PLANE GAMES: AIR SHOWS STRIKE A CHORD IN A STATE WITH A RICH AVIATION HISTORY AND FUTURE.

• Author: Martin, Edward

Some 1,500 feet down, Union County is a patchwork of fields and forests as a small helicopter banks toward Charlotte-Monroe Executive Airport. As it hovers, its two passengers and pilot see a scene below that seems straight out of the 1940s.

Its two big piston engines rumbling, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain taxis to take off, just as hundreds like it did on June 6, 1944, pouring thousands of U.S. paratroopers into France on D-Day, the invasion that reversed the tide of World War II. Nearby, warming up, sit North American Aviation P-51 Mustang fighters that helped sway the aerial Battle of Britain and, as escorts, cleared the way for bombers like the Boeing B-17F "Memphis Belle" to pummel Nazi Germany. It's also waiting below, with hundreds of spectators milling around it.

"These are some of the planes that changed the tide of the war," says Pete Hovanec, who directs the annual Warbirds Over Monroe Air Show that expects to attract 40,000 visitors Nov. 9-10, at a ticket fee of $5 to $15. "If not for some of them, we might he speaking a different language today."

Events like Monroe's are popular elsewhere in the First in Flight state, topped by Goldsboro's Wings Over Wayne Air Show. It drew more than 150,000 spectators to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in April, ranking as one of the nation's largest air shows. Attractions included the Air Force Thunderbirds, Army parachutists and Tora! Tora! Tora!, a team of vintage U.S. planes painted to resemble Japanese aircraft that recreate the Pearl Harbor attack. The next show will be staged in the spring of 2021, organizers say.

North Carolina is one of the nation's leading states for air shows. Which makes sense, given the state's pivotal role in aviation.

North Carolina has more than 70 public-use airports such as massive Charlotte Douglas International and Raleigh-Durham International airports, but also smaller ones like Monroe's and more than 480 public and private airports, airstrips and helipads, such as those owned by hospitals, says James Pearce, spokesman for the state's Division of Aviation. The industry's annual economic impact tops $50 billion. Union County makes up an important slice with about 3,500 employed at aerospace-related companies such as ATI Specialty Materials Inc., which makes alloys for jet turbines.

In addition to its 40 mostly World War II-era aircraft, weapons and uniformed re-enactors, Monroe's show includes Greg Koontz, a bib-overalled Georgian who lands his vintage...