“When I was 21 years old flying corporate for La Quinta Motor Inn, our chief pilot was a really smart guy and he said, ‘Hey, if this jet ever ends up upside down with a CEO on board, we want you to be able to turn it right side up without killing everyone.’ I thought, ‘Makes sense to me!’” From that point on, flying became more than Kirby had ever imagined. As a child, Kirby was always playing and running around with toy planes. “I don’t ever remember saying I wanted to be a pilot, I just always wanted to be a pilot.” At only 13 years old, he began flying. By 24, he was the youngest commercial pilot at Southwest Airlines and made captain by 28. Although he enjoyed flying commercial, it became a means to pay for his true love for aerobatics. Kirby continuously trained to perfect his aerobatic skills and routines, which he was able to display at various air shows. There, he began to establish his continuously growing fan base and earned recognition for his skills with an acceptance onto the U.S. National Aerobatic Team. To date, Kirby has accumulated 13 medals in world competition. By the early 2000’s, Kirby was recognized as one of the top 15 aerobatic pilots in the world and was asked to compete in the very first Red Bull Air Race. He transferred his explosive, aggressive flying style to the racetrack and is now a two-time Red Bull Air Race World Champion. Kirby resides on the “Flying Crown Ranch” between Tucson and Phoenix with his wife and fellow pilot, Kellie, and their daughter Karly. With a hangar and runway in the backyard, Kirby is only a few steps away from hopping in one of his several planes. (Be sure to check out the “Hangar” on the website to view Kirby’s fleet!) When not flying, Kirby enjoys jumping out of airplanes and perfecting his skydiving skills. Why jump out of a perfectly good airplane, you ask? Because he has a perfectly good parachute, of course!
Serving mainly in World War II in the Pacific Theater, the F4U Corsair was the finest carrier-base fighter deployed by any navy and became a fast, versatile and deadly performer and perhaps the best of any U.S. fighter in that conflict. Together with the F6F Hellcat, the Corsair was responsible for the destruction of 7,295 enemy aircraft in air-to-air combat and, in downing enemy planes, it achieved a “kill-to-loss” ratio of 11 to one, the highest for any fighter plane of World War II. The Corsair first flew in May 1940 and at 440 mph, it was one of the fastest fighters of the war with a longer range than any of its counterparts in the Japanese fleet, a distinct advantage in the vast Pacific Ocean where it was most active. The most instantly recognizable feature of the Corsair was its inverted “gull wing” which accomplished two purposes: (1) It permitted a shorter landing gear while still allowing a 13-foot propeller, the biggest fitted to a fighter at the time, to clear the ground (2) It provided aerodynamic benefits for greater streamlining. Because of the distinctive sound made by air passing through the engine’s cooling ducts, the Japanese nicknamed it “Whistling Death.” Much of the Corsair’s long nose was occupied by a single self-sealing fuel tank holding 237 gallons. This feature, together with a cockpit that was set well back along the fuselage in early models caused visibility ahead and down to be poor and contributed to the aircraft’s initial carrier landing problems and was corrected in later variants. It was not until 1944 when flatter carrier landing techniques were perfected that F4Us were used aboard U.S. Navy carriers in greater numbers, mainly in response to the growing Kamikaze attacks in the Pacific. Before production ended in 1952, the longest production run for a U.S. fighter, a total of 12,571 Corsairs were built. Jim Tobul is the man behind the stick in "Korean War Hero," but rather than the owner, he considers himself more the caretaker of this beautiful warbird and her storied history. An avid pilot for over 40 years, Jim takes great pride in carrying the legacy of the veteran Corsair to airshows all over North America. He lives in Jackson, WY. ----------------------------------------------------------- The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American made long-range, single-seat, fighter aircraft primarily engaged in service during World War II. The aircraft was designed and built by North American Aviation. The first Mustangs were used by the Royal Air Force as tactical-reconnaissance aircraft and fighterbombers. Toward the end of 1943, P-51Bs were employed by the U.S. Air Force as bomber escorts in air raids over Germany and as fighter-bombers by allied forces. The P-51 was also in service with Allied air forces in the North Africa, the Mediterranean, Italy, and Japan. When the Korean War began, the Mustang was the United Nation’s primary choice of fighters until the fighter role was shouldered by jet fighters. With the popularity of jet fighters on the rise, the Mustang was converted into a specialty ground attack fighter-bomber and remained in air forces around the world until the 1980s. The P-51 is powered by the Packard V-1650-7, a license-built version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin 60 series two-stage two-speed supercharged engine. This engine made this aircraft capable of being used as a long-range bomber escort. During wartime the aircraft was armed with six .50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns. After World War II and the Korean War, many of these aircraft were converted for civilian use and are a popular choice in the air racing industry. The Mustang earned such revere and experienced so much popularity that in the 1960s, the Ford Motor Company designed a youthful coupe and named it after the aircraft. The P-51 Mustang demonstration will be flown by Scott “Scooter” Yoak who along with his late father Bill, restored the Quick Silver. The P-51 Quick Silver Mustang is made from parts of Mustangs that were used in every war theater the Mustang was utilized.
