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2013 Geneseo NY Airshow


Navy Bird

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Hi mates,

 

This year's show at Geneseo NY had much better weather than last year (when it rained pretty much all weekend). The show is put on by the 1941 Historical Aircraft Group from Geneseo, NY, which is just south of Rochester, NY. The show is dedicated to warbirds, and almost always with propellers! The landing strip is natural turf, and the setting is bucolic, nestled in the rolling farmlands of the upper Finger Lakes region.

 

This year's show featured the return of the Lancaster, Spitfire, and Hurricane from the Canadians, along with many US warbirds. This was the first time I had seen a flying Avenger - at least that I can remember!

 

I missed the show on Saturday, as I was returning from a camping trip. Then, I also missed Sunday morning's performances because of a localised disruption in the space-time continuum (i.e. I was late). Because of this, I missed the British warbird's flight demos, but I got a lot of photos on the ground and a friend donated some in-air shots from the morning. I did stay long enough to watch the Lancaster, Spit, and Hurri depart and got some photos of that.

 

It started out very sunny, humid, and hot - it was 96 degrees F in the afternoon. Accordingly, thunderstorms were rolling in at the end of the show but luckily it didn't start raining until I was on my way home.

 

Anyway, on with the pictures, who explain themselves better than I can!

 

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The Sukhoi was too fast for my fingers! :)

 

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I have a lot more photos, including some more that demonstrate my inability to get any good in-air shots during flight demos.

 

The Lancaster! I believe this is the second flying example left in the world, and belongs to the Canadian Warplane Heritage from Hamilton, Ontario.

 

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The next shots are from my friend's cell phone, and magnified in defiance of all known laws of physics. This was during the flight display that I missed.

 

GA-1

 

GA-2

 

The world's last flying example of the Curtiss C-46 Commando (Edit: NOT! Silly airshow announcer, filling me full of such drivel):

 

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The C-47 belongs to the 1941 Historical Aircraft Group, and is one that actually participated in the D-Day landings, delivering paratroopers. This year's show also had a couple of B-25 Mitchell bombers.

 

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And the more interesting markings of the two:

 

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We have the Devil on the starboard side:

 

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And an Angel on the port side. Georgie's Gal must have quite a split personality!

 

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Another shot of the Avenger:

 

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The Douglas A-26 restoration is coming along nicely. I hope they paint this baby black!

 

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As always, a large collection of T-6 Harvards/Texans:

 

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And a couple of Stearmans (note the Jaguar in the background!):

 

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The glider demo was so mesmerizing I forgot to turn the camera on while it was in the sky!

 

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Father and son Pitts Specials:

 

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These shots were from the end of the day when the planes were heading home - the thunderstorms are rolling in, the humidity was unbearable, and the telephoto shots were very foggy-looking. Add to that the fact that I'm a lousy photographer, and there you have it!

 

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Still beautifully clear to the east though:

 

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Heading towards the west:

 

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I didn't catch the ID on this one, Beech C-45 maybe?

 

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The Lancaster taxiing into position.

 

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Making the turn for take-off:

 

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Back to Hamilton, Ontario:

 

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One last fly-by before the turn for home:

 

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And a nice shot of the Lancaster against the sky to end the day!

 

GA-4

 

Other than the crazy heat, and my inability to get there in time to see the earlier flight displays, it was a fun day. Looking forward to next year's "Greatest Show on Turf!"

 

Cheers,

Bill

Edited by Navy Bird
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On 8/12/2013 at 13:36, Radleigh said:

Does look like a great show, But I have to ask, do Buffalo not operate C-46's?

 

You are correct, I just verified that on their web site. I wonder what the announcer at the airshow was referring to? I did some other searching, and there are about 25 Commandos with FAA registrations - no idea how many are airworthy but I suspect at least a few of them are. I'll edit my post to remove the erroneous claim.

 

This gave me a good laugh, as I had no idea what you meant by "Buffalo." That's the city they were built in, and only abut 60 miles west of here. But I couldn't fathom why the City of Buffalo would want to fly some C-46s around town. I mentioned this in passing to wifey, who knows nothing about aircraft other than I make models of them. She immediately told me about Buffalo Airways and the Ice PilotsTV show which I've never seen, and which she apparently has seen every episode of. She even knew that they fly C-46 Commandos, as do Everett Airways who are also in Alaska. She was shocked that I was so ill-informed! LOL :)

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

BTW, what marks of Spitfire And Hurricane were at this show? I'm sure you guys can tell by looking at the photos. I looked at the "Warbirds of the MED" website, but they don't state it.

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Some additional information on the Hurricane and the Spitfire (from WarbirdRegistry.org):

 

Hurricane Mk. IV KZ321 originally delivered to Yugoslavia, then to Israel. Recovered from derelict airfield in Israel 1983 and owned by Warbirds of Great Britain, Blackbushe until 1991 when it was placed in storage at Biggin Hill, awaiting restoration. Transferred to The Fighter Collection 1991-1995 and restored to airworthy condition at Duxford 1995-2000. No record at Warbird Registry of transfer to Canadian ownership.

 

Spitfire LF Mk. XVIe (Construction #: CBAF IX4756) has a long history:

 

F. M. Wilcox, Swandean Garage, Worthing, UK, November 1953-1965
- Arrived from storage at RAF Lyneham, November 1954.
- Displayed at garage, Engine run regularly.
- Loaned to RAF Thorney Island, Briefly flown, Sep. 1958.
- Loaned to Beaulieu Motor Museum, October 6, 1959-1965.

Monty Thackray/M.D. Thackray Ltd, UK, 1965.

William D. Ross, Chicago (later Du Page), IL, December 1967-1973.
- Rebuilt to airworthiness.
- Registered as N8R.
- First flight , Atlanta, GA, May 11, 1967.

Doug W. Arnold/Fairoaks Aviation Serives, April 4, 1973-1976.
- Registered as G-BAUP.
- Shipped to UK, assembled Blackbushe, 1973.
- Flew as SL721/DA.

Woodson K. Woods, Scottsdale, AZ, 1976-1982.
- Registered as N8WK, July 21, 1977.
- Shipped from UK, Aug. 1977.
- First flight, Deer Valley, AZ, September 19, 1977.

Woodson K. Woods/Carefree Flying Museum, Scottsdale, AZ, February 1982-2000.
- Registered as N721WK.
- Loaned to San Diego Aerospace Museum, CA, February 21, 1983-1990.
- Trucked from San Diego to Ft. Collins, CO for restoration, 1990.
- Delivered to Scottsdale, AZ az SL721/WK-W, February 23, 1992.

Chris Woods, Tiburon, CA, 1992-2000.
- Flew as RAF SL721/JM-R, 1999-2000.

Micheal Potter/MTW Aviation, Ottawa, Ontario & Wilmington, DE, October 6, 2000-2001.
- Damaged in landing accident September 10, 2001, Gear collapsed, Repaired.

Michael U. Potter/Vintage Wings Of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, July 26, 2002-2012.
- Registered as C-GVZB.
- Flown as RAF/SL721/AU-J.

 

Cheers,

Bill

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  • 2 months later...

Great pics, Bill --! I climbed thru that Lancaster, and was most impressed- it seemed really huge and really cramped at the same time !! The Geneseo Air Show rocks!!

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By the way In case its misunderstood by some, Buffalo Airways is in Canada based at Yellowknife. and we are in series 5 now but this new series is yet to screen in the UK where serie s 4 is being shown on Sunday nights.

BY the way, lovely set of photos of the Geneseo show. Are the top two photos showing Wacos of some version??

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