The GEICO Skytypers Air Show Team, the leading vintage airshow performance squadron, will be performing at the Sun N’ Fun Holiday Flying Festival and Car Show on Friday and Saturday, December 4-5 at Lakeland Linder International Airport, 900 Don Emerson Dr, Lakeland, FL. The year marks the 75th Anniversary of the end of WWII and the GEICO Skytypers vintage airplanes trained the “greatest generation” of pilots for WWII.
ABOUT THE AIRCRAFT (SNJ)
- The GEICO Skytypers fly six WWII SNJs, the Navy’s equivalent of the Texas T-6. Both trainer aircraft were used to prepare pilots of “The Greatest Generation” for combat.
- In 1940-41, the SNJ was built as an advanced WWII military training aircraft designed to perform all the maneuvers of a fighter plane at slower speeds.
- The aircraft is powered by a 600-horsepower Pratt and Whitney engine.
- The GEICO Skytypers’ low-level precision-flying demonstration was designed by team members who served in the United States military.
ABOUT SKYTYPING
- The GEICO Skytypers “skytype” by creating giant messages in the sky with five aircraft flying in a tight, line-abreast formation.
- The planes skytype by 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.
ABOUT THE GEICO SKYTYPERS
The GEICO Skytypers Air Show Team, the leading vintage airshow performance squadron, fly six WWII SNJ aircraft, the North American SNJ built for the Navy, the Air Forces T-6 variant. Both trainer aircraft were used to prepare pilots of “The Greatest Generation” for WWII combat. The team performs a low-level, precision-flying demonstration featuring tactics and maneuvers designed by team members who served in the United States military. In addition to their air show performances, the team “skytype” giant messages in the sky. Five aircraft fly in a line-abreast formation to produce 1,000-foot tall messages that can be seen for 15 miles in any direction.