2002
Missouri Valley Jet Scramble
(in Nebraska)
Another great time in Tecumseh, Nebraska is in
the history books. Last year, I gave Ward Neesen a pretty hard
time about his promised 72 degree days, that somehow ended up in
the triple digits. Well, this year, it looks like his prediction
hit the mark. We head out on Friday morning, and glance up at the
bank thermometer as it displays a perfect 71 degrees. It did get
a bit warmer as the weekend went on, but with so much jet flying
going on, one didn't notice much at all.
I didn't get an exact pilot count, but it
looked to be the biggest turnout yet. I would guess over 40 or
so, if I had to. Also, as seems to be the trend at jet meets all
over, turbines had a very strong showing, with them probably
making up two thirds of the flights. Normally a relatively
accident free meet, it would seem that the law of averages
finally caught up to several pilots. A couple total losses, and
one small fire, were seen.
Later, I heard a phrase, that I just couldn't
stop laughing at though..when someone uttered, "looks like
another Forrest Fire", and I put 2 and 2 together, that they
were referring to the pilot Forrest Wagner, and his fire belching
F-4. I do have to describe the scene in the 2nd to last photo
though. It was Forrest's Phantom all ready to release brakes on
takeoff, when just like a full scale, two long plumes of fire
blast a solid 2 feet from behind the plane, perfectly portraying
a full scale phantom kicking afterburners in. Fire extinguishers
appeared from all directions, and it looked like minimal damage
to the plane, but it sure did look spectacular for moment there
:-)
Hats off to Don Reger, Ward Neesen and their
crew, for another great show.
Home, The 2001 show page, The 2000 show page, The 1999 show page
Also be sure to check out the offical 2002 Annual Missouri Valley Jet
Scramble site for some of their shots they got as well.
