Fargo AirSho: Saturday-Sunday, August 21–22, 1999

My co-pilot at this airshow would be Victor Teigen. This was one of rare airshows that Bob Nelson did not attend. This would also be the last Fargo AirSho on the west side of the runaway. I had a headache that precluded going on Sunday. I gave my ticket to my father instead. There were no marquee military demonstration teams this year so attendance was unsurprisingly low.

Frankly it was disappointing, this show was one of the best in the nation this year. It’s a super show, the weather was good. So many things were right. When you put a show together with Wayne Handley, Jim Maroney, Jim Franklin and all the stars we had, it just doesn’t happen very often. We received outstanding feedback from spectators and performers. You gotta feel good about the show we put on. Everything ran exceptionally well. The performers were tickled to death. I’m still kind of numb. The committee is just exhausted. Everyone worked very hard and did an outstanding job. -Dick Walstad, 1999 Fargo AirSho, co-chairman.

AirSho officials were hoping to eclipse 30,000 people, but estimates were between 20,000 and 25,000 people. According to spectators on Saturday, the absence of the Blue Angels or the Thunderbirds was the reason. The FArgo AirSho did raise $240,000 for cancer research and the planned Fargo Air Museum.

The FA–18 ‘Hornet’ was flying around when we arrived. Civil Air Patrol (CAP) cadets were parking arrivals half a mile away. I flashed Victor’s Volunteer pass and we parked at the gate. We would be working at the Good Shepherd’s food booth. I heard most of Bob Hoover’s demonstration while under the tent. I watched parts of the aerial displays.

I couldn’t find my polarizer filter. I remember looking at it and knowing it was going into the bag, but I guess I didn’t get that far. I shot through two rolls in minutes. Although the AV–8 ‘Harrier’ wasn’t there, there was a German Panavia 200 ‘Tornado’ and many interesting aircraft.
The F–4G ‘Super Corsair’ engine wouldn’t start. It’s flight was canceled.
While watching Handley in his “Raven” stunt plane, I accidentally opened my camera only see the film not rewound. I instantly closed the camera, but it was too late.
I watched the NDANG “Happy Hooligans” take off. Their demonstration did not last long. One of their F–16A ‘Falcons’ reported a bird hit. Victor was back at the booth. I helped clean tables and stow all the gear. There was no one left on the flight-line. The booth-girls had all disappeared into the NATO AWAC plane parked on the runaway north of us. I said we should wait for them to show up. I guess the NATO Crew sat them down and wouldn’t let them leave. I can’t blame them. A couple of those girls were very cute. I asked if they signed anything, “You’ve probably enlisted the Belgium Air Force.”
We filled my Astro van with eight people and church supplies.

German TornadoThe Panavia 'Tornado' is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Panavia Aircraft GmbH, a tri-national consortium. (Italy, the United Kingdom, and West Germany) It first flew on 14 August 1974 and was introduced into service in 1979-1980. Due to its multi-role design, it was able to replace several different fleets of aircraft in the adopting air forces. Photo by Craig on Saturday, August 21, 1999 at the Fargo AirSho.

Photographs

See the Full Gallery or the Gallery Slideshow for more photos from the Fargo Airsho: 34 in total with detailed photo/airplane descriptions. My photos are color print film. ©1999, 2019.

Each aircraft link goes to its first photo in the gallery. The numbered links go to addition aircraft information, usually Wikipedia. I also used material found in the 1999 Fargo AirSho Program and Fargo Forum Newspaper.

