NEWS RELEASE: Kirby Chambliss to Receive 2024 Bill Barber Award for Showmanship

EAST TROY, WISCONSIN, June 6, 2024 -- World Airshow News has announced that Kirby Chambliss is the 2024 recipient of the Bill Barber Award for Showmanship. One of the most prestigious awards in the airshow industry, the list of Barber honorees reads like an airshow hall of fame.

Long regarded as one of the top competition aerobatic pilots in the world, Chambliss won the very first aerobatic contest in which he competed, eventually working his way up to the top Unlimited level of competition. He was crowned United States National Aerobatic Champion five times between 1998 and 2005, and as a member of the U.S. National Aerobatic Team, won 13 medals at multiple world aerobatic championships. Thanks to his creative and aggressive flying style, Chambliss was the 2000 Freestyle World Aerobatic Champion.

In 2003, Chambliss began competing against top aerobatic pilots from around the world in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship, flying in every Red Bull air race until that competition ended after the 2019 season. Chambliss was the Red Bull Air Race World Champion for both the 2004 and 2006 seasons.

Throughout his aerobatic competition and air racing careers, Chambliss has also flown airshows all across North America in his now famous Red Bull Edge 540. He is known for his high-energy aerobatics as well as his signature “Cobra” takeoff. In recent years, he has thrilled airshow crowds as a member of the Red Bull Air Force alongside the Red Bull Skydivers and the Red Bull helicopter.

The Bill Barber Award for Showmanship began in 1986 and is awarded to airshow performers or teams that have demonstrated great skill and showmanship. World Airshow News magazine and the friends and family of the late Bill Barber present the award annually.

The 2024 Bill Barber Award for Showmanship presentation is planned for late July during EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. 

Past Bill Barber Award winners include:

2023 Nathan Hammond

2022 Gary Ward

2021 No Award

2020 No Award

2019 Twin Tigers Aerobatic Team

2018 Greg Shelton

2017 Kyle Franklin

2016 Manfred Radius

2015 Bob Carlton

2014 Greg Koontz

2013 Skip Stewart

2012 Matt Younkin

2011 Rich and Dee Gibson

2010 Steve Oliver and Suzanne Asbury-Oliver

2009 Michael Goulian

2008 Bud Granley

2007 Dacy Family Airshow Team

2006 Danny Clisham

2005 Pietsch Airshows

2004 Bobby Younkin

2003 Jim LeRoy

2002 AeroShell Aerobatic Team

2001 Northern Lights Aerobatic Team

2000 John Mohr

1999 Dan Buchanan

1998 Patty Wagstaff

1997 Gene Soucy & Teresa Stokes

1996 Wayne Handley

1995 Bob Hoover

1994 Bob & Annette Hosking

1993 Red Baron Stearman Squadron

1992 Sean D. Tucker

1991 Julie Clark

1990 Leo Loudenslager

1989 Jimmy Franklin

1988 No Award

1987 The French Connection

1986 Eagles Aerobatic Flight Team

The 2024 Bill Barber Award for Showmanship recipient, Kirby Chambliss
(Team Chambliss photo)

 

The 2024 Bill Barber Award for Showmanship recipient, Kirby Chambliss,
 performs his signature Cobra takeoff (photo by Jim Froneberger)

 

The 2024 recipient of the Bill Barber Award for Showmanship, Kirby Chambliss,
performs a low and slow photo pass in his Edge 540 (photo by Jim Froneberger)

 

For more information on The Bill Barber Award for Showmanship, contact Sandy Parnau, Publisher, World Airshow News at sandyparnau@gmail.com or 414-801-1636. www.airshowmag.com.

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2012: KC-135 Tanker From Wisconsin ANG

By Fred Harl

A KC-135R Stratotanker from the 128th ARW, Wisconsin ANG based at General Mitchell Air National Guard Base in Milwaukee was another "heavy" on hand at this year's AirVenture.  The importance of the air refueling mission is self-evident in the age of fuel-thirsty jets.  The KC-135 featured here is 62-3512, converted from an "A" to re-engine "R" model, and now in its 50th year of service.  

(128th ARW graphic)

 

       

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2012: Overview and Highlights

By Fred Harl

It's now time to relive those thrilling days of summer, the hot, hot summer, when I joined hundreds of thousands of my closest friends at EAA's AirVenture Oshkosh 2012.  With camera in hand, I ventured out into the vast array of aircraft, vendors and just plane nuts to take in "The World's Greatest Aviation Celebration."  Over the next month or so, I will bring my AirVenture 2012 Aero Experience to you and preview 2013 in great expectation of next year's event. 

To get things going, here is a sweeping survey of what I saw last July.  Future posts will focus on specific aircraft and areas of interest.  Here goes...