Some of the top aerobatic pilots from Nebraska and the Midwest will be performing at Nebraska Airfest and the 2012 Nebraska State Fly-in. Performers include:
U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team
In 1959 13 men joined together to form the Strategic Army Corps Sport Parachute Team, to compete in the then communist dominated sport of skydiving. The team performed so well that on June 1, 1961 the Army officially recognized, designated and activated the team as the U.S. Army Parachute Team.
For 50 years the “Golden Knights” have been wowing audiences at air shows, competitions and most recently, with high profile tandems.
The two demonstration teams travel all over the country performing aerial demonstrations at air shows and special events in support of Army recruiting goals.
The two competition teams travel, competing nationally and internationally at various skydiving competitions, continuously bringing home gold, silver and bronze medals. They are the most successful U.S. Department of Defense sports team.
While the Tandem Team focuses on bringing the public closer to the Army and the sport of skydiving.
“The Tandem Team enables the Army to reach out to influential citizens and give them a taste of the professionalism, leadership and teamwork that is involved in giving them a tandem,” said Lt. Colonel Anthony Dill, Commander, U.S. Army Parachute Team, “Golden Knights.”
The Golden Knights not only perform at air shows, compete on an international level and perform high profile tandems they also visit high schools and work with local recruiters showing young adults what type of opportunities the Army has for them.
We’re very excited to have the Golden Knights at our air show this summer. You can start checking out the team now on their website here.
Harry Barr
Harry Barr grew up on a farm near Clarinda, Iowa. When his cousin, Tom Barr, bought a new 1954 Super Cub, he took Harry for a ride. He was hooked!
Harry learned to fly in Clarinda, soloing in a J3 Cub. In 1954, Harry’s father loaned him $2,000 to buy his first airplane, a 1950 PA20.
Harry moved to Omaha in 1955 and worked as a line boy for Lang Aircraft, a distributor of Beechcraft. Donald Duncan, also from Clarinda, had acquired a minority stake in Lang Aircraft and would ultimately assume sole ownership. Thus began the nearly 50-year partnership between the Duncan Family and Harry Barr. Today, Harry says he is the “oldest pilot and oldest employee” at Duncan Aviation.
During the summers of 1967 and 1968, Harry flew in Alaska setting some of the first power poles in remote places with helicopters. From 1971 to 1995, he contracted with the Bureau of Land Management, supporting fire, freight, and aerial cargo delivery. Part of this flying was connected to the construction of the Alaska Pipeline.
When Harry was 42, he started having fun by jumping out of perfectly-running airplanes. Then, it was on to aerobatics. He is an early member of the Midwest Aerobatic Club, competing in numerous contests, organizing competitions for other aerobatic pilots, and performing air show routines.
Harry has been a mentor to many younger adults, helping them to further their aviation careers. He is a member of the Nebraska Aviation Hall of Fame and received the FAA “Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award” in 2007.
At Nebraska Airfest and the 2012 State Fly-in, you will be thrilled with Harry’s Piper Cub car-top landing and the low-altitude flying in his beautiful P-51 Mustang. Why do we find Harry Barr at so many of Nebraska’s flying events? He says, “It gives me a chance to show off.”
Larry (Lumpy) Lumpkin
Larry was born in Helena, Arkansas. He enlisted in the Air Force in 1973 serving at Holloman AFB and White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. In 1977, he and his wife, Kathy, moved to Omaha where he worked as a computer technician for Burroughs Corporation.
Larry says he had the “flying bug” before he can even remember. His mother tells that whenever an airplane flew over their farm in the Delta of Southeast Arkansas, he would run to the door, saying “apane, apane”. They were mostly WWII PT-17 Stearmans converted to crop dusters.
When Larry moved to Omaha and had saved some cash, he began flying lessons at Eppley Airport in June, 1978. Two months later, he had his private certificate and with the benefit of the GI Bill started night school at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Working full time during the day, he earned his commercial, instrument, and flight instructor certificates. He taught flying for two years and later flew corporate for several companies until hired by United Airlines in 1986.
Larry began his aerobatic flying in 1999 when Brig Gen Reg Urschler, USAF Retired approached him about the possibility of succeeding him as the pilot for the Commemorative Air Force’s “Gunfighter”. More training ensued and invaluable mentoring by Urschler put Larry at the controls of the magnificent P-51 on May 1, 2003.
Larry says flying in air shows is simply “FUN”. It is the ultimate reward for the hours of work and sacrifice that go into the few minutes of performance. He is humbled by the stories of the WWII veterans who piloted or ground- crewed the P-51s, and hopes he inspires young people to pursue their dreams as he has done.
At Nebraska Airfest, Larry “Lumpy” Lumpkin will be flying “Gunfighter” during the two-day air show. Watch him perform his favorite maneuver, the barrel roll. The sights and sounds of this Warbird experience are art and skill inseparable.
And, if you can be at the Norfolk Regional Airport on Friday night, make plans to have dinner with him and the other air show pilots at Barnstormers Restaurant, 6:00 p.m. It will be a lasting memory.
Brian Correll
Unlike most airshow pilots, Brian Correll didn’t grow up around airplanes as a child. However, he’s more than made up for lost time in the air, accumulating over 6000 hours in over 100 different models of aircraft from Piper Cubs to the Boeing KC-135 throughout his career. Brian’s first exposure to aviation was an invitation from friends to join them on their first skydives. He was hooked and Brian had over 60 takeoffs in an airplane before experiencing his first landing, and the rest is, well as they say history. He went on to earn his commercial and flight instructor certificates while attending Kansas State University where he majored in Mechanical Engineering.
