GALESBURG, IL - The numbers show the 40^th National Stearman Fly-In was a success.

For example:

• 137 Stearman aircraft were registered for the 2011 Fly-In, the third-highest attendance in the event's history. They came from 30 states and one Canadian province.

• Winners of the 2011 "Early Bird" arrival award, Nick and Judy Sager of Granbury, TX,  landed Aug. 18 at Galesburg Municipal Airport in Stearman N64602 - 17 days before the official start of the Fly-In. Bill Fisher of Salem, OR, in Stearman N58986, won the "Tired Butt" prize for flying the greatest distance to attend the Fly-In - 1,729 miles.

•  365 youngsters took part in special children's activities on Saturday, Sept. 10, at the Galesburg airport. Earlier in the week - on Wednesday, Sept. 7 - a group of 42 pilots and their spouses took the "Stearman Experience" to the students in all of Galesburg's elementary school classrooms.

By CHARLIE GORNEY
The Register-Mail

GALESBURG, IL -Some 130 aircraft, mostly Stearmans, cleared out of Galesburg Municipal Airport and headed home Sunday morning as the 40th National Stearman Fly-In came to a close.

During the traditional "fly-out" breakfast, served by the Galesburg Noon Lions Club, Fly-In participants and organizers, along with people from the area who came to the event, reflected on this year's Fly-In.

According to one of the event directors, Tom Lowe, who co-founded the Fly-In, there was a good attendance and everything went smoothly.

"Attendance was in the high 130s, which is larger than we've had in the last several years," Lowe said. "It didn't set an attendance record, but it was a good turnout. And by all indications, I think everybody had a good time."

By CHARLIE GORNEY
The Register-Mail

GALESBURG, IL -As announcer Danny Clisham described it, there was a lot of blue, green, blue, green, blue, green, blue at the 40th annual National Stearman Fly-in on Saturday.

Among the day's events was the "Starring the Stearman!" air show, featuring award-winning pilots John Mohr, Walt Pierce, Emerson Stewart III and Darrel Massman. The color change sensation was how Clisham described what a pilot sees when doing rapid, consecutive rolls: sky, earth, sky, and so on.

Clisham was narrating Darrel Massman's second flight of the day, which was in a Panzl monoplane, a small, ultra-light and equally strong one-man aircraft. Although the show featured Stearmans, Clisham said the Panzl is a must-have for air show competitors like the men (and women) who flew Saturday.

"What (Massman) is fighting the most right now is disorientation," Clisham said, as the plane has the potential to roll at a rate of 400 degrees per second and to go from zero airspeed to about 300 mph.

By GARY TOMLIN
The Register-Mail

GALESBURG, IL -- Rain cut short the Friday air show at the Stearman Fly-In, but not before the parade of Stearmans gave a visual presentation of the history of the plane and stuntman John Mohr thrilled the crowd of about 700 people.

Stearman owners are in awe of what Mohr can do with his 250 horsepower, stock, (the way it was delivered to the Army in 1942) Stearman.

"This is as good as it gets. There is no better air show," said Karl Vacek, a Stearman owner from Riverside. "I'd walk from home to see this. He's doing things that are impossible to do in a Stearman. It's a big, heavy airplane that doesn't have a lot of power."

Mohr's show has a wide variety of loops, rolls, dives, and figure 8s. At one point, he was upside down at the top of a loop and then charged the ground in a straight dive pulling up about 10 feet before the ground.

By GARY TOMLIN
The Register-Mail

GALESBURG, IL -The two original Stearman Fly-In airplanes owned by co-founders of the Fly-In, Tom Lowe's number 17 and Jim Leahy's number 404, returned to Galesburg this week to honor the 40th year of the event.

Lowe, who is still active on the fly-in board, comes every year.

Leahy died in 1995 and his plane was sold to former pilots in Chicago.

Phillip Wolford of Galesburg arranged for the loan of No. 404 and flew it down from Chicago for the event.

"Neither owner is able to fly any longer and it is out of license. It hasn't been flown for four years," Wolford said. "We got a ferry permit from the FAA. Travis Aukes, who is an airframe and power plant certified mechanic, went with me to check its air-worthiness.