Sky-high entertainment at the Peace Regional Air Show

Tom Henihan
Express Staff

The skies certainly “came alive” at the 2019, Peace Regional Air Show on July 31.

With the weather uncertain but mainly cooperative, the 3-hour air display took off around 1.30 pm.

The lineup for the days performances included Canadian Forces Snowbirds, Skyhawks, Yellow Thunder, Brent Handy and the skillful but humorous Kent Pietsch and the Jelly Belly Airplane.

The Canadian Armed Forces Parachute team, the Skyhawks, put on an impressive and exciting demonstration, assuming a number of complex formations before disengaging and landing.

The event opened at 10am offering Helicopter Rides until 1pm, just prior to the aerobatic demonstrations.

However, all the fun wasn’t in the air as there were plenty of activities on the ground, such as bouncy castles and face painting for the kids, aircraft exhibits, monster truck rides and a gift shop. There were also a variety of food vendor from which to choose.

For the aviation aficionado the exhibits of vintage and contemporary aircraft were compelling, such as an actual Canso PBY-5A, in operation during WW2 escorting troupe convoys and supplies over the North Atlantic.

A pristine example of the Nanchang CJ-6A, a Chinese basic trainer aircraft was also on exhibit.

Nanchang Aircraft Factory designed and built the Cj-6A plane for The People’s Liberation Army Air Force.

The atmosphere at the air show was relaxed and upbeat, and announcer Ric Peterson, who shares his audience’s enthusiasm for air shows, kept things informative and fun for the crowd.

The “Thunder in the Peace,” air show is a mammoth organizational undertaking, and to successfully put on a one-day event of that scale is a real accomplishment.

Of course, a variety of factions contribute to that success: those involved directly in putting the air show together, the sponsors and the numerous volunteers who worked the gate, parking, security, information and taking care of other contingencies that arise.