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.

Guest Post: Quad City Airshow Features First-Rate Aerial Entertainment

Guest Post: The Aero Experience thanks our friend Duane Cooley of DRC Images for contributing this coverage of the Quad City Airshow held last weekend:

The Quad City Airshow was held June 29 and 30. The U.S. Navy Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Squadron arrived in style on June 27th. They flew practice shows on the 27th and 28th, and performances on the 29th and 30th. It was hot and humid, but the show was a real thrill with a huge crowd.  

The military flight demonstrations were a real treat - and what can one say about the Blue Angles but wow! Also featured here is the Blue Angels C-130 support aircraft and an A-10 Thunderbolt II from the Air Combat Command A-10 Demonstration Team. Other military aircraft at the airshow included the giant C-17 Globemaster III flight demonstration and numerous static displays. 

Warbird aircraft on static display included two B-25 Mitchell World War II medium bombers from the Commemorative Air Force, Show Me (MO Wing) and Miss Mitchell (MN Wing), and a MO Wing Grumman (GM-built) TBM Avenger torpedo bomber. 

More warbird action was provided by the Class of '45 formation flight by Scott Yoak in the P-51D Mustang, Quick Silver, and Jim Tobul in the F-4U-4 Corsair, Korean War Hero. The two warbirds flew in close formation, then split up for individual demonstration passes.

The Legacy Flight was flown by Jim Tobul in the Corsair, Korean War Hero, mentioned above, and a U.S. Navy T-45C jet trainer from NAS Pensacola, Florida. The Legacy Flight, similar to the USAF's Heritage Flight, features close formation flying with a WWII warbird and a modern jet.

The popular Aeroshell Aerobatic Team flew precise formation in their four AT-6 Texans.  

World-renowned airshow and Red Bull Air Race pilot, Kirby Chambliss, flew an exciting performance with his Edge 540.

The Aero Experience thanks our friend Duane Cooley of DRC Images for contributing his coverage of the Quad City Airshow.

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2017: Airshows - Speedsters and Biplanes

By Fred Harl

The Aero Experience coverage of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2017 airshows continues with a look at some of the well-known civilian performers.  This edition includes the Speedsters, such as the Extra, Edge and similar designs as well as the biplanes, ranging from the Pitts Special to the Jet Waco.  Many will be familiar to veteran airshow fans, while others are fresh entries in the lineup.  The collection of images here is not comprehensive, but gives a survey of the airshow performers with these aircraft types.  We will have more airshow performers featured in the next several posts.

Kirby Chambliss, Edge 540  

Michael Goulian, Extra EA300/SC

The Thric3: Matt Chapman, Extra 330/LX; Bill Stein, Edge 540; Rob Holland, MXS

Philipp Steinbach, GameBird

Twin Tigers Aerobatic Team, Yak-55

David Martin, Bucker Jungmeister BU 133B1

Gene Soucy, Showcat

John Klatt, Jet Taperwing Waco

Sean Tucker, Challenger III

Skip Stewart, Modified Pitts S-2S