Aircraft On Display

• Static Demonstrations
• AH–1F ‘Cobra’ attack helicopter. #100. 1
• B–1B ‘Lancer’. Listed in the program, but did not attend due to engine issues. 1
• C–47 ‘Skytrain’ North Dakota Air National Guard 0–9380. 1
• E–3 ‘Sentry’ (NATO) LX-N 90442, AWACS OMS. NATO 1949–1999 OTAN 50th Anniversary livery. 1
• F–4U–4 ‘Corsair’ #310 Navy VF 42 NX72378, Bu.97388. 1, 2, 3
• F–4G ‘Super Corsair’ #57 SOHIO. N5588N 1, 2
• F–15B ‘Eagle’. CC Guy Remecke. Jacksonville. AF76–125, 1,2
• F–16B ‘Falcon’ fighter-trainer, (Block 15L) af82–1036 on display for the NDANG 178th FS “Happy Hooligans. ”Roughrider Country". C/C P. Schreiner. 1, 2, 3, 4
• F/A–18 ‘Hornet’ #14. 1
• HH–65A ‘Dolphin’ US Coast Guard “Detroit” 6540. 1
• KC–135R ‘Stratotanker’ 319th Air Refueling Wing. “Warriors of the North” 1, 2
• Panavia 200 ‘Tornado’ 44–77. German Air Force Tactical Training Center, Holloman AFB, NM. est 5/1/1996. 1
• PT–13D ‘Kaydet’ trainer. behind Yak–52. 1
• P–51D ‘Mustang’ “Dazzling Donna”. 1
• P–51G “Grand 51” with General Aviation you can see an actual P–51D over its tail. 1
• S–3B ‘Viking’ US Navy VS–32 AB #706 159393/ USS John F. Kennedy. Lt (jg) M “Spanky” Meschke, Lt. Courtney “Brewski” Smith. 1
• TA–4J ‘Skyhawk’ Navy #701. A. 1
• TBM–3E ‘Avenger’ CC #89. 1
• L–29 ‘Delfin’ Czech jet trainer. (Soviet livery) N81637. 1966 Aerovodochody sn:591627. 1
• L–29 ‘Delfin’ Czech jet trainer. (Czech livery) N41PK. 1966 Aerovodochody sn:1902. 1
• L–29 ‘Delfin’ Czech jet trainer. (Czech livery) N229MD #2815. 1968 Aerovodochody sn:892815. 1
• AT–6 ‘Texan’ #94. 1
• AT–6 ‘Texan’ VMF–312 #88 USMC “Tigger”. 1
• T–28B ‘Trojan’ Navy trainer #8216 Pepsacola “Plane Jane II”. N285MS. Bu. 138216. registered to Dennis H. Bohn, Grand Forks 1997–2008. 1, 2
• T–37 ‘Tweet’ Cessna jet trainer US Air Force RA AF66–0989. Captain Harold Manning. 1
• T–38C ‘Talon’ jet trainer. WM US Air Force AF67–845 “Follow Us” 509th BW, Whiteman AFB, MO. 1, 2
• Yak–52 prop trainer in USSR Livery. NX602BM, 1
• Aerial Demonstrations
• F/A–18C ‘Hornet’ NJ #02 United States Marines. VFA–125. USS Abraham Lincoln. 1
• F–16C ‘Falcon’ HL (Block 40C) AF88–0476. 421st FS “Black Widows”, 388th FW, Hill AFB, UT. 1, 2
• F–16C ‘Falcon’ HL (Block 40D) AF88–0509. 421st FS “Black Widows”, 388th FW, Hill AFB, UT. 1, 2
• Aero Commander flown by R.A. “Bob” Hoover: a fighter pilot, test pilot and as a master of aerobatics. His famous yellow P–51 Mustang has been one of the main attractions at the Reno National Air races for many years. His demonstrations in the Shrike Commander performing his energy management maneuvers with both engines shut down is nothing short of spectacular. General Chuck Yeager called Hoover “the best pilot flying today.” 1
• “Super Chipmunk” flown by Jim “Fang” Maloney. Jim up in Casselton, went to high school in West Fargo, college at Fresno State, he joined the Marine Corps and went to Navy flight school in 1981. He was ranked the number one Naval Aviator out of 1,676 pilots trained that year. Jim spent 8 years on active duty flying A–4’s and F–18s. Lt. Col. Maroney is the Operations Officer and F–16 pilot for the NDANG. Jim also flies 747s for the airlines and the Pitt S–2B for the Sierra-Aces aerobatics team. 1, 2, 3
• “The Raven” flown by Wayne Handley aerobatic “Oracle”. The one of a kind “Raven” has a highly pumped 550 horsepower Lycoming IO–540, giving Handley the type of performance generally only found in military fighters. Its fuselage and three bladed propeller are mostly Kevlar and carbon graphite. Wayne flies a series of unusual Lomcevaks, tumbling end over end into more originally created gyroscopic maneuvers. Wayne has accumulated over 24,000 hours in his 39 year aviation career. 1
• Scott Hammack: “Smoke-N-Thunder” Jet powered dragster goes from 0 to 280–300 mph in 6 seconds or less. Acceleration is at 4.5 Gs and upon deployment of the parachute Scott experiences an –11 G-force. Handley raced Smoke-N-Thunder, which reached a top speed of 301 miles per hour in barely edging The Raven. 1, 2, 3
• Waco “Red Rocket” with jet engine, flown by Jim Franklin. Kyle Franklin Wing walker. The Red Rocket is equipped with GE CJ610–6 jet engine used on Lear Jets. Franklin added an inverted oil system from a T–38. The jet engine adds another 600 lbs. to the aircraft which Franklin says is quite noticeable in the aircraft’s handling characteristics. Both the jet engine and Pratt & Whitney are running at the same time, but Franklin powers up the jet on climbs and some low-level passes, then idles back on dives and on the turnarounds. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
• S–2B Pitts Sierra Aces aerobatic team. Listed in the program, but did not attend?

Heavily Armed HooliganF-16B 'Falcon' fighter-trainer, (Block 15L) af82-1036 on display for the NDANG 178th FS "Happy Hooligans". Photo by Craig on Saturday, August 21, 1999 at the Fargo AirSho.