | “Marlene, Uncle Ho’s Nightmare” |
| Beechcraft T-34A Mentor | N663DB | 53-4119/63 | |
| Douglas A-26B Invader | NL26BP | 41-39359 | “Million Airess” |
| Aeronca L-3C | N49204 | 43-1562 | “Bad Bug” |
| Stinson L-5C Sentinel | N45TX | 44-17397 | |
| Cessna O-2A Skymaster | N7146Y | 69-7601 | |
| Beechcraft T-34A Mentor | N44007 | 53-3365/126 | |
| North American SNJ-5 Harvard | N991VR | 90991 | “Oh Baby!” |
| North American SNJ-3 Harvard | N547W | 05437 | |
| North American T-6G Harvard | N729AM | 51-14429/TA-429 | |
| North American SNJ-5B Harvard | N810JF | 88-18078/JF304 | |
| North American T-6G Harvard | N9883C | 49-3404 |
The two hour Warbird demonstration seemed to pass by very quickly (as always happens with a good show of any format) and this led another highlight of the show, the F-4F Phantom II display. This particular Phantom was retired from active service back in 1991 and was stored at AMARC until converted to QF status for the USAF target drone program; it is now part of the USAF Heritage Flight. Three passes in different “poses” in near perfect conditions; the Heritage pass which gave the perfect top shot, the high speed pass and a landing configuration pass.
The Phantom was then joined in the local air space by the F-22A Raptor. The Raptor is the Air Force’s state of the art, 5th generation stealth fighter. The Air Combat Command F-22 Demonstration Team from Langley Air Force Base put the Raptor through their ever impressive precision manoeuvres, demonstrating the capabilities of the world’s only operational 5th generation fighter. At the end of the display, the Raptor joined in formation with the Phantom, P-51D Mustang “Galveston Gal” and P-47D Thunderbolt “Tarheel Hal to form the the USAF Heritage . First flown in 1997 to honour of the men and women who have served or are still serving in the USAF, the Heritage Flight is always a very popular part of an Air Force display and seeing modern state of the art aircraft in formation with classic Warbirds is always an impressive sight. The Air Force Heritage Flight Foundation was established in 2010 to keep the popular program flying.
Several civilian acts also took part in the show, ranging from the Air National Guard Jet Truck which can reach speeds of 375mph (a world record for jet powered trucks) through to civilian owned teams with their incredible high G performances, like David Martin Airshows, part of Team Breitling. A Always a favourite act in the civilian category is Sean D Tucker flying for Team Oracle in his custom built, one-off Challenger II biplane. This weighs in at just over 1,200lbs but has a massive 400 horsepower engine making it the most high performance aerobatic plane in the world. Many of the civilian acts on the air show calendar today are flying vintage military aircraft so for people only interested in the military side of the display, it still holds interest.
Blue Angels
Since 1946, the Blue Angels have been performing at air shows all over the World. The team were set up after World War II to keep the public interested in Naval Aviation and since then has become the showpiece recruitment programme for the United States Navy and Marine Corps. The demonstration begins with a C-130 Hercules known as “Fat Albert”. The 10 minutes display showcases the Hercules’ maximum performance capabilities with a series of precise manoeuvres that takes the C-130 to its airframe limits. Once the Hercules lands it is time for the jet demonstration part of the team. Flying the F/A-18 Hornet for the 26th year, the demonstration begins with a formation engine start leading into a formation taxi. The loud public announcement system keeps the public informed about each part of the demonstration whilst music adds to the party atmosphere. Since their inception, the Blue Angels have performed in front of nearly 500 million fans. 2013 is when the team expect to reach the half a billion milestone. The Blue Angels never disappoint with their precision, high G force, close formation flying. The Blue Angels are always the last act of the days aerial performance and many spectators leave once they have landed.
AeroResource would like to thank Scott Tims, Media Supervisor for Wings Over Houston Air Show 2012, for arranging our access and providing assistance on the day.
Wow! what a line-up! it even puts our own golden legends in the shade, and that’s saying something!
4-ship with the raptor is a particular stunner; well written intel to go with all those great pics as well
Thanks for posting a great article!
Another great article for AR!
Slight nit-pick though, the 82nd ATARS F-4 is a QF-4E, not an F-4F.