The Flying Circus Air Show
by Randy Adams and Mark Feist
The Greater Cincinnati Radio Control Club’s annual air show
How would your club react if its leaders proposed to hold an annual RC model air show? A fair number of members would probably say “sure,” and the club would give it a try. But the Greater Cincinnati Radio Control Club (GCRCC) took that idea much further, creating a two-day spectacle that has become one of the longest-running and most unique aeromodeling events in the country.
Show specifications
- Duration: four hours each day (Saturday and Sunday) in early August
- Number of acts: about 30 individual acts per day
- Aircraft involved: at least 175 aircraft representing every aspect of model aviation
- Act length: each performance lasts between 6 and 9 minutes
- Turnaround: no more than 30 seconds of dead air between acts
- Production: presentations are planned and set to music broadcast via a stadium-quality PA system; announcers are club members with professional air-show personas
- Safety/coordination: every aircraft must pass safety inspection and be flown prior to the show to qualify pilot and model; the event is held at a regional airport and coordinated with local FAA and airport management
- People: more than 50 pilots and about 100 volunteers (members, family, friends) support parking, concessions, and customer services; volunteers serve food and drinks to more than 7,500 people over the weekend
History and evolution
The Flying Circus traces its roots back to 1961 as a manufacturers’ fly-in sponsored by World Engines and the late John Maloney. Its original purpose was to gather industry leaders to showcase products and introduce the then-new technology of radio-controlled model airplanes. Within a few years the event evolved into the Flying Circus presented by GCRCC.
The show grew steadily through the 1960s and 1970s, eventually featuring roughly 50 airplanes flying in 20-minute acts at a suburban field in northern Cincinnati. It required significant membership effort but reached financial break-even.
In the mid-1980s the club elevated the show: increasing the number of events, creating theme music, encouraging members to build models specifically for the show, adding pyrotechnics, and staging World War II reenactments. The enhancements transformed the Flying Circus into a special regional attraction and a generational summer outing for many families.
Signature acts and audience experience
The Flying Circus focuses on full days of entertainment that blend flying “craziness” with faithful replications of full-scale aviation history. Highlights include:
- Opening parade flights that mix everyday RC planes with scale biplanes, helicopters, RC skydivers, and models pulling the American flag while the national anthem plays.
- Specialty acts and story-driven scenes—for example, Snoopy’s Doghouse battling a Fokker Dr.I to the tune of “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron.”
- Novelty acts such as a flying-broom parasail carrying a Harry Potter likeness that delights younger spectators.
- Simulated pylon races with flying race cars and announcer narration describing passes, crashes, and photo finishes.
- Balloon-bust acts: pilots fly low and fast at a short Styrofoam wall with balloons attached; later in the show the airplanes must be inverted to cut the balloon strings. Announcers engage the crowd by selecting kids to chant “Lower! Lower! Lower!” until the balloons are cut or the planes are sacrificed.
Historical recreations and feature acts
Feature acts portray aviation milestones and historic events:
- Replicas of Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis and Chuck Yeager’s X-1 (dropped from a 12-foot-wingspan B-29) recreate major firsts.
- In celebration of Burt Rutan’s Voyager, a club member built a 24-foot-wingspan electric model; the model earned applause and an invitation to the Rutans’ 20th-anniversary event and is now on permanent display at the Rutan museum.
- Golden Age of Racing and modern Reno-style racing are shown with models of Gee Bee, Rare Bear, Miss America, September Fury, and others, producing thrilling high-speed passes.
- World War I dogfights fill the sky with Camels and Dr.I replicas, simulating mass confusion and stick-and-rudder flying.
- World War II tributes are elaborate: in 2008 eight members built B-25s and the USS Hornet’s conning tower to tell the Doolittle Raid story. In 2009 twelve members staged a Pearl Harbor reenactment with Japanese carrier aircraft, accompanied by period radio broadcasts and President Roosevelt’s declaration of war. Over 23 WWII fighters and bombers then conducted bombing and strafing runs with choreographed pyrotechnics, concluding with a lone B-29 dropping a simulated atomic bomb; Taps followed and many spectators and pilots were moved to tears.
Expansion to full-scale inclusion
As model technology advanced (turbines, helicopters, larger scale models), the show continued to grow. In 2003—coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers’ first flight—the GCRCC moved the Flying Circus to a local airport, adding full-scale aviation demonstrations and static displays. This expansion required coordination with airport management, local governments, the FAA, police, fire departments, full-scale aircraft owners and pilots, the EAA, and local warbird groups.
Recent shows and attendance
The 49th annual Flying Circus was held August 8–9, 2009, at Butler County Regional Airport (on the Hamilton/Fairfield border), the seventh year at that site. It was another safe and successful show, with an estimated 8,000 spectators in attendance.
Publicity and volunteer effort
Publicity is critical to the Flying Circus’s attendance and involves persistent outreach to TV, radio, and print media. Unsung heroes are the many nonflying team members who spend a full day on the Friday before the event preparing airport grounds; remarkably, the property is returned to a clean, fully operational full-scale airport within hours after the show.
Why the GCRCC does it
The club cites several reasons for the effort:
- To give back to the local community.
- To fund club activities while keeping member dues affordable.
- To encourage model aviation through free fly-ins and an AMA TAG (Take off And Grow) day (which includes free food and a trainer airplane given away).
- To support charities: the club hosts a picnic for families of the Spina Bifida Association of Cincinnati and conducts an auction of donated items—donating more than $4,000 to charities last year.
- To keep model aviation in the public eye, helping local groups obtain flying sites and boosting club membership.
Looking ahead
At the time of this report, the GCRCC was planning its 50th Annual Flying Circus for the second weekend in August (the 7th and 8th). The group hoped to present another great event featuring signature acts, music, food and drinks, new features, and possible surprise guests.
See you there!
Mark Feist [email protected]
Randy Adams [email protected]
Sources
- Greater Cincinnati Radio Control Club — www.gcrcc.net
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
