Patty Wagstaff Still Home Town Favorite at Fair St. Louis Airshow

By The Aero Experience Team

The Independence Day celebration in St. Louis traditionally includes Fair St. Louis downtown on the Mississippi Riverfront, and most years there is a world-class airshow.  This year, the all-star lineup of performers included home-town favorite Patty Wagstaff. Born in the St. Louis area, she has since traveled the world - to Japan where her father served as a Japan Airlines Captain, to Alaska where she learned to fly, and on to countless other locales during her still thriving aviation career.  Wagstaff has achieved nearly every possible goal in competitive aerobatics, including: three-time U.S. National Aerobatic Champion, Sword of Excellence and Bill Barber Award for Showmanship recipient, International Aerospace Hall of Fame inductee and a long list of other honors proudly displayed on the fin of her Extra 300S aircraft.  Besides aerobatics, she also trains pilots of the Kenya Wildlife Service who work to protect elephants from poachers, flies aerial fire fighting missions with Cal Fire, and works with the entertainment industry on aviation media projects.  Other interests include raising horses and Terriers.  The Aero Experience Team was fortunate to witness her (and our friend, Doug Gardner, her crew for the week) in action on the apron and in the air during last week's Fair St. Louis Airshow.