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| 2010 Air Shows |
WWII Weekend, Reading, Pa. June
4-6
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Location: Reading Regional Airport, Reading, Pennsylvania |
Admission: $22 at the gate and $10 for children, discounted on internet in advance |
Parking: free.
Access is by a single, two lane road so be prepared for delays. Overall the organizers do a good job under difficult conditions. Parking is scattered about the facility with bus service provided to the show area. Again, be prepared for long lines waiting on the buses. |
| Value: Good |
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This year was the 20 th Anniversary of this event and it was subtitled
as “A Gathering of Warbirds” held at the Mid Atlantic
Air Museum, Reading Airport. This annual event is one of the largest
gathering of: WWII re-enactors, battle re-creations, Flea Market
vendors with military surplus gear, and several veterans appearing
as special quests. There was a lot of variety, for sure, but in essence
the air show truly draws the majority of the attendees to the weekend festival.
Thus, WWII Weekend Festival is a good value for the buck!
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How did it measure up to the previous air shows? If the attendee
had never been at this show, the event was quite good over all.
However, if one attended previous shows, like I did in 2008 and
my fellow photographer in 2007, 2008 and 2009, to be frank, it
did not measure up to previous shows! In many ways it was very
disappointing, and this view is not just our opinion, but several
persons we talked to at the event on Saturday and Sunday. In conclusion,
it was an event that would have been an excellent one if only the
organizers paid a bit more attention how the event unfolded, which
they failed to do, during the 3 day long event. The food selection
was typical that one finds at events like this, the food being
a bit over priced, however the bottled water was only $2.00, as
at most shows it is $3.00!! Interesting enough the bar at the Officers
Club, did not served any alcoholic beverages, cold beer would have
been nice in the hot muggy days, all the liqueur and beer bottles
were only decoration!
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Friday:
was the typical arrival day for most of the participating aircraft,
and set up for some of the re-enactors and vendors to get it together
for the weekend. Thus it wasn’t really a show per
say, and it was as per usual, the last minute rush to set up everything.
This was a non-issue with the typical no shows for some of the aircraft
such as the Stuka (7:10 scale replica) or the P-38 for such an event
of its type. Even the weather more or less cooperated on Friday and
there was a practice flight by a few aircraft such as the Quick Silver
P-51D Mustang. |
| Saturday: the
event was swamped by record attendance, and this was painfully evident
in the line ups for food and sanitation facilities. By 11 a.m., waiting
time exceeded 30 minutes for both, and it was truly horrible for
the portable toilets. This is not acceptable, especially in an event
where the weather is usually quite hot and humid, and where a large
amount of water consumption is highly recommended in order not to
suffer from dehydration. The event needs more portable toilets and
spread out better with additional locations. Apart from the long
line ups for food and sanitation facilities, the event had a large
amount of dead spots, where nothing was happening to keep the attention
of the audience. The event should have been spread out more evenly
time wise, giving the attendees something to look forward to, versus
just sitting around from 8:30 a.m., and letting them wait for the
actual show events which did not start until 12 p.m. There was a
military convoy made up of several WWII vintage vehicles that was
interesting, but that was only a small time filler. Even after the
show started, the main event that most of the attendees came to see,
the air show did not start until 2:00 p.m. In order to secure a good
viewing spot, one had to come early, 8:30 a.m., to stake the spot
out with camping chairs. In essence the organizers should have planned
the event with more care, and keep the
dead time to a minimum for all the spectators. Yes, while this gave plenty of
time for the attendees to visit the re-enactors’ camp grounds, or the flea
market, it still left way too much time for them to be bored!!! The actual air
show wasn’t too bad, but it was hard to hear the announcer, more speakers
should be utilized. While the speaker quantities were not adequate, their placement
was very good, they did not block the flight line view, which is so typical at
air shows, so that was very positive. While we are mentioning positive things,
the random placement of wooden benches for the attendees to use was also appreciated
by many. As for the re-enactors, I spoke to some of them, such as the 9th Re-enactment
Society, who were far from happy. When I was at the Reading show in 2008 they
had several reproduction German military vehicles on display and took place in
mock battles. However, these vehicles were not present on the 20 th Anniversary
show. When I asked the group, where are the vehicles, since they gave the event
so much more presence, I was informed, since they were representing the “Waffen
SS,” the organizers for this did not allow them to display the license
plates of their vehicles, because they start with “SS”! Is the Reading
WWII Weekend trying to rewrite history? Maybe they should learn a bit about history,
and if they want to re-enact history, they should not bar the symbolism of units
which fought in the Second World War. |
Sunday’s show
by far was the absolute worst day, of the 3 day event. While the
organizers could blame it on the weather, it would not be exactly
a valid excuse, as they had plenty of time to move up some of the
events to work around the potential rain, but they elected not do
so. Instead of making announcements of “maybe” they should
have been more proactive, since between 8:30 a.m. and until 12p.m.,
nothing happened! What a waste of time and truly disappointing for
many! If the event would have started at 10, or 10:30 or even at
11 a.m., the attendees could have enjoyed the many WWII aircraft
participating in the air show! While I understand that to move the
air show time requires FAA approval, the actual air show could have
been planned to start earlier, spreading it out better, and in case
of potential bad weather interference. I did notice that several
aircraft which offered rides: B-17 Yankee Lady, B-25 Panchito, the
Helldiver, P-51D, T-6, etc, where very busy during the dead times,
so at least the few who paid for such thrills were happy, while the
rest of the attendees where not. The actual event started at 12,
with the “President Roosevelt” getting
off a vintage Douglas transport plane and his speech, which seems
to be the same every year. The actual air show dragged out to 2:25p.m.
before they got a participating T-6 up in the air. Soon after that
it started to rain, and most of the attendees had left, when it changed
from a slight rainfall to a heavy downpour! The show announced that
the rain would be on for about one hour or so, but they will continue
if the weather will clear up. Regardless due to heavy downpour, and
with very limited covered space against the downpour, many decided
to call it a day and left, including myself feeling very disappointed!
The disappointment might have been avoided by starting the show a
bit earlier, by avoiding the painfully evident dead spot of 3 1/2
hours, thus giving the attendees the air show they obviously came
to see. There are lessons to be learned here for the organizers if
they are willing to notice and improve the event. 20th Anniversary
or not, over all this year’s event did not measure up to previous
ones, and this is not just my own opinion, but a reflection of several
long time attendees from the neighbouring area. Apparently after the
rain stopped (about hour later) the air show continued too for the
few who found shelter against the rain or had umbrellas and stuck it
out.
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.Some
of the participants were:
- B-17 Memphis Belle (static)
- B17 Yankee Lady (offered rides)
- Avro Lancaster
- Curtiss SB2C Helldiver (offered rides)
- P-51D Mustang Quick Silver
- P-51D Mustang Glamorous Gal
- P-51D Red Nose (offered rides)
- Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless (offered rides)
- B-25J Mitchell Panchito (offered rides)
- B-25D Yankee Warrior
- B-25J Mitchell Briefing Time
- P-47M Thunderbolt
- Supermarine Spitfire MK XVIII
- and many more
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Rating: as
far as the air show 6.5 out of 10 |
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