Bombing and Strafing in Chesterfield

It’s the third day of the St. Louis County Fair and Air Show at Spirit of St. Louis Airport. We live on the bluffs to the south of the airport, parallel to the runway. We have a wonderful vantage point for the show (rather than mingling with a hundred thousand or so souls on the tarmac). That’s the good news.

The bad news is that they have two “acts” that give the impression we are in Beirut or Baghdad. In one, an A-10 Thunderbolt, also known as the Warthog, the Flying Gun and the Tankbuster. In several of its runs over the assemblage below, simulated cluster bombs are set off on the ground. Or perhaps they are trying to simulate rapid gunfire from the attacking aircraft. In any case, the sound shock wave that results rattles our two-story house and scares the piss out of our horses.

Then there is the Tinstix of Dynamite team. It consists of two stunt pilots and pyrotechnics. The latter means that huge balls of fire are ignited and the pilots fly through them. Think of your worst nightmare about being bombed, as this comes pretty close. And the explosion sets of a huge repercussion that makes the earlier noise from the A-10 act pale in comparison. The whole house moves, windows rattle. This is not done once, but several times. The horses, who are used to airplanes, scatter in all directions pretty much in terror. Gosh, what fun!

So, let’s see. We have a demonstration of aircraft daring do coupled with senseless, graphic, eardrum blowing images of war. Sounds like America to me.