Saturday June 14th, 1986

The Red River Valley Wing of the Confederate Air Force sponsors the Fargo Airsho '86 as a fund raiser to build a museum although at the time this didn't really register. Instead I woke up feeling kind of sick. I wasn't sure I wanted to go at all. Odd, as I had not seen an air show since 1977. I pick up my friend and fellow aviation/photography enthusiast, Bob Nelson and we head over to the old airport terminal. This is a CAF show; the aircraft are primarily World War II vintage. The North Dakota Air National Guard have parked a couple of their jets on the taxiway for us to see. There are some aerial demonstrations including the Red Baron Pizza Squadron flying PT-23 Stearman bi-planes. In 1986 many of the most interesting aircraft did not appeal to me at the time and I left somewhat bored. I shot less than one roll of color film. Bob shot three rolls of B&W film (#1069, 1071, 1072)- it should be easy to figure out who shot what. I find large crowds of people milling around the aircraft to be distracting so I silhouette these people in some photos using Adobe Photoshop. I also adjust exposures, color balance, and crop a few images.
If I could go back in time, I would photograph this show in depth: site photos.. how all the aircraft were arranged; the Red Baron Squadron- if only for all the Red Baron Pizza I eat; the Warbirds in the air; more details (Bob covered a lot of that); the beautiful P-51D that I only photographed once (double exposure); and the F4U fuselage, that I assume would become the Corsair on display in the Fargo Air Museum 20 years later. It was an excellent show, if only I had paid more attention.

Corsair TailFG-1D (F4U) Corsair sitting in the sun at Airshow '86, a fund raiser for the Red River Valley Wing of the Confederate Air Force.

Photos

See the full Gallery or the Gallery slideshow, for more photos from the CAF air show: 42 total including my detailed photo/airplane descriptions.

Notes

Photo descriptions come from various sources including: Wikipedia, The Planes Of Fame Air Museum, Napoleon130 ("Puss n Boots"), The Orlando Sentinel (Obit for Kermit M. LaQuey), High Sky Wing, Warbirds-Central.com and the WarbirdRegistry.org: FG1D, P51,  P51, B5N, T6G, B25, and T28.

Aircraft On Display

Note: colored links in the ID column lead to photos of the aircraft in the Gallery. 

• T-6G  North American 'Texan'                                    (N29935)   49-3085
• B5N   Nakajima 'Kate' replica torpedo bomber                    (N7130C)     90712
• B-25J North American 'Mitchell' "Bronco Bustin' Bomber"         (N3155G)  44-30832
• A-26C Douglas 'Invader' "Puss 'n' Boots"                        (N4823E)  44-34749
• PT-23 Stearman "Red Baron Pizza" Acrobatic Squadron
• C-47  Douglas 'Dakota'
• T-28C North American Aviation 'Trojan'                          (N146GB)    146286
• P-51D North American 'Mustang' "Button Nose"                    (N151BP)  44-74908
• FG-1D Chance Vought 'Corsair' piloted by Kermit M. LaQuey, USMC (NX62290) Bu.92629
• F-4D  McDonald 'Phantom II' of the NDANG                                   64-0953
• T-33  Lockheed 'Shooting Star'
• F-101 McDonald 'Voodoo'
• P-51D North American 'Mustang' "What's Up Doc"                  (N151MC)  44-15459
• P-51D North American 'Mustang' [a second camo & shark teeth, no logo]
• F4U   Chance Vought 'Corsair' [fuselage only]