EtwUK

As the birthplace of aviation, Dayton is the perfect place to host an air show, and this particular one has been on my bucket-list for quite a while. So under a glorious blue sky, I took the early morning bus to the show ground to go and check it out!

Bucket-list Items

Gates open at 9pm, and I joined the queue about 10 minutes beforehand. This was simultaneously planned (it’s always good to arrive early!), and unplanned (bus times were very inconvenient as public transport doesn’t really exist here!), but the wait flew past and I was soon ushered through the security checkpoint. You’re greeted by an absolute wall of massive cargo planes, all of which you’re able to go in and have a poke around, but I had one particular display on my mind….

…the Goodyear Blimp! I’d already ticked off my main bucket-list item of just seeing the thing, as it was doing laps above the track at the Indy 500 I was fortunate to attend a few weeks back, but here was an opportunity to get right up close and personal! I can’t even begin to describe just how VAST this thing is. It’s downright enormous! The dimensions are above in the caption, but you really need to get up close to appreciate the sheer ridiculousness of it all! It’s just big, floaty, and unnecessary, and I had such a dumb grin on my face the entire time! Sadly, you couldn’t actually get on board as it was due to perform later in the day, but it was such a cool moment just to slowly walk around it and see in person something I’d always dreamed of seeing.

The Wider Show

With some difficulty, I detached myself from the Blimp, and took a casual stroll around the larger aircraft on offer. There was a good selection, ranging from the massive C-5 Galaxy, to the (only slightly) smaller A400M and C-17 Globemaster. The C-17 was particularly cool, as you could get a quick cockpit tour if you queued for a few minutes and I jumped at the chance! This was the first time I’d seen these larger aircraft so open for exploration as they’re normally closed off. Case in point was the A400M, which had only its cargo deck open, with just a photo of the cockpit on offer. I will say that the A400M was much nicer on the inside to make up for it!

I continued walking round and ticking off various ground displays. From classic warbirds, to modern jet fighters, and everything in between, the range of aircraft on show was very good. There was even time to go and check out the B-29 Superfortress “Doc”, which was both giving rides (starting from $600!) and performing in the show. An incredible aircraft that’s been wonderfully preserved, and it was really cool to see it still flying. As with all air shows, there are always a few odd little stands and Dayton was no exception. Of particular amusement was the display of an Anti-Aircraft missile platform. Which was being operated by kids as part of a tech demo. What could possibly go wrong….

Flying Displays

I must confess that I missed the start of the live displays! The program I bought had no timings in it, and there was nothing on the show website before I left, so I was really rather in the dark about when things kicked off. Even the billboard I found with timings on it was wrong as it was listing acts that weren’t even attending! I’d become distracted by the Goodyear Blimp again, which was prepping itself to take-off, and was enjoying watching said take-off procedures when I caught a glimpse of a parachute in my peripheral. Ah! That would be the U.S. Golden Knights Parachute Team starting the day off then! Frankly, parachutes are cool, but blimps are cooler, so you can guess what I turned my attention back too! Once it was air-borne I took a wander over to the grass fields that were being offered for those of us too poor to afford an air-conditioned gazebo and seating!

There weren’t too many acts in the day, but this has the advantage of increasing the amount of time for each display. It didn’t feel like any of them were rushing to get all their manoeuvres complete, and you had ample time to enjoy each spectacle. The range was also very good: there were sedate performances from the local Air Ambulance and a chap who’d strapped two jet engines to his glider, right up to roaring jets with pyrotechnic elements. The Red Bull Air Force proved themselves once more as absolute nutjobs, with the helicopter pilot doing things no helicopter should be doing (have you ever seen one rotating on the spot whilst falling upside down?!), and the stunt pilot hovering in place and doing vomit inducing spins! And of course there were displays from classic aircraft, with the T-34 Association in particular putting out a good show with their huge formation.

The Thunderbirds

The main draw of the live performances however were the Thunderbirds aerobatics team. If you’re from the UK, think the Red Arrows, but with modern fighter jets. I’d been looking forwards to this all day as I know their close formation flying is world class, but on a quick trip to refill my water bottle, I double checked my bus time and realised with some horror that my 16:12 was actually the last bus of the day! With the Thunderbirds due to start at 15:15, this wasn’t an issue because I should be able to see a good 15-20 minutes before having to make the walk to the bus stop. And this is where everything began to unravel! Their display started with 20 minutes of patriotic preamble that made it feel like I was stood in the middle of a cult meeting. AND THEY WERE STILL ON THE GROUND! They didn’t start their engines for ages! When they finally did, they taxied to the end of the runway, and then sat there doing all their necessary pre-flight checks! I’ve never been to an air show where the main performers haven’t been airborne at the start of their time slot! By this point it was 15:35 and I needed to make a break for it. Naturally, this is the exact moment where they decided to actually fly their planes and took off. In a stroke of luck, my route to the bus stop was underneath the points where they were forming up for the main runs over the show, so I did actually get to see some of the performance, but the whole build-up phase was utterly ridiculous, and didn’t encourage me to go and see them again at any point!

Issues

Whilst it might have been comfortable on the grass, the day itself was deeply uncomfortable. It was 33°C with no breeze, no shade, and the heat being amplified by the endless tarmac of the air strip. Oh, and someone smart in the planning department decided one water station was enough for an event being attended by 75,000 people over the two days. Shambolic! The show did provide water misting stations, giant fans, and local busses that had been converted into AC stations, but there really wasn’t enough to make me feel like something was in easy reach should I need it. For such a big event it did feel rather lacking on the provision front. This carried on with the food/drink options. You had grossly overpriced food options (alright, that’s to be expected at such an event) which were just the same around the entire show! You had: hot dogs, burgers, corndogs, falafel, and that was basically it! The same few stalls just copy/pasted around the place, with absolutely no variety! So I’d recommend taking your own snacks if you attend in future years!

Overall

Even with these issues, I still greatly enjoyed my day out. There were aircraft I’d never seen in-person before, flying displays from teams we don’t get back in the UK, and of course, the bucket-list blimp! Ticket prices vary dependant on how far in advance you book: I paid $30 for my entry as I’d left it quite late. The aircraft being open access was a real bonus, and something I’d like to see more often at UK air-shows in future events. My favourite act of the day was the MiG-17 JetFighters display time. Watching those MiGs come screaming in with full afterburner was spine-tingling and something I’ll remember for a long time! It goes without saying that the Goodyear Blimp was my overall highlight!