[MilCom] Springfield IL Air Rendezvous Air Show 2006

[Airshowfreak5 at aol.com]

A couple of my boys from VMFA-142 (GATOR-11 x2) left Friday afternoon for  
the show (static display) & returned Sunday evening.
 
Adam
Marietta,GA
"VFA-203 Forever"
 
In a message dated 6/27/2006 3:50:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time,  
tandkmoran at comcast.net writes:

Springfield IL Air Rendezvous Air Show 2006
Abraham Lincoln Capital  Airport
June 24th & June 25th
Report by: Kim and Ted Moran /  CARMA

We drove down to Springfield Friday morning and caught some of  the media
show and practice during the day and watched a good part of the  Friday
evening hangar party and twilight show from our hotel room balcony  (Howard
Johnsons - thanks to Bob F for the tip!).

We attended the  show on Saturday. Gorgeous mostly blue skies, warm
breezy weather, great  food and great staff made for another fabulous Air
Rendezvous air show, the  24th consecutive and we think our 13th.

No problems with bringing in  radios, cameras, chairs, etc. Just no coolers
allowed and you can't sit out  the show in your car in the lot. Saw several
folks w/scanners and shared  some freqs, fun.

124.450 / 395.800 Air Boss / Platform
(This is an  Aux. App/Dep pair at KSPI)
121.300 / 257.800 Tower
121.900 / 348.600  Ground
118.600 / 307.000 App/Dep East
126.150 / 323.000 App/Dep  West
127.275 / 327.500 App/Dep via KC Center
127.650 / 270.100  ATIS
123.150 "Dragon Flight" (Red Stars) air to air
123.400 U.S. Jet air  to air
123.175 Lima Lima air to air & show discrete
272.175 IL ANG  Command Post
138.475 IL ANG F-16's air to air (AM)
126.150 IL ANG  Victor-4 (Sfld App/Dep)
154.965 (131.8) Airport Police repeats  159.405
131.425 First Class Air FBO
131.600 American Eagle
128.925  Great Lakes
128.950 Unknown carrier
139.875 IL ANG Data link
122.950  Unicom (Landmark & McClelland FBO's)
462.650 GMRS Family Net (the  Childers, perhaps?)

I observed some IL reserve types carrying Motorola  FRS style radios set
to channel #7, but unknown if these were really FRS or  ISR radios as we
never caught them (or any other staff) actually talking on  them. Show staff
had new UHF rental radios with 4 channels configured, but  same deal.

U.S. Army Silver Eagles parachute jump demo team from Ft.  Bragg put on a 
nice
show. I saw no radios present on any of their  staff, nor did they employ a 
ground
spotter. They jumped from the  Peoria C-130 listed below. The CH-47 flew the
flag in for the opening  ceremony.

Last minute performers were two UCMC F-18's who did some nice  fly-bys.
We were searching but found no air to air. They were from the  Marine Fighter 
Attack
(All Weather) Squadron 224 Flight Demo in  F-18D's.F-15 Strike Eagle demo put 
on a
really nice display, but again,  sorry - no freqs to report.

F15 Strike Eagle and Vlado Lenoch's P-51  Mustang flew a nice two-ship
heritage flight with several passes and a  switchblade break. They used
the 124.450 platform freq for air to air. We  didn't get close enough to the 
F15 demo
staff to see if they had  radios, though I have a confirmed report from 
Janesville
of an F15 demo  team (not sure which one!) on 384.550 this year.

For once, we have to  admit, we went to an airshow to see a crash!  See:

http://www.dangerousmoments.com/

Mark Hager and Brad  Balding (clearly good 'ole boys) brought the house down.
No radios seen or  heard from these maniacs. Great perfomance. End of a 
Dodge,
totalled.  Ker-blooey. Way fun.

Unusual performance by Dan Buchanan getting towed  in his pyro-laden hang
glider to altitude by his pickup truck at the end of  a 2500 foot tether. 
Cool.

We even got buzzed in our seats by Miss  Illinois in her custom Ford Mustang
golf cart and got waved at by the  Lamphier High School Cheer Squad (they 
sell
the great programs - still  just 2 bucks, gotta be the cheapest program on 
the
air show circuit - I  told 'em to raise their price next year). You want more 
from
an air  show?

Still quite a bit of tornado damage apparent in Springfield,  especially 
along
the Jefferson Avenue storefronts. We saw a full size  steel I-Beam which once
supported a restuarant sign snapped like a twig at  it's base. Amazing.

Best food? Three-way tie between:
-Corn Dog and  Lemon Shakeup combos (our breakfast) (only in Springfield!)
-The new  half-pound giant burgers (What, no chips?!)
-Maui Wowi smoothies - killer,  look for 'em at your next air show

Only critique - no Army water  buffalos deployed for the crowd, and we could
have used the water for sure.  We know they were out there because we saw
and heard them getting filled  Friday afternoon. Bring back the Buffalos!

And I'll tell 'ya - somebody  could get rich selling bags of assorted potato
chips at air shows this  year. What's up with the "no-chips" thing?

Performer  Presets:

C-130 IL ANG Peoria

UHF

01 286.500 169 OPS
02  348.600 PIA ground
03 252.900 PIA Tower
04 269.200 PIA App/Dep
05  326.200 PIA App/Dep
06 282.200 ATIS
07 261.975 LOCAL FREQ
08 398.100  ELLIS DZ
09 388.900 BMI Tower
10 307.000 SPI App/Dep
11 257.800 SPI  Tower
12 327.500 KC Center
13 257.900 KC Center
14 351.900 KC Center  STL
15 255.400 FSS
16 349.400 AF CP
17 372.200 DISPATCH
18 344.600  METRO
19 239.800 METRO
20 343.300 METRO

VHF

01 141.500 169  OPS
02 121.850 PIA Ground
03 119.100 PIA Tower
04 125.800 PIA  App/Dep
05 119.950 PIA App/Dep
06 126.100 ATIS
07
08
09 124.600  BMI Tower
10 118.600 SPI App/Dep
11 121.300 SPI Tower
12 127.275 KC  Center
13 121.850 KC Center
14 142.300 KC Center STL
15 122.200  FSS
16 122.000 FSS EFAS
17
18
19
20

HF

01 13.872  169 OPS
02 4.724 MAINSAIL
03 6.712 MAINSAIL
04 6.739 MAINSAIL
05  8.992 MAINSAIL
06 11.175 MAINSAIL
07 11.205 MAINSAIL
08 13.200  MAINSAIL
09 15.016 MAINSAIL
10 7.935 SAMSHER
11 14.383 SMASHER
12  15.025 SMASHER
13 20.943 SMASHER
14 4.557 MARS NT P
15 7.634 MARS NT  S
16 11.407 MARS NT A
17 13.927 MARS DAY P
18 14.408 MARS DAY S
19  14.606 MARS DAY A
20 20.992 MARS LONG

CH-47 Chinook IL AANG Peoria /  Decatur

01 126.100
02 121.850
03 119.100
04 125.800
05  126.350
06 121.750
07 118.900
08 132.850
09 132.750
10  121.850
11 121.650
12 118.700
13 118.900
14 127.650
15  121.700
16 121.900
17 121.300
18 118.600
19 126.190
20  122.950

Our show pics are up  at:

http://home.comcast.net/~tedsairshows/

We hope to see you at  the Chicago Lakefront show on Saturday out
under the trees at the Fullerton  "point". Be there.

Happy Scanning! - Kim & Ted