AirFest scores double coup for next show

The Canadian Forces Snowbirds

JANESVILLE — Getting the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds to perform in Rock County next spring is a big deal.

But a second headliner should doubly excite fans of precision military flying.

The Canadian Air Force’s Snowbirds also will perform at the Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport in Janesville on Memorial Day Weekend in 2010, officials announced Monday.

“The Thunderbirds or the Snowbirds alone would be fantastic, but to have the two together is just incredible,” said AirFest founder and Executive Director Tom Morgan.

The bookings were announced Monday at the International Council of Air Shows Convention in Las Vegas, Morgan said by phone from the convention.

Both sets of flyers are premiere aerobatic teams, Morgan said.

The Thunderbirds put six F-16s in the air. The Snowbirds fly the CT-114 Tutor, a training jet.

The teams differ in their approach.

“Thunderbirds are louder, high-speed, in-your-face aerobatics,” Morgan said.

The Snowbirds are impressive for flying nine jets in formation simultaneously.

“They call it more of an aerobatic ballet,” Morgan said of the Snowbirds, “and the Thunderbirds are more of an aerobatic rock concert, loud and aggressive.”

Both are coveted by air shows across North America, Morgan said. The Snowbirds will perform in the U.S. only seven times next year, and they’ll be in the same lineup with the Thunderbirds only in one other show, in California.

Local AirFest-goers will remember the Snowbirds from their appearance here in 2008. The Thunderbirds have not been here since 2004.

The local response was one factor in the teams’ return, Morgan said.

“I think they felt we had a very hospitable air show, that the community welcomed them, and it’s a well run air show in terms of the staff we hire,” Morgan said. “… I think they feel very welcome, from the hotels to the parties. They get a sense of the community.”

Morgan said anyone who hasn’t seen an air show might want to check this one out.

“You will not be disappointed,” he said.