The Way Back Airshow

My mom recently entrusted to me a pack of photos. They were in photo processing envelope No. 2488 that my grandfather submitted to Gallaher Drug Store No. 52 on October 2, 1947. It contained a dozen 3” X 3” black and white prints. Most of them were photos from what must have been an impressive airshow, or maybe it was run-of-the-mill at the time. I can’t confirm the photographer, the location, or the date, but it certainly was not 1947, because many of the aircraft pictured didn’t exist until several years later. My best guess is middle-late 1950s.

What impressed me the most about the photos is the commitment of the USAF to put on an impressive show of force. Just hearing the endless train of un-muffled radial and jet engines would shake the soul. No modern turbofan “elephant walk” comes close to the fly-past they put on in this B&W old-timey display. If you know your cold war aircraft, you’ll be impressed. If you don’t, you have a little homework to do before you realize the potential mid-century armagedon paraded in these pictures.

Enjoy!

F-89 high speed pass.

Every show has to have fire and smoke, maybe even a nuke simulator, and a Snazzy A35 Bonanza.

The H-19 is new technology on display in front of a Globe GC-1 Swift.

The USN brought the FJ and the P2V.

The unlikely pairing of the B-36 and the Piper PA-22.

A dozen C-119s and a Cessna 195.

A dozen C-124s.

Six B-36s and a dozen fighters, probably F-86s.