Plenty of lift for resurrected air show
Event organizers add east access at Waukegan Regional Airport
September 16, 2009By DAN MORAN dmoran@scn1.comWAUKEGAN — Back in business after taking a year off in the harsh economy, the Waukegan Air Show is preparing to pull back the chocks once again on Saturday, with most of the attractions that local aviation buffs have come to expect from past editions.
“We just were not going to give up this year,” the show’s air boss, Jeff Clark, said Tuesday. “We fought and scrapped and scraped, and we’re going to make this happen.”
Jeff Clark, “air boss” for Saturday’s Waukegan Air Show, stands next to a T-28 Trojan trainer at Waukegan Regional Airport.
(Thomas Delany Jr./News-Sun)
Warbird Heritage Foundation Fleet manager and mechanic Sean Roarty of Gurnee moves an L-39 Albatross, an Eastern Bloc jet trainer, into a hangar at Waukegan Regional Airport.
There are a couple of changes that prospective attendees should be aware of, and the first has to do with general admission. Though the show was free in past years, a $5 charge will be collected from visitors 13 and older entering the Waukegan Regional Airport grounds.
Clark said admission has to be charged to cover the costs that killed the 2008 edition, not the least of which is fuel for participating aircraft. He added that “100 percent” of any proceeds beyond expenses will be donated to the Returning Warriors program, which helps ease the transition of service personnel returning from combat areas.
Another change is one that will be welcome to anyone who might have been caught in traffic jams entering the airport. Clark said motorists can enter as always at the main gate on York House Road at McAree Road, but the 2009 show will also offer access at Lewis and Beach roads, on the east side of the airport.
Once inside, visitors can view ground displays of some 30 aircraft that run the gamut from the World War II-era through the present. Among the military aircraft slated to appear are a Boeing-Stearman Model 75 biplane trainer; an A-4 Skyhawk attack jet; an L-19 Bird Dog observation aircraft; an F-86 Sabre jet fighter; the T-2 Buckeye jet trainer; and a T-28 Trojan trainer.
For children 8 through 17, free “Young Eagles” rides will be offered starting at 8:30 a.m. aboard aircraft flown by volunteers from the Experimental Aircraft Association. Helicopter rides will also be available for a $30 charge.
The actual air show, Clark said, is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. with the arrival of colors borne by a parachute team. Among the aerial performers slated to appear are The Hoppers, flying Czechoslovakian L-39 fighter jets, and the Cary-based Aerostar Acrobatics, flying Romanian Yak-52 trainers.
Once the gates close on the 2009 show, the push will be on to get a 2010 edition off the ground. Clark said that may be on Sept. 11, a Saturday.
“I’m all over that,” he said. “We’re going to light this place up. It’s going to be a huge show next year.”
For more information on the 2009 Waukegan Air Show, call (847) 244-0055 or visit www.waukeganairshow.com.
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Only $5 for adults and a second entrance added this year. Come check it out!
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