The Eagles Over Mississippi Airshow bridges generations and
honors those well deserving of the praise. On May 10 (graduation
day), over 25 aircraft from all over the country will come to
Starkville’s George M. Bryan Airport for an airshow to
remember.
The airshow boasts a number of impressive aircrafts, such as a
B-25 Mitchell, Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Grumman F6F Hellcat,
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, P-51 Mustang, Vought F4U Corsair and many
other noteworthy aircrafts, ranging from World War II airplanes to
Vietnam helicopters.
The airshow will also feature the Sky Soldiers, a Vietnam
helicopter demonstration team that will bring 15 of their own
aircrafts. They will re-enact a Vietnam battle scenario, which will
include pyrotechnics. The airshow will also feature several
regional military re-enactment groups who will depict United
States, British and German soldiers from World War II. Helicopter
rides will be available for $35. The show will also include a
vintage car exhibit and hot air balloons as well as Mississippi
State University’s aircraft from the Raspet Flight Research
Laboratory on display.
The coordinator for this event is MSU art instructor Marc Poole.
The idea for the show originally came from the namesake of the
Starkville airport, George M. Bryan. A couple of years ago, Poole
was working on his master’s degree, and, for his thesis, produced a
video documentary on one of his relatives that was a pilot during
World War II.
Poole said he wanted to shoot actual video footage of
re-enactments using the old planes so he could have authentic
re-enactments. He merged actual film footage of WWII with the
re-enactment to tell the story. While he was researching for the
video, his research brought him back to the George M. Bryan Airport
in Starkville, where he took flying lessons as an undergraduate at
MSU.
At the airport there is a picture of Bryan, who was killed at
the age of 22, around the same age of Poole as an undergraduate.
Poole began to think about Bryan every time he flew, and he began
to research Bryan and learned his story.
Bryan’s family, owner of Bryan foods, helped bring into reality
Poole’s vision of bringing a B-17, the plane Bryan was killed in,
to Starkville. But. Bryan’s nephew, also named George, did not want
to stop there; he wanted to bring an entire airshow. The first
event, which was actually a fly-in, took place on Memorial Day
2001.
“The first show was a runaway success,” Poole said. “We had no
idea what to expect. We had 15,000 people show up, which completely
overwhelmed us, and there was such a response that we decided to
wait every other year.”
The fly-in registered as one of the top 10 events in Starkville
for 2001. The show this year will be an actual airshow and will
feature double the 2001 show. The show will also include a
Veteran’s program with a guest speaker at 11 a.m.
“I love flying. I love planes. Since I was a kid, I have loved
this stuff. The fact that I can help put together something like
this and lay claim to it myself–I am very proud of it.” Poole
said.
Make plans in advance to coordinate this memorable airshow with
graduation plans. The airshow will take place from 10 a.m. until 5
p.m. With admission only $5, the airshow will be a great adventure
for a small fee. For more information or to volunteer to help with
the airshow, visit the Web site at
“http://www.eaglesovermississippi.com/”>www.eaglesovermississippi.com.