Waterford air show has first look at classic war jets

For hobbyists who own military fighter jets, flying their pride and joy transports them at up to 500 m.p.h. over southeast Michigan but also takes them back in time to a global war of nerves.

“I fell in love with Cold War jet aviation,” said veteran pilot Marty Tibbitts, 47, of Grosse Pointe Park. The Cold War era was roughly from 1950 to 1990, when the U.S. and former Soviet Union vied for world domination and control of airspace.

Tibbitts, the owner of several vintage military aircraft, is cofounder of the World Heritage Air Museum. It began in 2011 in a hangar at Detroit City Airport, but the museum recently relocated to Oakland County International Airport in Waterford Township — in part because that location lets members take their jets more quickly to at least 18,000 feet, where their engines are more efficient, Tibbitts said.

He and others have been painting the museum this week to get ready for today’s ribbon opening to museum members. On Sunday, the public is to get its first look at the nonprofit group’s aircraft, both on the ground and screaming overhead, during the airport’s 30th annual open house and air show.

The free-admission event, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., charges $5 for parking while offering a wide range of sights and sounds, on the ground and in the air. Aviation fans can view more than 50 aircraft, including a B25 bomber from World War II; Roundball One, the Detroit Pistons’ team jet; and the Tuskegee Motor Gliders from a Detroit-based club of pilots who honor the memory of the nation’s first black military pilots.

The event also will showcase three of the nation’s top stunt fliers, 2-3 p.m., including Illinois-based Susan Dacy, billed in an Oakland County news release as “one of only a few women performing air shows in a biplane.”

It’s always a great air show, said Ted Rockentine Jr., 56, of Troy.

“I’ve never missed one — used to take the kids when they were younger,” said Rockentine. Over the years, he snapped thousands of photos at the show and is “in the middle of getting my pilot’s license,” he said.

For extra fees of $20 to $35, adults and kids can take off in a helicopter or airplane. Flights in the historic Ford Tri-Motor, known as the “Tin Goose,” cost $75, and $50 for children 17 and under.

The event is entirely funded by a nonprofit group and costs county taxpayers next to nothing, said Dave VanderVeen, Oakland County director of central services and boss of the airport.

As for Tibbitts and other members of the impressively named World Heritage Air Museum, they’ll don red museum-themed shirts to answer visitors’ questions.

“We’re going to have four or five of our jets out for display on the tarmac, and then when the time comes to fly we’ll run back to our hangar and get in other planes to take up,” he said.

The prices of used military jets have come down as much as 90% in the last decade, in part because new regulations made it harder to get the special pilots’ licenses required. But that made the hobby far more affordable, Tibbitts said. He recently bought a plane for $75,000 “that had cost about 10 times that” a decade ago, he said.

Still, flying a vintage fighter is far more demanding, physically and mentally, than piloting a propeller-driven plane, Tibbitts said.

“When you’re going as fast as we do, you don’t have much time to correct a mistake,” he said.

Contact Bill Laitner: blaitner@freepress.com or 313-223-4485.

If you’re going ...

Where: Oakland County International Airport, 6500 Highland Road, Waterford Twp.

When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday

What: Free admission, parking at $5 per car, to see displays of 50 vintage aircraft, as well as Detroit Pistons’ Roundball One, an aerobatic air show (2-3 p.m.), science activities for kids plus bounce houses and a rock-climbing wall.

Details: See www.oakgov.com/aviation