By John Molene

The show – AirExpo 2008 – will go on.

But after seven previous shows at Flying Cloud Airport, this year’s show came very close to touching down at a different airport.

Costs, parking issues and an early lack of local sponsorship forced this year’s air show to seriously consider moving to Lakeville, said Bob Jasperson, Wings of the North AirExpo director.

“We did have preliminary plans to move to Lakeville,” Jasperson said.

The show lost money last year, Jasperson said, primarily because of inclement weather which held attendance to its lowest level. The rest of the show’s costs, including a $10,000 fee to hire shuttle buses to take people from the parking area to the air show, remained, however.

With an ongoing less-than-ideal parking situation at Flying Cloud Airport, air show officials considered offers to relocate.

“We were invited down to [Lakeville] do the show, and we would have saved some money on parking,” Jasperson said. “Unfortunately there was not enough land to do a show, so we’re back on track at Executive [Aviation].

“The layout at Executive is better than Lakeville,” Jasperson added. “And, fortunately, we picked up a couple of sponsors. We’re based at Flying Cloud and feel more comfortable there. The tower operation knows what to do. But each year a couple of airports approach us.”

The ability to secure local sponsors C.H. Robinson and United Properties made remaining at Flying Cloud more viable, Jasperson noted.

AirExpo on the flight deck

AirExpo2008 will be held at Flying Cloud Airport from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 16 and 17. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children 8 to-12 and free for children younger than 8.

AirExpo offers a chance to get up close and see a wide variety of aircraft. There are also vendors and displays, children’s activities, B-17 rides, antique aircraft and helicopter rides and a chance to meet aviation pioneers and heroes.

“I look at it as a community fair, that just happens to have an aviation theme,” added Jasperson.

As usual, a venerable who’s who of aviation will attend, this year including NASA space shuttle astronaut and mission commander Curt Brown and Korea F-86 ace Boots Blesse.

Also attending will be Doolittle Raiders ****** Cole and Tom Griffin, Jim Hill and Tom Emrich of the Black Sheep Squadron, Luftwaffe ace Gottfried Dulias, Tuskegee Airmen Joseph Gomer and Kenneth O. Wofford, Elizabeth Strohfus of the WASPs, Chuck DeBellevue, top U.S. ace from Vietnam and many others.

Aircraft expected include the B-17 Flying Fortress “Yankee Lady,” an F2G-1D Super Corsair, an AD5 Skyraider, Clay Adam’s 1929 Travel Air 4000, an L-39 Albatross, an L-29 Delphin, a T-6 and a Navy SNJ.

Attendance has ranged from a high of 15,000 four years ago, to about 3,000 last year, when steady rain throughout grounded all of the aircraft.

For event parking, drivers should go to the southeast corner of Flying Cloud Airport on Flying Cloud Drive, then take a right at Charlson Road, the first stop light past Pioneer Trail, into the parking area. A shuttle bus will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to take people to the air show. No onsite parking is available.

The annual pancake breakfast will be held from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. The cost is $6 for adults and $4 for children 12 and under.

An Evening with Eagles dinner will be held from 6 to 10 p.m. in the Garden Room at the Eden Prairie City Center, 8080 Mitchell Road. Tickers are $75.

“We still have a few tickets left for dinner Saturday evening,” Jasperson said. “There will be 40 or 42 VIPS, and they all have fascinating stories. These people are true heroes.”

Warbird Flights on the B-17 are $400 per person, and are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. There are several other planes that offer flights during the expo, including rides in a 1929 Travelair, family rides in a Beech Aircraft and a Robinson R44 helicopter.