A Navy F/A-18 and a P-53 Mustang fly side-by-side during the “heritage flight,” showing old and new together during the Amigo Airsho Saturday.
Photo by Stephen Baack.
Amigo Airsho takes off for 27th year in El Paso skies
Stephen Baack
Monitor Staff
Thousands turned out for the 27th annual Amigo Airsho held on and above Biggs Army Airfield Saturday and Sunday.
Featured aircraft included a P-53 Mustang, B-2 Spirit, F-15E Strike Eagle, F/A-18 Hornet, F-16 Fighting Falcon, Tim Weber’s Geico Extra 300-S, Greg Poe’s Fagen MX-2, and the Coast Guard’s HH-65 Dauphin search-and-rescue helicopter.
Also present were static aircraft, vehicle and equipment displays courtesy of all five U.S. armed forces, the German Air Force, and from local law enforcement agencies and other first responders.
Though the rumble of tax dollars being sucked through jet engines headlined the first day, wind gusts and rain intermittently threatened to ground the fun throughout day two. Safety was a prime concern for more than one pilot.
With water droplets of a certain size, “flying at 600 knots can rip the paint right off,” said Air Force Capt. Phil Smith, an F-15E Strike Eagle demonstration pilot.
Smith hung around with fellow pilots in the hangar talking it over Sunday. Even though his plane was more than ready to fly in bad weather during a real mission, he said safety was the primary concern for the Airsho.
Sgt. 1st Class Harold Meyers, Army Golden Knights parachute team leader, gets ready to deploy his smoke canister during the freefall portion of the team’s second jump of the day Sunday at the Amigo Airsho above Biggs Army Airfield. Photo by Stephen Baack.
“Flying an $80 million plane 200 feet above the ground is already risky enough,” Smith said.
“I always say it’s better to wish you were up there and be down here than be up there and wish you were down here,” Carter Teeters, P-53 Mustang pilot, said to Smith.
Luckily for spectators, Smith, Teeters and other pilots and crews had the chance to put their aircraft in the sky after all.
“It’s good and thrilling because you know that it’s part of something special,” said Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Jerome Taylor, an aircrew survival equipment specialist and flight captain for an F/A-18 Hornet. “Even though it’s a show for the public, it’s still thrilling that people can see what we do in case of an emergency – it’s the same thing if it’s in wartime.”
“[I enjoy] the show itself, the airplanes – the jets – it’s really, really neat,” said Dan Covington, retired master sergeant and logistician, who works as a movement coordinator and deployment planner on post. “They put on a really good show.”
Covington said he’s a regular at the Amigo Airsho, has been to between 10 and 15 air shows in his lifetime, and said he actually liked the new parking system better than last year’s even though some others did not. He had not picked a favorite aircraft or event at the show, but had a few highlights in mind early Saturday.
“The stealth’s coming, so we’ll see,” Covington said. “And our boys from the Golden Knights – I grew up in the 82nd Airborne Division, so I always enjoy their show.”
Covington said, however, that he’d pass on a chance to jump with the Knights if it ever arose.
Spc. Turk Koshiba, a gunner with 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 5th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, shows a child a 50.-caliber machine gun mount on an armored personnel carrier at the Amigo Airsho Sunday. Photo by Stephen Baack.
“I’m too broke now – too many jumps,” he said.
The stealth B-2 Spirit did make an appearance Saturday, even with a live feed from the cockpit through speakers on the ground. Announcer Larry Strain said the bomber was able to make an appearance because Fort Bliss was on the way to its crew’s training mission.
Other jets, like the F/A-18 Hornet, also made waves with the crowd, performing a variety of high-speed turns, climbs and rolls. As fun as that sounds, spectators may have had more fun than some of the pilots.
“You’re thinking the whole time about the next maneuver and the current maneuver you’re doing, watching your instruments and everything – so I wouldn’t say that you necessarily have a lot of time in the moment to really enjoy what’s going on,” said Navy Lt. Jeremy Shamblee, hornet demonstration and instructor pilot, Strike Fighter Squadron 125. “You’re just concentrating on making sure you do it right so it looks good for the crowd – there’s time, definitely, where you’re pulling six or seven-plus Gs that are sustained for some instances, and your body is working up there sometimes.”
Even though rumors exist about the Airsho moving to another site next year amid the post’s growth and some complaints about the new parking system, Terrie Todd, executive director of the Airsho, said it would be “impossible” to do a show like they do now without the support of Fort Bliss. Fort Bliss Public Affairs Officer Jean Offutt also wanted to set the record straight:
“We have a strong partnership with the Amigo Airsho, and we expect that it will continue into the future despite challenges with the new site,” she said. “We have no plans to move.”