Now in it's 6th year, Warbirds Over The Rockies has become
one of the premier flying events in the US. The event is held in
Ft. Collins, Co. and is hosted by the
Love Air R/C Club.
This year the event was held on August 28-30 and was definitely the best event
to date. Warbirds Over the Rockies had 145 registered pilots (most with
multiple planes) and 5,000 - 7,000 spectators over the 3 days of the event.
And of course the best part of the whole event was of course the warbirds! And
oh my was there warbirds!! Every era or military aircraft was represented all
the way from World War I up to present time. Ages ranged from Hunter Foster at
the age of 10 (winner of the youngest pilot award) all the way to Kent Perkins
at the age of 80 (winner of the Silver Eagle Award). And while they were all
warbirds, the planes ranged from huge giant scale planes all the way down to a
small foam Parkzone Corsair airplane. But all the planes regardless of the
size shared the runway equally. Please enjoy the Planes of
Warbirds Over the Rockies.
Every day at noon the crowds were treated to the Noon Time
Demo. What set this event apart from most others was the pyrotechnic show. A
professional explosive effects team was brought in for the event, and their
efforts helped to really complete the "look" of warbirds in action. Strafing
runs, anti-aircraft artillery, to bombing runs were all acted out in glorious
explosions and bangs. In addition to the "fireworks" the noon show included
the "World War I Gaggle" where the skies were filled with planes from that war
period. And not to be outdone, the staff of WOTR went out of their way to set
new standards. They attempted to break the scale RC sound barrier. Did they
succeed?? Find out for yourself by checking out the
videos from the demo.
Saturday night was set aside for a casual-formal banquet
hosted at the local university. The night was a great time as the pilots and
their families came together for some good food, and some great friendship.
While WOTR is a friendly gathering of pilots that like to fly, that doesn't
mean there weren't just a few awards to go around. To find out who won check
out the winners here. The highlight of
the banquet was the guest speaker. Captain Donald Speers was a World War II
ace who flew a P-51 over the skies of Europe. His time during the war also
included some time as a guest of the Germans. He relates his experiences to
the people at the banquet. We have included his entire presentation on our
Banquet Page, so please take some time to
watch it.
If you couldn't make it to Warbirds Over The Rockies this
year we hope that you will enjoy the coverage of the event that we bring to
you here. We have tried to capture as much of the event as we could in
pictures and video. And if you enjoy the coverage we hope that you might be
able to attend in 2010, as it promises to be even better than this year was!
Now, with no further ado please enjoy the sights, sounds,
flying, and everything thing else that made Warbrids Over the Rockies such a
great event!!!
Probably the biggest part of any warbird event is the
warbirds themselves. Here are many of the aircraft that took to the skies over
Ft. Collins during Warbirds Over The Rockies. We have tried to present as many
of the planes that took part of the event as we could. Make sure that you
check out our second page of aircraft.
RCU has made available high resolution copies of all
the plane pictures for purchase. We have teamed with
Smug Mug to bring you all of our
photographs. These pictures may be purchased in a print form, or in digital
download form. If you would like any of these photographs for in a high
resolution format for your own personal collection we encourage you to check out
our gallery on Smug Mug.
Of course the heart of an event like Warbirds Over the Rockies is the flying.
We've tried to capture as much of the flying as possible and we present that
to you here. We hope you enjoy the flying action of Warbirds Over The Rockies
2009.
Before any plane can be put in the air it has to be brought to the flight
line, fueled, aired up, tweaked, and started. Every plane spends time in the
pit area before taking to the skies over Colorado. Here are some of those
moments.
While the largest part of the action is on the flight line and the planes in
the air, this is only part of an event such as Warbirds Over the Rockies. At a
show like this there is also plenty going on "behind the scenes". Whether it's
in the stands, vendor alley, the pits, the pyrotechnic crew, or any other of a
dozen places at the event here are some of the things going on that helped to
make WOTR 2009 a success.
What are the "Faces of Warbirds Over the Rockies"? These are the people that
make this event what it is. They are the pilots, crew, event staff, media and
organizers of this event. We like to present pictures of these people as the
participate in the event, because without them WOTR just wouldn't happen.
There is a saying in the hobby that fits here. "I don't want to see anybody
crash, but if they do crash I want to see it!!" Or better yet, catch it on
film! We aren't trying to embarrass anybody here with these pictures. But hey,
it happens ot all of us. The bumps, flips, hard landing, crashes, and other
"oops" moments.
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