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SportsGreatest show above Earth
Anniversary of Berlin Airlift headlines open house
Friday, May 16, 2008
 Click here to enlarge this photo File photo by BRYAN HAYES
File photo illustration by Carrie Lovejoy.
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The Candy Bomber himself, retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Gail Halvorsen, who during the airlift famously dropped bags of candy from his C-54 transport aircraft to German children waiting below, will speak as part of the ceremony as will Klaus Scharioth, the current German ambassador to the United States.
Also part of the opening ceremony, which is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Saturday, will be several of the cargo and transport aircraft that flew in Berlin during the airlift. U.S Air Force personnel will demonstrate the capabilities of the C-17 and the C-47 during separate fly-bys and members of the German Air Force are scheduled to participate in a fly-by of their own in C-160s.
On the ground, a Douglas C-54E Skymaster that was used during the airlift will be on display.
‘‘It’s in immaculate condition,” said Air Force Maj. Robert Yarbrough, who coordinated this year’s open house. ‘‘It’s in such pristine condition that we thought it would be a perfect centerpiece.”
More than 100,000 expected
This year is the 58th annual Joint Services Open House, which is free of charge and open to the public from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m Saturday and Sunday. On Friday, the show is open only to school children on pre-arranged field trips.
The open house is held in honor of Armed Forces Day, which was created in 1949.
A total of 2,500 security and military personnel are involved in the open house and between 100,000 and 125,000 spectators are expected to attend, according to Air Force Lt. Col. Andrew Lourake, the chairman of the open house.
Lourake said that to enhance security and make moving around on base easier for all involved, show attendees are being asked once again this year to park at FedEx Field and board buses that will shuttle participants to and from Andrews.
Buses will leave FedEx Field starting at 7:30 a.m. and drop attendees off at the airfield continuously throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday, according to the open house’s Web site. The last bus will leave FedEx Field for Andrews at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Buses will begin returning passengers to FedEx field starting at 9 a.m.
‘‘Parking is easier [at FedEx Field],” Lourake said. ‘‘What may seem like a pain now is actually easier in the long run.”
Attendees traveling by Metro should get off at the Branch Avenue station, where buses will be on standby waiting to take participants to the base.
Busing to and from the Branch Avenue station will follow the same schedule as busing to and from FedEx Field.
The open house features an air show with aerial acrobatics being performed by military personnel and civilians, ground acts performed by military vehicles and static displays of military hardware.
Blue Angels to soar
This year, the air show’s two main attractions will be aerial stunts performed by the Blue Angels, the U.S. Navy’s demonstration squadron, and a parachuting demonstration conducted by the Golden Knights, the U.S. Army’s parachute team.
The performance from the Blue Angels, which will start at 3 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday and last about 48 minutes, incorporates maneuvers such as loops, barrel rolls, high-speed passes, fast rolls and tight turns, Yarbrough said.
‘‘The Blue Angels are world-renowned for the flying expertise and there is no better showcase for the military,” Lourake said.
The performance from the Golden Knights, which will start at noon on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and last about 28 minutes, shows off the formation skydiving and precision landing capabilities of the parachuting team, Yarbrough said.
Between the performances of the Golden Knights and the Blue Angels, the U.S. Air Force, from 1 to 3 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, will show off its most prized fighter, the F-22 Raptor, during separate performances.
Lourake said the Raptor has added three new maneuvers to its repertoire for this year’s show, but would not say what exactly those new maneuvers were.
‘‘It’s ... cloak and dagger,” he said.
Civilian flyers coming too
In addition to the featured performances, several other civilian and military aerial acts will take to the skies in both jet fighters and small biplanes throughout the weekend, Lourake said, adding that these shorter shows generally last anywhere from 12 to 15 minutes.
‘‘We probably have the best lineup for civilian acts in the country,” Lourake said. ‘‘These are some of the premier performers on the air show circuit. We’re fortunate we can get the best of the best.”
One such civilian act will be Texas resident Jill Long, a veteran of the air show circuit, who will be performing at Andrews this weekend for the third time.
Long, whose performance will be approximately 12 minutes, will be flying in a Pitts Special F2B, a plane she describes as being specifically designed to do ‘‘the flippy things, aerobatic loops, rolls and gyroscopic maneuvers.”
Long said she tries to differentiate her performance from others by appealing more to the women and children in the audience.
‘‘I do the same type of acrobatic flying but we set it to a graceful soundtrack that gives it a more graceful feel, which will appeal to the women in the audience a little more, hopefully,” Long said. ‘‘[My show is] almost like watching an ice skater with aggressive jumps and lots of action yet still being graceful.”
Long said she sees performing at air shows as an opportunity to capture the imagination of the children in attendance just as past pilots did during an air show she went to.
‘‘One of my main reasons for becoming a pilot was attending an air show not unlike Andrews’ where I went and saw one of the jet teams perform,” Long said. ‘‘Me doing this really gives back to that dream of being a pilot kids have. That sounds kind of mushy, but really that’s what it is for me.”
Long said that because of its immense scope, the Andrews open house is a show that many civilian pilots want to be a part of.
‘‘[Andrews is] probably the biggest show we do during our season, so it really gives us an opportunity to bring our performance to a lot of people,” she said.
