Tim Adams
Motorsports and Aviation
Photography
2008 Prairie Air Show - Peoria, IL
The Prairie Air Show organizers were taking a
real chance when they moved up the date of their air show to the third weekend
in April, from it’s usual time in mid July. The weather in central
Illinois is not known for being very good at that time of the year. When
the Navy’s Blue Angels call, and ask if you can accommodate them, you take that
chance. Unfortunately the weather played havoc with the show throughout
the weekend. Very low ceilings, rain, and high winds plagued the practice
show on Friday. The Blue Angels were able to practice a low version of
their show, also Vlado Lenoch, flying Jim Reeds P-51D Mustang Excaibler, was
able to fly for a brief time. Saturday started much the same as Friday,
rain, and ceilings too low to fly. By early afternoon however, the rain
had stopped, and the air boss Wayne Boggs was able to get all the performers in
the air, with the exception of the US Army’s Golden Knights. The ceiling
never did get high enough for the team to safely jump. The weather
forecast for Sunday was bright blue skies. Well the weatherman was wrong.
The day started very foggy, again with ceilings too low to fly any aircraft.
It finally started to break about 1PM. With the exception of a couple of
acts, everybody was able to fly on Sunday. The Blue Angels were even able
to perform their high level show.
A big thank you goes out to air boss Wayne
Boggs, who managed to get almost everybody in the air, and to announcer Rob
Reider, who kept the crowd entertained during the downtime from the weather.
Thanks also to Tom Dittmer for arranging special photo access for
www.fencecheck.com
members.
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