Northern Illinois Air Show: Back and Better
Larry E. Nazimek
When some annual event is canceled, it usually doesn’t come back, in spite of promises to do so. Not only has the Northern Illinois Air Show/Wings over Waukegan returned, but it was better than ever, with the EA-18G and the A-10C as headliners.
2023 Northern Illinois Air Show, *Photos courtesy of Mike Dziadus
Many major cities have airshows away from the airports from which the performers take off and land. While these are good airshows, people want to get up close to the planes, speak with the aircrews, take pictures, etc. This airshow fulfills that need. Fans get to see the planes take off, perform, and land, where several hours earlier, they were standing next to them.
A stalwart for this show is the Warbird Heritage Foundation. Their planes from World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam, are in top notch flying condition. These are joined by independent owners of similar aircraft.
There was the Propeller Aircraft Parade, which included the T-6 Texan, Yak-52 (Russian trainer), CJ-6 (Red Chinese trainer), T-28 Trojan, T-34 Mentor, L-19 Bird Dog, L-4 Grasshopper, P-51 Mustang, and A-1 Skyraider. A pair of A-1s later made simulated attacks on the airfield, accompanied by pyrotechnics.
The Jet Parade included the F-86 Sabre, L-39 Albatross, L-29 Delphin, T-33 Shooting Star, T-2 Buckeye, and A-4 Skyhawk. The A-4 later put on quite a show, where a person who was not well-versed in aviation, could have thought that this was a modern day front line fighter.
This was an air show, but jets are a big part of airshows, and the crowd was thrilled by the Dragon’s Fyre Jet Truck, a 1940 pick up truck, powered by a GE J-85-17 jet engine, as it ran down the runway as though it was a dragstrip.
Susan Dacy (Super Stearman), Galen Killam (RV4), Mike Vaknin (Extra 300), and Bob Richards (Pitts S-1SS) did things with their planes that planes are now supposed to be able to do. The benefit of an airshow by a runway is that their demonstrations began the moment they lifted off the runway and did not end until they landed, something that fans at off-runway airshows do not get to see.
Many airshows have had demonstrations of the FA-18 Hornet and Super Hornet, but few have seen the EA-18G Growler, an electronic warfare variant of the Super Hornet that has replaced the 4 seat EA-6B Prowler. The Prowler had an ECM pod on the top of its tail, while the Growler has them on its wingtips. These planes are based at NAS Whidbey Island, WA.
In addition to their demo maneuvers, they were part of the Navy Legacy Flight, lead by a F-4U Corsair, accompanied by the A-4 Skyhwk.
The A-10C demo followed. This plane, named the “Memphis Belle,” is the only A-10 that is painted in the woodland camouflage scheme used in Vietnam. It is used in training for the A-10 at Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, AZ. It made several simulated passes on the runway with pyrotechnics on the ground.
The Air Force Heritage Flight was lead by an A-1 Skyraider, followed by a P-51 Mustang, and the A-10.
I wonder what this air show will have next year!