Byron was an awesome show. Byron Godberson was a pretty eccentric guy that had a really awesome layout. His house was amazing right down to the moat. His full scale hanger at the municipal airport was really something. It had a map of the world of about Columbus's time in the floor made with tiles. There was a room off to the side with a throne. There was a lake next door with a 1/3rd scale HMS Bounty floating in it.
I was there a few times. I don't remember what years, but the last year for me was 1989. The reason I remember that year was we flew into Sioux City airport and the scars and burn marks were still fresh on the runway from the crash of DC-10 flight 232.
The show itself was cool. The Striking Back show had to be seen to be believed. The B29 was awesome and flew pretty well. They had a B17 one year we were there too. My personal favorites were the B25's, they really flew great and looked cool in the air.
The ducted fans in those days were marginal best. The Byron ones flew okay, but when we saw the first Bob Violett models fly there it was amazing. Bob was pitted down at the far end of the runway, and you could tell the Byron folks weren't very happy that they were getting blown away in the performance area. We spent a lot of time talking to him and looking at his airplanes. This was before he was a big deal, and he spent a lot of time showing us things.
The Byron folks really knew how to put on a show and take care of the spectators.
I have a few photo albums of pictures from then. I'll scan some in the next few days and post some.
