Tacoma Freedom Fair Airshow

Ace Maker T-33 Shooting Star

A native Californian, Gregory "Wired" Colyer took his first flight at age 7 in a Cessna 172 with Dr. Lee Schaller out of the Schellville airport in Sonoma, California. Hooked ever since, Greg has been flying for almost 3 decades after earning his license in 1982 while serving in the US Army from 1982-1987.

Since leaving the service he has been employed by the FAA as an Air Traffic Controller at Oakland ARTCC. His passion for the cockpit never left him as he continued to fly as a hobby and an occasional airshow flying a Beech T-34 Mentor until he imported a Russian L-29 Delfin Jet in 2003

He holds a Commercial Pilot certificate with instrument, single and multi-engine ratings as well as being a Certified Flight Instructor. Type rated in Aero Vodochody's L-29 Delfin, L-39 Albatros and the Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star. A level I Aerobatic low level card and FAST lead formation card round out his qualifications. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 by lengthening the fuselage by slightly over three feet and adding a second seat, instrumentation and flight controls.

The P-80 became the first jet fighter to enter full squadron service in the United States Army Air Forces and as more advanced jets entered service, the F-80 took on another role—training jet pilots. The two-place T-33 jet was designed for training pilots already qualified to fly propeller-driven aircraft. A total of 6,557 Shooting Stars were produced, 5,691 by Lockheed, 210 by Kawasaki and 656 by Canadair.

Read more on the Ace Maker T-33 web site.

Will Allen, The Flying Tenor

Will Allen was born in Alaska where his grandfather and uncles all had airplanes, so it was inevitable that he would also become a pilot.

He earned his private license when he was 19 but only in his mid 30’s did he become a professional instructor, and within a few years had established Flip Side Aerobatics. Will is also a musician and vocalist, performing anywhere, from night club bands to Jazz bands to musical theater, sometimes on the side and sometimes as a full time professional. He has always loved performing on the stage so a National Anthem air show act was the perfect fit for him.

Will has finally put together music and flying, the two biggest passions in his life, into one big showy production!

It’s only appropriate that Will flies a red and white, stars and stripes, “Patriotic Pitts” for his routine. Not only does this aircraft look good for the show, but it also performs the flowing aerobatics in a way that expresses the music of the National Anthem.

This unique performance combines vocals, music and aerobatic flying into one memorable act. Will Allen , “The Flying Tenor” sings the national anthem live from his cockpit while flying his routine, experiencing +5 and -3 G’s.

Read more on Will Allen's website.

Vicky Benzing Aerosports

Born and raised in California, Vicky Benzing is an accomplished pilot, skydiver, aerobatic competitor, and Reno racer. With over 6000 hours of flight time and over 1100 parachute jumps, Vicky has a passion for everything airborne.

Inspired by that flight at a very young age, Vicky was lucky enough to learn to fly while in college earning her pilot’s license in a family friend’s antique Taylorcraft in her hometown of Watsonville, California. Since then, her flying career has spanned over thirty years and today she holds an Airline Transport Pilot rating as well as a commercial rating in helicopters and seaplanes.

In addition to her aerobatic pursuits Vicky earned a PhD in Chemistry from UC Berkeley and has had a successful career in the Silicon Valley high tech industry. Vicky feels that she has been fortunate to be able to fly and to do many of the things that she has been able to do in her life. She wants the young people in the audience to know that they can achieve any goal that they set for themselves through hard work and patience. “Go to school and study hard and you can do anything you set your mind to,” she says.

Read more on Vicky Benzing's website.

Granley Family of Air Shows

Bud Granley - Flying has been a part of Bud's life since he was 9 years old. He and his brothers were playing when they saw a Tiger Moth biplane glide to a landing on their uncle's farm. They ran to see the plane, and were amazed to find that their Dad was the pilot. He had secretly earned his flying license. Bud and his two brothers were hooked on aviation after that. Their father made a career of flying, and saw his three children begin their lives in aviation

Bud joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1956 after earning his wings with a Royal Canadian Air Cadet scholarship. He was awarded honor scrolls at basic, and advanced flying schools in the flying the T-6 and T-33. He served 3 years flying the F-86 Sabre in Baden-Baden, Germany.

Bud lives in Bellevue Washington. He flew for United Airlines until retiring in 1997. He has six children.; three of them served in the Canadian Armed Forces. Two flew with the Snowbird aerobatic team, and are now airline pilots.

Ross Granley – The third of six children, Ross showed an early love of flying and a strong desire to make it his life’s ambition. Ross joined the Canadian Air Force in 1985. He received his wings in 1987 and earned his A2 Instructor's rating, then was selected to fly as #2 with the Snowbird's 1990 and 1991 team. After his tour of duty with the Snowbirds he moved on to fighters at Cold Lake, Alberta. He underwent basic and advanced fighter pilot training in the CF-5 and CF-18. He earned top honors in both courses then flew the CF-18 with 416 Tactical Fighter Squadron for three years

In 1997 with 3,100 hours military flight time, Ross, his wife Shari and son Gregory, transitioned to life as civilians. They moved to Everett, Washington where Ross lives while working as a pilot with United Air Lines, based in SFO.

