The GEICO Skytypers Air Show Team, the leading vintage airshow performance squadron, will be among a long list of entertainers performing at the Sun N’ Fun Holiday Flying Festival and Car Show on Friday and Saturday, December 4-5 at Lakeland Linder International Airport.
In addition to the car show and airplane displays, the event, which is the first of its kind, will include a runway 5K run, a hot air balloon launch, more than 50 exhibitors, food and much more.
One of the highlights of the event will be Santa arriving in a Stearman to collect mail from the kids.
Planeside and RV camping is also available.
The GEICO Skytypers, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII, will fly six WWII SNJs, the Navy’s equivalent of the Texas T-6. According to Jessica Prah, with Paramount Public Relations, both trainer aircraft were used to prepare pilots of ‘The Greatest Generation’ for combat.
“The GEICO Skytypers’ low-level precision-flying demonstration was designed by team members who served in the United States military,” said Prah, who explained that the GEICO Skytypers ‘skytype’ by creating giant messages in the sky with five aircraft flying in a tight, line-abreast formation and coordinating dot matrix-style messages with environmentally friendly puffs of white smoke.
“A computer located in the lead aircraft sends radio signals to the other planes and their white puffs of smoke create the skytyped messages that are often as tall as the Empire State Building and seen from a 15-mile radius,” she said.
For more information on the GEICO planes, please visit www.geicoskytypers.com.
To learn more about the Sun N’ Fun Holiday Flying Festival and Car Show, which will take place at Lakeland Linder International Airport on 900 Don Emerson Dr. in Lakeland starting at 8 a.m. on Friday, December 4, visit flysnf.org/holiday_festival/. Tickets are also available to purchase in advance and registration is required for the 5K.
