NH Daniel Webster College's Annual Aviation E-Vent
Every year Daniel
Webster College in New Hampshire sponsors an Aviation Heritage
Festival at Nashua Municipal Airport in Nashua (where else?), New
Hampshire (KASH in your GPS). This year's show is coming right up
(which is why we gave you the GPS code now) on September 24th and
25th -- this weekend. Aero-News will be there.
Daniel Webster College is a lesser known, but very busy,
fully-accredited college with good aviation programs for pilots,
and would-be air traffic controllers or aviation managers. It's
just added an online MBA for aviation professionals, and it has a
complete array of degree programs for groundlings, too. Aviation is
in the college's
blood: DWC was founded forty years ago as the New England
Aeronautical Institute.
It's located in Nashua, New Hampshire, which is near the
Massachusetts borders, and darn near central for the population of
New England and upstate New York.
Planes in the Air
Of course, you can't
have an aviation event without planes in the air, and for a small
show, it looks like they have all the bases covered.
There will be aerobatic displays by Rob Holland on Saturday and
Reese Dill on Sunday. Rob is an up-and-coming young pilot who has
lomcevaked his way into victory in competition; he'll be flying a
Pitts. Reese, past president of the prestigious Aero Club of New
England (America's oldest aero club, organized 1907), will put on
an aerobatic display in his T-6.
Midday, both days, there will be flyovers by historic and
current military aircraft. World War II is well represented with
many types:
AT-6, P-40, P-47, P-51, and New England's own, the Corsair. (A
planned P-38 visit was cancelled due to maintenance issues).
Vietnam era veterans include the T-28 trainer and the A-4 Skyhawk.
And today's military offers F-16 fighter, C-130 Hercules cargo
plane, and KC-135 tanker/freighter fly-bys.
Late breaking information indicates you'll be able to see the
A-10, the unsung hero of Afghanistan whose maker called it
"Thunderbolt II" but whose pilots affectionately call it "Warthog,"
and the Air Force's sophisticated Pave Hawk version of the Sikorsky
Black Hawk helicopter.
The Collings Foundation's Contribution
The Collings Foundation is based in nearby Stow, Massachusetts,
and it's one of the most significant warbird operators worldwide.
You can often see one or two of Collings's remarkable restorations
at an airshow, but here you'll be able to see more than you can
anywhere except at home in the off-season:
- B-17G "Nine-o-Nine"
- B-24J "Witchcraft"
- B-25J "Tondelayo"
- AT-6
- PT-17
- UC-78 Bobcat (the Cessna "Bamboo Bomber" trained hordes of
aircrewmen)
- Fieseler Fi156 Storch
And you can fly aboard the B-17, -24, and -25, and the T-6 and
PT-17, for a donation to the Foundation.
Planes on the Ground
Two of the most important cargo and passenger planes of the 20th
Century will be on hand, along with people who can relate to you
the plane's most important historical hour.
Look for the C-47, the military DC-3, and historian Mike
Ingrisano will be at the plane throughout the show to tell you
about this plane and its role in the great turning point of the
second world war, D-Day.
And the C-54 "Spirit of Freedom," of the Berlin Airlift
Historical Foundation will be present with its fascinating display
of Cold War history.
General aviation aircraft will include some of the latest, like
the G-1000 equipped Cessna single-engines, the Liberty and the
Cirrus SR-22, as well as incredibly historic planes like a WACO
ASO, Meyers OTW and Sikorsky S-39.
Naturally, visitors will also get a look at the training fleet
of Daniel Webster College itself, which along with the "usual
suspects"
includes a few surprises, like Grob G-109 motorgliders. Every DWC
aviation student gets exposed to gliding and aerobatic flight.
Try it Yourself: Interactive Stuff
At the college's Eaton-Richmond Center, attendees can get their
hands on Microsoft's latest Flight Simulator with Jim Brough and
Dave Price from 10 AM to 2 PM.
At the Tamposi Aviation Center, though, you can try something a
little trickier -- a Wright biplane simulator. If you missed this
in the 2003 Centennial year, get to Nashua and try it, and be
grateful that sponsors keep it on the road. (I bet you'll crash. I
did - Nose).
And all day long, Sky Connection will be hosting guests in its
portable planetarium.
At 2:30 PM, a less portable planetarium -- the Christa McAuliffe
Planetarium, named for New Hampshire's own space martyr -- will
show its stuff.
It Isn't History Without A Panel
The morning panel features for WWII airmen who served in a wide
range of duties: Ben Kendig flew the C-47, John Works, the
P-38, and Marine Lou Frank flew the Corsair -- and retired as a
general. Finally, Walter Linberger was a B-17 tail gunner who
completed 139 missions over Fortress Europe. The moderator, Bob
Collings, is the head of the Collings Foundation, a DWC trustee,
and -- you probably guessed this already -- a big WWII aviation
history enthusiast.
The afternoon panel features today's military pilots. And the
speakers are three Daniel Webster College graduates who went on to
serve the country: Bill Smith ’84, Dan Desautels ’87,
Greg Craven ’97. It should be interesting, as all have
deployed to the mid-east. Retired USAF Major Paul LaBarre is the
moderator.
One nice thing about holding these events at a college: the
panels will take place in DWC's Collings Auditorium. (If you've
ever experienced a popular Oshkosh forum when it's 110 in the shade
and the acoustics are crummy, this should make you grin).
So, if you are in New England this weekend, take a look at DWC's
Aviation History Festival. (And if you are considering college for
yourself or an aviation-happy son or daughter, take a look at DWC's
website and come check it out. It may not have the mindshare of UND
or Embry-Riddle, but one of my primary instructors, CFII Alex Paju,
was a DWC grad and a first rate professional -- as good as the
grads I've seen from those big schools).
Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and veterans, $5
children 3-12, children under two are free, and families are $35.
World War II Veterans enter for free.
ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.16.24)
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