The 2024 Sunbeamer Air Show

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

 

On Saturday May 4, the Relay for Life's Team Sunbeamers held their Tenth Annual RFL Air Show. 

 

Welcome to the 10th Annual Sunbeamer Relay For Life Air Show 

The Sunbeamers welcomes you to the 10th Annual Sunbeamer RFL Air Show Fly-in on Saturday May the 4th be with you between the hours of 8AM to 5PM SLT. This year is themed on Star Wars. Scheduled events include 

Anemone Wing Walking      noon till 1pm
Team Phoenix             1pm till 2pm
DJ Kayla and the Kangaroos     3pm till 5pm

There will be planes on display with information about them along with flight demonstrations. You can rezz Your Own Plane and stunt around yourself but do ask you clean it up afterwards. Some Pilots will be on hand to give rides both plane and balloon. 

We have two major contest running. The Bicycle Powered Blimp Race and a Bumper Car Contest! At either contest upon a donation to the American Cancer Society kiosk you then acquire a free bicycle powered blimp provided for each entry. You can not use one of your own in the contest unless it is the same thing that is being given. This makes for an even playing field. Also we require that only participants fly the course as non-players will cause the timers to be thrown off. The course runs through the sky were you must pass through rings spaced at intervals that vary in height and direction. Missing a ring causes a disqualified time. You may run the course as many times as you like hopefully bettering your time. Contest runs through the air show hours and the prize of a Aerial Outfitters Sky Skiff Airship will be sent to the winner at the air shows end at 5PM.

The bumper car contest is no ordinary bumper car setup, remember it's the Sunbeamers who are not noted as being a very sane group. The contestants may experience changing obstacles, exploding cars, and maybe even...cannon fire? Oh My. Yes the spectators are armed and willing. But wait there’s mooore, also passengers can ride along, and try to shoot the other cars! Chaos!! The contest will be in 5 minute runs with trophies awarded at the end of each. You can enter as many contest as you like.
There will be a carnival midway with a number of activities to participate in. At each activity we ask for a donation to the Relay For Life kiosk located at each, not required but it would be nice.
On the field are Avatar Cannons! For a donation you will be shot out as an Avatar Cannonball!! Oh, and should say a provided parachute gently brings you back down. You keep the RFL 2024 logo textured parachute for free. 

You can take turns dunking either your partner, a Sunbeamer, or anyone in a dunk tank, Just onnnnne little detail, instead of a beanbag you fire a German 88mm shell into its target!! There will be lots of other activities so come explore. 

 

It was held in the Sunlight Bay sim, in the Sunweaver community area (and in the sim just east of the Newser office). 

As always, there was a collection of military planes, mostly from the Second World War. 

There was one new addition: the Messerschmitt Me 262, the world's first jet fighter. Developed by Nazi Germany, it could have potentially given them air superiority and temporarily halted the Allied advanced. But there were problems such as supply issues and poorly-made parts manufactured by harsh slave labor camps that ensured that not much more than a hundred were ever operational at any one time. A few Allied pilots, such as Chuck Yeager, managed to shoot one down, but almost always only while taking off or landing. No American or British jet fighter ever encountered one in an actual dogfight.

 

A few were made in Czechoslovakia after the war and would serve in it's air force for several years until the early 1950s. Some replicas of the jet fly today.

 

 But there would be a few less of the historical places as this was May the Fifth, Star Wars Day, "May the Fifth Be With You. And so there were a number of spacecraft from the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire present. Cynthia would say there just wasn't room for all the warplanes, notably the B-17 and B-29.

There were also a number of carnival attractions on the ground. 

Skylark "Snowy" Lefavre was offering balloon rides. 

And the balloon would go around the sims of the Sunweaver community. 

 

There was also the dunk tank, in which people could fire a German 88 shell at the target, connected to a chair that when hit would send a volunteer into the water. And then there was the bicycle blimp race.

One had to go through a number of hoops. Thankfully there was a red line as a guide. I made it under 90 seconds. 

Due to real life, I didn't see Cynthia fly her F4-U Corsair. This plane, which was made famous by the TV series "Baa Baa Black Sheep," was a Navy fighter of which it's bent wing design was to accomidate it's huge propellor. 

