THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 28, 1995 TAG: 9504280524
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHARLENE CASON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
If you want to see speed at the Norfolk Naval Air Station's annual spring air show this weekend, you won't be disappointed.
The show includes death-defying aerobatics, red devils dropping from the sky and a truck that takes off in a burst of flames.
The emphasis is on nostalgia, and a large standing display of World War II prop planes, Jeeps, uniforms - even a foxhole.
The theme of the air show, part of the 42nd annual International Azalea Festival, is ``Reflections of Victory,'' paying tribute to those who served in the war that ended 50 years ago this summer.
Special recognition goes to America's No. 1 ally, the United Kingdom. England is the honored nation for this year's Azalea Festival.
Admission to the show, which begins at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, is free. A special invitation-only rehearsal show is being held today.
``The people who really enjoy aviation will have time to reflect on what these aircraft contributed,'' said air station executive officer Capt. Larry LaRue. The rumble of old engines ``can still raise goose bumps for some folks,'' said La Rue, the show's chairman.
La Rue expects between a quarter-million and half-million people to attend the two-day event.
World War II vintage aircraft, which arrived at the air station under their own power, include such models as the P-51 Mustang fighter, B-17 and B-25 bombers and the Navy's carrier-based fighter, the F-4U Corsair.
There also are two planes that were difficult to get for the show: a British Spitfire and a German ME-109 Messerschmitt.
Among the groups that will bring live thrills to the show are aerobatics acts, including ``Fly on the Edge'' with Clancy Speal in a single-engine Pitts S1S; Les Shockley's ``Shockwave,'' a jet-powered semi truck; and the Red Devils Free Fall Team, part of the Parachute Regiment of the British Army.
Members of the Red Devils are experienced military parachutists who have received added special training, entitling them to wear the red berets made famous during World War II by Great Britain's airborne forces. by CNB