Sukhoi SU-29

The Sukhoi SU-29 was built in Moscow Russia in 1995 and is considered to be the very best two place unlimited competition aircraft in the world today. It boasts a 360 HP, 9 cylinder radial engine that starts with compressed air.

Wingspan 27 FT, Length 24 FT - Empty weight 1738 pounds (Less than a fully loaded Cessna 150) - With pilot and fuel for a show flight, 2028 pounds. Roll rate is 360 Degrees per second.

Flown by Renny Price of Tualatin Oregon. A former airline Captain in both Airbus and Boeing aircraft, Renny has amassed 23500 hours total flight time. He is rated as an Airline Transport Pilot, Flight Engineer, Multi-Engine Instrument, Flight Instructor and is currently flying private corporate jets. He is also an FAA check pilot and is married with four children.

His first flight was in the summer of 1969 at Aurora State Airport. Renny and the Sukhoi are based at the Aurora state airport in Aurora Oregon. When Renny is not flying he spends his time fishing, hunting, playing the guitar and of course talking, teaching and learning about flying aerobatics.

P-51 "Speedball Alice”

Dan Vance is the owner and operator of this beautiful North American P-51D Mustang "Speedball Alice", which is available for airshows, flybys, film and also for a 10-15 minute warbird aerobatic airshow routine. "Speedball Alice" is also a regular unlimited racer at the Reno National Championship Air Races.

The P-51 was designed and built by North American Aviation after the British government approached them to build P-40 Warhawks under license. North American believed they could design a better fighter, and the British government gave them 120 days to prove it. 102 days after the order was placed, the first Mustang was completed, flying for the first time on October 26, 1940. The prototype and subsequent P-51A utilized the Allison V-1710 liquid cooled engine. Lacking an effective engine supercharger, the Allison provided insufficient power for the high-altitude environment the P-51 was designed to operate in. By replacing the Allison engine with a Rolls-Royce V-1650 Merlin engine that had a two-stage supercharger, the necessary power and performance was gained. The Merlin engine, which was built in the U.S. under license by the Packard Motor Car Company, was installed in all further P-51 models from the “B” through the “H” versions.

CM-170 Fouga Magister

Designed and built by the Fouga Aircraft Company, the CM 170 Magister first flew on July 23rd, 1952. Named from the Latin phrase describing teachers and professors, the Magister became the World’s first jet trainer. Features included a V-tail configuration, low clearance tricycle landing gear, and long slender wings. Powered by two Turbomeca Marbore engines, the original produced 1058 lb of thrust. All together, 929 were built with Fouga, then Potez, then Aerospatiale, 286 of which were completed under license.

The Fouga is piloted by retired Major General Frank Scoggins. General Scoggins retired in February 2007 following a 37 year career in the USAF and the Air National Guard. Gen Scoggins flew over 4,500 hours in USAF fighter aircraft during his career. He was combat qualified in the F-4 Phantom, F-105 Thunderchief, F-16 Viper, and he has logged pilot in command time in the F-20 and F-5F. Following Air Force pilot training, then Lieutenant Scoggins' was as an aircraft commander and flew in the skies over North Vietnam as a member of the famous Triple Nickel Squadron. Following Vietnam, his active duty assignments were to Okinawa, Taiwan, and at the United States Air Force Fighter Weapons School at Nellis AFB, Nevada. He served in general officer assignments as commander of the Washington Air National Guard, on the USAF staff of Pacific Air Force Command, Hickam AFB, Hawaii, and at the Pentagon. He currently resides in Gig Harbor, Washington and continues to work for the Pentagon in a consulting role.

Tim Weber Airshows

AIRAID® is proud to sponsor Tim Weber, who developed an interest in aviation at the young age of 13. Living within bicycling distance of Turf Soaring School in Phoenix, AZ, Tim soon became a regular at the airport. It wasn’t long before he had progressed from watching airplanes while looking through the fence, to becoming a line-boy, trading work for flying lessons. After soloing a glider at the age of 14, Tim soon began to explore aerobatics, and the rest is history. He has since flown a variety of aircraft and experienced thousands of hours of aerobatic flying, thrilling millions of people each year at airshows nationwide.

Tim’s airshow routine consists of high-energy, low-level aerobatics, including gyroscopic tumbles and gravity-defying zero-airspeed maneuvers. His entire performance is also uniquely combined with music that he wrote and recorded himself. With his aggressive and precise flying style, Tim’s show typically generates punishing G forces ranging from 10 G’s positive to 5 G’s negative.

The airshow aircraft of choice for Tim is the German built Extra 300S. The Extra 300 is an unlimited-class composite monoplane stressed to handle even the most demanding aerobatic maneuvers. With over 300 horse-power, this aggressive plane provides the performance and look that Tim requires to deliver a heart pounding, crowd pleasing Airshow experience.

Read more on Tim Weber's website.