John Willhoff reports.
The Valiant Air Command held their annual TICO Warbird AirShow over the weekend of 14th-16th March at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville, Florida. This year’s show celebrated the accomplishments of the Tuskegee Airmen during WWII, but aircraft from the WWI-era through the Vietnam War participated in the show.
The airshow featured outstanding aerial routines which included Jim Tobul in his F4U-4 Corsair, the Valiant Air Command’s famous C-47 “Tico Belle” which dropped the Leap Dogs Parachute Demonstration Team, and Doug Matthews in his P-51D The Rebel. Dale Dollarhide flew the Douglas A4C, demonstrating its exceptional performance and maneuverability. Tom Reilly flew his North American B-25J Mitchelll “Killer Bee” alongside Larry Kelley in B-25J “Panchito”. The Geico Skytypers flew their six ship formation in the North American SNJ-2 Texans. The highlight of the show was probably the flying performance of the mighty F-104 Starfighter belonging to Starfighters Aerospace and flown by Rick Svetkoff. Svetkoff showed off the needle-nosed fighter’s phenomenal speed and climb rate, accented by one of the unique sound tracks in all of aviation history.
