Coeur d'Alene Air Show today, aims to inspire people to 'dream without barriers'
CAROLYN BOSTICK | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 months AGO
Retired Air Force pilot Jerry “Jive” Kerby flies Wild Blue, "the little RV-8A that dreams of being a fighter jet." Wild Blue is one of several aircraft performing aerobatic stunts today at the Coeur d'Alene Airport.
CAROLYN BOSTICK/Press
Dan Vance prepares to take off in the Vought F4U Corsair during a rehearsal for the Coeur d’Alene Aviation Air Show and Expo. The Corsair is part of the Erickson Collection from Madras, Ore. and was shown in the 2022 movie "Devotion."
Renny Price takes his Sukhoi-29 upside-down during aerobatic stunts Friday at the rehearsal for the Coeur d’Alene Aviation Air Show and Expo. The Sukhoi-29 is considered one of the best two-place unlimited competition aircraft in the world currently and has a nine-cylinder radial, 360-horse powered engine.
Renny Price takes the Russian-built Sukhoi-29 up into a climb before tumbling down in an aerobatic stunt Friday at the Coeur d'Alene Airport. Price is a retired airline captain and has logged over 23,000 hours since his first flight in 1969. The normal climb rate is 3,150 feet per minute at 1 Gs of force, but the vertical speed indicator can’t keep up when Price pulls the stick back to 9 Gs.
Kyle Fowler of GO EZ Aerobatics flies a stylish, yellow Long aircraft at a practice session Friday ahead of today's Coeur d’Alene Aviation Air Show and Expo Coeur d’Alene Airport-Pappy Boyington Field.
Dan Vance flew the Corsair Vought F4U Corsair plane Friday at the air show practice. The plane was the same one Pappy Boyington flew and still has movie paint from the 2022 film, "Devotion."
Carolyn Bostick has worked for the Coeur d’Alene Press since June 2023. She covers Shoshone County and Coeur d'Alene. Carolyn previously worked in Utica, New York at the Observer-Dispatch for almost seven years before briefly working at The Inquirer and Mirror in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Since she moved to the Pacific Northwest from upstate New York in 2021, she's performed with the Spokane Shakespeare Society for three summers. | June 28, 2025 1:09 AM
HAYDEN — Air show announcer and producer Lunar Sawyer is ready to see her husband take to the sky in “Wild Blue,” the “little RV-8A that dreams of being a fighter jet.”
Today only, the Coeur d’Alene Aviation Air Show and Expo will showcase aerobatic antics at the Coeur d'Alene Airport-Pappy Boyington Field.
Having been a part of the air show industry for 28 years, Sawyer said the mission of the event is “to inspire people to encourage people to dream without barriers.”
It has been a 21-year gap between the last Coeur d’Alene air show and when Coeur d'Alene Aviation decided to bring back the tradition to Kootenai County.
Dan Vance took the Vought F4U Corsair from the Erickson Collection for a flight over North Idaho skies Friday as the rehearsal for the air show got underway.
“It was one of the last Corsairs ever built,” Vance said.
The plane was made just after World War II ended.
Known for its loud engine, the Corsair was called “whistling death” as it became well-known in the Pacific theater of the war.
This particular plane flew straight onto the silver screen in the 2022 film, “Devotion” starring Jonathan Majors and Glenn Powell. Movie paint bearing Ensign Jesse Brown’s name on the cockpit can still be seen decorating the plane.
The planes were complicated to build, which led to them eventually being phased out of production, but they were also famously known for being used by Pappy Boyington.
One surprise people might not expect is that this particular Corsair still has an ashtray in the cockpit. The F4U entered the civilian world around the 1960s.
The fast-flying aerobatics on display will take the aircraft high above the prairie as they move through their climbs, graceful descents and barrel rolls over the airspace.
Two F-18 Growler aircraft are coming from the Naval Air Station at Whidbey Island, Wash., as a static display.
The event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 11101 N. Airport Drive, Hayden.
Private flights are being offered for the World War II-era aircraft.
Tickets are $30 at the gate and children 12 and younger get in free.
Info: www.flycoe.com.
Dan Vance prepares to take off in the Vought F4U Corsair during a rehearsal for the Coeur d’Alene Aviation Air Show and Expo. The Corsair is part of the Erickson Collection from Madras, Ore. and was shown in the 2022 movie "Devotion."
Renny Price takes his Sukhoi-29 upside-down during aerobatic stunts Friday at the rehearsal for the Coeur d’Alene Aviation Air Show and Expo. The Sukhoi-29 is considered one of the best two-place unlimited competition aircraft in the world currently and has a nine-cylinder radial, 360-horse powered engine.
Renny Price takes the Russian-built Sukhoi-29 up into a climb before tumbling down in an aerobatic stunt Friday at the Coeur d'Alene Airport. Price is a retired airline captain and has logged over 23,000 hours since his first flight in 1969. The normal climb rate is 3,150 feet per minute at one G of force, but the vertical speed indicator in the plane can’t keep up when Price pulls the stick back to nine Gs.
Kyle Fowler of GO EZ Aerobatics flies a stylish, yellow Long aircraft at a practice session Friday ahead of today's Coeur d’Alene Aviation Air Show and Expo Coeur d’Alene Airport-Pappy Boyington Field.
Dan Vance flew the Corsair Vought F4U Corsair plane Friday at the air show practice. The plane was the same one Pappy Boyington flew and still has movie paint from the 2022 film, "Devotion."ARTICLES BY CAROLYN BOSTICK
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