50th Flying Circus may have soared to new attendance record

HAMILTON — All eyes were trained on the sky this weekend as a motorized Harry Potter dove and swooped over the air field at the Butler County Regional Airport.

The specialized radio controlled aircraft was part of the 50th annual Flying Circus event, hosted by the Greater Cincinnati Radio Control Club.

Dave and Denise Stoehr of Centerville said this was their first visit to the air show and their son Braden was enthralled with the sites and sounds. There were several actual jets in the show, which impressed Braden’s mom.

“This is awesome! I didn’t expect to see real jets, I smelled jet fuel and I was totally shocked,” she said. “Braden’s been asking Daddy to lift him up so he can see.”

Mike Slaughter, co-chair of this year’s show, which ran on Aug. 7-8, said the event drew 8,000 people last year and he said they’ll know for sure when they tabulate the parking fees, but he thinks they may have broken that record this weekend.

In addition to Harry Potter and a flying Snoopy, who actually crashed on Saturday, they fly all manner of military planes, helicopters and they stage historical battles like the attack on Pearl Harbor. Planes zoom in on cardboard cutouts of ships that appear to be floating in Pearl Harbor.

“We launched 15 Japanese airplanes and we did bombing attacks on Pearl Harbor,” he said. “We have all of our pyrotechnics and hydrotechnics. We’ve got things that shoot colored water in the air and foam and stuff. That’s run by Rozzi’s fireworks and that’s how we get our stupendous bang.”

On hand were 60 pilots who flew 201 air craft in 32 events throughout the day, Slaughter said. Mark Feist, the other co-chair, said the proceeds from the parking fees, food and raffles cover the cost of the event and the rest goes to charity. He said the club, which has about 200 members from the entire region, donates $4,000 to $5,000 to charity every year.

Airman First Class Patrick Pennington from the Harrison Civil Air Patrol, who was on parking duty, at the event said it was a sweet assignment.

“It’s very exciting to watch, like these helicopters right now are doing all kinds of crazy stuff,” he said. “It’s thrilling, it’s really neat.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4525 or dcallahan@coxohio.com.

About the Author