Date: September 12, 1972
Location: Hazelton, PA
By: —
Newspaper: Standard-Speaker
Page: 20
A ride around the Pocono International Raceway in a car piloted by Mario Andretti awaits early arrivals at the Wings of Hope Air Show next Sunday.
The famed Indianapolis 500 winner and Grand Prix circuit driver will be in action at the Mt. Pocono track from 12:30 to 2 p.m.
The airshow itself will begin at 2 o’clock with an American Flag jump by the “Adventurers,” a five-man skydiving team, during the playing of the national anthem. Trailing smoke, the parachutists will stagger their openings and each will display the flag during descent.
Other performances by the Adventurers will be a “cut-away” from the parachute, followed by a free fall to thrill the audience before the second chute opens, and a spinning-star jump.
Dawson Ransome, of the U.S. Aerobatic team, which recently won six gold medals in France in world competition, and Captain Ray Wiseman, of United Air Lines, will go through their expert performances in Pitts Specials, experimental planes made specifically for stunt flying.
Aerial Comedy
Aerial comedy will highlight the act of Captain Dan Chapman, of United Air Lines, who will also challenge Mario Andretti to a race around the track while flying his clip-wing Piper Cub.
Scotty McCray, internationally famous precision pilot, will perform graceful sailplane, aerobatics. Pitching, twisting, and looping, Scotty slow-rolls his sailplane, pulls up after a high-speed dive and does a roll on top of a loop, and performs half the time upside down. All of these maneuvers were once considered impossible for the sailplane he flies.
From the Mason-Dixon Airshow troupe, Richard Kanode will do Stearman and T-34 aerobatics, and John Toage will perform in a Zlin, a Czech-built airplane famous for stunt flying. The troupe’s acts also feature a girl-rider on a wing and a ribbon-cut by a plane flying upside down.
Announcers for the show will be Captain Jim Webb of Eastern Airlines, who recently announced such events as Transpo ’72 in Washington, D.C., and the Naval Air Show in Atlanta, Go., and Russ Brinkley, president of Silver Wings.
Included in the 2 1/2 hour show will be a demonstration of the new Rallye 220 F/STOL (Short Take Off and Landing) airplane, manufactured by BFA Aviation, Inc. This remarkable plane takes off in less than 200 feet and lands on a 400 ft. runway, less than half the distance needed by other four-place aircraft of more conventional design.
Air show tickets at $3 for adults and $1 for children 6-13 may be purchased in advance at the Wings of Hope Air Show office, 520 Seip Avenue, Nazareth, Pa. (Tel. 759-2404), at other advertised locations, or at the raceway itself on the day of the show.
The show is being sponsored by Wings of Hope, Inc., a St. Louis based, non-sectarian charity that supplies air transportation and radio communication services to remote areas in the world.
It will primarily benefit the Flying Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in New Guinea, who must replace the two airplanes they use for transportation of mission personnel, teachers, nurses, doctors, and others and for medical emergencies.