After graduating college Brian was selected by the Kansas Air National Guard to fly the KC-135. He attended Air Force Pilot Training finishing at the top of his class while cementing his love for aerobatics and dedication to perfection. Currently Brian is as an aircraft commander on the KC-135 having flown the tanker to numerous countries around the world including combat missions over Iraq and Afghanistan.
The airshow airplane Brian flies is a modified Pitts S2S, much different than the original aircraft that left the factory in 1979. The red and blue Pitts Biplane has been strengthened and modified making it capable of the extreme aerobatic routine that Brian puts his aircraft through. Some of these changes are visible like the squared off wing tips and enlarged control surfaces, while others are “under the hood” giving the aircraft more power with less weight. Add it all up and the Pitts combines awesome performance with the nostalgic biplane style making it the perfect airshow platform.
Brian and his wife Rachel live in Manhattan Kansas with their two sons. He owns Welkin Aero Inc where he provides aerobatic and tail wheel instruction.
Jessy Panzer
Jessy Panzer is a native Nebraskan. She was born in Omaha but has lived in California, Colorado, and Arizona. After her father perished in an airplane accident, she decided she wanted to find out why he loved to fly. It wasn’t long until she became totally fascinated with airplanes and airports. A quest for “life in the skies” began.
Jessy attended Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona, where she excelled and became a flight instructor. After graduation, she returned to Colorado Springs to flight instruct our Air Force Academy cadets.
It wasn’t long, however, before Lincoln, Nebraska, was calling her home. Here lay the earliest memories of her father as a corporate pilot with Duncan Aviation. While learning aerobatics through the mentorship of Harry Barr, she flew air ambulance and did charter work in King Airs and Citations. Today, she does contract work, in addition to practicing for the 2012 World Advanced Aerobatic Competition to be held in Hungary the end of July. She and seven others will represent the United States.
Jessy flew her first air show in Fairmont, Nebraska, the site for the 2003 Nebraska State Fly-In. In 2004, she qualified to race at the Reno National Championship Air Races in the Formula One Class. Hard work and opportunity met when Jessy was invited to be mentored by Sean D. Tucker, Bill Stein, and Wayne Handley on the “Stars of Tomorrow” Aerobatic Flight Team. That resulted in her performing at one of the most prestigious air shows in the world, AirVenture at Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Jessy feels compelled to fly aerobatics. When she is in an airplane, it is where she is supposed to be in life. It is a passion and a wonderful outlet for the creativity within her. When one of her aerobatic routines comes together, she says it feels like being one with the airplane and in “complete tune with the universe”.
Come see Jessy Panzer fly her Pitts Special S1 at Nebraska AIRFEST. Share the pure joy she feels in her flying. Her aerobatic performance is something you will not soon forget! We are glad she is back in Nebraska. Stop by and see Jessy. Wish her the best in the World Aerobatic Competition.
Douglas (Hollywood) Jackson
Douglas “Hollywood” Jackson was born in 1955 in Waukegan, Illinois. He was raised in North Hollywood, California, hence given by fellow “TORA” pilots the airshow callsign “Hollywood.”
Doug has lived in Wichita, Kansas since 1982. He owns Jackson & Associates, which specializes in the investing, purchasing, selling, and leasing of corporate turbine and transport aircraft. This is done on his own behalf, and on client’s behalf as an exclusive agent. Jackson has bought, sold, or leased over 200 aircraft worth a hull value in excess of $195,000,000.00 US.
Jackson went to college at the University of California at Los Angeles earning an Economics degree. He then went on to graduate school at Pepperdine University where he earned an MBA.
Doug has 5000 hours of flight time, a commercial rated pilot with instrument, single engine, multiengine, glider ratings, along with Citation and Learjet captain type ratings. He has flown TORA 101 some 1600 flight hours in 15 – 25 airshows each year during the past 15 seasons.
He is a life time member of the Commemorative Air Force (CAF), member of the EAA Warbirds of America, the North American Trainer Association, and the Pearl Harbor History Associates. Doug carries an FAA Level 1 (ground) Aerobatic Card for doing “Dogfights,” and is a Pentagon/USAF approved contractor.
Doug Roth
Doug Roth has had a passion for flying since early grade school. Living near the Ottumwa, Iowa, airport, he spent a lot of time there with his father who was an active private pilot.
Doug moved to Lincoln in the late 60s. In the mid 70s, he began flying lessons in a Cherokee 140 at Lincoln Aviation. Doug earned his private certificate in 1975.
Currently, Doug holds type ratings in Learjet, Citation, and DC-3. He works in aircraft marketing services for Duncan Aviation.
Doug says he kind of grew into aerobatics. His first airplane was a 1946 Aeronca Champ followed by a mid 60s Citabria. In the Citabria, he began his love of aerobatics while doing loops and spins. As his skills developed, he upgraded to a Sorrell Hiperbipe and then to his Staudacher competition/ air show aircraft.
Doug is a member of the Midwest Aerobatic Club. Last June, he served as Contest Director at the 2011 Midwest Aerobatic Club Challenge in Seward. At the end of the competition, Doug and other competition pilots, fly in the annual Fourth of July Air Show. It is an event to which the community looks forward.
At Nebraska AirFest, Doug will be flying his Staudacher which was built by Jon Staudacher. It is a single seat, mono-wing aircraft capable of unlimited aerobatics, the most difficult level in competition. The engine is capable of well over 300 HP.
When Doug started flying, he had no idea he would end up performing at air shows. Doug says he flies aerobatics because he “loves the freedom of that type of flying.” Come watch Doug fly his complete aerobatic program. It is thrilling!
Can’t get enough of aerobatics? Make plans now to attend our Supper with Air Show Pilots, on Friday, June 15, 2012, at Barnstormers Restaurant.
Click here for ticket information.
