wings over dallas 2019

Prose & Photography: Daniel Kerns

Wings Over Dallas has been a show that I've been fortunate enough to attend for the past three years. My first year attending the show, I wasn’t involved in aviation photography. After picking up a D3400 and a Sigma 150-500 to capture EAA’s Oshkosh AirVenture in 2018, I decided to make the trip down to Dallas to capture more content for myself. Besides Planes of Fame’s airshow in Chino, California, Wings Over Dallas featuring the Commemorative Air Force is one of the best all-around warbird airshows. This year I shot with the Nikon D500 with a Sigma 60-600 lens and a Nikon 7100 with a Nikon 24-70 lens.

The airshow has been held on the last weekend in October for the last few years. The weather was darn near perfect this year besides the chilly mornings. This show is neat in the fact that most of the planes that fly during the show also give rides before and after the show. Because each warbird flies throughout the day, there are multiple opportunities to capture each aircraft if a camera setting was off, the sun angle prevented a good shot, or in my case, the autofocus servo went out on my Sigma 60-600 lens that I rented. Always bring a backup lens if possible. I was lucky that I brought my Sigma 150-600 lens with me to keep the shutter in action. The Sigma 60-600 is a great lens for anyone looking to make an upgrade without breaking the bank. Its autofocus was very quick to respond.       

Each day began with me arriving at the gate at 8:00 am. Shooting for Full Disc gave me the opportunity to get into the show early to take photos of static warbirds without being interrupted as well as being able to pick my shooting spot. Around 9:00am the flying began. Warbirds like the B-29 “FIFI”, P-51 “Gunfighter”, B-17 “Texas Raiders, B-24 “Diamond Lil”, B-25 “Devil Dog, and the C-45 “Bucket of Bolts” gave rides to passengers all the way up until show time. 

Once the ride portion was over, the show moved onto a portion called “American Armor”. This segment featured all the weapons used on the ground by the Americans, Germans, And Japanese. The most interesting weapon I saw was a fully functioning M-2 flamethrower.  The airshow offered many interviews with veterans from all aspects of World War II. They had a few veterans talk about their encounter at the Battle of Midway, and D-Day. I also liked that the show had an intermission. I could use the restroom and not have to worry about seeing something fly that I would've regretted.  

The official start of the airshow began with the TORA! TORA! TORA! reenactment. It was my first time seeing their full show. I couldn’t count how many aircraft were in the air during that portion. Aircraft diving in left and right accompanied by smoke trails and the bomb squad made for a thrilling show. Aircraft like the P-36 “Hawk” and the “Texas Raiders” B-17G were on display for the American side of the Pearl Harbor reenactment. Followed was the “America Trains for War” portion. Aircraft like the T-6, BT-13, BT-15, PT-19, and many Stearman took to the skies. The "Victory in the Pacific" segment featured the F4F Wildcat, F6F Hellcat, F8F Bearcat, and a FG-1DCorsair. There was also a portion called “Mustang Round Up.” “Charlotte's Chariot II” and “Gunfighter” took off in formation and did a series of low pass formations very close to one another followed by individual high-speed low passes. The P-51 “Gunfighter” went on and did an aerobatic routine that was one of my highlights for the show.

Another segment called “Close air support” featured the Douglas Skyraider “Wylie Coyote” and two Douglas A-26 Invaders with simulated bombing/missile runs. “Bombers on Parade” was another portion that I really enjoyed. The CAF’s B-29, B-24, B-25, A-26 (x2), B-17 all took off and flew the circuit for nearly 30 minutes. Aircraft flying above as well as aircraft 500ft off the deck with bombing runs made it an awesome sight.

Halfway during that part, the rest of the remaining aircraft like the P-63, Corsair, Bearcat, Wildcat, Hellcat, Skyraider, and the C-47 “That’s All Brother” joined up with the bombers flew the circuit for another 15 minutes or so. Jason Somes flew an aerobatic routine featuring the CAF SoCal’s F8F Bearcat. Jason, as usual, put on an amazing show. Jason demonstrated the climb rate of the Bearcat on takeoff as well as how fast it can get in a dive. I’ve seen a few Bearcats fly before, but Jason made me respect the bearcat so much more. There's much more to this show that I haven't talked about; you need to see it to believe the amount of aircraft that show up and fly. 

This show was an absolute blast. Like I mentioned before, this show is the ultimate warbird extravaganza. I highly recommend it to any AV geek. There's plenty of things for spouses or friends to do if airplanes aren't their cup of tea. I’ve marked it on the calendar already for next year's show list. Thank you to Wings Over Dallas media team, James, and the rest of the Full Disc team, for an awesome experience.