Oct. 20, 2014

***Opinion pieces reflect the opinion of the writer only, and not the opinion of the newspaper staff, student body, administration or school faculty.***

With the whirl of engines and the occasional sound of a pyrotechnics explosion, this year’s airshow was great. The weekend of Oct. 11 and 12 the skies above the Commemorative Air Force  museum and Midland International Airport were filled with smoke and warbirds. There were performances by people from all across Texas and the United States, a few pilots even from Canada.

If you are as interested in history as I am and didn’t go, then you missed out! There was a reenactment of Tora, Tora, Tora and the Atomic bombing. Planes were painted to look like the Japanese bombers and filled the skies with a US fighter flying close behind them. There was educational statements about all the planes, their structure, history and what they were used for.

“Fifi”, the only B-29 bomber of her kind left airworthy, was flying high in the skies parading in all her glory. When I was little “Fifi” was still in the hangar so I thought it was awesome that she is flying again. They also sell seats for rides, but they run top dollar so that they can afford to keep her in the air.

The pilots that flew in the show had been flying for at least 30 years, many of them veterans from the Air Force and the Navy. One pilot, Kyle Franklin, was not only flying as a teenager but was walking on the wing of his father’s plane. Now he is an outstanding trick pilot that performs at airshows all over the country.

There was a lot of things for the kids to do and look at, when you entered the airshow there were booths and vendors set up in a parking lot area. Grounded bombers and fighter planes were there for everyone to explore and take pictures in front of. The bomber ramps where open most of the time and the CAF museum was open to go look at exhibits from WWII.

It was a great show that really appealed to your senses, keeping you intrigued the entire time. Another thing that was really strengthened for me there was patriotism, especially watching Tora, Tora, Tora. Getting a chance to knowing that is what it looked like in a small way, except much more real and tragic was heartbreaking. All the lives of our sleeping American soldiers stolen on that Sunday morning. Seeing those performances really humbled me.