Serving Midwest Aviation Since 1960

AirExpo 2021 Makes Record-Setting Return

Two-Day Event at KFCM Features Many Warbirds

AirExpo 2021 at Eden Prairie's Flying Cloud Airport (KFCM) had a different field layout when compared with previous years.

Featured aircraft were parked between the new Jet Linx Hangar and the East-West Runway.

Attendance was a record-setting 7,500 both days of the July 24-25 event, reported Wings of the North Treasurer Gary Kreig. "Back to the Skies" was this year's AirExpo theme.

Last year's AirExpo was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced many changes to the summer aviation event schedule.

A Saturday morning surge at the gate required a quick catch-up effort by Wings of the North volunteers, who used social media to provide traffic and parking updates.

Each year, a unique highlight of AirExpo is the "Hall of Heroes," a gathering that provides the public an opportunity to meet and visit directly with WWII, Korea, and Vietnam-era flyers

The event also includes airplane rides, pancake breakfasts, and a variety of exhibitors.

A number of top warbirds were on display this year, providing impressive formation flyovers.

The Yankee Air Museum's "Yankee Lady," a B-17G Boeing Flying Fortress, was onsite both days on display and in the skies providing paid rides and flyovers with two North American Mustangs – the P-51C Lope's Hope and the P-51D Sierra Sue II.

The Wings of the North Air Museum's TBM-3 Grumman Avenger and F4U Chance Vought Corsair flew a U.S. Navy-specific formations with

an unexpected addition to the 2021 AirExpo line-up – a Grumman FM-2 Wildcat.

Other WWII-era aircraft included a crowd-pleasing Supermarine Spitfire Mk IXc and Hawker Hurricane from the Dakota Territory Air Museum, which visited AirExpo before heading over to EAA's AirVenture Oshkosh 2021.

 

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