'A big grin' automatic at air show on Drum

FORT DRUM — It was hard for spectators not to smile from ear to ear Saturday as an F-16 Fighting Falcon screamed across the sky upside down at a speed of 650 mph at the Fort Drum Centennial Celebration Air Show.

"I'm just sitting here with a big grin on my face," said Bonnie M. Manning, Lyons Falls, who was just one of thousands of spectators lining the tarmac at Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield during Fort Drum's first-ever air show.

"I think that the F-16 going up straight and spinning so fast is just awesome," Mrs. Manning said.

One of the stunts performed by the pilot, Maj. George W. Clifford, was a vertical ascent in which the F-16 was accelerated with full afterburner from an altitude of 300 feet to more than 15,000 feet within a matter of seconds.

"It's unbelievable. That pilot is amazing," she said.

Maj. Clifford, who was flying for the Air Force Viper East F-16 Demo Team, flew one of about 30 planes that performed aeronautical stunts throughout the afternoon.

"It's a workhorse for the Air Force," he said, adding that the F-16 has both air-to-ground support and air-to-air dogfighting capabilities. "It is an absolute joy flying it."

Aircraft ranging from the modern-day F-16 to the World War II-era B-17 Flying Fortress and a hang glider all were highlighted.

Norman D. Ellickson of the Yankee Air Museum in Detroit is crew chief and flight engineer on the Yankee Lady, one of the few remaining B-17s built during World War II.

"We flew her in from Detroit yesterday morning," said Mr. Ellickson.

The Yankee Lady was built just two weeks before the end of the war and restored by the Yankee Air Force over nine years at a price of half a million dollars.

"This is one of the last ones ever built," Mr. Ellickson said.

According to Mr. Ellickson, 12,731 B-17s were built during WWII, and about one-third were lost in combat.

"There are only about 12 left in the world," he said. "Only eight are flying."

Mr. Ellickson said there are so few left because they were discarded shortly after the war. "The day the war ended, the rest went off and became beer cans," he said. "Her only claim to fame was her appearance in the movie 'Tora! Tora! Tora!'"

The air show, which is the culmination of Fort Drum's weeklong centennial celebration, was delayed by more than an hour by Saturday morning's rain.

"I'm still pretty happy with the crowd," said A. Joe White, Wheeler-Sack's aviation division chief. Mr. White said he had hoped the free show, open to all, would draw 30,000 people.

"I just hope that everyone that knew about it came out and enjoyed the show," he said. For those unable to see the show Saturday, it continues today. "Hopefully, if the weather cooperates, we will start around 11 a.m.," Mr. White said.