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AirFest Wows Thousands At MacDill

Tribune photo by VALERIE KALFRIN

Alexis Ngo, 21, left, and friend Cady Nutt, 16, both of New Port Richey, check out the gun compartment of a B-25 Mitchell bomber named Panchito at MacDill Air Force Base's AirFest.

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 27, 2009

Updated: 03/28/2009 03:47 pm

Alexis Ngo of New Port Richey marveled at how she and a friend squeezed into the gun compartment on a B-25 Mitchell bomber named Panchito at MacDill Air Force Base today."It's very small," said Ngo, 21. "We were imagining sitting 12 hours in that space. I don't know how they did it."

Panchito's pilot, Larry Kelley of the nonprofit organization Disabled American Veterans, told her how the World War II-era aircraft was used in ground attacks. A Lockheed AC-130 gunship parked nearby "flies three times my speed and probably 100 times the firepower," said Kelley, who lives in Maryland.

Aviation history, military might and impressive stunts wowed hundreds of thousands of visitors to the base today during AirFest, the base's annual air show.

Staff at the gates estimated about 450,000 people attended, based on vehicle parking, pedestrians and riders using the HART bus line, which had a temporary stop on the base.

The free event continues Sunday.

Wind kept the U.S. Special Operations Command Parachute Team from being able to perform today, but other fliers took to the skies without trouble. Among them were a two-seated jet called the Red Knight T-33, which can reach speeds of 580 mph, and the T-6 Texan, another World War II aircraft that performed loops and rolls.

Although visitors were eager to see the aerial formations of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, the large aircraft open for tours proved fascinating as well for many.

"I've seen a helicopter with two big blades!" said 5-year-old Matthew Spink of Tampa, resting with his dad under the shady wing of a B-52 Stratofortress, typically used for carrying weapons and carpet-bombing.

Kathy Brennen, 58, of Kenosha, Wis., was amazed about the adventures of a MC-130 Combat Talon I, a plane used for Special Operations and Special Forces.

"He said they had Saddam Hussein chained on the floor in the back of this plane," she related after stepping out of the cockpit.

"And his son and his German shepherd," chimed in friend Marg Premo of Lansing, Mich.

The women's husbands served in the Air Force, Ron Premo from 1957 to 1961 and Mark Brennen from 1968 to 1973.

Mark Brennen said he loved the sense of brotherhood at events like this.

"Anybody that's been in the military, there's a bond there," he said. "To come out here and see something like this is just exciting."

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800.

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