Air show provides festivities, flights
Teresa Stokes is a wing walker.
She defies gravity while walking and doing aerobatics on the wings of an airplane.
Gene Soucy and Stokes, both of Texas, have been performing together for 21 years.
Soucy pilots the plane while Stokes hangs on the wings.
“The first time I did it, it was a fluke,” Stokes said. “Someone else was going to do the act with Gene, but they backed out, and since I had already done (wing walking) before, I decided to fill in.”
Soucy and Stokes performed at the eighth annual air show at the Coles County Memorial Airport on Saturday.
Planes from all over the United States flew in for the air show.
Food, games, blow-up slides, monster truck rides and helicopter rides were among other attractions the event provided.
“We try and get attractions that are family-friendly and for everybody, plus, there are no admission or parking fees,” said Airport Manager Andrew Fearn. “We wanted to have an air show to promote the airport and give something back to the community.”
Introducing the pilots
Saturday was filled with air tricks from pilot performers like Soucy and Stokes.
Eric Downing, a pilot and performer from Missouri, mixed one and a half pounds of C-4 explosives and 20 pounds of diesel fuel to create three different explosions on the ground during his performance.
“I wasn’t allowed to actually drop anything, though,” Downing said.
He has been flying since 1983 and has flown military flights before. Downing said his Douglas EA-1E Skyraider airplane is rare and quite hard to find.
“They made 3,180 of these airplanes, and there are less than a dozen of them left flying,” Downing said. “It was one of the longest serving airplanes on duty from 1948 to 1974.”
Pilot Herb Baker, of Wisconsin, made smoke designs in the air during his flight.
“Most people put smoke in the exhaust pipe, but I designed smoke generators for my plane instead,” Baker said.
Bob Richards, of Illinois, got his pilot’s license in 1988 and got his Pitts Special airplane because it was designed for competitions.
“As a pilot, you need to work your way from flying at a higher level to a lower level,” he said. “I think next year I will be able to fly closer to the surface.”
Susan Dacy has been flying since she was 16, and has been performing since 1991.
“I don’t remember ever not wanting to be a pilot,” she said.
She said while growing up, her house was right by a small airport her father worked at, influencing her to become a pilot. Her plane she uses today is a World War II primary trainer.
“I’m a pilot, so I like to look things over,” said Vernon Roy, a Mattoon resident. “I’ve been a pilot for 15 years now.”
Duane Roy, a Mattoon resident, came to the air show with his brother Rodney Williamson, a Mattoon resident and pilot for more than 40 years.
“I just come out to see the planes,” Roy said. “I’m a ground person.”
Others came to ride on the helicopters.
“It was the first time I have ever been in a helicopter,” said Olney resident Joe Bell.
Bell’s son Jacob said this was the first time he had ever been in the air.
Some families came because their kids wanted to look at the airplanes.
“My daughter, Kayli, likes the helicopters; and my son, Mason, likes the black plane with the wings folded up,” Charleston resident Karen McDonald said.
Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7942 or at haholm@eiu.edu.
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Air show provides festivities, flights
Gene Soucy flies his plane during the Air Show over the Coles County Air Port Saturday. (Alycia Rockey/The Daily Eastern News)