At Noon SL time was Anemone Wing Walking

 

 The team went about in biplanes, with some on the top wings.

 

 

From the stands, the audience was a mix of locals, Relayers, squadron support members, and more. 

 

 Some dressed up for this "Star Wars Day."

 

Sunbeamer team captain Rita Mariner was dressed in a modified Scouttrooper uniform.

 

 The performers held tight to frames on the upper wings, doing handstands and other moves.

There were more than a few comments from the stands. When the planes were upside down, "This is definitely a Super Glue commercial! Remember those old hard hat commercials?" "strong enough to hold this woman suspended in midair!" "and right up against the edge of the world too." "I hope they aren't about to vomit!" "*sings* 'Those magnificent avatars on their flying machines.' "

 

"They must have practiced a LOT!" "To fly in a tight formation? YES!" "They haven't lost one wing walker yet!" "The wing walkers are upside down!!!!!!" "They usually hang onto a rope with foot braces." "Their formation pattern is top notch." "I'm glad they aren't hanging on by their dentures...unless they use PolyGrip!" "BOOOOO! "Even in RFL bad puns all over!" "PollyGrip:  What holds parrots on their perches." "BOOOOOOOOO! Sunbeamers learn newer and better puns :P"

"Amazing show." "Wonderful." "If those were real Biplanes they would go as fast as a Model T car!" "I've never seen anything like this!!!"

Eventually, it was time for the team to touch down for a landing.

There was much applause from the audience, "Superb WingWalkers :D"

"Wonder if they dizzy now with all the blood rush? lmao!" "Please return your tray to the upright position, and dispose of your barf bag properly."

Eventually, the planes came to a stop.

Among the Anemone pilots was Luke Flywalker, appropriate name for the day.

There were a few comments between some of the walkers and the audience, and among them. "If I was a wing walker I'd be too shaky to stand for DAYS after a show!" "If you were a wing walker and kayla was the pilot you'd be dead, Ren!!"

Then the pilots of Team Phoenix got ready to fly up.

And soon were getting in their planes.

Under "shared environment," the sims were dark. So most of us had our viewers at Midday.

Then the planes started doing loops, "Love the smoke colors."

Picture from Cynthia Farshore, showing the four planes in a simultaneous flying in four different directions. "That was CLOSE!!!" "Another amazing example of inworld teamwork"

Eventually, it was time for the planes to land. Their part of the show was over, "Another amazing example of inworld teamwork."

There was a meeting in the stands with some of the pilots. "The team did a great job, and so did Cynthia in organizing all this." "I am impressed beyond my ability to believe possible!!" "Ren it only took countless hours of dedicated concentration (smiles)" "Congrats to our pilots!!" "Awesome flying Phoenix Wooot!" "Great show as always." "Truly wonderful... a real accomplishment... and SO fun to watch."

 

Cynthia's response was to the point, "Can I breathe now?" After a few jokes and comments, she resumed, "On behalf of the Sunbeamers may I thank the Wing Walkers and Team Phoenix for coming to out little Air Show."

 

Shockwave Yareach, with an air show t-shirt. 

 

from Cynthia Farshore

 

And it was soon time for the final big act of the show: DJ Kalya and the Roos. 

From Cynthia Farshore

"We are at the closing of the Sunbeamer Air Show and what a great day of performances and fun things to do! DJ Kayla and the Kangaroos (Roos with a Dream) are on now till 5PM SLT come on over! http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunlight%20Bay/104/106/23"

 

DJ Kayla shouted, "We named our team 'Roos with a Dream' because we have a dream... more of a vision for the future... that we can make come true if we all work together. We dream of a world: - without the FEAR of the words 'You have cancer'... without the PAIN of horrible but life-saving treatments... without the EXHAUSTION of caring for loved ones... without the GRIEF of losing our family and friends before their time... WITHOUT the scourge of cancer! We’d like to enlist your support in making this dream come true sooner rather than later so more people will be spared the agony of dealing with cancer."

Only in SL could you find Yoda dancing with a Stormtrooper.

Someone brought a fire extinguisher

Team captain Wateru of Purple Tears came as a purple fennec, "Still working on it, but it's not bad. ... First time I've made it, albeit late, to one of the actual airshows, usually miss them every year."

 

 There was some joking around. At one point, one of the Roos went, "I guess I can take my parachute off now. don't tell Kayla I was wearing one." Kayla responded, "Just you all wait  am going to start posting some of my  flights  and then  you will all see." "Its a 2024 RFL parachute btw. you get them by the cannon that shoots people, shoots people into the air that is." "trouble gravity brings them back." "Sienna always come prepared around Kayla's landings." 

"Did you watch that  video where I drive a supercar off a cliff at 300 KPH ?" "I think I may have missed that one." "Is that the one you end up landing on the dam?" "Sounds like Thelma and Louise." "A Fish swims into a cement wall and says 'DAM.'" "A dyslexic man walks into a bra . . ." "Lots of guys would like to walk into a bra, while it's worn."

At another point, Patty Flow (LILpatty Wylie) spoke up, "would like to take a moment to express a RL event: I know I am talking to a knowledgeable crowed, but I need to remind ya that I see every two weeks the suffering cancer brings, not because I have cancer but because I have a blood disorder and am treated in the cancer center. I see all the time the progress we are making, and almost Promise❤ every Lindon you donate helps so many."

 

 As the music went on the amount in the kiosk climbed. Cynthia went, "Forgive me for spelling and lost words Shocky but as this is the end of all this may I have a moment and - " she then fainted, "*collapsed goat*"

 

There were a few more jokes, such as when the balloon came up, "I had not worries about falling out, its Ren who needs a safety harness!" "ME?" "Yes, every time I take you flying you fall out!" " I have a Balloon BUngee cord for Ren"

 

But also some serious comments, "To me the champions in this case are all of the caregivers, doctors, nurses and especially all of the survivors." Kayla would add, "Do we have an impossible dream? We don't think so. Think of all the diseases have been wiped out or minimized in our lifetime. Cases due to wild poliovirus have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an estimated 350,000 cases then, to 33 reported cases in 2018. In 1996, the total life expectancy for a 20-year-old person with HIV was 39 years. In 2011, the total life expectancy bumped up to about 70 years. The last stocks of small pox are only kept in a secure  lab by the CDC , once a feared disease that  killed  so many! So, with your help, our dream isn't so far off! Let's shoot for the stars and make cancer next!!

 

 

the amounts people chipped in continued to climb. Cynthia would announce the team totals, "Ok so as of right now totals including the dashboard are Roos L$: 610,870 Sunbeaters L$: 923,643."  A few minutes later, Red would say, "Beamers need 57k, and Roos 120k." "Lets get both teams there!" "I can do 15,000." "I have a remote donation from trader. thank you Trader!!" Rita announced, "Need 35,000 for us so 70,000 more." Alison then stated, "Roos have another challenge...if we can get the kiosk to 115K Roos will top it off to 125K." 

 

Rita then dropped a large amount, and Alison added 10. The Sunbeamers had crossed the one million Linden mark, and were now Emerald Rank. "Bam!" "~YAY!!! \  \(@o@)/  /  YAY!!!~" "I dosen't have that many piggie banks, but so proud of my friends giving so much up."

 

 Eventually, the set was over, "Ok, gotta go BBQ some chicken. Be afk for a while." "Thank you so much for inviting Roos to be part of this event every year!" "Thanks, Roos, for coming~" "And thanks, Cuz (Cynthia), and Shocky, and Rita, ad everyone else here."

 

And it was time for Kayla and her dancers to return to the ship.

And take off to the sky.

 

 With the show over, Rita would change out of the trooper outfit to a fennec.

 

Cynthia would later say, "The air show brought in L$236,750 ... now the Roos share some of that, but for the event that's what it brought in."

 

There would be more events for both the Relay and the Sunbeamers. The following Saturday the Sunbeamers would perform at the Relaystock. But this was when "the little team that could" had crossed the one million Linden mark

Go Sunbeamers! Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan