By Bixyl Shuftan
On Saturday April 25, the Relay for Life's Team Sunbeamer's had it's Seventh Annual Air Show. This yearly event at Farshore Field in Sunlight Bay has been thanks to the efforts of Cynthia Farshore whom owns and runs the place.
In southeastern HV Community, not far from the Newser office and next to Sunlight Bay, Prof Grey of Arcadia Asylum had set up a small pirate-themed town.
The town had a small coffee shop named "Starbuccaneers." One ladder led to underwater and an underseafood place. No sign of any pineapple though.
The planes and other craft could be seen from a distance. Note the B-2 bomber.
Besides the air show, there was a car show on the side with a number of cars and a few motorcycles on display.
"Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na - Batman!"
Cyantia Farshore, with Spooked Dreamscape.
Skylark "Snowy" Lefavre with Rita Mariner, the latter still in her "Bid Me Mouse" time.
One attraction of the event was the moon cannon, which when fired made quite a a boom.
To get on, one had to wait for the chair and capsule to rezz.
When fired, it would go up ...
and up ...
and up ...
And up to the moon.
I and the others found some dancing aliens there.
An Earthrise
"Lakia, dogkind has made it over."
I was wearing a mask for oxygen. Not sure how Gil Otaared gets it through, whatever that was placed in her mouth.
Back on the ground, Cynthia was preparing to take off in an F4U Corsair. The plane is distinguishable for it's inverted "gull wing" design, which allowed for shorter landing gear in comparison to it's large propeller.
A look at the cockpit and controls
And takeoff and climbing into the air.
The Corsair, or "U-Bird" or "Bent Wing Bird" as it was nicknamed, would be manufactured for about 11 years from 1942 to 1953, the longest of any propeller-powered fighter in US service, serving in both World War Two and Korea.
Following the Korean War, it would serve in other countries until the 1970s, including El Salvador and Honduras, which in the brief "Football War" in 1969 would end up fighting the last dogfight between piston-powered planes.
And the plane the Corsair would tangle with: Imperial Japan's Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero. The plane was fast and maneuverable, and deadly in the hands of a skilled pilot. But it couldn't dive as fast or operate as high an altitude as American fighters. Attrition would take a toll on veteran Japanese pilots, and technical developments for US fighters would outpace the Japanese. By 1944, they were outclassed in the battlefield.
A Curtis P-40 Warhawk. First produced in 1939, this aircraft would be used by the "Flying Tigers," US pilots whom volunteered to fight for China before Pearl Harbor.
A P-47 Thunderbolt, nicknamed the "Jug." It was one of the heaviest fighters in the war, sometimes serving as fighter-bombers, and could take a lot of punishment.
Some of the time was spent just relaxing.
I had a plane of my own, a First World War French Nieuport 17.
It's instrument panel was considerably simpler than those of fighter planes of the Second World War.
A chat before takeoff. Note the gun is on the top wing.
And up I go.
Going by one of the Sunweaver estate's airship transports. In the First World War, there were a number of fights between airships and fighters. It was mostly the Imperial Germans who made use of airships for bombing.
The Nieuport 17 first saw service in March 1916, and was briefly the top fighter as it was highly maneuverable and could perform steep climbs. But it couldn't handle steep dives, and at high speeds the lower wings would shake.
Flying inverted.
In about a year, the Imperial Germans were coming out with better planes. New models with more powerful engines helped, but the structural problems remained. Besides the French, the plane would see action with many other air forces, such as the Russians, Italians, Americans, and especially the British. After the war, the plane would continue to be used by various countries in the 1920s.
Buzzing by the Newser office.
Landing, I had a few words with Relay personality Gem Sunkiller.
Cynthia, chatting with fellow Sunbeamer builder Shockwave Yareach, and Dusk Griswold, in the airfield control tower. Although a member of the Sunweaver community, Dusk puts her Relay efforts with the smaller Meli's Maniacs team, helping it raise more cash.
I soon got called away, but when there was some activity with the dunking booth and German 88 flak cannon, I sent my alt Rezzdammit.
Snowy was acting as the volunteer for the dunking booth.
Getting the sights lined up took a little practice.
But eventually, 'ol Rezz hit the target, and Snowy got a bath.
Although it's been going on for the past seven years, there is a possibility this air show may be the last. Linden-wise it was a success, getting thousands in cash and bringing the team past the 400,000 mark. But aside from Gem and Dusk, I saw only one other from outside the team around. While there were probably others showing up when I wasn't there, this low turnout from other teams dispirited Cynthia, whom wondered if she should keep on doing the event. Shockwave would comment it was an irony that so many in Second Life complain "there's nothing to do," and when someone goes out of their way to make something, they don't show up.
Yes, there is the "one team" principle. But the Relay efforts by the Sunbeamers/Sunweavers have been a source of community pride. And much of the effort has been made by builders Cynthia and Shockwave.
In the meantime, the Relay goes on. And May will have the Sunbeamers in some multi-team events, leading up to the Relay Weekend in early June. But it may take a little positive feedback from others to keep the air show going next year.
Bixyl Shuftan
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