Blessed to Bless! by Steve Klusmeyer
On a Wing and a Prayer
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Aerospace America 2003
Will Rogers World Airport
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Photos by Steve Klusmeyer
Aerospace America 2003
Hundreds of vintage and modern aircraft filled the skies over south Oklahoma City for Aerospace America 2003. Caleb and over 60 other Civil Air Patrol Cadets plus several adult Senior Members spent three days and two nights at the show. They assisted with gate security, crowd control, and flight line control.Several aerobatic performers appeared including the Leap Frogs (The U.S. Navy Seal Parachute Team) and the AeroShell Aerobatic Team (precision formation maneuvers in four World War II AT-6 Advanced Trainer Planes). And don't forget Shockwave driven by Kent Shockley (a 36,000 horsepower jet-powered Peterbuilt truck that roared down the runway at speeds of over 300 mph).
Wing Walker
One of the more breath-taking performances was by Jimmy Franklin
and his son, Kyle. Franklin has been performing in air shows for more
than 35 years. He introduced the first ever
JET Waco to the world -
a bi-plane equipped with a 450 horsepower Pratt & Whitney radial
engine plus a General Electric J-85 jet engine strapped underneath.
The jet engine supplies an extra 3,000 pounds of thrust. Not only
does he amaze the crowd with the awesome flying in his Waco, his
son also performs one of the first ever jet wing-walking acts.
I was wondering how that came about. Whose idea was it? The dad's or the son's? (I'm sure it wasn't the mom's.) Did the dad come to the son one day and say something like, "I want you to stand on the wing of my jet plane while I fly around today." Or did the son approach his dad, "I've got an idea. I want to get out of my seat and climb around on top of the plane while you are doing the loop-t-loops." Maybe the son was acting up one day and the dad sent him to the wing for time-out.
However the idea was conceived, there has to be an enormous amount of trust between this father/son team. There is no margin of error - no room for mistakes. Unfortunately, life is not error free. Mistakes do happen. Fortunately, a remedy has been provided so that we can deal with the imperfections of life. Learn more
Learn more about Aerospace America
Learn more about Civil Air Patrol
Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal.